Derek E. Baird :: Barking Robot

Trend Watch: Disney to Launch 'Disney Junior', A New Channel For Preschool Set

Moving aggressively to expand its hold on children’s entertainment, the Walt Disney Company will close its SoapNet cable channel and replace it with a service aimed at preschoolers.

In 2012, Disney Junior will take the place of SoapNet, a 10-year-old channel devoted to soap opera reruns that is available in about 75 million homes, according to Anne Sweeney, co-chairwoman of Disney Media Networks.

The new Disney Junior brand will also provide affiliate partners with a robust Video-On-Demand offering, a High-definition network and a Spanish language SAP feed.

Disney Junior's animated and live action programming will blend Disney's unparalleled storytelling and characters kids love deeply with learning, including early math, language skills, healthy eating and lifestyles, and social skills.

Disney’s current preschool operation — a block of programming on Disney Channel and about two dozen Playhouse Disney international channels — will be re-branded Disney Junior starting next year.

More on New York Times >>

Study Reveals Shift As Social Networks Become “Social Entertainment”

Research released last week by Edelman, the world’s largest independent public relations firm, shows that consumers believe social networks provide a higher value experience compared with other forms of entertainment.

Edelman’s annual Trust in the Entertainment Industry survey, now in its fourth year, also reveals that the Internet, as a source of entertainment, is second only to television.Edelman’s fourth annual Trust in the Entertainment Industry

The survey of 1,000 18-54 year olds in the United States and United Kingdom analyzes the issues that influence consumer trust in entertainment companies.

Key findings

• Study reveals consumers in UK and US recognize social networks as entertainment

• Seventy-three percent of 18-24 year olds in the US and 61 percent in the UK see social networks as a form of entertainment.

• Fifty percent (US) and 56 percent (UK) of respondents aged 35-49 also consider social networking sites as a form of entertainment.

Internet & TV

• In the US, the rise of the internet as a frequent source of entertainment is most dramatic in the 18-34 group, rising from 27 percent in 2009 to 42 percent in 2010.

• In the US, 32 percent of 18-54 year olds look most frequently to the web for entertainment (compared with 58 percent watching TV). 

• The internet also ranked second in the UK, with 30 percent turning to the web most frequently, compared with 57 percent watching TV.

• Internet is second only to TV as a frequent “source of entertainment.”

Freedom of Content

• In the 2008 study, free content was the dominant issue.  This year’s study shows it is the ability to access content across devices, not cost, that is of significance to consumers.

• 65 percent of US respondents think it is important that they are able to access their entertainment on a number of different devices.
• 59 percent of UK respondents think it is important that they are able to access their entertainment on a number of different devices.
• 58 percent (US) and 53 percent (UK) of consumers state they would be willing to pay for content if they were able to move it across devices.

Spending

• Spending on entertainment continues to stay strong according to this year’s results.

• On average, US respondents spend $47 per month on entertainment content.
• On average, UK respondents spend £25 per month on entertainment content.
• 83 percent of US and 76 percent of UK consumers state that ease of purchase influences their decision to pay for content.
• In the UK consumers who think social networking is a form of entertainment are more likely to have spent more money on entertainment in the last year.

Impact on Trust

• Those that state that they trust entertainment companies are also more willing to pay for content.
• Quality  (65 percent US and 58 percent UK) and Pricing (65 percent US and 58 percent  UK) have the most impact on consumer trust.
• 32 percent of UK consumers and 28 percent of US consumers trust entertainment companies.

Related: Trend Watch | Google, Sony & Intel to Launch Google TV

2010 Social Media Matters Report: Majority of Top Media Destinations Are Social

According to research conducted by BlogHer and iVillage “2010 Social Media Matters Study,” co-sponsored by The Nielsen Company and Ketchum, social sites are now a frequent destination for nearly three-quarters of Internet users.

Social Media Matters 2010

Respondents’ top daily media activities were social as well. Watching television is still on top, but Facebook was the next most common media destination visited every day.

The study found similar rates of usage among men and women, and pegged the percentage of weekly social media users at 73% of the online population.

via www.emarketer.com

Here are some of the other key findings in the 2010 Social Media Matters Study:

• Blogs trail only search engines as the preferred media source for product-purchasing information for BlogHer users.

• Among BlogHer users, 96 percent read blogs weekly or more often.

• BlogHer users are more active than average women across the board on blogs, Facebook, and Twitter.

• As for iVillage users, message boards and forums were second only to conversations with friends and family as the preferred source of product-purchasing information.

