The entire category of cable news is suffering a ratings slide. So acknowledges Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes. But what’s his solution? How will he turn the cable news ratings situation around? Well it turns out that’s asking the wrong question. In fact, CNN’s response has been to add specialty shows which are decidedly not “cable news” per se – shows like Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown, a new show from Mike Rowe, and custom-produced documentaries. That is, CNN is broadening th

I have glimpsed the future of radio and it is Hulu. Let me explain. Once upon a time, Hulu was that slick online platform that provided a quality viewing experience for gobs of top quality, professionally produced TV content, including a deep archive of favorite shows from days gone by. Well it’s still that, of course. But suddenly it’s so much more – as Brian Stelter reported on CNN following a tour of Hulu with Charlotte Koh, the head of development for Hulu Originals. That

Why did ESPN acquire Nate Silver and his hugely popular NYT blog FiveThirtyEight.com? Was it just to lay odds on sports events? Or was it for a much bigger play? This past weekend on CNN’s Reliable Sources, ESPN Chief John Skipper spelled out the strategy: …We had launched Grantland, [where we] allowed Bill Simmons to have the freedom to do the kind of site he’s doing so that when we went to Nate and said we’re going to let you range across things other than sports, we’re goi

Republican soul-searching followed the demographic slam to the gut from younger voters, African Americans, and Hispanics in the election earlier this month. And the reverberations from that punch have resonated through the ranks of News/Talk programmers and talent nationwide. While I can’t be specific about the research I have done in that area (it’s both extensive and proprietary), I can tell you this much: It should come as no great surprise. Interest in Talk per se – as e

Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington was on CNN last weekend where she outlined the key elements of HuffPo’s success.  And while not every (or maybe even not any) other site can hope to become the traffic magnet that is Huffington Post, it seems to me her prescription is relevant for any local media company that aspires to truly serve the information interests of their audiences (Public Radio and News/Talk – I’m talking to you). It is most certainly not simply about spr

If you have ever logged on to a site and skipped the registration process by clicking the Facebook log-in button, then you have used a social sign-in. Yesterday I was talking to some of my digital partners and I asked them how many of their current projects include social sign-in. “All of them,” they said.  “For any site where there’s a user account.” A “user account” isn’t strictly something limited to e-commerce.  A user account is any frame of customization applied to a si

“There’s an app for that.” You’ve heard that phrase countless times. But there’s an important lesson wrapped up in that phrase. Consider this:  There’s an app for what? And the answer is “whatever problem a consumer happens to have.” Apps are generally solutions to problems.  They’re not simply tools for you to amplify your brand – in fact they may not be that at all.  Apps are not necessarily about your brand, they are about your consumers. Even if they are in the presence o

Recently CNN’s Fareed Zakaria spoke with Sony Chairman Howard Stringer about Japan’s post-crisis economic recovery. In the context of that discussion, Stringer talked about the evolution of his own company, Sony, in the wake of a different kind of Tsunami – the kind Apple let loose on the world of mobile devices and entertainment beginning with its iPod and continuing to this day. Sony, Stringer explained, was once building vertical devices for vertical markets.  The company

“One of our remaining competitive advantages relative to blossoming competitors is simply this – we’re local, they’re not.” But what do we mean by “local”?  And how is this an advantage rather than a convenient cliché, a poorly understood talking point? “Local” is usually used to describe a broadcast signal area which, give or take, means a city or town of license.  It is, in other words, strictly a function of geography at a relatively broad level. Unfortunately I think ther