Global Media News

The Major League Baseball Advanced Media Take Over

Robert Bowman is the President and CEO of the digital branch of Major League Baseball, the MLBAM. In a recent interview with Walt Mossberg at the Dive Into Mobile Conference, he spoke about recent expansion for this media arm as well as future plans for a potential global sports network available to stream. With the business model and track record of the MLB Advanced Media group, as well as their superior video streaming capabilities, they are considered the gold standard of media groups. 

"Reality is the second screen, [mobile] is the first"

Many people have referred to mobile phones/streaming devices as the "second screen", television being the first. In a supply/demand sort of style, Bob has brought the MLB to mobile and plans to bring much more.  “You just go where the people are,” Bowman explained. “If the consumers are on their mobile devices and that’s where they’re spending 90 percent of their connectivity on a mobile device, it’s not hard to figure out that’s where you gotta be”. With this in mind, the company has reported $1.2-1.3 billion in yearly revenue, with roughly 75-80% of it coming from selling baseball content. Bowman plans for the non-baseball revenue to jump to "billions and billions." 

"Bowman told Mossberg that MLB apps are opened 5 million times a day, with more than 1 million daily uniques"

While many technological obstacles still exist as well as complex digital rights deals, this soon-to-be media giant has already began its expansion. I recently wrote about a new partner of the MLBAM, the National Hockey League, Bowman confirmed that they will soon bid for more sports rights as well. "We are a long time away from 110+ million viewers watching the Super Bowl online instead of on television". Although this is true, the MLBAM has recently peaked at 2 million concurrent streams and taken new media by storm. So it is safe to say that when the technology is available, this will most likely be the company to influence/own the streaming world. 

If you would like to:

read more about the MLBAM: Bob Bowman Thinks MLBAM Could Lead A Global Sports Network Online 
by Taylor Bloom

watch the full interview with Bob Bowman and Walt Mossberg on Re/code

 

 

Global Media News Webcast #4: February 25, 2016

Listen to Global Media News for Thursday, February 25, 2016!

Global Media News is a weekly webcast covering new media news from around the world.  GMN is a production of  Media Studies students from the SUNY College @ Old Westbury.   We scour the web for news about new media, journalism and technology.

This week on Global Media News: 

• Pinterest for Journalists? Why Not?
• SnapChat Notifications: What Do Publishers Need to Know?
• uPitch: Who's Pitching? Who's Catching? 
• SlapShots & SnapChats: The NHL Is on SnapChat, Why?
• More than a Club: F.C Barcelona Goes Social in a Big Way
• Social Media for the Music Business:  Using YouTube, Twitter & Instagram to Make Music
• Hashtag Activism: #BlackLivesMatter & #AllLivesMatter 

See you next week!

Listen to our next webcast from the New Media Newsroom  streaming live on Thursday, March 3, 2016 @ 10am EST.

Can't listen live? Our next webcast of the season will be posted by 2:00pm, Thursday, March 3, 2016.

Subscribe Now!

Hey Journalists! Why Write? Clammr

Clammr is the latest app for audio that allows you to take a snippet from a podcast and post it to social media. "It is to audio what Twitter is to words, Instagram to images and Vine to video" according to Alex Iacovangelo of Online Journalism Blog.

In this online driven industry, social media content has been dominated by video and images. Clammr has been utilizing Facebook and Twitter as platforms in which snippets of audio from any podcast can be played automatically as users scroll down their feeds. This app also allows you to personalize your snippet according to Caroline Scott of Journalism.co.uk who describes how you can remix two or more clips together, as well as record a piece of audio from your phone's microphone directly into the app.

Two years ago Stan Alcorn of Digg wrote an article on why audio never goes viral. He discusses how people will always watch a bad video over good audio. A radio personnel he was interviewing in his article elaborates that with audio: 

"You can listen while you drive or do the dishes, an insuperable competitive advantage over text or video, which transforms into a disadvantage when it comes to sharing the listening experience with anyone out of earshot. When you’re driving a car, you’re not going to share anything".

There have been many attempts to create a platform that will allow audio to be much of a necessity to social media as video and images are. Clammr has since been innovative with how they allow users to create audio content.

