About JKNews

Jason E. Klein is an experienced media CEO and builder of digital and traditional businesses who has led two successful turnarounds. He is founder and CEO of On Grid Ventures, an advisory and investment firm in digital media, marketing, and information; a member of New York Angels and Harvard Business School Alumni Angels; and a mentor at several NYC-area “incubators.”

Portland’s Oregonian Shifts to a Digital-First Newspaper Model

oregonian-logo2 (1)Advance Newhouse will shift another of its daily newspapers to a new digital-first publishing model starting October 1, 2013.

According to company statements, two new companies will be formed:

The Oregonian Media Group will publish The Oregonian (and its related print products) will operate OregonLive.com.  This new, digitally-focused media company will expand news and information products in Oregon and Southwest Washington using about 90 reporters, the same number as today.

Home delivery will be Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday, plus a “bonus” edition will be delivered Saturday with have news and a strong emphasis on sports content, along with classified advertising. [I wonder if this is a total market product with inserts, but the reports were not clear.]  Home delivery subscribers that choose the three-day subscription option will also have access to a digital edition seven days a weekThe Oregonian still will be published and sold daily, and OregonLive.com will be updated throughout the day.

Advance Central Services Oregon will be a shared-services company providing production, circulation, IT, purchasing and human resources to the OMG as well as other companies.

With this new model, The Oregonian will be profitable again this year, the company said.

Why Google’s Acquisition of Waze is a Game Changer

From a recent article in Forbes, here are several reasons why Google’s acquisition of Waze will be a game changer.waze

  • Waze’s community of users is key to helping Google achieve its next big goal: mapping how we move.  Waze simply collects GPS data from its 50 million users. Anyone who drives with the Waze app turned on is passively providing data that the company can use to better understand not only the world that user is driving through, but their intent.
  • Waze is one of only four major companies that built its own extensive maps of the world, the others being TomTom, Navteq and Google. “Just like search became the interface for monetization on the web, maps are going to be a big part of the monetization engine for mobile,” he said, “because that’s what you open when you’re going places.
  • Waze grows organically every day.  Wave’s Wikipedia-style structure of day-to-day contributors, who make up about 10% of users, and voluntary editors, who make up a tinier percent, allows it to chart new roads in new countries, and even include roadblocks and construction zones.
  • Waze understands the intent of its users. “Now that I know where you drive, I can begin offering you deals, I can begin enhancing the experience.”  When a Waze driver in the U.S. is stopped at a light or parked, they’ll often see a ad pop up for Taco Bell, Starbucks or AT&T.  Nearly all Waze’s ads are based on location, cross referencing where the Wazer and advertiser are in a given moment.  The Holy Grail here was cross referencing all of that GPS data with another component: the consumer’s destination, or intention. “If you’re driving to work it’s a different experience than if you’re driving to [the American department store] Macy’s,” said Bardin.

 

GeoConquest

GeoConquest =

To successfully use unmanned drones (or mobile digital devices) to target unsuspecting civilians (or shoppers) entering enemy territory (your competitors’ GeoFenced locations).

drone

look up
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Verve claims a 30% higher click-through rate from GeoConquesting than standard GeoFencing, based on a study of 17 campaigns on Mother’s Day.

Verve CEO Tom MacIssac told Mediapost, “The one big theme from this research is that if you’re going to target users near your own stores … it’s really effective to also target people who are near your competitor’s stores,”  While Verve advertisers have embraced geo-fencing for their own stores, they’re not typically pairing that activity with putting up a geo-fence around rival outlets.

 

 

A Ray of Light for The Future of Print News. The Time Spent Apocalypse?

Sometimes, the common wisdom, is wrong.

For years, media prognosticators have cited the vast disparity in time spent on print, and ad dollars spent on print, as a sign of the ongoing apocalypse in print.  For example, see Mark Meeker’s analysis which shows print with 7% of the time and 25% of the ad spend. Let’s call this the the “Time Spent Apocalypse.”

disparity-time-spent-ad-vs-medium-2011 (1)

There is some directional truth in this logic, echoed by many other forecasters.  However, this argument ignores the fact the readers tend to concentrate on print, and spend much time grazing other media — surfing the web, half watching the TV set, poking at their mobile devices in meetings.  New findings released from McKinsey look across client and other proprietary research and come to a vastly different conclusion with regards to news media.

While digital media are now 52% of time spent overall with media, this shrinks to 8% for times spend on news.  For print, in particular, the time spent overall is 5%, but for news increases seven-fold to 35%, as shown in the chart below, in red.

mckinsey time spend2

So with print having 25% of the ad spend, and 35% of the time spent, maybe the print advertising correction has gone too far?  That might be wishful thinking for print fans.  Of course, a better comparison would be with the percent of ad spend in news media.  This would probably show more balance, and if you have this data available, send to me and I will add it.

The McKinsey data is the best counter I’ve seen to the Time Spent Apocalypse.  Print continues to have an essential role in conveying information in any depth, particularly the news, and especially the news behind the news, and most especially the news behind the news for people who make the news.

