Nielsen Site Census figures showed 1,059,869 unique browsers visited Sound Alliance sites in July 2010 (Site Census, Total Traffic). The network includes inthemix.com.au, FasterLouder.com.au, SameSame.com.au, MessandNoise.com and the recent addition of one of the world’s most influential music sites Hype Machine. The number of unique browsers visiting Sound Alliance sites has doubled in less than two years.

I’m very proud of this achievement and our exceptionally talented team. It’s the organic, independent approach that we took to get here that I’m most proud of. We don’t spend money on paid search, we think outside the square with marketing and have used word of mouth, the strength of our communities and the power of our content to grow.

The publishers were:

Pedestrian

Pages/Groupie

Conversant

Lifelounge

2Threads

Here’s the email:

Hey fellow indie publishers,

As you would be aware, Sound Alliance, among others, have been exerting what little pressure we have to force the debate on transparency around traffic figures and the removal of auto-refresh over recent months. I’ve been on the Audit Bureau of Australia’s watchdog committee and we are finally starting to see some action following some publicity in Mumbrella and The Australian.

In categories like tech and business, almost all of low to mid tier publishers have been audited and it has lifted the credibility and perception of the whole category amongst advertisers as a result.  We have also started to see the entertainment and music categories catching up, with Nova signing up in the last few weeks.

Another key change is that media agencies and brands are being educated on the importance of audited figures. I would be expecting this to begin to have an impact on your potential ad revenues moving forwards as the awareness of the issue continues to build. Within print the CAB Audit is an industry standard and anyone not audited is frowned upon.  That day is not quite here yet for digital, but it’s not far off.

I am writing to you to encourage you to consider taking part in the audit. There are costs associated with being listed in Nielsen and with the ABA but from our experience the upside far outweighs the cost implications.  Each of your businesses has gained significant enough momentum and secured advertising funding and support so you stand to benefit from the audit by being able to go back to your advertisers with a positive message around your properties.  Our collective space as a whole will benefit from the full transparency this will bring.

The lions share of energy and attention to date has been on getting the big boys to comply but now we are looking for mid tier publishers to lead by example and elevate the entire perception of the space we collectively operate in.

I’ve copied Alexx Cass from the ABA and Kevin Tong from Nielsen on this email.  They will no doubt gladly share info and pricing on participating in the audit

More info here: http://www.auditbureau.org.au/web_audit_services.php

Cheers

Neil Ackland
Sound Alliance

The email didn’t appear to have much effect.  None of them have conducted the audit as far as I’m aware.  If I’m wrong then I’m sure the publishers will let me know in the comments below.  I figured opening the debate up on my blog may trigger some action…

I understand the pure economics of the WHY.  More ads per page = more ad impressions = more ad revenue. And for smaller publishers who don’t generate much traffic this can be the only way to keep taking bookings.  “We’re sold out!” someone yells.  “Don’t worry, just whack another ad unit down the bottom of the page…sweet!!!”

If none of your advertisers complain or seem to care about clutter then why change anything? And don’t for one moment think about the user!!

At Sound Alliance we’ve been asking this question about clutter and canvassing the views of agencies and advertisers. Some people have said clutter is an issue but there’s ZERO evidence to show that anyone is basing buying decisions on it.  The focus tends to be on CPM (even if the reality is that your ad is on a page with five others).

We are about to launch a new version of inthemix on June 6th.  The clutter conversation is heated here.  Do you go with the market and stick ads everywhere or do you make a stand?  If any agency or advertiser reads this who genuinely gives a shit about clutter then comment below… I’d love to hear from you.

Let’s see who wins the debate when we go live on June 6th!!

We’re hiring at Sound Alliance.

We’ve compiled our strategy and direction for the next financial year and it’s exciting. We’re investing in product, marketing and people. We’re adding new sites, we’re improving existing ones, our business is getting better.

We need 2 Group Sales Managers to each lead a business patch and join us in delivering unrivalled results for our advertisers.

We’re looking for senior sales people who understand how to bring together our diverse, unique assets to create interesting and effective partnerships.

