EyeView's Blog

The iPad and the Future of Print Media

The announcement this week of the iPad brings with it some mouthwatering possibilities for the further advancement of online video and video advertising in traditional print media.

The iPad is more portable than even the simplest notepad computer. It's a leisure device first and foremost, not a work tool. I think we will finally see streaming video move out of the home office and into the leisure experience. Browsing on the couch or in bed means that users coming across video will relate to it in a different way.

The iPad might introduce video advertising into leisure time as early adopters flick through apps while sipping on their coffee and eating breakfast. It just looks like a more accessible tool than a formal laptop.

Part of the iPad’s strategy is to take on Amazon’s Kindle and other ereaders. With a comprehensive range of books and periodicals for sale from iTunes, there is a perfect opportunity to subsidize the cost to the reader of a magazine or newspaper subscription with the insertion of targeted video ads or at the very least video sidebars with extra information about a story and links to other upselling opportunities.

It’s not that these possibilities don’t already exist, it’s that the iPad is the first device in a long time with a good shot at changing the way we consume print media.

I’ve never been an Apple evangelist, but the thought of having all my magazine and newspaper subscriptions waiting for me in easy to browse apps makes this a very tempting proposition.

Am I overstating the fact? I’d love to hear what you think.

Chris Anderson, Malcolm Gladwell, Seth Godin And Me

Chris Anderson started it. Not content with being the inspiration for a million tedious PowerPoint slides with his concept/article/book The Long Tail, Mr. Anderson has turned another of his coffee-break notions into a best-selling book.

The book is titled Free: The Future Of A Radical Price. I haven’t read it yet although it’s on order from Amazon (at the not-radical price of $not-free). Based on the wealth of information surrounding the book’s launch, Anderson seems to be making the point that you can make a lot of money in business by giving things away for free. It’s an interesting hypothesis and I’m looking forward to all 288 pages of explanation and qualification.

In the meantime, Malcolm Gladwell reviewed the book for The New Yorker and laid into Anderson and his idea. Gladwell was particularly upset over Anderson’s vision for the future of journalism, hardly surprising given Gladwell’s (and, to be fair, Anderson’s) primary source of income.

Then Seth Godin weighed in with a post titled simply “Malcolm is Wrong” and it all kicked off.

For my part the whole argument is kind of academic although I can’t help noticing that none of the people arguing whether or not ‘things’ should be free actually make ‘things’ (ideas and opinions are not 'things' and the market for them has always been volatile). The discussion of whether or not the output of serious journalistic endeavors should be free is entirely spurious. The business of newspapers has never been news. The business of newspapers is selling advertising. A competitive market that drives down the price point for subscription all the way to free in order to sell more advertising is not in the slightest bit radical (sorry, Mr. Anderson) or even unusual. It’s business.

It strikes me reading Gladwell’s petulant review that he doesn’t understand the business he's in. No wonder he’s so upset.

One of the joys of working with EyeView’s broad range of customers is that each of them comes to us with a clear understanding of their business. They know exactly what income streams are important and they build their business models to support them.

Once the hoo-hah dies down, and the debate over Free has subsided, our customers will still be looking for new ways to boost conversion and increase revenue. If that means giving stuff away for free, so be it, but that’s just one weapon in the marketer’s arsenal and hardly a revolutionary one.

Do you understand your business and do you think the idea of free is radical?