Some media experts may still see no need to use Clammr when there are apps that can provide the same service such as Chirp. However along with selecting a snippet from a podcast to the users discretion, Clammr also provides a link to go along with the snippet so that after you hear the audio you can click on the link for the full podcast. Also most social media outlets allow you to post a 15 sec clip as oppose to Clammr which allows you 24 seconds.

Pinterest: A Creditable Source for News?

Pinterest is a platform that focuses on specific subjects. Users flock to the platform to find images of their favorite trend.

Visuals of fashion, food, design, lifestyles, etc, draw in users and give them a picture of what they were searching to see.

Users of Pinterest can use the site and app to find their interests and further develop them and make them a reality. 

According to Catalina Albeanu of journalism.co.uk, Pinterest is “popular among millennials” and “36 percent” of those millennials get their news from Pinterest. 

 Women usually in their twenties are the demographic Pinterest appeals to the most.

 Catalina Albeanu also stated that Pinterest is known for their “niche blogs.”

This shows that being specific can be the best way of getting people to view your content. Users want to see the topics they find appealing and usually nothing else. 

For Journalists and Publishers to get more out of Pinterest, news stories should appear with very “strong visuals.” (Albeanu,  journalism.co.uk)

Pinterest’s ‘buy’ button lets users purchase the individual articles instead of a full issue subscription. 

Pinterest is trying to shy away from platforms like Twitter and Facebook by becoming a “shop window for long form articles who might get lost in the infinite timelines of other platforms” states Albeanu. 

By being more in-depth , Pinterest can make a new name for itself and be a better source of information than it was before.

Sites such as Mail Online, BuzzFeed and the Huffington Post have created a presence on Pinterest. These publishers are having a great affect on Pinterest and its popularity and significance among its users.

According to Liam Corcoran of NewsWhip, “Heavily interest-based” content does extremely well on Pinterest.

Corcoran also states that, “Lists, guides, recipes, and personal stories unrelated to the current news agenda” are key contributors to Pinterest’s success.

Carole Oldroyd of RealMatch says that more news publications are catching on and joining the Pinterest bandwagon.

Oldroyd states that by newspaper’s pinning their articles to Pinterest, “every image that you pin is searchable, accessible, sharable, and can lead Pinterest users directly to your online publication.”

Publications are getting more traffic because of their connections to Pinterest and Pinterest users are getting the hard hitting news that want to know about.

This is also a way to get your news by searching for it in a way that you find easier and more enjoyable.

Oldroyd also says that the top newspaper names benefitting from their presence on Pinterest are “The Wall Street Journal, Denver Post, L.A. Times and USA Today.”

These major news publications prove that Pinterest is a reliable source. 

 

 

 

Global Media News Webcast #3: February 18, 2016

Listen to Global Media News for Thursday, February 18, 2016!

Global Media News is a weekly webcast covering new media news from around the world.  GMN is a production of  Media Studies students from the SUNY College @ Old Westbury.   We scour the web for news about new media, journalism and technology.

This week on Global Media News: 

• YoutTube as a Source for Journalism?
• YouTube Red: Is it Useful?
• Dislike This!  Facebook's New Button
• Why Are the MLB and the NHL Teaming Up Online?
• Chat Apps Rule in Africa:  What Happened to Mxit?
• What's New for Journalists on Twitter?
• How to Build your Following on Instagram
• Beyoncé on Social:  Artist or Hashtag Activist?

See you next week!

Listen to our next webcast from the New Media Newsroom  streaming live on Thursday, February 25 @ 10am EST.

Can't listen live? Our next webcast of the season will be posted by 2:00pm, Thursday, February 25, 2016.

Subscribe Now!

Why People are Suddenly Riding the Tidal Wave

In March 2015, rapper Jay Z launched his music streaming service, TIDAL along with other collaborators such as Rihanna, Kanye West, Alicia Keys, Beyonce, Coldplay and Nicki Minaj, plus more. 

Newcomers get a one month free trial which they can cancel at any time, after the first month, the premium membership starts at $9.99 a month and for "high definition audio," the subscription costs $19.99. I, personally, wasn't too enthused with Tidal when I first heard about it. Thinking to myself, we already have Spotify, why do we need Tidal? Jay Z is just trying to make more money.