We want a GSM who can speak with senior people in an agency about the industry and make it worth the agencies time.

We want people who can build relationships based on value. We want people who can actively contribute to the commercial direction of the group and deliver on the potential of the business.

The next 12 months will be exciting. Just in the past 3 months we’ve entered into a strategic alliance with Moshtix, taken on The Hype Machine in AU, our creative shop Thought By Them was in the BRW Fast 50 and we’re about to unveil a brand new version of inthemix which is simply stunning. We’ve seen solid growth in new advertiser categories as well and momentum is strong. On top of this, Sound Alliance was voted by BRW as one of the Best Places to Work in Australia.

What sort of person are we looking for?

- someone with strong media experience
- someone who can lead
- a creative problem solver
- someone with strong communication + negotiation skills
- someone who is looking to grow with us

Are you this person? Do you know this person?

If so – email me. bshepherd@thesoundalliance.net

The sequel to Surf Camp is on its way.  Ski Camp promises to take things to a whole new, hilarious, eye-popping level.  Here’s the trailer to whet your appetite.

We have integrated brand partnership and product placement opportunities available with Ski Camp, so if you’re a brand that likes to stand out from the crowd, get in touch.

Sound Alliance, Australia’s leading independent online entertainment publisher, has formed a partnership with one of the world’s most influential music sites, The Hype Machine (www.hypem.com).

Sound Alliance will localise and represent the US-based online music site that aggregates thousands of Australia’s and the world’s most influential music blogs into one central place.  The site has achieved critical acclaim the world over, featuring on The Guardian’s list of The 100 Essential Websites and named “the master of music blogs” by Rolling Stone magazine.

“Only a music fan who is truly passionate about a song will take the time to write about it,” says founder Anthony Volodkin, “and that’s what ends up on The Hype Machine.” The site is one of the key places where musicians, labels, promoters and music lovers discover new music.

The Hype Machine will be integrated into the Sound Alliance network of music sites that includes inthemix.com.au, FasterLouder.com.au and MessandNoise.com with a reach of over 690,000 domestic unique browsers a month (Nielsen Netratings, Market Intelligence, Domestic traffic, April 2010).

Australia is the fourth largest audience for The Hype Machine globally, with around 100,000 Australians visiting the site each month. “We see huge growth potential in Australia,” says Volodkin, “and were impressed with the Sound Alliance business. We share many similarities in our independent approach and ethos, and are excited to be partnering with them.”

Sound Alliance Managing Director Neil Ackland says, “The Hype Machine is a perfect fit with our existing music community and content sites. The addition of The Hype Machine cements our position as the leader in reaching influential 18 to 30 year olds online.”

“We are constantly reviewing local and international opportunities, and this is one of a series of new media and product additions we are currently working on,” says Ackland.

The Australian Hype Machine will launch with foundation advertisers Smirnoff and Adidas. The site offers a variety of high impact ad formats, including banners, skins and rich media.

Google has removed the personal blog of ITM’s Dave Ruby Howe from Blogger following supposed repeated complaints from labels and web sheriffs.  The blog, called Mass Hyperbole (which somehow Dave manages to keep going in the tiny amount of spare time his ‘real’ job affords him) is one of Australia’s best.

I’m highlighting this because I personally think that what Dave does shines a light on music that may not get a voice.  I see the net effect as being overwhelmingly positive for the labels and artists he chooses to promote.  I would argue that those labels and artists share my view. 

The argument is spelled out clearly and in detail over on Pity The Cool but this quote sums it up for me: “As Editor for inthemix.com.au and contributor to a host of respected music and cultural media bodies, Dave spends most of his waking hours fertilising the music industy flowerpot. So why would he post post illegal mp3s on his personal blog…?”.

Love to know what Google has to say…

In addition to the well known and public facing media properties of the Sound Alliance there is also our marketing agency Thought By Them.

TBT, as it is more often known, is an accomplished brand strategy, digital, experiential, creative and events company working for the likes of Diageo and Virgin Mobile.

Today they were announced in the BRW Magazine “2010 Fast Starters” list for growing companies.

