Is the newspaper advertising slump about to end? Nope. But it’s continuing to get a little bit less awful.
A survey of some of the remaining analysts covering the industry, as well as people who actually work in it, concludes that Q3 ad revenue will be down 25 percent. Awful by any standard except those of this year: Q1 was down 28.3 percent and Q2 was 29 percent.
Looking for lots of specifics about the $200 million at $10 billion valuation deal that Facebook and Digital Sky Technologies just announced? Then you have come to the wrong conference call, my friend. But for what it’s worth, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg did sound fairly upbeat and confident during his chat with reporters Tuesday morning–the way you’d expect someone who just cashed a check for a couple hundred million to sound.
The big picture: Even though Facebook’s official valuation has slid from $15 billion (November 2007, when Microsoft invested) to $10 billion, Zuckerberg is OK with that, arguing that 1) that deal was done at the peak of the market, and 2) it was never really a financial deal, but a way for Microsoft to partner up with Facebook.
For the last year or so, the Washington Post Co. has reported steadily declining results for its newspaper business–just like every other newspaper publisher in the country. But in previous quarters, it was at least able to argue that its slide wasn’t as bad as the one the New York Times was going through. It can’t say that anymore.
Time Warner’s AOL can spin positive news out of the miserable results it offered up today. But Ann Moore, who runs Time Warner’s Time Inc. publishing business, will have a tougher time selling that story to investors and Time Warner executives. Will she need to make a second round of cuts?
The world’s largest video site and the world’s biggest music company are joining up. Google’s YouTube and Vivendi’s Universal Music Group will be launching a new site, dubbed VEVO, which will highlight UMG’s videos. This is essentially what I’ve been calling “YouTube Music,” and it’s been in the works since last fall; in March I reported that the two sides had basically hammered out a deal. It’s a pretty big deal for YouTube, the music business, and the rest of the media world.
Music videos on YouTube are money-makers for the music labels, and a money pit for Google. That may change next year: Even Google can’t afford to lose money every time someone watches an Avril Lavigne clip.
Peter Kafka has been covering media and technology since 1997, when he joined the staff of Forbes magazine. Most recently, he has been the managing editor of the tech and media Web site, Silicon Alley Insider.
Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.
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