Posted August 13th, 2012
by Elena Sokolova
After a disastrous start at London 2012, Russia secured third place by total medal count, falling just 5 medals behind China. The team even managed to win one more gold than in Beijing four years ago.
Tennis stars Elena Dementieva and Dinara Safina were the heroines in Beijing, when love of tennis by the first Russian president Boris Yeltsin made tennis the favorite sport in the country. However, the tennis team did not perform well in London, with coaches blaming lack of financial support from the government. Even the presence of Maria Sharapova, who carried the Russian flag at the opening ceremony, did not save the disastrous performance on the Wimbledon courts. Judo, a sport strongly supported by current president Vladimir Putin (a keen judoka himself), emerged as one of the most successful sports for the Russian team, with three Olympic gold medals.
Analysis of coverage in the media presents an interesting picture. We looked at volumes for three sports: tennis, cycling and judo. The English-language media predominantly reported about Russian tennis team and its golden girl Sharapova – 72% of the total volume, with judo yielding only 24%. But the Russian-language media focused on judo – 60%, with tennis receiving only 37%. Can it be attributed to the medals won or to sport preference by the governing elite?
Tags: Cycling, Judo, London 2012, Olympics, Russia, Tennis
Posted in Elena Sokolova
Posted August 3rd, 2012
by Denise Kestler
There were 9.6 Million Tweets during the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony (WSJ.com). They were mainly comments from those watching the show unfolding on television and from those watching from the bleachers at the Olympic Stadium. Tweets were both positive and negative but on a whole they represented an engaged audience. In this way, Twitter has set the record for the first “social” Olympics. To give perspective to this, during the Beijing Olympics there were a respectable few million Twitter users and today there are over 140 million active Twitter users. That growth is felt in every journalistic breath spoken or written over the London Olympics. It is the Olympic audience and the athletes themselves who, over the course of the first few days of the games, have led media coverage through their use of Twitter.
Trending Twitter topics, which more traditional media has honed in, on include criticism of NBC for the delayed broadcasting of events to primetime. Whether satellite stations would have had it any other way , interestingly, has not made a significant impact on the discussion. Having said that, stories covering NBC and what is being tweeted seems to be rising again (see the following trend line chat below). Equally damning of both NBC and Twitter is their agreement making Twitter the official narrator of the Olympics, and in nearly the same breadth Guy Adams, The Independent’s Los Angeles correspondent, having his Twitter account blocked when he posted a colourful tweet complaining of NBC’s choice to favour revenues rather than journalistic integrity, “The man responsible for NBC pretending the Olympics haven’t started yet is Gary Zenkel,..” referring to the delay of the Opening Ceremony.
Athletes have embraced Twitter in some cased for the first time as an avenue to communicate with their nation and their fans. Messages of thanks for support and apologies for not capturing a medal for their country are interspersed with cries of support and enthusiasm from the public. There are lessons to be learned as well , a 17-year-old (@rileyy_69) was recently arrested after sending a malicious tweet to Olympic diver, Tom Daley following his failure to achieve a medal during the final. Tom chose to re-tweet the comment which increased his support.
These are but two examples that sit within a larger set of coverage in the more traditional media. Both print and web/social media are looking to Twitter to guide what interests the reader. And, in many cases the reader is the driving force.
Tags: NBC, Olympics, Twitter
Posted in Denise Kestler, Social Media
Posted July 10th, 2012
by Christophe Torrent
No qualifier seemed bombastic enough to evoke the migration that occurred Wednesday 6th of June on the Internet: “large amplitude”, “historical day”, “critical for internet” or even “nuclear transition”… That day, part of the world switched to IPv6.
In practical terms, IPv6 (Internet provider version 6) was created to deal with the long anticipated problem of IPv4 running out of addresses. These addresses are public, individual and unique, like a phone number. Since 1983 all connected machines recognize each other through these IPv4 addresses (the old version). They are coded in such a manner that “only” 4.3 billion addresses exist. When the current system was invented, nobody imagined that we would ever run out, but with the explosion in the number of devices that connect to the Internet it became necessary to enlarge the net… just to be sure that tomorrow´s fridges would be able to be connected.
With the IPv6 it would be possible to have an infinite number of IP addresses: 3.4 x 1038 , so about 667 000 addresses on every square millimeter of the Earth´s surface, or if we prefer looking at the sky, an entire IPv4 internet for every star in the universe.
Since the 6th of July, the IPv4 and the IPv6 addresses have been recognized by most of web big players and we are heading towards the generalisation of IPv6. The progressive migration will take an unknown number of years and the mainstream users will see no difference.
Let´s have a look on how this huge change was reflected in the media.