• 73 percent of respondents from the iVillage community said they share topics on message boards and forums that they would not share on social networks. Of those, relationships (61 percent), health (45 percent), and work-related issues (39 percent) were the top topics they would not share on social networks.

• 31% higher than the total online population for Gen X generation

• 3.6 percent of iVillage community members post on message boards or forums every day.

Related: Millennials, Men Watch Most Online TV

Pew Research Center | Cyberbullying 2010

This talk provides an updated look at the research and definitions around bullying and cyberbullying and  draws upon the work of Amanda Lenhart from the Pew Internet Project, UNH's Crimes Against Children Research Center, the work of Internet Solutions for Kids as well as research by professors Sameer Hinduja and Justin Patchin.

Cyberbullying 2010: What the Research Tells Us

View more presentations from Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project.

Originally presented to the Youth Online Safety Working Group assembled by National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), this talk unpacks both what current research can tell us about cyberbullying as well as where the gaps our understanding of this issue lie.

Related: Printable Handout: Digital Parenting Social Media & Internet Safety Resources

Report: Twitter Referrals to Videos Result in Longer Viewing Times

A curious bit of data emerged from yesterday's study of Q1 2010 video metrics from Brightcove and TubeMogul.

Twitter referrals to videos on every major category of destination resulted in longer viewing times than any other traffic source. A Twitter referral to a music video averaged a 2:33 viewing time compared to 2:01 of time spent by people coming from Google.

Tweets drove viewing sessions of 1:52 on broadcast locations, but traffic coming from Facebook, Bing and Google were all in the 1:37 to 1:38 range. The exception to this rule was Tweets landing on newspaper sites, where Yahoo! customers viewed one second longer than Twitter refers.

Still, it is an interesting exercise to ponder why a Twitter referral would tend to stay more engaged. Clearly the social affinity aspect is at play, because Facebook refers, while not quite as high, are also stronger in engagement than most other sources.

After all, a refer from a friend compels a viewer to watch longer, if only to "get" what the friend wanted you to see in the video or just because your social graph can target your tastes even more effectively than a straight search.

The full report is available at Brightcove [PDF].

via www.mediapost.com

Digital Parenting Resources: Teens, Social Networking & Cyberbullying

One of the things I enjoy most about my work is having the opportunity to talk with parents, educators and brands to dispel some of the myths or fears around kids' use of social media.

No matter the audience, my message is pretty consistent: Don't panic!

I'm also frequently asked to share some of my favorite digital parenting links, tips and other resources. So here we go! I've sorted through my bookmarks and put together this (hopefully) handy handout. Feel free to print it, tweet it and share it with anyone you think would find it helpful.

Digital Parenting

I'll be updating it as new issues and resources pop up on my radar. If you have a great resource, please feel free to share it in the comments section and I'll add it to a future draft of this handout.

Facebook and BBC iPlayer Lead U.K. Online Video Growth

While monthly video viewing in the U.S. may be showing signs of leveling off, the British market is in serious growth mode. As in the U.S. Google's YouTube has the lion's share of that market, with slightly less than half of all videos served. While the market fragments quickly from there, the TV networks are growing rapidly.

The BBC more than doubled its videos viewed last year to come in second place. Each visitor to the broadcaster's site consumes 15.7 videos a month. Before many U.S. networks and Hulu started pouring prime time onto the Web, the BBC was developing its robust iPlayer portal and player.

While the BBC’s video viewing audience tends to be male and spread between the ages of 25 and 54, Channel 4 skews heavily toward the 15-24 year old age group. The site was visited evenly by males and females but women watched five more videos then male viewers on the site during the month.

Facebook is the big up-and-comer in U.K. video, however and clearly the one to watch. The social network saw the number of videos viewed rise 205%, to 42.6 million in February.  

The importance of Facebook to all online businesses, including video, was underscored last week by no less a video maven than Mark Cuban, co-founder of HDNet.

In a post at his blog, Cuban mused that Facebook has become the new Internet, the place we now go to fill time in much the same way we channel surf TV. With its increasing knowledge of users and alternative means of discovering content via social sharing, he sees the network as a challenge to two of the biggest stakeholders in the digital universe.

via www.mediapost.com

Project Gaga 2010: Building a Monster Fan Base

Love her or hate her, there' no denying that Lady Gaga is a cultural force who resonates with many, many young people. Perhaps no other creative genius since the late (great) John Hughes has been able to effectively express the inner turmoil and feelings of disenfranchisement that are part of modern teenage life.

