Multitasking TV Viewers Typify The Voracious Media Consumer

When was the last time you sat around the television with no laptop, tablet or smartphone in sight? Meet multitasking television viewers — the shrewdest audience in marketing.

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How Big An Obstacle Is The Star Tribune’s Paywall?

If the Strib and other newspapers would’ve had the foresight to charge for online editions when they first launched, we wouldn’t think twice about paying in 2011. But as it stands, new paywalls feel like a takeaway.

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The End Of Newspapers Is Closer Than You Think

If present trends continue, the newspaper business will die before my 11-year-old daughter graduates from college.

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The Vogue September Issue: By The Numbers

In the world of fashion, September is the one month when thicker is better.

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Cutting The Cable

Add cable and satellite TV to the list of old media that are getting hammered by the Internet. The nation’s six largest cable and satellite providers lost almost 600,000 subscribers in the second quarter of this year, the largest quarterly decline in history, according to Bloomberg News. Some of the loss can be explained by [...]

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Jukebox Journalism

America’s newspaper companies just reported their second-quarter results, and the news was bad — again. Gannett, McClatchy, the New York Times, the Washington Post — all saw print advertising shrink by 6 percent to 10 percent from the same time last year. Iowa-based Lee is on the verge of bankruptcy. In some cases (e.g., the [...]

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Newspapers Should Get Out Of The Opinion Business

Newspapers should ditch opinions altogether and focus on what truly sets them apart in their markets – solid local reporting, news analysis and in-depth investigations. Focus on quality. Cover local news, business, arts and sports better than anyone.

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Newspapers Are Toast

One of the most interesting analysts of the news business is Alan Mutter, who blogs as the Newsosaur. I’ve used research turned up by Mutter in several of my regular marketing columns for MinnPost.com. His latest post is not completely surprising, given the events of the last few years, but it’s eye-opening nonetheless.  ”The stubborn refusal [...]

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Ducks And Coverage

Patch.com is growing fast. The hyperlocal news sites, owned by AOL, now number 23 in Minnesota – all of them in the Twin Cities and suburbs, except for an outpost in Northfield. That’s more than double the number that were operating just six months ago. Don’t know what Patch is? It’s basically a small-town newspaper [...]

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New ESPN Tell-All: Sordid Tales From The Frat-Boy Deep

A new book will reveal the rise of a successful sports network, complete with explicit stories of sex, drugs and knock-down, drag-out fights. Will ESPN respond to this PR blow?

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