Although compared to Spotify, TIDAL offers shows, music videos, and editorial content from big artists in the music industry.

According to Fader, TIDAL will start streaming season 2 of Brooklyn based YouTube drama series, Money and Violence, Money and Violence to Stream on TIDAL which premiered last week. The show is focused on young men in Flatbush who live fast lifestyles as drug dealers and thieves. The show's director Moise Verneau loves the idea. "With Tidal being up-and-coming, who better to partner with to help them while they help us?... We’ve had quite a good run as far as viewership—we’re at 26 million views but I believe Tidal can open us up to a totally different set of viewers. So I thought it was the perfect marriage." 

Bajan sensation Rihanna released her highly anticipated eighth album, ANTI, on TIDAL in late January Rihanna Release ANTI on TIDAL (which I have been listening to nonstop since my first listen). After a three year album hiatus, Rihanna released ANTI exclusively on TIDAL, along with a deluxe edtition with three additional songs a few days later. 

On Thursday, February 11th, I along with millions of other viewers watched Kanye West live stream his Yeezy Season 3 fashion show he held at Madison Square Garden on TIDAL. He also introduces his new album The Life of Pablo "TLOP" as well as his video game which is a tribute to his late mother, following her through the gates of Heaven. Kanye released TLOP early Valentine's Day exclusively on TIDAL. He asked his fans on Twitter to subscribe to TIDAL and announced that he won't be selling his album for another week.

TIDAL is now #1 on the Apple App Store's Top Charts and also #30 on it's Top Grossing. Kanye Leads TIDAL to #1 on iOS Charts

Social Media, For The Sports Fan; By The Sports Fan

    Over the years sports fanatics have relied on the television to seek information or just to watch recapping highlights, like ESPN, SNY, and MSG to name a few.

     They would have to wait at certain times in order to be able to see what was going on throughout the day or what had just finished at night.

    Some fans didn't want to wait until the night or in the morning in order to see the post game recap from the night before that they missed, so app and social media began to engage itself  by collaborating with sports. 

 According to  Yahoo’s mobile analytics firm Flurry, "Sports fans are spending more time in apps using their mobile devices, with time spent in sports apps growing 210 percent from a year ago. That should make the traditional sports TV industry worry."

    Finally there was a way fans were able to connect with their team or favorite player. If a fan couldn't watch the game because of work they finally had a way to keep themselves updated with he action. They didn't have to wait anymore and had all the power on the palm of their hands, their cellphones.

    According to the website GMR, " it’s clear that sports fans are constantly plugged in to the game. But they aren’t just checking in for score updates or breaking news, they also want to talk about the game, check out action photos, and ultimately advocate for their team." 

    It has gotten to the point where lives games are being streamed in you tablet, desktop, and cellphone. Its everywhere so you don't have to wait for ESPN's Sports Center or SNY's Sports Desk.

    Social Media has become an important facet of an sports fan's everyday life. For that reason, now ESPN, SNY, and MSG have "To Go Apps" so you can take highlights and live scores with you wherever you go.

     It has become popular and mostly used by fans that cannot sit down and watch a show for an hour. Our surroundings have become fast- paced which has become important to its fans.  

    According to Ameet Ranadive, senior director for revenue product at Twitter, “It’s authentic relevance that matters,... Sometimes, if a brand is trying and stretching to be part of an event, it comes across as not authentic.”

     Every sports channel has created an app so that they can keep their viewers still even if they aren't able to watch television at home. 

Snapchat May Send Users Notifications When Publishers Snap

With over a billion monthly users, Snapchat has become one of the dominate media outlets for large media corporations such as CNN and ESPN. Snapchat may soon allow users to subscribe to publishers and receive notifications every time they snap.

In retrospect, Snapchat created the Discover feature that shares data with publishers notifying them on how many users read their snaps and how much time they spend doing so. Snap soon faced troubles with this feature due to the users lack of interest in the content given, however it's still a work in progress.

Content producers have already stepped down from Snapchat's platform due to competition, and how difficult it is to locate them on the app. In works to improve monetization, Snap has been trying to reach out to paying publishers at the same time allowing users to subscribe. This takes the heat off Snap and the order in which they display content to you.

