CIQ Headlines for January 9, 2007

CIQ Headlines

Burger King in the Content Biz— (AD Age) BK is co-producing content with xbox. We feel more and more traditional agencies will be edged out by these advertiser-content producder collaborations.

UGC (user-generated content) Works for Advertisers–(eMarketer) A recent study by Compete and cited by the center for media research suggests that consumers are more persuaded by UGC than by information from brand advertisers. We think the next frontier is figuring out how to package and make sense of all the UGC out there.

Cisco Supports Convergence— (CNet) We love articles that remind us of 1999. Remember convergence? Well it’s back. Tuesday Cisco’s keynote will be on the topic, telling the industry it will work with content creators and providers to help create products and electronics for a converged platform. Very exciting. But let’s start with the basics: Could I please surf directly to IMDB from the “guide” function on my digital cable?

CIQ Headlines

CIQ Headlines

Here are the headlines that make our CIQ antenna twitch

P&G Boosts Social-Networking Efforts— Wall Street Journal (subscription required). We’re fascinated by the way CPGs have entered the content game. Some have been doing it since 1995.

Ads Deeply Embedded in Video Games–Philadelphia Inquirer (Free). We don’t think this phenomenon is evil. We believe advertising must involve into something new as technologies become better at blocking it. We even think ads in books are ok…

The Return of the Bard— or at least of the audio books. The NYT (free with registration) discusses the uptick in audio books since the advent of the iPod. One way technology impacts content. Could a book just come out as audio? New to us, not to Homer.

Content is Queen

*Content Is Queen Defined

Back in 1996, when I started my internet company, people would say, “On the web, content is king.” What they meant at the time, was that in the new web space, quality content would rule the day. More and more people would be surfing the net, and therefore there would be an appetite for content like never before. Mass content, niche content, all kinds of content. A great marketplace of content. Also, the predictions went, the control of content would be democratized. Users could decide– not big studios or publishing companies– what kind of content was published and consumed. Content would be both subscription-based and ad-supported.

Then, the dot-com nuclear winter happened. A lot of sites failed, and content sites seemed anything but kingly. People at the time were also laughing at ideas like

  • An online grocery business succeeding.
  • People buying luxury goods (diamonds, houses, cars) online.
  • The arrival of broadband on every desktop.
  • Community sites making money.

No one’s laughing any longer. Continue reading

Librarians Threatened with Extinction

CIQ Trends

Librarians and libraries are threatened with extinction. This according to a New York Times article, (link here). Certain libraries because they lack space and budget, must make decisions as to what books remain on the shelves. If it hasn’t been checked out in two years– out it goes. This is producing unfortunate results for titles like Jane Eyre and Dr. Faustus.

We think the reinvention of libraries is a CIQ phenomenon. We see a big opportunity for libraries to re-invent themselves online. Continue reading