Tag: eMarketing

Do Paywalls Scare Off Media Professionals?

Paywalls seem to be straightforward: users pay to gain access to content. What could be simpler? The internet, however, with its ability to infinitely copy and immediately disseminate information, quickly makes whatever lurks behind paywalls worthless. The only paywalls that have worked are those catering to niche industries or groups of people (such as financial investors) who require instant access to breaking stories in their industry.

eMarketer, a website specializing in digital intelligence reports, has just released a review of an April 2012 DigiCareers study in which U.S. digital medial professionals were polled about their feelings toward paywalls. Though a majority of them do not abide paywalls, there is evidence to suggest that attitudes toward the content-locking shcemes are becoming more accepting.

After encountering a paywall, 52% of digital media professionals immediately leave the site. 42% stick around to weigh whether the pricing is fair. Oddly, 4% of respondents “applaud the site for their business acumen.”

As for what respondents are willing to pay for, Hollywood might be winning its public relations battle in that area. While only 8% said they had paid for radio, 47% paid for movies and 35% paid for music. Of course, these percentages are still a minority, suggesting that a simple paywall scheme for entertainment content may not be the best model.

90% of survey respondents expect a “freemium” model where at least some content is free before hitting a paywall, and 63% expect no ads once they pay. Almost as many, 61%, are willing to see ads behind a paywall, as long as it lowers the paywall toll price. In what might be the most interesting news from the survey, only one-quarter of respondents said they had a negative perception of sites that use paywalls.

With so much free content available online these days, what could possibly get viewers to pay for content? The answer isn’t surprising. eMarketer cites an Accenture study that shows over one-third of viewers are willing to pay more for content that is either higher-quality or has reduced advertising attached to it. Viewers will gladly pay for new, high-quality content; they just don’t want to feel cheated. If content creators offer their products in an easy, straightforward manner, in quality as good as that available through piracy, viewers will buy it.

(via eMarketer)

May 17, 2012
BigCommerce Launches Pinterest Integration

BigCommerce, the world’s fastest growing e-commerce platform, has announced the launch of its new Pinterest integration. The company, which presently hosts roughly 25,000 clients, was established in 2009 in Sydney, and currently has offices in Austin, TX. Merchants who use the service will be able to drive sales by using Pinterest as a primary tool for generating sales traffic.

Online stores including Oh So Celeb, Koshka and ShopWineDirect are already incorporating Pinterest via the BigCommerce control panel, and Chris Iona, Senior Engineering Manager states, “Online retailers trust us to power their stores because they know our talented engineering team can implement new features faster and better than anyone else. We had a beta rollout within weeks of Pinterest proving its pulling power, and today we push to every store. Business owners can no longer ignore Pinterest, the fastest growing social site in the world. Consumers are spending nearly 100 minutes per month pinning fashion, food, crafts, and more. This type of activity lends itself perfectly to help online retailers convert sales.”

All BigCommerce vendors can now insert pin icons next to any product they offer, which likewise links to their branded pinboards:

Iona adds, “One of our core focuses at BigCommerce is to give small businesses the tools to not only sell their products, but to market them and drive more traffic. The native Pinterest integration helps achieve this.”

In related news, Pinterest is currently crowdsourcing foreign language speakers to aid in translation of the site.

May 7, 2012
Social Media Marketing Trends [Infographic]

Pagemodo has just submitted a new infographic on the results of a recent survey on the marketing benefits afforded by social media networking:

Of all the businesses queried, 90% say that they use social media for marketing, and 93% of that claim that it’s beneficial to their commerce. Interestingly, only 43% of marketers see an actual rise in sales, and 83% say that social networking helps with brand exposure. Fifty-six perrcent of those surveyed pointed out that platforms like Facebook have improved and expanded upon business partnerships, and 91% say that higher traffic can be achieved once an online storefront gets the hang of marketing in a social media environment. More experienced users spend more time marketing in social media – beginners spend an average of 1-5 hours a week, while those with 3 or more years of experience spend roughly 16 hours a week.

Between 2009 and 2011, Facebook has risen in popularity by 15%, while LinkedIn lost 7%. Twitter went relatively unchanged, and MySpace and Groupon are no longer relevant for marketing, according to the survey. Video marketing is likewise gaining momentum, as 77% of businesses surveyed plan to increase their utilization of YouTube this year.

Hat tip to Pagemodo.

May 1, 2012
Blinkx Misses Sales Predictions

Video index and advertising firm blinkx is rapidly expanding, though failed to meet analysts’ projections, according to their report. blinkx, based in San Francisco and London, reported a 12-month revenue of $114 million, less than the $121.5 million analysts had predicted. Still, this is a 72% increase from a year ago.

blinkx CEO Suranga Chandratillake states, ”Whilst it is disappointing to deliver revenues a little below expectations it is worth noting that in a challenging economic climate, blinkx outperformed the aggressive growth of the online video advertising industry by over 80 percent.”

With online video benefitting from more professional content, as well as making the jump form the desktop to the living room entertainment center, blinkx appears to be in a good position – the platform carries over 35 million hours of searchable video coming from 720 media partners, and the site exceeded 100 million unique users in January. The company expects an operating profit of $10.3 million, but $1.3 million in actual profit.

According to eMarketer, digitial video advertising sales will grow over twice as fast as that of the overall online market through the end of the year. Video is expected to bring in $3.12 billion in 2012 and $9.3 billion by 2016.

The latest reports on the state of online advertising are on par with a study from April of last year, concerning more marketing budgets turning to online video.

April 10, 2012