Printcasting 0501 2009

Agenda Part 1: Printcasting! What is it? Target users How it works How newspapers can benefit Demo Partnerships Lessons Learned Part 2: Social Media in Bakersfield The context for Printcasting

What is Printcasting? Knight News Challenge project that will democratize print publishing process. $837,000 over two years. Grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Three phases, now in phase 2. First site (Bakersfield) launched in March. Additional cities starting this summer.

The Knight News Challenge About the Knight News Challenge Every year, the Knight Foundation gives $5 million away to innovative local news & information projects. You could be next! Learn more at http://newschallenge.org The next round of winners will be announced soon. Open source requirement Encourages broad adoption. Great for grantees too, as it encourages ongoing co-development of the tools. The users of the tools can then focus more on their core businesses.

The Bakersfield Californian Locally focused newspaper Independently owned for 140 years. 110 years in one family Not part of a large media chain The only paper of its size in Bakersfield (60,000 daily circ., 277,000 readers weekly) Publisher Ginger Moorhouse Innovative leader who lets innovation happen Thinks ahead by 5-10 years

Two Key Objectives Let anyone create a printable magazine. No software, design skills or content needed. Make print advertising easy, fun and more affordable. If you can e-mail or post to a blog, and you have a credit card, you can place print ads.

Printcasting lets you make this:

It’s Easy, and it’s Free All of these examples were created online with Printcasting in 3 minutes. We didn’t need a page designer, copy editor, or even writers for the content. We just filled in a few forms and clicked a few buttons, and the Web did the rest.

Why Print, and Why Now? Top questions from digital media people: “ Why are you investing so much in print when the printed newspaper is dying?” “ Why are you focusing on print, which is expensive, inefficient and not very environmentally friendly.” “ The web is the future. Why are you focusing on the medium of the past?”

Reason 1: Audience & Revenue Bakersfield’s social nets with print components are effective On just 8 sites, we have 53,000 user profiles (20% of Bakersfield) with 3,618 blogs and 34,178 posts. 2008 analysis showed that niche products reach 100,000 adults in Kern County. Audience doubled year over year! Most revenue comes from print ads in magazines with user-contributed content. Online-only brands struggle to make as much money as those with print. Is the future of local media digital + print hybrids?

2008 Analysis All Californian products reach 328,234 of Kern County adults (pop 661,000) Core Products reached 297,536 (down 9,930 adults), but … Niche Products reached 100,853 Kern adults (up 11,259 adults!) Remember, most of these niche products did not exist before 2004! This data is a year old, and we suspect the spread is even greater now Scarborough Research 2007 R1 & 2008 R1

Ad Rate Comparison Month-long Web site banner ad: $0.38 / thousand (industry average) Biweekly Magazine full-page ad: $20 / thousand (open rate) Remember, the exact same content appears in both! But without the Web site, the content in print would not exist, and/or it would cost much more to produce, thus cutting into profits. Print and online work together as one hybrid product.

Small Business Potential Local markets are built on a strong foundation of small businesses: In Bakersfield, 65% have ad budgets under $10,000 Bakersfield Businesses TBC Customer Base Newspapers rely heavily on customers with medium to large budgets: Only 39% of Bakersfield Californian advertisers have ad budgets under $10,000

Small Business Potential We are mostly at the top of the pyramid The bottom of the pyramid is where newspapers need to be for all kinds of reasons, including: More money in aggregate, although it takes new approaches to get it. Self-serve is the most efficient. Diversity. If one flower shop goes away, there are dozens of others to replace it. If one department store goes away, we take a bath.

Reason 2: “Stuff” Matters Physical "stuff" matters to locals. Local printed products that people find at coffee shops, car washes, businesses and racks are picked up and read, assuming they’re relevant to the audience. Physical presence is key for businesses because they depend on local people to visit and buy from their stores. Even audiences that we assume dislike print (such as youth) do pick up magazines when they’re relevant to their interests. From day 1 of Bakotopia.com, both users and businesses asked us, “When will you have a print version?” This is demand-driven.