For many young people, Lady Gaga ("Mother Monster") has been able to tap into the global zeitgeist of a generation of "Little Monsters" and empowered them through her music to speak up share their voice.

Project Gaga 2010 is a user-generated fan project that collected over 268 pictures of mostly teenage fans from across the globe all "with the same message: thank you, mother monster, for giving us all a voice."

Teenage fan behavior patterns haven't changed that much in the last 50 years or so. What has changed are the ways in which they express their devotion as a fan to their favorite movie, music or TV star.

Today's teens, unlike previous generations, have many more digital tools that allow them to self-organize via social networking sites, coordinate the collection of this photos from around the world, use free web-based tools to produce a video and free distribution on YouTube. 

And oh, a tweet of approval from "Mother Monster" is a pretty good way to market your tribute.

Now for some of us who are a wee bit past those awkward crazy teenage years this "Mother Monster" tribute stuff may seem a little bizarre.

But before you dismiss it, consider the idea that if previous generations had the same bounty of free digital and self-publishing tools, the web would be full of similar tributes to Madonna, Michael Jackson, Elvis, Frank Sinatra or Al Jolson.

Related: Lady Gaga Joins Forces with Virgin Mobile to Fight Teen Homelessness

Report: Millennials, Men Watch Most Online TV

The advantages of watching television shows online are straightforward. When comScore asked cross-platform TV viewers in December 2009 which factors would make them choose to watch online, being able to watch wherever and whenever they wanted, as well as to pause and play shows at will, were the top reasons.

But the “overall viewing experience” still tilted in television’s favor, and younger adults remain the most likely group to watch TV shows on the Web.

According to consumer electronics site Retrevo’s “Gadgetology Report,” 23% of Internet users under 25 watched “most” of their TV on the Internet, compared with 8% of all online adults. Under-25s were also less than one-half as likely to say they watched no TV on the Web.

comScore reported that 54% of cross-platform viewers overall were under 35, compared with just 30% of those who only watched traditional television.

Retrevo found that like young adults, men came in ahead in terms of watching most or all of their TV online. They were nearly twice as likely as women to say they did so.

 via www.emarketer.com

Global Youth: Canadians' Internet Use Exceeds TV Time

The average Canadian now spends more time on the Internet than watching television, according to a new survey from Ipsos Reid, a shift in digital habits that reflects the increasing prevalence of computers in our lives.

This survey, its author says, marks a closing of the gap between a younger generation that has always spent a significant amount of their leisure time on computers and an older generation that used to rely on “old” media.

Canadians now spend more than 18 hours a week online, compared to just under 17 hours watching television.

via www.theglobeandmail.com

Sorta Related: Differences Between American and Canadian Youth

Pew Research: Teens, the Internet and the Future of Digital Diversity

Teens and the Internet: The Future of Digital Diversity

View more presentations from Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project.

This presentation, compiled by Kristen Purcell, from the Pew Internet Project provides a really great breakdown of the findings from their series of reports that explored the behaviors, values and opinions of the teens and twenty-somethings that make up the Millennial Generation.

This slideshare presentation focuses on how teens connect to the Internet, how they share content and also looks at the rate of mobile web access and usage among teens and young adults.

Learn more about the findings and take the 'How Millennial Are You?' quiz.

Weekly Wrap: Fisher-Price Facebook Apps, I Want My Android TV, Justin Bieber for Old People, UK Entertainment Convergence, SXSW Roundup & More!

Fisher-Price App Aims for Moms on Facebook: Targeting the many moms online, Mattel’s Fisher-Price is launching a Facebook app Thursday that allows mothers to be more selective in choosing which of their friends can see photos of their children. Mothers who go online, particularly the influential group of “mommy bloggers,” present an important market for toy makers. [WSJ]

Android TV! | Google, Intel & Sony Join Forces: This trend is potentially much more disruptive than the introduction of 3D displays. Now a secret joint effort by Google, Intel and Sony to enter this field in partnership has been revealed. It will bring Google’s Android operating system and Chrome browser to TVs and set top boxes.

The technology has the potential to be disruptive to traditional TV by making the full range of Internet content available on television. [Collaborative Creativity]

What's TV's Next Business Model: It's hard to find TV content today that does not contain Web site addresses, Twitter mentions, and text-based messages throughout. It's accepted that even with these "light" reference points, as it stands now TV's long-term prospects pale in comparison to those of the Internet, mostly because TV content still has no direct-response mechanism.

