Launch Group

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Google CEO Worried About Decline of Investigative Reporting

NEW YORK - The declining state of investigative reporting in American newspapers and other traditional media worries Google CEO Eric Schmidt. In his stage appearance at the recent Ad Age Madison & Vine conference, he surprised many with his lament that investigative journalism was fading along with the newspaper industry that once championed it. See the article from Ad Age here.
Watch the Video here.

Labels: Media Entertainment and Technology

Monday, July 14, 2008

Advertisers Push Publishers to Cross Editorial-Advertising Line

Editors, publishers and media buyers claim that advertisers are increasingly pressuring magazines to blur the lines between advertising and editorial with ever-more brazen requests. And publishers, desperate for ad pages, are finding it difficult to say no, writes Mediaweek.

Recent examples of the blurring of the line include Harper's Bazaar's recent decision to give over 40 pages of its editorial in its July issue to a new Estee Lauder perfume campaign. "Our editors are given the freedom to cover the subjects that they believe will most interest the reader. In this case, Estee Lauder was working with four women who frequently appear in the pages of the magazine," says a Harper's Bazaar spokesperson. Read the full article here.

Labels: Media Entertainment and Technology

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Australia's Emissions Trading Scheme: An Opportunity

Speech by BCA President Greig Gailey to the Committee for Economic Development of Australia

The introduction of a national emissions trading scheme is the single most important policy decision the Rudd Government will make before the next election.

The introduction of an Australian emissions trading scheme and a price on carbon will affect business, industry and households in ways that many of us are yet to fully understand.

The right design will allow Australia to contribute to reducing global emissions in a manner that does not lead to excessive costs to our domestic economy.

Getting the policy right requires balancing often competing but interdependent demands. This includes fostering economic growth while cutting emissions, providing assistance to households and industries adversely affected, and aligning Australia’s strategies with global action.

To download the speech, visit this link:
SPEECH AUSTRALIA'S EMISSIONS TRADING SCHEME - AN OPPORTUNITY
Keynote address to CEDA
Shangri-La Hotel, Cumberland Street
Sydney, Greig Gailey, President, Business Council of Australia

Labels: Business and Finance, Green Watch

Poking Holes In The Long Tail Theory

Just because the Internet makes it possible to offer a near-infinite inventory of goods for sale does not mean that consumers will start wanting more obscure items in any great numbers. That is the conclusion Harvard Business School associate professor Anita Elberse comes to in a recent article in the Harvard Business Review that takes on some of the sacred cows of the Long Tail theory.

The Long Tail is Wired editor Chris Andersons theory (based on an article and resulting book of the same name) that as it becomes easier to distribute a wider variety of items, consumers will venture down the long tail of the distribution curve and find the products that exactly match their interests and idiosyncratic needs. Elberse questions this notion:

Is most of the business in the long tail being generated by a bunch of iconoclasts determined to march to different drummers? The answer is a definite no. Read the full article from tech crunch here.

Labels: Media Entertainment and Technology

China Licenses Online-Video Site

BEIJING -- Chinese online-video site Youku.com said it has received a long-awaited license from China's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, in a sign that China's government may not take as tough a line on privately owned online-video companies as some had feared.

Youku's license, announced Wednesday, makes it the first of China's most popular YouTube-like video-sharing sites -- including Tudou.com and 56.com
-- to be approved by the administration, known as Sarft, following new regulations for the industry that it announced late last year. Those rules said government wanted online-video sites to be owned or controlled by government companies.

The regulator later said existing private companies also could be approved, but it has been unclear exactly how that policy would be carried out. As a result, Youku and scores of other Web sites that provide online-video services were scrambling for months to clean up their sites and win Sarft approval.

"I think for Sarft, they were reviewing video-sharing Web sites like ourselves, and this proves that they're comfortable that we can abide to content and procedures they feel comfortable with," Youku Chief Executive Victor Koo said in an interview. Read the full article by Loretta Chao here.

Labels: China, Media Entertainment and Technology