Traditional media did not pay a lot of attention to this topic. The changes could be “historical” or “critical”, but if they did not have practical applications or a direct influence they did not really interest basic internet users… nor traditional media. It is quite interesting that one of the biggest transformations ever experienced by the internet concerned such a limited number of its users. It gives the impression that few people are aware of what happened and that the fate of such an important tool belongs to a handful of gurus.
The good news comes from the internet itself: web news, blogs, boards… we find 10 times more articles on IPv6 than for print media. It is not really a surprise, the best place to speak about the internet is definitely on the internet.
Well, there is no reason to be concerned. We just hope that this new stock of addresses will not be exhausted in 30 years. Infinity is relative.
Posted in Christophe Torrent, Measurement, Public Relations
Posted July 3rd, 2012
by KoenPlatteeuw
There is a consensus among PR professionals that PR isn’t just about pushing your message out there anymore. In the changed communication paradigm, corporations turned from one main channel of information to many. Hence, the idea of corporate use of social media.
Now within this (not so) new scenario, one could think the classical press release lost its purpose. Apparently corporations are not convinced. In our media research tool, Factiva, we carry a significant number of press release wires. A study based on the number of releases shows us the following trend:
At year-end 2009, one could have concluded that we were watching the decline of a tool that doesn’t fit the current corporate communication model. Nevertheless, that trend seems to be reversed in the last three years with 2012 looking to become a record year.
Although volumes are back up, the use of a press release has changed and has become one of many instruments to drive traffic back to main communication channels. A small example: on July 1st, AT&T announced it reached an agreement with AMC Networks to keep carrying the network in its U-verse TV service. AT&T distributed the news through PR Newswire and other press release wires. The release contained links to its corporate website as well as its Twitter account. This linked back to a dedicated website on the dispute. AMC’s release on the same issue contained no such internal links. In the last day, the release from AT&T was immediately used as the basis of 19 news stories while AMC’s version only led to 4 news stories. Press releases still play a valuable role as long as they are designed to accommodate today’s channels of information. Now, we want to hear from you- do you think the usage of press releases will rise or decline in 2012?
Koen Platteeuw is a Media Consultant at Dow Jones and has worked for more than 10 years in a variety of Media Research roles. He works closely with clients in the pharmaceutical, food and agricultural, chemicals as well as the transportation and logistics industries. Koen is accredited by the International Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communication (AMEC) and holds a post graduate degree in Digital Journalism from the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain.
Posted in Koen Platteeuw, Public Relations
Posted June 28th, 2012
by Brian Panton
The idea that America’s expanding waistline warns of a permanent obesity epidemic has prompted New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to propose a ban on the sale of sugary drinks larger than 16 ounces at restaurants, movie theaters and street carts. Much like New York’s smoking ban, initially derided and later copied around the world, Bloomberg is hoping to send a message.
The ban could not have come at a worse time for the beverage industry, as soda consumption has already witnessed a sharp decline over the last ten years. Meanwhile, the industry has had to grapple with a steady stream of negative messages in the media signaling that sugary beverages are a key driver of the obesity crisis, thus contributing to rising health care costs. This presents a serious risk for Coke and Pepsi’s businesses, which rely heavily on their flagship brands.
Coca-Cola was quick to engage its public relations machine to reframe the debate, highlighting that over the last decade, while obesity was rising, caloric intake from carbonated beverages was slumping, a sentiment that found placement in some prominent media outlets. What’s more, the industry’s messaging was shepherded by critics who assailed the proposal as a “nanny state” overreach of government power.
Media Analysis: Obesity Related Coverage for Coca Cola and Pepsi
Yet, despite Coca-Cola and PepsiCo’s PR strategy, the beverage industry was shouted down by the media and public health experts sympathetic to the notion of a large-soda ban, much like they rally behind taxes on soda. Further, legal analysts ventured that drink makers face an uphill battle in the courts if they mount a legal challenge to obstruct the initiative.
Media Analysis: Favorability of Coca Cola and Obesity Related Coverage
While the media are decidedly behind the ban, that sentiment may not be shared by the audience. During an interview with Mayor Bloomberg on NBC’s “Today” show, anchor Matt Lauer revealed an online poll that found 83% of respondents concluded that the ban would not solve the obesity problem.
Nevertheless, the beverage behemoths will likely have to operate in a media environment that blames sugary sodas for the U.S.’s rising obesity rates.
For more background, read The Wall Street Journal Story, “Sugar Ban Stirs Up New York”
Tags: Coca-Cola, measurement, Pepsi
Posted in Brian Panton, Contributors, Corporate Reputation, Measurement