In addition Jason Hahn of Digital Trend details how Snapchat is also considering replacing each publisher’s logo with a “magazine-like image that rotates each day depending on that publisher’s content,” according to sources who have spoken with Re/code.

According to Kurt Wagner of <RE/CODE> he says:

It is unclear how the mechanics of the subscriptions (or “follows,” as some publishers have described them to Re/code), will work. One intriguing proposition for publishers is the ability to drive traffic to their Discover channels from outside platforms, via “deep links,” and then trying to persuade users to subscribe from there.

In conclusion Snapchat has been working with other media sources for eg. Instagram & Twitter that users can also utilize within the Snap app. With the convergence of the media sources this will create a larger pool of users that receive notifications from more than one search engine.

 

 

 

FC Barcelona Rules Soccer & Social Media!

   

 Spanish soccer giants, F.C. Barcelona have dominated not only all of Europe by winning the Champions League but beating the best in the world as well.

    They have always been about enriching their winning legacy wanting to add more into their trophy case. Last year the club won all but one trophy cups in six available tournaments ending the year with five cups.

    They have the best players in the world, especially their attacking trio of the MSN consisting of Neymar Jr, Lionel Messi, and Luis Suarez. This isn't a soccer club that just wins on the field, but off it as well. Focusing in not only the aspect in which happens when playing but when they aren't playing and just having fun. 

     They have a huge fan base that are proud of supporting the team. FC Barcelona's stadium Camp Nou has a capacity of 99,354 which are almost always filled during home games. Most coming from other places like the United States, Africa, and Asia just to name a few that have supported the team either on Facebook or Twitter. The teams motto is, Més Que Un Club, meaning that the club is more than just a team but more like a family which brings fans from different places support them.

     F.C. Barcelona see that, the more they win games and trophies, the more popular the team will be. Which ultimately shall in fact increase sales in merchandise and tickets valuing the team very high.

    Its great to see a way in which players can interact with its fans in less than a professional level signing autographs and chating with them on any social media handle.

     "New media does not build fans or make more fans, but it does open up a window to them," says Mr Lankinen, who was speaking at a Sport Business Group conference in Paris entitled Sport and New Media.

    " F.C. Barcelona has over 29 million followers, on Twitter 16.8 million followers, and 90,500,000 million likes on Facebook.

    What has brought fans together has been the term hashtags which have been created by the club in order to have fans communicate supporting the team.

     They can see what the team is doing from their practice session to their flight going to an away city.

    According to Forbes, "Study on the world’s most valuable soccer teams ranked F.C. Barcelona second behind Real Madrid. However, F.C. Barcelona ranks first, ahead of Real Madrid, when it comes to social media followers. With these figures established, it makes sense why Barcelona has made an investment to continue pushing their global brand recognition through social media efforts."

     The application helps you get an in depth look at the team and its players. from knowing the simplest thing like what do they like to eat or what is their favorite movie, just the little things they do for fans which matters and we can tell with the soccer club's increase in likes and followers.

How Are the NHL and MLB Working Together to Develop a Bigger Mobile Presence?

The National Hockey League has launched a new Website and app-developed by Major League Baseball 

Starting in January of 2016 the Major League Baseball Advanced Media group has taken over the NHL's web operations, network, apps, and video streaming capabilities. It is being called by many, a "groundbreaking partnership" and for good reason, it has never been done before. No two professional North American sports leagues have collaborated on the media front due to how complicated a Digital Rights deal is. Despite this the merger between the NHL and MLBAM has been successful thus far.  

"Together, two sports could do more, be more and have more possibilities than one," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said. "By combining our resources, we think the possibilities are endless". 

The MLBAM is considered a gold standard in media: So what else falls under the jurisdiction of the interactive media and internet company of the MLB?They run the websites for Minor League Baseball, the YES Network, and SportsNet New York. MLBAM also has a handful of successful projects not baseball related, including HBO Go, WatchESPN, CBSSports' March Madness, and the WWE. Quite an impressive track record. 

The new app will cost $3 a month as compared to $25 a month to view full games. It will feature clips from the games, six minute recaps, as well as the last five minutes of the game. You can learn more bout the app here.