The list of 100 of the best performing new companies has TBT right in the middle at #50 which is a fantastic achievement for a small core team doing great work for multi-national clients. With only four of the companies above them having less employees it’s clear to see they are punching well above their weight.

Congratulations to the team!

In 2010 INTHEMIX.COM.AU celebrates a milestone of epic proportions; their 10th anniversary. From auspicious beginnings tucked away in enigmatic founder djdrey’s bedroom to their current position as Australia’s leading resource and community destination for dance music, festivals and clubbing, inthemix has continued to grow in leaps and bounds.

This June WE LOVE SOUNDS and WINTER SOUND SYSTEM will help in marking the landmark occasion, with INTHEMIX 10 YEARS proudly presenting the main arena at all festival dates nationwide. “Considering some of dance music’s most exciting names are onboard inthemix’s partnership with We Love Sounds and Winter Sound System perfectly encapsulates the story of our decade in the scene, with past, present and future stars all represented,” said Tim Hardaker, General Manager of inthemix. “We’re really looking forward to working with two of Australia’s favorite winter festivals for such an important milestone.”

inthemix 10 Years at We Love Sounds and Winter Sound System also coincides with the relaunch of the inthemix website. “We’ve got a brand new site that we can’t wait for everyone to see,” Tim continued. “It features a range of fresh social networking functions and tools in addition to the tried and tested areas of the site that everyone already knows and loves. We’ve also updated the site design, look and feel, and given our ‘headphone man’ logo a facelift for 2010. It’s a really exciting time for inthemix!”

Topping the bill in the inthemix 10 Years main arena; certified dance titans UNDERWORLD (excl. Brisbane). Having clocked up more than two decades in existence, Karl Hyde and Rick Smith are veterans of live electronica performance, and they serve up a perfectly synced audio-visual show like no other. Underworld live is the closest thing to a religious experience for hardened dance fans, with a litany of seminal classics in their arsenal, including ‘Born Slippy’, ‘Cowgirl’ and ‘Two Months Off’, while newer cuts ‘Holding The Moth’ and ‘Downpipe’ prove their finger remains firmly on the pulse.

There could be no better personification of the ‘sound of now’ than Italian upstarts CROOKERS, who have set the dance world alight with their inimitable approach to production in recent times. Armed with a swag of new music thanks to their appropriately titled debut album ‘Tons Of Friends’ – it features Soulwax, Kelis, will.i.am, Roisin Murphy, Miike Snow, Spank Rock, Major Lazer, Kid Cudi and more – their main arena performance will see the dancefloor heaving!

Unquestionably one of house music’s most essential artists, the inthemix 10 Years main arena will also play host to frequently flying Dutchman LAIDBACK LUKE. Regarded as the unofficial fourth member of the Swedish House Mafia, his collaboration with the Swedes – ‘Leave The World Behind’ – was one of 2009’s biggest sellers on Beatport. Luke toured with rapturous applause for We Love Sounds and Winter Sound System in 2009, so it’s little surprise he has been invited back for a second time.

Many more international and local stars are still to be announced for the inthemix 10 Years main arena at We Love Sounds and Winter Sound System festival shows nationwide, so be sure to check INTHEMIX.COM.AU/10YEARS for updates over the coming weeks.

INTHEMIX MEDIA REQUESTS – tim@team.inthemix.com.au

WE LOVE SOUNDS MEDIA REQUESTS – clareb@splendidcomms.com

WINTER SOUND SYSTEM MEDIA REQUESTS – ed@futureentertainment.com.au

TICKETS FOR ALL WE LOVE SOUNDS AND WINTER SOUND SYSTEM SHOWS ARE ONSALE NOW FROM INTHEMIX, TICKETMASTER, TICKETEK AND LOCAL OUTLETS. FOR MORE INFO CHECK OUT INTHEMIX.COM.AU/10YEARS, WELOVESOUNDS.COM.AU AND WINTERSOUNDSYSTEM.COM.AU.

In 2010 inthemix will celebrate a monumental milestone; our 10th birthday! From auspicious beginnings tucked away in the enigmatic djdrey’s bedroom, to our position today as Australia’s leading resource and community destination for dance music, festivals and clubbing, we’re quite proud of all that’s been achieved.

