Surviving 2014 | Monday Note: A good assessment by Frédéric Filloux on the state of the News business and its struggles with the digital world - oversupply, ad price deflation and unwillingness of users to pay for content. His thought though is that the actions to solve for these headwinds are getting clearer - utilizing the technical side of data and personalization to find better strategies to drive engagement and increase both advertising yield and the willingness of consumers to pay.
In this mix, it will be interesting to watch whether Yahoo can lead the
way. It has started investing in top talent, such as Megan Liberman
(Editor in Chief Y News, from NYT), David Pogue (Head of Tech Coverage for a
new Y Tech, from NYT), and Katie Couric (Global Anchor from ABC). I would hope to
see yet bolder moves, especially in the worlds of Sport and Finance.
Yahoo certainly has the headline users and page
views to indicate competitive reach for advertising dollars, and yet the yield
has remained well under traditional formats on TV and in print. I put that done to the slowly loosening inertia of advertisers, but also the quality of the engagement on the internet screen v. TV and print.
So it will be
interesting to see when or if there is a noticeable impact on its declining Display revenue. A recent article in Advertising Age, suggested
that Couric’s presence may raise Yahoo’s ad rates enough to bring a solid
return on investment.
I am not sure if I would be so bullish as Forbes below. As Frederic outlined in his Monday Note, there is a lot to do to make News work. But Yahoo does seem to be the one tech company with the component pieces to do it. It has certainly tried many times before, ever since Terry Semel days. But sometimes good ideas are not new, just better timed.
Why Yahoo's Bet On Katie Couric Is A Smart One -- Even If It Fails - Forbes:
"When Marissa Mayer plunked down big
bucks to land Katie Couric, the Yahoo boss was doing what legacy media moguls
do when they want to reinvigorate their operation. They hire marquee names. It
sends a message to the industry, especially advertisers, that we are ready to
pay and play with the big kids...Mayer...sees the vulnerability of the
traditional news players and is employing a time-honored tradition of signing
talent to steal eyeballs from the competition and perhaps gain some new ones.
Thus Katie Couric, Yahoo News Global Anchor...."
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