Grok Blog - July, 2009

recession accelerating the shift away from cable

“According to Pew, 22 percent of American adults say they have cut back or canceled cable in the past year (while only 9 percent have cut back on paying for Internet services). And within that cable-cutting segment, 32 percent say they’ve taken the step of connecting their computers to their TVs to consume Web video, a step that until recently had been intimidating to most Americans.” – article here

selling the value of print, online

“Let’s stop the insanity of trying to make display advertising something it is not….Display advertising has always been aimed above the sales funnel — to attract people into a brand engagement that begins with awareness. Using online search to find a product is seriously down the funnel, and searching for a specific vendor is near the end of the whole process.” – Kevin Mannion (article here)

Southern Comfort goes digital exculsively for media…

Brown-Forman’s Southern Comfort brand is taking its entire media buy digital to create better viewer-share, access to programing and stretch $$…story here

Blip.tv expands network to reach 80% of Internet

“Before today, Blip reached about half of all the video on the Internet.  Today, we probably reach about 80 percent.” – Mike Hudack (article here)

good news for display pricing

“…according to data from Pubmatic, an ad optimization firm, prices for ad network inventory have increased a whopping 35% since the beginning of the year, signaling perhaps that online advertising’s comeback is already underway.” – AllThingsD

Old Media Still Powerful: Blogs Follow News Outlets 2.5 Hours Later – FastCompany.com

A new study by Cornell researchers shows that traditional (old-media) news outlets lead the blogosphere by 2.5 hours when it comes to breaking news. It’s a sign that the old guard should chill out about blogs and how they’re destroying the news world. – more here

Dark’n'Stormy

Gosling’s Black Seal — as dark as motor oil and with a distinctively charred flavor — tastes like no other rum, in the way that Campari tastes like no other digestif. – NY Times

promotions and darts should have more in common

“…a fun new working paper out from some Italian scientists that models the Peter Principle. The principle says, of course, that people climb in an organization until they reach their level of maximum incompetence.” – Paul Kedrosky of Infectious Greed

more here