Digital TimesReports | Digital Times

‘Bring your own’ to work saves money for firms

Stephen — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:49:15 +0000

You're more likely to take proper care of your laptop if it's your own

Bringing your own laptop to work has been the preserve of start-ups and SMEs for many years now. Larger organisations, scared off by possible security issues, have mainly shied away from employees using their own devices at work. However, a new report by Citrix shows that its three year old employee bring-your-own (BYO) programme is working and saving it money.
The main savings are as a result of fewer desktop support requests and incident reports, as employees worldwide buy and maintain their own work devices.
“Whilst the total number of Citrix employees has increased by 2,000, we are have made significant savings on IT,” says Martin Kelly, vice president of information technology. (No figure was given but there was an emphasis on the word significant).
Each employee who wants to ‘bring their own’ is allocated a stipend to put towards a device of their choice. Once purchased, they are required to install and maintain anti-virus software as well as purchase a three year support agreement.
Logically a worker is also likely to protect and take care of their device even more if they see it as their own.

Outdoor digital advertising worth €25m

Edward — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:11:17 +0000

The combined value of the ambient and digital out of home market in Republic of Ireland for 2011 is €24.6m. ‘Traditional’ ambient media such as trolley handles, Citybox and pub based media accounts for €21.8m of this total with digital out of home media being valued at €2.8m for 2011.
These figures are part of a 2011 market review by outdoor media firm PML. Heineken Ireland was the top advertiser on ambient in terms of display value at €2,234,029. Other major advertisers on ambient in 2011 included PepsiCo, Diageo and Mars. The top 10 advertisers on ambient media in 2011 accounted for 39% of the entire ambient market.

You can own the full report by downloading it here: FULL REPORT

RTÉ Television had 47 of the top 50 programmes of 2011

Stephen — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:53:04 +0000

RTÉ Television was responsible for 47 out of the 50 most-watched programmes on Irish television in 2011*. Interestingly, all bar two of these were home-produced.
Despite Ryan Tubridy’s much criticised stewardship of the Late Late Show, the The Late Late Toy Show in 2011 was the most watched programme on Irish television in 17 years (with over 1,528,000 viewers).
The most popular television sporting event proved to be the All Ireland Senior Football Final (Kerry vs Dublin) in September of last year (over 1,085,000 viewers).
Mrs Brown’s Boys proved to be a huge hit, with the Christmas special attracting an average audience of 952,000. The Frontline Leaders Debate in the final days before the General Election attracted an audience of 964,000 viewers making it the fourth most-watched programme in 2011.
Returning series LOVE/HATE, (recently nominated for 10 IFTAs), proved to be even more popular than the first series; its top-rating episode featured the shock killing of gangland boss John Boy played by Aidan Gillen. That episode was watched by an average audience of 659,000.

THE TOP TEN SHOWS OF 2011
1: The Late Late Toy Show
Channel: RTÉ One
Date: 02-12-2011
Audience in 000s: 1,528.8
Share of total audience: 68.77% share

2: The Eurovision Song Contest
RTÉ One
14-05-2011
1,182.7
63.50

3: The Sunday Game Live (Snr Football Final Kerry vs. Dublin)
RTÉ Two
18-09-2011
1,085.2
68.84

4: The Frontline Leader’s Debate
RTÉ One
14-02-2011
964.8
58.06

5: Mrs Brown’s Boys Christmas Special
RTÉ One
25-12-2011
951.7
49.19

6: Mrs Brown’s Boys
RTÉ One
05-02-2011
924.2
52.36

7: The Late Late Show (Eurosong Special)
RTÉ One
11-02-2011
886.1
55.67

8: The Sunday Game Live (Snr Hurl Final Kilkenny vs. Tip)
RTÉ Two
04-09-2011
847.0
63.19

9: The Rose Of Tralee
RTÉ One
23-08-2011
829.2
52.95

10: RTE News: Nine O’Clock
RTÉ One
20-03-2011
813.3
42.68

10: Prime Time Leader’s Debate
RTÉ One
22-02-2011
806.7
47.55

* Source: TAM Ireland Ltd/Nielsen TAM. Ranking is based on best episode of shows/series of 15+ minutes duration broadcast between 1 January 2011 and 30 December 2011, on any television channel, available in Ireland at any time.