Blending Internet elements into TV content makes for a seamless experience - and, in my opinion, is tomorrow's preferred business model. Related: Business Exchange > "Social Television" [MediaPost] [Business Weekly]

US Children get Playboy, not Bugs Bunny in Cable Mix-up: Young viewers of children's television programs in North Carolina got a glimpse of something far more risque than their favorite cartoons, when a cable glitch broadcast two hours of the Playboy channel. (Oooops!) [Yahoo! News]

Entertainment Convergence in the UK Digital Home: The UK is still at a relatively early stage of convergence when it comes to digital entertainment such as TV shows, films, short-form video, games, music and social networking. But momentum is building. [eMarketer]

Vodafone gives $1 million grant to Web Foundation for Web-enabling entrepreneurs in Africa: While only 25 percent of the world population uses the Web today, more than 70 percent of the world’s population has access to mobile or fixed communication devices capable of displaying Web content.

In Africa, where the Internet penetration rate is approximately 6.8 percent, furthering Web access can create learning opportunities for local entrepreneurs and support the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals to end poverty by 2015. [WWW Foundation]

SXSW Video Interview Roundup: SXSW 2010 was a gathering of innovative companies, forward thinking people, and interactive influencers. While I didn’t have a chance to talk to all 15,000 attendees, I was able to speak to a few choice companies that have progressive products in the social media and technology realm. [Edelman]

India's Rural Cell Movement: Just last month, nearly 20 million new mobile accounts were opened. That’s more than double the people than have high speed Internet in the entire country. Even in slums where people live on less than $2 a day, everyone has a phone. If “Slumdog Millionaire” was more accurate, Jamal wouldn’t have had to go on TV to find Latika. He could have just called her, or worst case, called a few friends until he found her number. [TechCrunch] [Yahoo! Movies]

Content Strategy is Much More than Web Copywriting: Where there should be content strategy and SEO strategy, we're often on projects where we're focused much more on target audience personas, design standards and project management charts, instead of content. The web writer is then brought in, given the creative brief, the wireframe and two weeks to "crank out the content." [Ignite Social Media]

The Justin Bieber Guide for Old People: Bad news, Old Person: No matter how much you try to avoid it, you will have to eventually interact with someone to whom Justin Bieber (BEE-BURR) is the sun around which their little life revolves. So we present this Justin Bieber Guide for Old People to help you avoid embarrassing yourself in front of your offspring, students, or patrons of your candy shop. [Gawker]

Flemish Digital Youthwork Practices: On the 8th and 9th of February 2010, Steunpunt Jeugd, Flemish knowledge and expertise center on youth, youthwork and youth policy, organized a big congress (JET) centered around youth, youth work and youth policy. One of these sessions is labeled "the 'e' in youthwork" that collected e-practices in Flemish youthwork. [Youth Work Online]

Social TV Watch: In a Bold Bid to Woo Gen Y, PBS Goes to Facebook Before TV

Here's another social media first in 2010: Facebook is going to debut a 102-minute documentary from PBS before, well, PBS.

The "American Experience" documentary about the history of the U.S. environmental movement, titled "Earth Days," will be presented on Facebook on April 11, according to the New York Times, eight days before its TV broadcast on April 19 -- marking the first time a full-length documentary has appeared on the site before TV.

In addition to just being nifty, the decision to generate buzz with a Facebook debut ahead of broadcast TV is obviously a strategic move targeting a younger audience which is interested in environmental issues, but might not be big TV-watchers.

via www.mediapost.com

'The Daily Show' Pulled From Hulu, Millennials Robbed of Their Most Trusted News Anchor

Hulu, the popular video streaming service that may or may not be charging sometime soon, will suffer a major blow to their content database next week.

Unable to reach a deal with major media corporation Viacom, the site will lose all of Viacom’s content, including Comedy Central offerings like The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.

Say goodbye to the most trusted newsman in America, y’all.

via nyulocal.com

Pew Research: The Millennials | Confident. Connected. Open to Change.

This is part of a Pew Research Center series of reports exploring the behaviors, values and opinions of the teens and twenty-somethings that make up the Millennial Generation.

Pew Research: The Millennials | Confident. Connected. Open to Change.

Generations, like people, have personalities, and Millennials – the teens and twenty-somethings currently making the passage into adulthood – have begun to forge theirs: confident, self-expressive, liberal, upbeat and receptive to new ideas and ways of living.

Learn more about the findings and take the 'How Millennial Are You?' quiz.