Los Angeles Times Launches Free Weekly

Sam Zell’s Los Angeles Times has introduced its first stand-alone print weekly, a culture and nightlife freebie — one that was reverse-engineered from a Times website that went live last summer. The new free weekly, whose initial circulation is estimated at 100,000, was reverse-engineered from losangeles.metromix.com.

The new tabloid and the site, both called Metromix Los Angeles, represent a push by the Times to finally get its hooks into the young-adult Angelinos who rarely buy the morning paper. “This is something for the Los Angeles Times that’s really trying to reach a demo that we haven’t before,” said Rich Stepan, general manager for Metromix Los Angeles.

Metromix Los Angeles also showcases one way digital media can benefit the same print predecessors they simultaneously threaten. The site at losangeles.metromix.com helped build the Metromix brand, for example, and served as a continuous test issue of sorts for the new print concept.

“We’ve taken this out to them,” Mr. Stepan said. “From our perspective, it’s a resounding ‘We want it.”’

Where to find it
The print edition of Metromix Los Angeles will be distributed every Wednesday on local college campuses, in grocery stores and on racks throughout major Los Angeles neighborhoods. Its initial circulation is estimated at 100,000.

The Chicago Tribune, which is a Times sibling in Zell’s Tribune Co., publishes the free, daily RedEye for young commuters; RedEye was able to stave off a challenge from the Chicago Sun-Times in the form of Red Streak, now defunct.

In Los Angeles, the new entry from the Los Angeles Times will go up against L.A. Weekly, part of Village Voice Media.

The print version of Metromix Los Angeles got the green light because of newspaper publishers’ conviction that local expertise is their chief advantage over electronic channels such as Google News.

‘Hyper-local’
“We’re hyper-local,” said Deb Vankin, editor of Metromix Los Angeles. “I’ve been in the industry for about 10 years covering these things in Los Angeles. I sort of handpicked who I thought would be the experts.

“I can say with certainty that we’re in an age when the media landscape is saturated,” Ms. Vankin added. “They want not everything at once but someone to curate it for them. What’s great about Metromix is our print edition offers that, and if you want more, you can jump on the website.”

These local, youth-skewed freebies aren’t easy to get right. Last month Metro International, the Swedish publisher with free commuter dailies around the world, eliminated 27 jobs and made other cost cuts in New York, Philadelphia and Boston. An executive said the measures were part of a plan to make the U.S. operation finally profitable.

Via Advertising Age - MediaWorks

YouTubes Advertising Coming-Out Party

It used to be only television networks that could get senior advertising executives to drop their plans for an afternoon or evening to party, but now gatherings hosted by the likes of Google and Facebook are the place to be seen.

Google hosted an invitation-only event today at a three-story club space called Terminal 5 in a warehouse area on the western edge of Manhattan. Google employees mingled and ate smores with executives from some of the largest ad agencies and big-budget advertisers. Called “The YouTube Videocracy,” it was Google’s first large advertiser event, and it was choreographed to be somewhat of a lovefest for Google.

Executives from Hewlett Packard, Pepsi and General Mills met with reporters beforehand alongside Google executives and said they had made substantial commitments to running ads on YouTube.

Doug Moore, vice president of advertising and media at General Mills, said his company’s brands had always had great television ads, and that he viewed YouTube as “a natural bridge from what has always worked for us in the past to what we believe will work in the future.” Read more

Terrifying Computer Owners Part IV

Just in time for Valentine's Day, Google released a survey that shows one in three people with an email account have sent a message containing a love letter. But beware: Odds are that e-card in your inbox this morning isn?t from a secret admirer, but from Ilie the Romanian hacker.

Yes, cyber bad guys are preying on the lovelorn. So much so that the FBI earlier this week issued a warning not to open Valentine?s Day e-cards from people you don?t know. Doing so will most likely give a hacker access to all the personal information on your computer and let the hacker use your machine to send millions of spam emails.

Read more

Intel throws venture cash behind site that encourages tequila-shot contests

Something about this just makes me uneasy.

Bragster, a London-based site "for dares and social bets," announced Wednesday that it has secured $3.5 million in Series A venture cash. The funding round was led by none other than Intel Capital, the investment branch of the famed chipmaker.

The premise of the Digg-meets-Jackass-esque site is that members dare one another (or place open dares) to perform ridiculous feats, then insist on video evidence that they were completed. Bragster, co-founded by a former Morgan Stanley employee and an Amazon.com alum, provides prizes to some of the most over-the-top stunts and also sponsors contests like the "Undies at Uni Challenge," which appears to encourage college students to take their clothes off.

