New York Times
And another print veteran moves to digital-only: Entertainment Weekly's Dave Karger, who in his 17-year editorial stint at the pub "in many ways served as its public face, at least during Oscar season," is leaving to become chief correspondent at online movie ticket site Fandango, writes Brooks Barnes. "Fandango, owned by Comcast’s NBCUniversal, has been planning for some time to move beyond selling tickets into related programming like news and commentary."
Advertising Age
Time Inc. is launching Amplify, a "digital ad unit that pairs its editorial content with brands' marketing messages on Time Inc. properties and beyond," writes Jason Del Rey. This "is one of the company's first tangible moves to boost digital revenue since CEO Laura Lang joined in January from the digital agency Digitas." Lang promises more wrinkles to the company's digital strategy, including a "'next generation' of ad products, finding ways to charge for more digital content," and "building an innovation lab where employees can bring ideas," adds Del Rey.
Gigaom
As Dish Network and Viacom negotiate a possible deal offering Viacom programming over the Web "without forcing [subscribers] to also buy into a traditional cable or satellite TV subscription package" -- and Dish also seems to be talking to Univision and Food Networks owner Scripps about similar partnerships -- Janko Roettgers wonders what cord-cutters would be willing to pay for such deals. In a poll on the Gigaom site, the majority answered either "Nothing. I'm okay with watching The Daily Show and other shows the day after they air on the web," (46%) or "$10 or less per …
The Hollywood Reporter
"Downton Abbey" creator Julian Fellowes will write a prequel to his hit show that will explore the beginnings of the relationship between key characters Earl (Robert) and Countess (Cora) of Grantham, set for broadcast after the last episode of the original airs. "The spin-off drama will cast a pair of younger actors in the roles," which are currently played by Hugh Bonneville and Elizabeth McGovern, writes Stuart Kemp. Key question for "Abbey" fans: Will the prequel include the Dowager Countess, played so memorably now by Maggie Smith, who just won an Emmy for her role?
Yahoo News
The Weather Channel, which found in a study that weather could affect whether 25% of eligible voters will make it to the polls this November, will have reporters in swing states on Election Day monitoring the weather's impact on voting. "Obama's supporters should be hoping for clear skies: Twenty-eight percent of people who said they plan to vote for Obama said weather would have a significant or moderate impact on their decisions to vote, while 19 percent of Romney supporters said it would," writes David Bauder.
New York Observer
Deborah Needleman will leave her post as editor in chief of WSJ's glossy style pub,
WSJ, to become editor of
T: The New York Times Style Magazine, which comes out 15 times a year. "The not-unexpected news comes after the
abrupt departure of Sally Singer at the end of the summer," writes Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke. Needleman was the founder and editor in chief of the dearly departed (except for some new special issues that rearrange old photos and copy with a frosting of new content) home design pub
Domino.
All Things D
"Consumer-tracking service NPD says TV sets are now the most popular way to watch streaming video," writes Peter Kafka. Forty-five percent of viewers say TV "is now their primary Web video screen, up from 33 percent last year," according to Kafka. TV "basically swapped places with the PC, which used to account for 48 percent of viewing but now represents 31 percent."
Paid Content
New York magazine's banner year and all-round financial success is due at least in part to its aggressive digital strategy, with digital properties accounting for "40% of the company's total ad sales, unlike competing consumer pubs that "draw only about 5% to 15% of their ad sales from their digital operations,"
writes Matthew Flamm in
Ad Age. "The publication is pouring these new revenues back into reporting and has created a virtuous cycle in which high-quality journalism attracts high-quality ads," writes Jeff John Roberts, taking Flamm's analysis a step further to ask if other city mags …
Adage
With the rise of postage and imminent postal cutbacks, New York Magazine is hand-delivering magazines to Manhattanites with doormen. These subscribers get the magazine on Monday morning, earlier than they would in the mail. It costs the same or less than a traditional postal delivery.
The findings of the studies, shared with The New York Times, revealed vast shifts in the way people watched the Games this year compared with the Olympics in Vancouver in 2010 and in Beijing in 2008, and they offered insight into how television will further evolve into a multiplatform experience. Think of it as the world's largest "sandbox" in which media researchers can play, said Alan Wurtzel, president of research and media development at NBCUniversal. "It gives us a glimpse into the future."