Reason 3: Relevance The perception that people are leaving print because it is print is flat-out wrong Reality: Readers prefer more relevance and choice. The Internet excels at this. Thus, it follows that when you increase relevance and choice in print, it can be just as compelling as content found online. Businesses prefer ads in print, and prove it by paying much more for them.

Reason 4: Efficiency Technology adds efficiency, reduces waste With Printcasting, the publisher and subscriber decide if they want to print or not. The default delivery option is online, but in a printable form . New advances in print-on-demand and digital inkjet printers create a compelling picture for on-demand, personalized and niche publishing. Niche publications don’t have to be daily. Topical interest publications require less frequency. Who wants a daily magazine about fishing, health or soccer? As daily circulations fall, weekly or monthly niche publications created by citizens could offer new revenue sources for existing newspaper content. That could help professional journalism and even save jobs.

How Printcasting Works Content comes from participating bloggers, news sites with RSS feeds. Choose feeds, layout and frequency. PDF magazines are created automatically and sent to subscribers by e-mail. Local businesses create and purchase ads online. Prices are affordable due to niche focus. Everyone gets a cut! Print and distribute publications with promise. May be a publisher, or a print provider or newspaper.

Printcasting Is Ideal For … Local communities & thought leaders E.g. Bloggers, clubs, schools, neighborhood associations. Local businesses Realtors, garden shops, bike shops who already position themselves as experts in a field. Small businesses that can’t afford standard newspaper ads. Local professional publishers (like newspapers) Publishers of newspapers and magazines can use Printcasting to create more for less, and even get paid for existing, underutilized content.

All Participants Share Revenue Right now, ads are free. (Paid ads to start soon.) Revenue will be shared with every participant 60% to publishers because they print, distribute and locally market their magazines. They can mark up ad rates to cover costs. 30% to contributors proportionate to content use, paid out every quarter. 10% to the network to cover costs (e.g. bandwidth, servers) and ongoing improvements and maintenance.

Demos Now, let’s see some videos and screen shots from the beta product. Or use the open beta at http://www.printcasting.com

Registering content Easy for bloggers. No blog? We set one up for you.

Video: Make a Printcast Let’s make a gardening magazine! Click below to play movie) Video not playing? Click here: http://vimeo.com/3369997

Video: Self-serve advertising Let’s make an ad! Click below to play movie) Video not playing? Click here: http://vimeo.com/3370015

How Newspapers Can Benefit A newspaper, or any company with content and printing expertise, can participate in many ways. Publish: Create Printcasts that use your own content, and you get to keep most of the ad revenue (60-90%). Use Others’ Content as Filler: Want to make a niche magazine, but can’t afford to pay a writer or freelancer? Pull from bloggers’ content, and still keep the majority of the ad revenue. Monetize existing content: Have great content that only appears in one magazine? If another publisher uses it, you get a portion of their ad revenue.

Partnerships, year 1 We’ll create “city hubs” for partners’ cities For example: http://cityname.printcasting.com Partner creates Printcasts for those cities to seed the market, and registers its content online Partner sets ad rates for its own Printcasts (via a markup) Partner keeps most of the revenue from its Printcasts If citizen publishers use partner content, some of that goes to the partner -- just like for any citizen publisher. Partner promotes Printcasting locally By registering its content and encouraging publishing, the partner helps its community while also helping itself. The more publishers that use the partner’s content, the more revenue it gets.

Milestones Now Pilot program in Bakersfield, California June E-commerce and ad revenue share launches Summer: Begin national rollout Open “city hubs” for 15-20 geographical areas By December, identify & assist up to 5 local partners Spring 2010: Open Source

Outreach in Bakersfield We hired a part-time marketing evangelist in Bakersfield. Reaches out to bloggers, organizations and government groups to show them Printcasting. “ Blogger brunches,” training sessions, booths at events. Meets with local clubs at college campuses and high schools Thank participants with T-shirts, mouse pads, pens and reporter notebooks. Basically all the local grass-roots stuff that only a newspaper would do!

Some Early Adopters A local writer is using Printcasts to publicize her poems and short stories. “ Weekly Passion Activator” The Kern County Library Wants to publish book reviews, event calendars and community information. Downtown Business Association Will get downtown businesses to blog their event calendars, then pull them into Printcasts that they hand out from trolleys. Political Parties Interested in using Printcasts for newsletters that share regional clubs’ content.