Independent.ie claims to be leading Irish online news site

Edward — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 11:09:21 +0000

Independent.ie says it is now the largest online news publishing site in Ireland. The claim is based on the November 2011 comScore Media Metrix Newspaper category report.
Independent.ie is now recognised by comScore as being bigger than its nearest competitor, Irishtimes.com.
Independent.ie believes the growth is a result of a number of initiatives to drive user engagement across the site. Early last year it re-launched its commenting facility, allowing users to join in the debate on a wide range of stories and opinion pieces.
The social sharing function for each story was also enhanced, allowing people to share stories easily on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Digg and Reddit. A new video channel was also created.
“A key objective for our business in 2011 was to identify one reliable and trusted source of standard audience metrics that are widely used and recognised by agencies and online brand marketers, when making advertising investment decisions. We are delighted to work with comScore for 2012 whose metrics and the underlying Unified Digital Measurement methodology demonstrates our position as the number one online newspaper site in Ireland. It was also nice to have outpaced our competitor Irishtimes.com on this occasion,” says Ian Byrne, CEO, Independent Digital.

What to expect from tech in 2012

Stephen — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 10:22:20 +0000

New year digital media predictions are common place this time of year and Deloitte’s Technology Media & Telecommunications (TMT) Industry Group has just published its predictive report.
The top trends for the technology, media and telecoms industries include the rise of ‘big data’ globally, how online coupons might evolve in 2012 to the likely adoption of mobile payments (NFC) this year.

Predictions outlined in the report include:

The rise of the multi-tablet owner
Roughly five million tablets will be sold to people that already owned one in 2012 generating up to $2 billion in revenue. However the tablet market will diversify around size, processing power, price and operating system in 2012 as was the case with smart phones. Corporations are also likely to require tablets with greater security and ruggedness.

Billions and billions: big data becomes a big deal
Globally, interest in big data, although in its infancy is set to grow in 2012 which will see 90 per cent of Fortune 500 companies kick off a big data initiative, triggering industry revenue of between $1-1.5 billion. Internet companies have led the way with exploring big data but fast follower sectors are likely to include the public sector, financial services, retail, entertainment and media.

In Ireland the TV schedule dominates, still
For all the talk of the death of linear television, 95 per cent of all television programmes watched in 2012 will be live or within a day of the original broadcast. Even the advent of social networks has enhanced, rather than diminished, the schedule’s appeal as commentary on programmes has expanded from the living room to a community. Conventional broadcasters need to build on this power and show advertisers the advantages of the schedule.

Online coupon intermediaries: from novelty, to celebrity, to sizable niche
2011 was the year of the online coupon, and Ireland was not exempt from the gold-rush, with several Irish coupon intermediaries emerging. The challenge coupon intermediaries face is evolving their business models to a sustainable footing. Moving away from the one-off discount hunt to foster repeat business for retailers will ensure that buyers are matched to sellers in a way that benefits both. They may also need to accept lower commissions on sales of coupons – which can be as high as 50 per cent – to entice more retailers to consider using their services.

Near Field Communications (NFC) and mobile devices: payments and more
The rise in the number of the devices with embedded near-field communications technology is set to soar to the 300 million level by the end of 2013. Here in Ireland, only 10% of CIOs in Deloitte’s last CIO Survey felt mobile payments would be relevant to their organisation. 2012 may turn out to be no more than a “transitional year” for mobile payments.

So many apps – so little to download
The number of apps available surged through the one million mark in December and will double again by the end of 2012. However the proportion that is paid for remains small. Only a fifth of those that are downloaded break through the 1,000 mark and only a tiny proportion of un-promoted apps will ever become unsuccessful. The proliferation of platforms and features in mobile and tablets will pose a challenge to app developers and organisations, and we see the sophistication of apps and the associated cost of production rising.

