Overheard at FPS

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 17:25:47 -0500

[EDITOR’S NOTE: The following quotes are from various sessions during Day One of the 2008 FOLIO: Publishing Summit. We’ll add to this list throughout the day.]

“No one’s reading the magazine on the Web.”
—Dana Spain-Smith, COO, DLG Media Holdings, on the tired practice of replicating articles online.

“I’m trying to eradicate the word ‘hope.’”
—Michael T. Carr, president, Niche Media, on motivating his sales team to succeed.

“The company was founded on the social construct of Dad at work, Mom at home, Chevy in the driveway—clearly, we needed to change.”
—Jack Griffin, president, Meredith

"I'd tell people it was for hot young women and the men who can afford them. That was the mission statement."
—Carr on the launch of Vegas magazine.

"Every single company we've bought [had] underperformed badly."
—Frank Anton, CEO, Hanley Wood, on the state of the companies acquired by Hanley Wood before being acquired.

"To grow a business, you have to take risks, and you have to fail."
—Anton on his business philosophy.

"Since 2000, the business-to-business media has not grown at all. Not at all."
—Anton, setting up an inspiring luncheon keynote.

"This sounds like heresy, but I don't think there's going to be many magazines left. It's not going to happen in my business career time, but I think it will happen."
—Gloria Adams, senior VP audience, development, Pennwell, on her opinion of print-magazine life expectancy.

"It's not about your Web site, it's about things going on around your Web site—people linking to it, talking about you badly ..."
—Chrisitine Oldenbrook, director of marketing and emedia, Bobit Business Media

"I think at some point there will be people who don't make the cut. It's hard to make those cultural changes."
—Oldenbrook on salespeople's ability to sell e-media.

"If you have a Web 1.0 site, you probably need to redesign it."
—Janet Ludwig, president, Allured Publishing

"We talk to women the way they speak to themselves."
—Tina Johnson, editor-in-chief, Women's Health, on the voice of the magazine.

"Oh, no. Not the p-word again."
—Chris Peacock, editor and vice president of CNNMoney.com, on the overuse
of the word 'platform.'

"YouTube has lowered the standard for everyone."
—Kaitlin Quistgaard, editor-in-chief, Yoga Journal, on the obstacles of
producing high-quality video content for the Web.

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Murdoch’s Plans to Make WSJ.com Free, Rival The Times

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 03:00:00 -0500

News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch announced this week that he intends to make access to The Wall Street Journal's Web site free-a move he believes will attract "large numbers" of big-spending advertisers.

"We expect to make that free, and instead of having one million [subscribers], having at least 10 million-15 million in every corner of the earth," Murdoch said.

News Corp. has signed an agreement to acquire Dow Jones & Co., and the deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter. A special shareholders meeting is scheduled for Dec. 13 in New York.

WSJ.com currently has about one million subscribers and generates about $50 million in annual user fees.

This move could be seen as the first step in setting up The Wall Street Journal as a direct rival to The New York Times, which is a major goal of Murdoch's, according to observers.

"Murdoch will do anything to take market share away from the Times. He has gotten farther than anybody else and can afford to undercut anybody else," Martin Dunn, deputy publisher of the Daily News, told Crain's New York Business back in August. "Anyone who thinks he will play by Marquess of Queensbury rules is living in a cloud-cuckoo-land."

The New York Times also opened up access to portions of its Web site. In September, the Times announced that it would stop charging its readers for access to its online subscription program TimesSelect as well as the majority of its archives.

Other weapons that could be used by the Journal to compete with the Times could include steep reductions in ad rates and direct targeting of the Times' current advertisers.

Murdoch also outlined plans to compete last month at the annual Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco that included increasing the WSJ's national and international coverage, as well as coverage of cultural issues in order to get advertisers from venues such as movie studios.

According to the Guardian Unlimited, when asked whether Murdoch was aiming to kill the Times, he replied, "That would be nice."

For more on the viability of online newspapers like the Times and WSJ, click here.

-- Chandra Johnson-Greene

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Overheard at FPS

Murdoch’s Plans to Make WSJ.com Free, Rival The Times