Early Lessons Learned People are more interested in customizing their magazines than we expected New: “Create your own header” tool We assumed most would prefer automatic, but they want to edit every edition They also want to edit the text of stories, which is tricky from a rights perspective … Professional publishers see the light, too In discussions with two newspaper companies that want to use Printcasting as an internal magazine-creation tool. Why? It lowers costs, and presents new niche revenue opportunities. Lots more early interest in partnership than we expected. The economy may be part of that.

Part 2: Social Media in Bakersfield The Context for Printcasting

Media Trends & Challenges Media fragmentation: new competition from cell phones, internet, satellite TV & radio More consumer choice & control: wide variety of sources for news and information. Media habits changing: consumers now seek convenience and customized content. Shift from mass to niche: Traditional media cannot effectively be everything to everyone. Technology has dramatically changed the media landscape. A shift from mass media to niche strategy

How many still think about “the media” Or put another way …. Dad: newspaper Kids: TV Mom: Off the radar

People “graze” through the day from different sources. And they increasingly put content back into it. The actual media landscape

Dan’s Law Less Time Fragmented market + More Choice

“A Network of Niches” We used market research to evolve from a mass media print-centric business model into a multi-media niche strategy. Leveraged our expertise in local news and unique content to produce targeted print and digital products that connect advertisers with a niche audience of desired consumers. Youth (Bakotopia) Hispanics (M ás) Parents (RaisingBakersfield) And more!

Lots of Activity Launched 11 social media sites starting in 2005. Flagship site Bakersfield.com plus niche sites for the music scene, neighborhoods, Latinos, moms, newcomers and more. The network now drives over 4 million pvs/month Activity to date (March 2009): 53,695 public profiles 34,178 blog posts from 3,618 blogs 283,269 blog comments

Same tools, different usage Bakersfield.com : Very “bloggy,” news and current events are the drivers. Bakotopia.com : Very social, with lots of profiles, tags and social networking NorthwestVoice.com : Article creation and picture sharing drive activity.

Interests help like minds connect Find other fans of ska, running, tattoos in a few clicks.

Blogs bring in content, news, fun

Band radio attracts music fans On Bakotopia, bands upload music to their user profiles, where it streams. We approve new tunes, then keep our hands off. Best stuff shows up on home page, in “Bakotunes” Podcast. In 2007, we started selling a CD compilation for $5. (Yes that’s right -- we made money on free music). Listen to Bakotopia Radio

The Northwest Voice First “citizen journalism” initiative by a U.S. newspaper Spring 2004 People write articles that are printed & home delivered. Kids’ accomplishments, recipes, local issues. While content comes from Web, most revenue is still from the printed publications. Triggered a wave of similar initiatives across U.S. http://bakersfieldvoice.com

Local Business Directory Bakersfield’s Inside Guide Provides a page / profile for every local business in town, and lets consumers rate and review based on their experiences. It’s a directory, and a social network Consumers can also become a “friend” of the local business, opening up the possibility of direct marketing to VIP customers. It is much easier to sell advertising on local business profiles than on personal profiles.

And let’s not forget the impact on day-to-day journalism

Bakosphere: Newsroom revolution Newsroom reorganized to be “web first” for everything. News department heads, now “ t eam leaders ” with groups of reporters, post reporters ’ stories to the Web in blogs as they come in. Reporters converse with readers as they blog. The readers help direct focus of the stories. Night copy editors focus on polishing headlines and other fine-tuning, rather than raw story posting.

Summary The Future is Niche One product cannot serve all interests. You need many, and your local community wants to help. The Future is Everywhere One medium cannot serve all needs. You must have a presence in every medium used by your community. Print has a role in a niche strategy (Printcasting). And … print can even be part of your digital strategy, if you let it. The Future is Now! It’s no longer a question of whether people will move to digital media. They live there. Do you?

Questions? Let me know if you have any questions, thoughts or feedback! Dan Pacheco Sr. Manager of Digital Products 001 303.465.5560 [email_address] Join our global community! http://community.printcasting.com

Printcasting 0501 2009

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Printcasting 0501 2009