To mark the occasion we have a lot in store over the coming months, and to get this rolling we thought we’d give you get a sneak peak of our brand new inthemix logo. Also coming soon, we will be launching a brand new version of the website, with a raft of new features and tools for you to sink your teeth into.

We love our new inthemix ‘headphone man’ logo and think you will too, because he represents the two things that matter most to us all; music and community. inthemix has always been as much about us bringing you all the latest music news and info as it is about you sharing your opinions.

We’re excited about what the next few months holds and we can’t wait to take the wraps off our hot new website. In the meantime, if you’d like to stay up to date on things as they unfold we’ll be previewing the designs and mockups in this forum thread.

djdrey will be posting updates throughout the development process, so if you’re interested in finding out what kind of work and planning goes into relaunching a website that has over 200,000 members,  7.3 million forum posts, 45,000 pieces of content and 1.5 million photos, make sure you subscribe to the thread.

That’s it for now, but suffice to say there’s a lot to look forward to over the coming months. Thanks for being here to celebrate with us!

Tim Hardaker
General Manager
inthemix.com.au

‘2010 is going to be a massive year for inthemix as we celebrate our 10th birthday. Jack has played an integral part in FasterLouder’s continued growth over the past 2.5 years, so I can’t think of anyone better suited to the challenge of steering editorial on inthemix forward’ says Tim Hardaker, General Manager, inthemix.

Tregoning’s promotion to Editor, inthemix, is effective 1^st March and stepping into the newly vacated role of FasterLouder’s Deputy is the highly talented Tom Mann, currently FasterLouder’s Melbourne Editor. This of course means our remaining challenge is to find an equally talented Melbournian to step into Tom’s role in Melbourne.  Applications are open now.

Libby Clark, Operations Director, Sound Alliance added “Rewarding and recognising the exceptional talents within the Sound Alliance team is a core part of our organisational culture. Both Jack and Tom have been critical in producing content that had led to FasterLouder  tripling in size and reach within the past two years of their involvement with the site. They’re stepping into roles of greater influence, which is a win for us and a win for our audience.”

This short film, that promotes the events at the same time as highlighting key dates in Berlin’s recent cultural & creative history, combines film, animation and typography.

Well done to Alexx at the ABA and Kerry Field and Gary Hardwick from the MFA for championing the cause.

Auto-refresh be gone!

There are a few things about Laurel’s argument that troubled me.

Firstly, what and who defines what is and isn’t a blog?  The Huffington Post in my mind is much more an online newspaper than it is a blog. Sure, there are blogs on there and it has all the buzzy social media tools you would expect but so does the smh and wsj.

The only conclusion I could draw is that that blog label gets used when it suits your agenda.  The Huff gladly accepts its role as the pin up of social media. They would argue that if it gets them more PR and notoriety to be known as a blog then sure, call us a blog. You could even argue that the blog label makes them more valuable and gives them a point of distinction away from the old hat and dying newspaper business.

Take our group of sites at Sound Alliance.  Blogging functionality – check, forums – check, twitter and Facebook stuff – check, comments – check, profiles – check…  Does this make our sites blogs?  Maybe it does but it doesn’t suit our agenda to be labeled blogs so as far as we are concerned we are not.

Secondly, I find the valuations in the post a little bit wild to say the least (I acknowledge Laurel took these from elsewhere).  $150M for Huffington Post based on 15 x revenue.  If we applied a 15 x  revenue multiple to Sound Alliance we would be worth significantly more than the Huffington Post. I hope I’m wrong but that just seems a bit crazy to me.  Value is what someone actually pays for something, not a price tag a blogger slaps on something to help sell their argument.

Lastly, right here in Australia there are fantastic success stories in the same space that are being overlooked in favour of global success stories, which let’s face it, are one in a million.

It’s all too easy to defer to these globally recognized success stories like the Huff and Techcrunch. Both are great sites with millions of readers.  But how about digging a bit deeper and writing about the sites in Australia who have managed to generate significant revenues off a much smaller audience base?  Arguably this is harder to do and is a better and more credible illustration that there is money to be made in social media right here in our own backyard.