So what are some of the top bets and challenges on Bragster? One member has dared another to "slap someone around the face with a fish in a supermarket." O.K., I'd like to see that, however inappropriate it may be. Same thing with "dress like a Spartan and run around in the street shouting lines from the movie 300." Others, like "pour 2 mugs of boiling hot coffee on my laptop," start to make me uneasy. Call me old-fashioned, but somebody could get hurt. At least Johnny Knoxville occasionally informed his viewers that they shouldn't imitate him at home.

Then there's "I bet I can do 15 shots of tequila in 60 minutes." Um, that's called "really dangerous." I hope Bragster has good lawyers.

Earnings: DirecTV Q4 Revs Up 17 Percent; Interest Expenses Up; Latin America, HD, DVRs Provide Boost

DirecTV (NYSE: DTV) reported Q4 revenue of $4.9 billion, a 17 percent year-on-year increase from $4.18 billion. Net income declined slightly to $348 million ($.30 per share) from $356 million (.29 per share). The company attributed the top-line growth to increased subscribers, higher average revenue per user (ARPU) and better performance at its Latin America unit. Meanwhile, the FCC has still not given an official ruling on Liberty's acquisition of News Corp's stake in the company. Some highlights:

-- ARPU was up 8.3 percent in the quarter to $87.40. The company attributed this to the popularity of DVRs, HD and an increased number of receivers per household.

-- Net subscribers adds of 275,000 at DirecTV US was flat year-over-year. Total subscribers now stand at 16.83 million, 5.4 percent more than what the company had a year ago.

-- Op profit before depreciation and amortization was up 21 percent, with income lowered by higher interest expenses.

Release | Webcast (2:00 PM ET)

Snap Instant Communicator: The Web intercom

The Snap Instant Communicator is one of the weirdest little gizmos I've seen in a while. It's a push-to-talk intercom system that runs on your PC and that only works when the Snap hardware console -- which is just a few buttons, a speaker, and a microphone -- is plugged in to it.

The console has eight labeled lights for the people you talk to the most. Once you add other Snap users into your account and label their spots on your device, all you have to do is press the button next to a name, and if the other party accepts the call (by pressing the corresponding button on their device for your name, which will be blinking), you're connected in real time.

Let's be very clear: There are dozens of other ways you can connect with a co-worker for quick communication. You can call them, Skype them, or use a Nextel push-to-talk connection. You can use IM or email. You can video-call. You can yell.

But if you like the idea of being able to just push a button to start an instant hands-free voice communication with someone you work with closely, then this is the gizmo for you. As Josh says, "It's great. As long as your boss doesn't have one."

The intercom concept is ancient, and the device has a certain retro flair to it, but the Snap has modern functions. The lights next to users' names act as presence indicators. They're on when the user's PC is on and they're working, and they go off after a period of inactivity. (You can also press the Privacy button on your own device to disappear from the network.)

You can create a real-time conference call among Snap users just by pressing more users' buttons. And if you try to connect to someone who is not present, the system can automatically try a telephone line instead (U.S. calls are charged at 2 cents a minute). Or you can leave a user a voice message, which will be sent to them as an email attachment.

It looks like setup will be very easy, although our early beta units did give us trouble. To get started, you run an app from the Web, plug in the device, and invite your co-workers (or buddies). If the invitees have a Snap, you'll be connected to each others' network. If not, the person on the receiving end will get a coupon for a discount on their own device. That makes for a nice viral business model.

My biggest complaint is that there's no "soft" version of the intercom. You must have the hardware to use the network. Traveling businesspeople are not going to want to schlep their Snap gizmo with them everywhere they go. I had a disagreement with CEO Todd Smith on this. Smith said that he couldn't guarantee call quality on laptop speakers, and that his business is based on selling hardware. He suggested that users will take the intercom with them. "But it's too big," I complained. "And you've weighted it to make it seem more substantial." "No, we didn't." Smith said. Meanwhile, the VP of engineering, who was sitting behind him, was looking at me and nodding his head. At any rate, I think I got Smith to relent, and he is considering a software version of the product for traveling users.

The Snap Communicator will be officially announced in March and should hit retail stores in April. It will initially sell for $99 in two-packs. It's PC-only and is clearly not for everyone, but I think it will find a following.

Yahoo Layoffs Begin; Media Group Numbers

From our sources within the company: The expected layoffs have started at Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO), with as many as 100 expected from the Media Group, including those based in the Santa Monica offices, and elsewhere. We're in the process of confirming names. According to someone mid-level who has been laid off: "It is like a morgue in here." By the way, the technical term is RIF, as in Reduction in Force; CEO Jerry Yang called it a "strategic workforce realignment" during the earnings call late last month.

Staci adds: This is how fluid the information is ... I'm told now the number for the Media Group will be about 50. That's lower than it probably would have been had other actions like the dismantling of the Brand Universe group (some reassigned, some laid off) not already been taken in the last few months.