Digital tunes outstrip physical album sales – but it’s not the end of the story

Mark — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 10:43:08 +0000

Radiohead - good in concert

It’s strange that it took until the end of 2011 for digital music sales to finally outstrip physical music sales. The end has been nigh for the majority of big brand record shops for a long time – just look at HMV’s recent figures.
CNN says that a recent Nielsen and Billboard report reveals that digital music accounted for 50.3% of music sales in 2011. Digital sales were up 8.4% from the previous year, while physical album and single sales declined 5%.
Adele’s album 21 along with its single Rolling in the Deep, were among the best-selling albums and singles in 2011. The album was the best seller in both physical and digital sales, while the single was the best selling digital song with nearly six million downloads. CDs still outsell virtual albums by a factor of two, but it’s clear what the trend is when it comes to people buying individual songs.
The rise of digital sales over physical sales is certainly not the end of the story for the music business. Songs and albums are no longer sales and promotional events, they are mainly used to sell concert tickets. Streaming services like Spotify are revolutionising the music industry and new technology, coupled with easy access to mass markets via social media channels, means artists and musicians don’t need a ‘record deal’ to reach a large audience. If the music is any good, chances are it will be shared by thousands or even millions of people via their networks.

For more on the death of the music business, read what Radiohead has to say about it.

Blippar – QR codes on steroids – augmented reality advertising

Edward — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 15:45:58 +0000

We have been watching with interest how the new print/online technology Blippar is being used by brands to advertise creatively in print while also integrating direct response marketing. Blippar is an application you need to download to your smartphone or tablet. Once it is activated you can hover the camera function over a page (usually an advert in a paper/magazine or a piece of editorial with a colour image) to play with the message, link to web pages, enter competition details there and then and other really rich and quite funky experiences. It is one of a number of augmented reality (AR) technologies available to marketing professionals.

Barry O’Sullivan is a member of Irish Internationals growing digital team. The agency recently worked with Aer Lingus to deliver a print campaign integrated with the Blippar technology. Barry approached Digital Times with the case study and some results and the details are below. It is good to see Irish agencies and Irish brands looking to use AR technologies to deliver direct response campaigns across print and online as part of an integrated campaign, and not just stand alone pieces of advertising.

At Irish International we’re always looking for fresh ways to bring our clients’ brands to life.
It’s why we love digital technologies that build on more traditional media experiences. QR codes were a good start. But we found them limiting, and they weren’t the most pleasant to look at. AR magazines were interesting, for a short while – but it didn’t make sense to hold a magazine up to a webcam: users should be able to interact with the extra content while they’re reading. It was then that we discovered Blippar. An ‘image recognition’ app that could effortlessly transform a print ad (or any still image) into a rich interactive experience, right in front of the consumers’ eyes. A piece of technology that lets you direct people to whatever content you want. Whether that’s a simple 3D animation. A source of extra information, a money-off coupon, a video, anything.
We had to try out this new technology. Our client, Aer Lingus, was already using QR codes, so we showed it how it could make them work even harder, by not using them at all. Instead we offered the user a deeper, richer experience on their journey to purchase airline tickets – through the first ever ‘augmented reality’ print ad from a travel brand. In just three days in Metro’s AR edition (a world first), our ad received over 1,000 unique Blipps. So that’s a perfectly effective press ad in its own right – which also delivered more click-throughs than we’d get from 650,000 views of an average banner ad.

So will apps like Blippar revitalise print?
Combine newspapers with smartphones, and you have a new channel that is not only engaging, but also allows you to share content with friends in ways that until now, we had only ever seen in Minority Report. And newspapers are just one application – the possibilities for adding value to outdoor media, to packaging, even to shopfronts and window displays are staggering. Below you can watch a demo that shows how the Blippable Aer Lingus ad worked. You’ll also see the full print ad. To Blipp it, just download Blippar from your app store hold your phone over the ad and discover what the Blipp everyone’s been talking about.

Below is the advert if you want to play around with the application. Just click on the image for a larger view and then hover your device’s camera over it.

