30 April 2009
More than 60 percent of Twitter users have stopped using the micro-blogging service a month after joining, according to Nielsen Online research released recently.
‘Twitter has enjoyed a nice ride over the last few months, but it will not be able to sustain its meteoric rise without establishing a higher level of user loyalty,’ said David Martin, Nielsen Online’s vice president for primary research. More than 60 percent of Twitter users fail to return the following month – Twitter’s audience retention rate, or the percentage of a given month’s users who come back the following month, is currently about 40 percent.
Martin said that when Facebook and MySpace were emerging networks like Twitter their retention rates were twice as high and they now have retention rates of nearly 70 percent.
30 April 2009
The US Supreme Court has upheld a US government crackdown on profanity on television, a policy that subjects broadcasters to fines for airing a single expletive blurted out on a live show.
In its first ruling on broadcast indecency standards in more than 30 years, the high court handed a victory to the Federal Communications Commission, which adopted the crackdown against the one-time use of profanity on live television when children are likely to be watching.
The case stemmed from an FCC ruling in 2006 that found News Corp’s Fox television network violated decency rules when singer Cher blurted out an expletive during the 2002 Billboard Music Awards broadcast and actress Nicole Richie used two expletives during the 2003 awards. No fines were imposed, but Fox challenged the decision and a US appeals court in New York struck down the new policy as ‘arbitrary and capricious’ and sent the case back to the FCC for a more reasoned explanation of its policy.
In Tuesday’s decision, the justices overturned the ruling by the appeals court and said the FCC’s new policy and its findings in the two cases were neither arbitrary nor capricious.
28 April 2009
Dubai-based Al Arabiya, the Arabic-language news channel, has joined the channel line-up on broadband TV service Livestation.
The 24-hour news channel, which offers a mix of breaking news, current, documentaries and sports updates has joined Livestations existing line-up of Arabic news channels which already included services offered by Al Jazeera, BBC, France 24, Russia Today (Rusya Al Yaum) and Euronews.
According to Matteo Berlucchi, the CEO of Livestation, the addition of Al Arabiya as an official Livestation partner channel is part of an ongoing strategy to widen the choice of perspectives offered on the player. He said he was delighted to have reached agreement with the channel.
“The addition of Al Arabiya to Livestation will ensure that Livestation continues to offer the widest breadth of perspectives and choice for the Arab speaking TV-over-broadband audience,” he commented.
And Berlucchi says Livestations strategy of offering the widest variety of viewing destinations resonates with the rapidly-growing Livestation audience.
“We have found, when we analyse the viewing patterns on the Livestation player, that the broadband audience is both loyal and fickle. They are loyal to their favoured news provider, returning to the channel several times a day and, on average, spending half an hour with their preferred news offering each visit. However, when a big story breaks, they tend to exercise the choice Livestation offers by clicking through to adjacent channels on the player”.
“Viewers are also using the live, real-time chat associated with each channel as they channel hop and channel chat at the same time. It is a new and exciting phenomenon and the detailed user statistics are helping us map viewer behaviour in ways that have previously not been available to broadcasters. Al Arabiya, as do all our partner channels, will now benefit from this audience information enabling them to target and develop their service in response to actual viewer behaviour patterns,” he said.
28 April 2009
The International News Safety Institute (INSI) has provided much-needed safety and traumatic stress management training to 18 journalists from the embattled Gaza Strip.
Organised jointly with the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), International Media Institute (IMS), and the Federation of Arab Journalists (FAJ), the three-day training course in Cairo was given by a specialist from British-based security company AKE with expert advice from the Dart Centre for Journalism and Trauma.
The course, from 20-22 April, taught basic battlefield first aid skills and physical risk assessment as well as how to handle the high stress they face on almost a daily basis in a situation of danger from which there is no escape.
“There is no safe place in Gaza”, one of the participants said.
Included in the training, provided free of charge, were aspects of pre-deployment and emergency planning, how to avoid becoming a target, different types of attacks and their effects, including white phosphorus, unexploded ordnance, home and office security measures, how to assess a casualty, treat wounds, broken limbs, and burns. All participants were given personal first aid kits.
“We are delighted at last to be able to provide this help to an incredibly brave group of journalists,” said INSI Director Rodney Pinder. “Gaza journalists and support staff operate under incredibly dangerous conditions to bring the pictures and story of the conflict to the world. They desperately need to know how to protect themselves. Professional safety training is vital before more lives are lost.”
At least four Palestinian journalists have been killed in different circumstances in the past three months. Many more were injured and suffering from high high levels of stress and trauma for themselves and their families.
Several buildings housing the media have been bombed. One of the journalists on the course was wounded in a bombing and expressed his appreciation for the training.
“Gaza has long been one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist,” Pinder added. “Reporting war can never be safe but INSI and its partners aim to provide the knowledge and expertise to make it safer.
“It was also good to be able to stage this training in Cairo, enabling the Gaza journalists to enjoy, however briefly, a break from the crushing circumstances of their daily existence.”
27 April 2009
Oliver Kirkman handles advertising in the AIB’s international media magazine, The Channel, and on the AIB website.
Oliver works at the offices of
Century One Publishing in
St Albans, to the north of London.
Tel: +44 (0)1727 739 184
Email: ollie [at] centuryonepublishing.ltd.uk
27 April 2009
Radio Netherlands Worldwide (RNW) has taken on a new partnership with one of the largest cable networks in India, Incablenet (IndusInd Media & Communications Ltd. of Hinduja Group.
This allows around 2 million listeners of Indian households to listen to the English programmes of RNW. The international broadcaster is already collaborating with various FM radio stations, and Incablenet allows the Indian public to access RNW programmes via cable for the first time.
Last year RNW began establishing partnerships with local FM stations and broadcasting organisations such as Radio Misty to provide the Indian population with information about the Netherlands and Europe. And during the India festival in the Netherlands last year RNW covered the event together with All India Radio.
The partnership with Incablenet enables RNW to air its English programmes not only on FM, but for the first time via digital cable. Incablenet, headquartered in Mumbai, is one of the largest and pioneering cable MSO ( Multi System Operator) companies in India. The company currently serves over 6.5 million households in analogue cable and its coverage is expected to grow to over 9 million households in the next two years. The digital cable networks of “Incablenet” also continue to grow rapidly.
RNW’s Director General, Jan Hoek says: “India is one of the fastest emerging superpowers in the world. Growing trade, historical and new cultural relations with the Netherlands mean that the need for information about Western countries is growing. Via Incablenet we aim to contribute to fulfilling this need.”
Managing Director of Incablenet Ravi Mansukhani: “We are pleased to distribute RNW in our digital distribution networks in India. The radio industry is estimated to have grown at an impressive CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 19.7% over the year 2006-08 in India. Emergence of radio stations like RNW could also help the industry in attracting new listeners and driving up overall radio listener ship. We wish RNW all the success and a long innings in India after this launch.”
