iAd II
Posted: April 29, 2010 Filed under: News, The Business of News | Tags: Apple, iAd, internet advertising Leave a comment »This is a follow up on my previous iAd post – according to Mashable, Apple is keeping the iAd platform close to its vest, which is no big surprise. However, there is talk of minimum $1 million buy-ins for the launch. This kind of dough basically eliminates small, mid-size, and some of the larger publishers from participation. I’m not sure where this is going, but the up-and -coming web publishers who are really innovating are basically being left out in the cold.
While I do not like the idea of pricing out the small guys, there is a silver lining here. A move like this clearly shows the premium Apple is willing to charge for their platform, and anything that helps boost online ad rates is desperately needed.
Things Are Looking Up Again?
Posted: April 26, 2010 Filed under: News, Outdoor Recreation | Tags: financials, first quarter, News, outdoor industry 1 Comment »After reading Sports Executive Weekly and The B.O.S.S. Report this week, I was left with a long-forgotten feeling – optimism. Things are actually starting to look good for the outdoor and active lifestyle industry. After nearly a year of bad news coming from the publicly-traded companies, the first quarter of 2010 was pretty strong. Here’s a brief run-down:
- Columbia Sportswear: sales up 10.5%; profits up 33.8%
- Mountain Hardwear sales up 10.3%
- Rocky Shoes & Boots: sales up 12.0% net loss cut in half
- LaCrosse Footwear: sales up 32%; $1.7 million in profits vs. a loss last year
- Deckers: Sales up 16.1%; profits up 46.8%
- Teva sales up 21.3%
- Ugg sales up 14.2%
- Ahnu, Simple & Tsubo sales up 15.3% collectively
- Wolverine World Wide (Merrell, Wolverine, Cushe, Patagonia Footwear, Chaco & others): sales up 11.6%; profits up 162.0%
There are still more folks scheduled to report over the next few weeks, but the first week of earnings season is looking pretty darn good for the outdoor industry. We’ll have more results next week.
iAd
Posted: April 19, 2010 Filed under: News, The Business of News | Tags: Apple, iAd, Mac, publishing 2 Comments »
Apple announced their new iAd platform this weekend and on the surface it appears to be a great opportunity for publishers. First, it offers an alternative to Google AdWords – which many publishers blame for the rapid race to the bottom in internet ad pricing.
iAd works a bit differently than AdWords though. The platform is purely based on in-App advertising. This is also a good thing for publishers. It allows for hybrid business models – supported by a combination of subscriber revenues and advertising.
Basically, now publishers can offer iPad, Iphone and Ipod Touch subscribers a $19.99 App (or any price – renewed annually) and also serve targeted adds through that App.
The real caveat comes from the “targeted” part of the platform. Apple is keeping control of all “device data.” Yes, publishers will be given certain data from Apple, but it is still unclear how much data. In today’s market advertisers want to know everything about their online ad placements – from click through rates to demographics to the type of beer your readers order.
Don’t get me wrong – the very existence of this platform is a huge step forward. By using a combination of subscription fees (via apps) and advertising publishers can service their readers and their advertisers much more efficiently.
In the end, iAd is a new business model and with any change like this there is a lot of uncertainty. The last time a major change came to the publishing industry, we ended up trading print dollars for digital pennies. From what I have read so far, iAd should reverse this trend and may be a more sustainable business model for print and web publishers alike.