Why would anyone want Yahoos’! poisoned chalice? Ask Scott Thompson

Stephen — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 14:12:00 +0000

Scott Thompson

The next chief executive of ailing web giant Yahoo! is to be eBay’s former PayPal president Scott Thompson, according to AllThingsD, the tech blog owned by the Dow Jones in New York.
Apart from the money and the chance to be a chief executive, one wonders why anyone would leave eBay (a successful and expanding web giant) to take the helm of an old digital ship that looks like it’s heading straight for some financial icebergs?
Thompson has so far had a glittering career, first at PayPal and then at eBay. He previously held senior positions at Inovat, a subsidiary of payments company Visa, and Barclays Global Investors. If there’s one thing Thompson knows, it’s how money is made and how money is spread across the web.
Yahoo!, which fired its last CEO Carol Bartz by email in September 2011, may be a dodgy looking proposition, but it become less dodgy if someone like Thompson comes on board for two simple reasons:
* Firstly, Thompson is someone who has a track record of successfully working across two companies (eBay and PayPal).
* Secondly, it’s unlikely Thompson would move to Yahoo! unless he had a strong feeling that Yahoo! will be bought by another digital giant in the near future. He will then assume a familiar role as ‘gooseberry’ between any merging companies.
The suitors so far for Yahoo! include Microsoft, Alibaba, Google and Silver Lake. Out of all these giants, Alibaba looks the most promising and Thompson would fit right in with a company that, like eBay, has transformed the way things are bought and sold across the web. Yahoo! also currently owns 40% of Alibaba.
For the third quarter of 2011, Yahoo! reported a 25% drop in profits year-on-year. Now that Thompson has joined as CEO, a sale or merger of the company with a successful digital giant looks inevitable and that’s where his future success may lie. Many market watchers believe Yahoo! is going to change its focus. It has to, to survive.

Chrome overtakes Firefox for the first time

Emma — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 12:43:41 +0000

Google’s browser Chrome overtook Firefox for the first time globally on a monthly basis in November, according to StatCounter, the website analytics company.
StatCounter Global Stats shows that Chrome took 25.69% of the worldwide market (up from 4.66% in November 2009) compared to Firefox’s 25.23%. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer still maintains a strong lead globally with 40.63%.
“We can look forward to a fascinating battle between Microsoft and Google as the pace of growth of Chrome suggests that it will become a real rival to Internet Explorer globally,” says Aodhan Cullen, CEO, StatCounter. “Our stats measure actual browser usage, not downloads, so while Chrome has been highly effective in ensuring downloads our stats show that people are actually using it to access the web also.”

The US and UK markets
In the US Internet Explorer continues to perform strongly and is maintaining market share at 50.66%, up slightly from 50.24% year on year. Firefox retains second place on 20.09%, down from 26.75%. Chrome is up to 17.3% from 10.89%. Safari is on 10.76% from 10.71%.
In the UK, Internet Explorer also leads the market with 42.82%. Chrome is on 24.82%, having overtaken Firefox (20.56%) in July.

A new era for online video

Stephen — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 15:29:11 +0000

The way people consume video is changing and changing fast. New research by Marc Gosschalk, a senior analyst with comScore, suggests 1.2 billion people worldwide watched on average 18 hours of online video each in October 2011.
Russia (43.1 million unique viewers), Germany (42.7m) and France (36.6m) lead the way in Europe in terms of audience size.
People are now also favouring quality over quantity. Inane YouTube clips are taking a back seat to quality programmes that feature on sites like the BBC iPlayer. In October the iPlayer enjoyed 4.2 million unique viewers. ITV had 4.1m, Sky 3.3m and Channel 4 2.4m.
Online video specialists are becoming good at cultivating niche, attractive audiences. The average online video viewer is 134% more likely to have a household income greater than £50K. He/she is also 190% more likely to watch videos from technology sites. Social networkers, gamers and techies of all hues roam the realm of the online video.
Partnerships between websites and social networks are developing to supplement user generated content (UGC) and bring quality videos to the international mass market. Facebook is a platform where this is happening as is YouTube.
Mobiles and connected devices like tablets are delivering online video when are where people want it. Online video is also social and publishers are leveraging the power of social media to expose their brands and get more viewers.
YouTube is still doing well. 795 million people watched an average of six hours each of YouTube videos in October (worldwide). YouTube is also at the fore of the drive to quality content creation.
The report concludes that video advertising can be engaging and effective and the market is huge “and there to be understood”.

Download FULL REPORT: OnlineVideocomScoreReport