Among those affected: our friend Susan Mernit, senior director, product, Personals, and Patrick Houston, VP- Content & Programming, Lifestyles. We'll add to this list as we confirm.

More to come.

Harvard Research Studies May Go Open Access

The Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences is voting today on a proposal for the university to distribute their research studies online instead of signing exclusive agreements with journals that often have small readerships but high subscription costs. Should the measure be approved, research from the arts and sciences faculty will be made available online via the Office for Scholarly Communications at no cost to readers and may open the door for Harvard Medical School to go open access as well. Currently, the school is trying to get faculty to comply with Congress' recently passed mandate requiring National Institutes of Health articles be made freely available through the National Library of Medicine's PubMed Central database. So far, many of the faculty members support the open access movement, as it provides free education for all those eager to learn. Robert Darnton, the Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor and director of the University Library, contends in The Harvard Crimson today that the current, closed and costly system cuts into a library's budget for books and monographs, hurting academic publishers, which in turn hurts up and coming professors who must publish to gain tenure. Furthermore, the proposed measure allows authors to maintain their copyrights, so that if they so desired, they can still publish at subscription-required journals. This "opt-out" system enables authors to request for their research to be removed from the open access system.

The NY Times reports that the publishing industry and some scholarly groups have opposed certain forms of open access, arguing that the free distribution could erode the quality of research and cut into subsidies that some journals provide for educational training and meetings, since open access articles would not undergo the same rigorous process of peer review that published articles do. Some even fear that smaller journals might face closure, disappearing into the cracks of increased competition between open access and larger, more profitable publications. Still, open access proponents don't foresee the possible weakening of research ethics and quality, citing the availability of many physics journals as an example of education thriving in the free, online repository.

@ Sports Marketing 2.0: For Brands, Targeting Matters???But Size Still Matters More

Many conferences with "2.0" in the title invariably feature marketers venting their frustrations about their desire to target online communities, while expressing discomfort with the lack of control such sites have over members' individual comments and content. Panelists at the Sports Marketing 2.0 Summit offered their own take about dealing with big brands:

-- Pat Coyle, executive director-Digital Business, Indianapolis Colts: Despite offering tighter control than individual fan blogs devoted to sports, brands still want to know: where's the mass? Coyle spoke about advertisers' views toward the social net he's set up for the Colts: "We thought we were doing pretty well with 20,000 members, but the big brands have judged us too small."

-- David Birnbaum, founder, CEO of Takkle: The high school sports community has benefited from its partnerships with larger media companies like Time Inc.'s Sports Illustrated magazine and marketing partnerships with firms like Wasserman Media. All that, plus a wealth of data, if positioned just right, can make the demand for higher pageviews diminish. "We capture very valuable information: what kind of sports they play, their positions, the sneakers they wear, where they live. P&G wanted to created an online video contest. They could have gone to MySpace, but P&G wanted to target cheerleaders and so they came to us. They knew that they wouldn't have to do any sifting if they came to us."

-- Buck Krawczyk, VP-marketing, Powered: The Austin, TX-based tech branding firm had worked for a digital photography client. Unfortunately, the users were so excited by an online demonstration that they decided to set up a Yahoo group of their own, away from the client's ability to target consumers on their own site. "Ultimately, conversion to purchase is a high motivator. That's what our brands look for. That's why we were so disappointed when our audience went over to Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO). It just got a way for us. So our job is to keep them in the fold."

-- Ed Sullivan, CEO, Infield Parking: A Nascar social net site started by Sullivan and race car driver Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Infield Parking attracts racing fans who have more commonality as a group compared to other sports sites. Part of that is due to the overarching Southern culture that most Nascar fans are immersed in. Sullivan: "Nascar fans identify with each other, they have a chip on their shoulder. When we formed this, [Earnhardt Jr.] felt that he could do this with less risk than other drivers could and help drive mass to the site. Dale liked the control - on MySpace, he'd be taking down fake Earnhardt profiles. And that ability to create a niche within sports makes us stand out to brands. If you want Nascar, this is it."

Marketing Services Provider Lookery Raises $900K Seed Round

Lookery, a marketing solutions provider for social networking sites, has raised a seed fund of $900,000 led by Charles River Ventures, Reed Hundt and Vikas Taneja of HT Ventures, according to its blog. The company helps social networks and advertisers by disseminating demographic information such as age, sex and location--while supposedly maintaining users' anonymity--from social media sites to advertisers that seek certain audiences. Last July it launched Lookery for Facebook, a display advertising network enabling advertisers to target specific Facebook members through information garnered from the apps they use. It hopes to raise its first round funding in late April.

« Previous Page — Next Page »