Thanks to Rick Edmonds at Poynter for his post on McKinsey principal Michael Lamb’s presentation at the INMA World Congress.

 

Magazines from Time Inc. and Conde Nast make content shoppable with 72Lux

 

beauty_finder_hires

From the MPA:  The Association of Magazine Media, published 5/13/13, by fbell@magazine.org

Readers look to magazines to be informed, inspired, for entertainment, and—let’s be honest—to find stuff to buy. Enter 72Lux, whose tagline is “Transforming Publishers into Retailers.” 72Lux‘s technology, Shoppable, allows digital publishers to sell products directly from within their editorial. Moreover, 72Lux has established relationships with over a hundred retailers in the apparel, beauty and consumer packaged goods industries, and has recently started moving into home, electronics and books. For any new publisher that starts working with the company, 72Lux handles all of the relationships and manages the technical integration with the retailers.

Heather Marie headshotHeather Marie, co-founder and CEO of 72Lux, was on the founding team of a digital media company called Affinity Labs directly before founding 72Lux almost three years ago. “Our biggest challenge is handling the demand. As soon as we brought our technology to market and everyone saw what it could actually do, we’ve had so much interest.” Marie, who runs a team of 10 people, estimates that 30% of their business is working with Magazine Media brands. “Publishers are increasingly enabling integrated, shoppable content because they’re seeing that it’s great for the consumer. Historically, publishers have been driving so much demand for products and not getting the credit for it, so [our technology] is something that is very obvious and easy for publishers to leverage as they begin launching their commerce initiatives.”

Several studies have shown that consumers want to buy the products that they’re reading about in magazines, but because products are often difficult to track down and buy, the demand is often left unsatisfied. It’s frustrating to the user and there is a lot of value in that placement to the advertiser and the publisher. “There is still some concern left about making sure that the content maintains editorial integrity,” said Marie. “We’re challenged with integrating the technology in a way that shows that we’re not changing editorial strategy; we’re just launching new functionality.”

Years ago, the strict separation between church and state made the idea of making content shoppable nearly impossible, acknowledged Marie. As a result, initial strategies revolved around setting up dedicated online stores on magazine websites. But the evolution of digital media makes those sentiments more fluid. “It’s not really a matter of consumers being concerned if a publisher is recommending a handbag for a particular reason. If consumers like a product, we shouldn’t make it hard for them to buy it.”

This year 72Lux added Teen Vogue (who plans to unveil their e-commerce addition in July) and Essence to their growing roster of publishers. Dawnie Walton, Deputy Managing Editor at Essence, oversees the editorial content strategy for digital at the magazine and helped spearhead the partnership with 72Lux. Still in its infancy, Beauty Matchmaker, a product finder customized for the beauty needs of Black women, launched a few weeks ago on Essence.com with initial promotion mainly via their online channels, with upcoming print promotion slated for their June issue. “Our challenge was a good one,” says Walton. “It was very early on, in trying to conceive of everything that the reader would want. We wanted to make sure that when most of our readers encountered [Beauty Matchmaker] they could find something that works for them. This tool is going to continue to grow, we’re going to continue to add recommendations and try to update it seasonally, so that is something that is always going to be a challenge that we’re faced with: making it as robust as possible.”

The technology is not restrictive, giving publishers the ability to incorporate it into their websites as well as within their tablet editions. “Essentially,” said Marie, “99% of publishers out there are looking to add e-commerce, the majority of them by the end of this year. It’s a really big goal.”

The Rebirth of U.S. News and World Report…The Numbers…

usnewsHow do you remake an 80-year old money-losing magazine?

Take a look at U.S. News & World Report.

From almost 80 years as the #3 newsweekly, with right-of-center politics, and slipping into losses 2006 to 2008.  Peak circulation was 2.5 million.

To today:  Just the rankings

  • Revenue over $40 million, several million in profit in 2012, and possibly $10 million in 2013.
  • 20 million monthly unique visitors.
  • 130 journalists, staffers and producers. There are an additional 40 or so employees on the business side.
  • Revenue mix —
    • 20% from search for cars, hospitals, etc.
    • 30% online display advertising
    • 15% licensing the U.S. News “best of” badge
    • 35% from a hodgepodge of joint ventures, partnerships and digital products, including its Compass search engine that helps customers explore in detail a college or a hospital, an online store with e-books on the rankings, conferences such as the upcoming “Hospital of Tomorrow” conference.

Read more from the Washington Post.

Entrepreneurs Roundtable Graduates 10 Promising New Ventures

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Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator has graduated its fourth and largest class. Startups in the ERA IV program receive a $40,000 investment, access to nearly 200 mentors, free and subsidized services, and three months of office space at ERA new office in Manhattan.  ERA grads have solid success rates for follow-on funding: nine out of ten from ERA’s first class raised follow on funding, and subsequent classes are on track for about the same.  ERA’s portfolio of 40 companies is worth an estimated $150 million today.

Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator Spring 2013 Graduates:

1. Acquaintable

acquaintable

Acquaintable is a new and clever online dating service to meet friends-of-friends, bringing the social graph to online dating.  If you indicate you like someone, and he/she does the same,  Acquaintable makes the connection. Fifteen percent of beta users returned daily.  I asked 15 friends over 40 if they would use this if they were single and in college, and they all said “you bet!”

2. Cognical

cognical

Cognical offers a service for lenders, providing an algorithm-based underwriting engine to helps lenders identify the loan applicants that will pay them back.

3. Consignd

consigned

Consignd provides a way for anyone, particular popular Pinterest users and bloggers, to set up their own eCommerce site.  Influencers with large followings can create their own storefronts and recommend other people’s products in exchange for 25 percent of any sales.

4. EasyPairings

easy pairings

EasyPairings helps restaurants hire new staff quickly, automating much of the process of finding active job seekers with the necessary qualifications.

monaeo5. Monaeo

Monaeo incorporates geolocation into tax preparation, and provides audit-worthy tracking of location to minimize taxes for mobile executives and rich folk.

6. Startist

startist

Startist brings creative people together to collaborate on projects ranging from film and the arts to games and technology by allowing the showcasing and discovery of work.

7. Suitey

suitey

Suitey plans to disrupt the residential real estate broker business. It combines the best of online real estate services and brokers, and saves money for home buyers.

8. TheSquareFoot
thesquarefoot

TheSquareFoot enables commercial real estate prospective tenants to search for executive suites, industrial, retail and office spaces.  Launched in Houston, TheSquareFoot has 75% of the market online, and moving into Dallas next.

9. Trendalytics

trendalytics

Trendalytics crunches the social web and provides insights on fashion trends.  Ideal for fashion retailers, manufacturers, and fashionistas.

10. VocalizeMobile

vocalize

VocalizeMobile hooks small businesses with a free service to manage their online ratings, then helps them with a suite of marketing tools to improve their web and mobile presence  across online directories like Google Places, Yahoo Local, Yelp, Mapquest and YellowPages.

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New York Angels is the Most Active Angel Group in the USA in 2012

Most Active Angel Groups 2012

New York Angels is the most active angel group in the USA according to the Halo Group’s 2012 Year in Review, based on number of investments.

Source:  The Halo Group, 2012 Year in Review

Ultra Light Startups, May 9, 2013

Jason KleinBrad HarrisonRahul GandhiBrian Cohen

Join us at Ultra Light Startups:

Thursday, May 9, 2013 from 6:30 PM to 8:30 

Microsoft, 1290 6th Ave, New YorkNY 10104

sign up at http://ultralightstartups.eventbrite.com/

Investor Panelists

Agenda

  • 6:30pm – Pizza, networking and introductions
  • 6:45pm – 8 startup pitches; investor panel provides actionable advice following each pitch
  • 8:15pm – The audience votes for the best startup; winners announced and prizes awarded
  • 8:30pm – Drinks at nearby location

Objectives

  • To help early stage startups refine their investor pitch
  • To provide actionable advice and feedback for each presenting startup
  • To provide insight on how investors evaluate startups and pitches
  • To award prizes to the most viable startups, based on audience voting

Hosts

Introducing Luminoso

LuminisoIntroducing Luminoso, a new text analytics engine that understands what people are saying, based on the way we understand each other. 

Developed by MIT Media Lab alumni, Luminoso’s software is built on a structural foundation of common-sense reasoning. Because it contains a massive body of cognitive understanding, Luminoso identifies the nuances and colorations of meaning in any written text.

It connects the dots and draws out patterns and associations not possible before, because it grasps the conceptual meaning of language. The name Luminoso is a musical term meaning “to play clearly, brightly, scintillatingly.”
Luminoso team
From Mashable:

Catherine Havasi, Luminoso’s co-founder and CEO (pictured, third from right), says the company’s technology is based on 14 years of research at MIT that applies artificial intelligence, probability and a database of 17 million facts (many taken from Wikipedia) to appropriate common sense knowledge to text mining.

Such nuggets have prompted the likes of Mars, BP and GlaxoSmithKline to sign on for Luminoso’s services. The startup also received $1.5 million in funding last December led by Boston-based angel investor George Kassabgi, who believes the company’s technology is “a giant breakthrough.”

The company has two revenue streams — for its dashboard-based services including its own consulting and for its API, which is now available to developers. The API is in private beta; the firm claims there are more than 500 developers on its waiting list.

Luminoso has been successful in convincing some top companies — who pay in the five figures for its services — that it has built a better linguistic mousetrap. Partially this is because of the rigor that Luminoso has applied to its searches. Havasi says that YouTube comments are often richer sources than Twitter, and “don’t get me started on mommy blogs.”

The technology’s efficacy has let Luminoso exist without funding since 2009. The company has also attracted MIT Media Lab alums Jason Alonso and Rob Speer as well as Kenneth Arnold, a doctoral candidate at Harvard.

Luminoso’s free launch webinar is on Tuesday, April 16th, 2 PM EDT.

Registration URL: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7195588171277305600
Webinar ID: 135-448-403

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