Year: 2005

Swedish ad market up 8%

Investments in advertising increased with almost 8 per cent during the third quarter this year compared to the same period 2004, according to IRM. The increase is larger than expected. Total investments were 5.7 billion SEK and online advertising for example, rose by 25 per cent. [Via Pressens Tidning]

Aftonbladet buys Stockholm portal

Aftonbladet recently launched a special Stockholm section and today the tabloid revealed it has acquired the local portal Allt Om Stockholm (“Everything about Stockholm”) with 180,000 unique visitors per month. The two websites will co-operate in order to strengthen their offers both to readers and advertisers.

I can’t compare this investment with Sydsvenskan’s purchase of Manolo.se, but this seems to be a logical step in the fight for the local advertising market in Stockholm.

Daily invests in fashion blog

The rumours were true. Swedish daily Sydsvenskan invests in the fashion blog Manolo.se and creates a company called Manolo AB. The blog has 45,000 unique visitors per month and will be kept a separate entity from Sydsvenskan and “will not in any way be connected with the Sydsvenskan brand”.

I’m not sure I see the synergies between a fashion blog and a local daily, if they are to be kept separate from each other, but I’m sure someone somewhere has a business case that says this is a good idea.

Update: Jenny Holmstedt, business developer at Sydsvenskan says that the blog has not been purchased mainly for its focus on fashion, rather because it has attracted an interesting target group of men between 15 and 40.

FIFA restrictions an opportunity for consumer generated media

Online editions of newspapers will not be allowed to publish photos from football games in the World Cup in Germany next summer until one hour after the game ends. This is a result of an agreement between FIFA and Infront Sports & Media in Switzerland, the company that owns the TV rights for the World Cup 2006. Also, not more than five photos may be published from each half of the game, because more photos could resemble a TV sequence.

These rules have upset the global newspaper organisation WAN which means that it is a restriction of media’s right to inform the public.

Obviously 75,000 spectators at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin couldn’t care less of these restrictions and should FIFA stand by its decision we would probably see a significant rise in traffic to photo sharing sites like Flickr. Bloggers and others that are present at the World Cup will be given an opportunity to beat media at its own game by publishing consumer generated content that is free (maybe not legally, but in reality) from restrictions. Suddenly a press accreditation is a disadvantage, not an opportunity.

Via Journalisten.