Mobile presents obstacles for some media brands

By Chris Harnick

November 5, 2009

Josh Stinchcomb, publisher of Condé Nast Digital

NEW YORK – Media brands are facing challenges when it comes to creating content and attracting the right advertisers and keep up with the ever-changing digital landscape.

An ad:tech panel with representatives from brands such as Conde Nast and the A&E television network discussed their trials and tribulations with media fragmentation. Mobile presented challenges for several of the companies.

“Consumers want media when they want it, where they want it and it has to be tailored to them in a sense of ‘Don’t show me pampers ads because I have no kids,’” said Josh Stinchcomb, publisher of Condé Nast Digital, New York.

The brands, Condé Nast, Weather.com, A&E and Forbes, all said they faced challenges when tailoring content for other mediums that are not their primary form of media.

Matthew de Ganon, senior vice president of Weather.com at The Weather Channel, Atlanta, said that his company has been platform-agnostic for a very long time.

Paul Jelinek, senior vice president of digital media at A&E Television Networks, Bruce Rogers, chief brand officer at Forbes Media and Matthew de Ganon, senior vice president of Weather.com

Weather Channel’s primary challenge is coordinating with advertising on all platforms from smartphones to desktop widgets.

Mr. de Ganon said that consumers who are getting Weather Channel content from TV do not go to Weather.com to get the same content and because of that the consumers are different across its various media channels.

When a hurricane or other major storm happens that is when consumers’ eyes go from the TV to Web to get more information.

Bruce Rogers, chief brand officer at Forbes Media

Because of the difference in consumers, Mr. de Ganon said it is hard for the Weather Channel to sell coordinated or integrated ad buys.

Paul Jelinek, senior vice president of digital media at A&E Television Networks, New York said that his network has similar problems to The Weather Channel.

Mr. Jelinek said that certain programs, for example “Ice Road Truckers,” sees viewers going from TV to Web, but there is not always on air and online convergence.

A&E said that it has a hard  time aligning ads and content to really fit the consumer of different forms of media.

Mr. Stinchcomb also said that Condé Nast has that problem.

“I think we have great brands at Condé Nast that are scalable to different platforms, but a monthly magazine feature is not as relevant on the Web or in the mobile space,” Mr. Stinchcomb said.

“To be true to our brands and create great brand experience we need to create unique content, but we have to make sure there is scale to justify from a revenue standpoint,” he said.

One problem all panelists agreed on was the lack of standardization in the digital space.

To continually generate content for new media spaces, such as mobile, Mr. Stinchcomb said it will be a challenge.

Going mobile
Mr. de Ganon said mobile has had an impact on The Weather Channel from its content management system, infrastructure cost and editorial staff.

The Weather Channel receives high mobile page views and said has applications on smartphones such as the iPhone and Android. But, Mr. de Ganon said that its putting cost structure against revenue that is not quite up to par yet.

Mr. Jelinek of A&E said that his brand’s challenge is finding business directives and a product roadmap.

“Everybody creates WAP products, for most companies it’s a nice add on in the advertising package,” Mr. Jelinek said. “But to get to get traffic to WAP products, how much investment do we want to put into that?”

Bruce Rogers, chief brand officer at Forbes Media, New York, said that many marketers are asking for content, not to market on Forbes’ mobile platform but for Forbes to give content to them.

Mr. Stinchcomb said that Condé Nast makes sure its brands are relevant to hit the mobile space, he acknowledged not all of the magazine brands can find an audience on the mobile platform.

Condé Nast plans to release a GQ magazine application that is a direct replication of the December issue’s print version (see story). 
 
“Some of our brands don’t have content easily transferable to the iPhone,” Mr. Stinchcomb said. “It’s not necessary to be everywhere, only where we can deliver value to consumer and translate to add value.

“Mobile is a strategic space,” he said. “Are people going to want to consumer magazines on the iPhone? That’s unclear but it is important to sort have a toe in the water in thinking of how magazine content can be represented in digital spaces.”