“As one of our longest-serving contributors Angus started writing reviews in 2003 ahead of joining us full-time at the end of 2006,” said Tim Hardaker, inthemix’s General Manager. “This means we’ve got some pretty high expectations for our new Editor.” So here goes…

You’ll have at least 2-3 years demonstrated experience in online editorial and digital media, having developed creative and commercially viable content strategies that consider the needs of the audience and clients alike. With a solid understanding of the music media landscape, you’ll live and breathe electronic music and can’t help but get out to clubs and festivals whenever you can.

Preferably degree-qualified, your background will include writing and subbing to tight deadlines, along with taking accountability for the contributions of others. Your initiative and resourcefulness will make you indispensable to our team and clients, because creative and effective solutions come naturally to you.

Your understanding of how to build and engage an audience will mean you have a natural flair for supporting your editorial initiatives with online partnerships and social media. Creating compelling and original content is at the heart of ITM, and as such this is not an entry-level role. It’s a demanding position with challenging objectives that will prove incredibly rewarding for the right candidate.

We’re a dynamic, hard-working team based in Surry Hills, Sydney. If you think you fit the bill, or know someone who does, send an application to jobs@thesoundalliance.net by 1 February, 2010.

Ben Shepherd has been appointed as Commercial Director, effective 1^st March 2010; and Tim Duggan has been promoted to Group Marketing Director – responsible for the marketing efforts across the Sound Alliance media portfolio including inthemix.com.au, FasterLouder.com.au, SameSame.com.au, MessandNoise.com & Qjump.com.au effective immediately.

Shepherd, current National Digital Director for Maxus and a former Associate Director at Mindshare, as well the award winning author of industry blog Talking Digital (http://talkingdigital.wordpress.com), joins Sound Alliance on the eve of the group’s tenth anniversary. With solid strategic experience across clients within the FMCG, Auto, Technology and Tourism segments, Shepherd brings a unique perspective and skillset to the Sound Alliance business.

“Constantly evolving, diversifying and improving our commercial model has been at the core of our success, so adding Ben to our team will undoubtedly take our commercial offering to the next level, said Neil Ackland, Sound Alliance Managing Director.

“In an ultra competitive media market, investment in our team and their depth of knowledge and passion for the industry will ensure we continue to stand out from the competition. I’ve known Ben for six years and we have always shared a similar view of where the Australian digital media landscape should be heading.  Ben is undoubtedly one of Australian digital media’s thought leaders.  Having the opportunity to work with him and lead the way with Sound Alliance is very exciting,” continued Neil Ackland.

Ben Shepherd went onto add “Sound Alliance is an independent, credible and market-leading group of digital businesses that are truly unique. The combination of leading music, youth and lifestyle websites, a sophisticated ticketing platform and killer creative capabilities offers great potential for growth” said Shepherd. “I am really excited to be working within a group with such a strong creative and commercial platform and can’t wait to get started.

“Sound Alliance brings together two mandatories for a successful digital business – engaging, differentiated content and interesting, integrated and well executed communications ideas for advertisers. I really believe this is something Sound Alliance does better than anyone else and the opportunity to contribute to this is a compelling one,” said Ben Shepherd.

Sound Alliance is on the lookout for an enthusiastic, team player to join us as our Receptionist/Team Assistant, because the person currently in this role is so awesome she’s been promoted.  This full-time role would ideally suit someone who loves music and online media, thrives in a busy environment; has admin experience and a great phone manner.

The key areas of responsibility are:

Reception and general office administration

Management of the Gig Guide and What’s On Guide

Fulfilment of competition prizes and promotional campaigns

Assisting editorial and marketing teams

Telephone and email customer service to our website users

We need your great communication skills, keen eye for detail and ability to juggle a dozen things at once. Intermediate Word and Excel skills are preferred, as is previous office admin experience. This is a great opportunity to become a key part of our team. If you think you’ve got what it takes to be a part of this fun, dynamic company based in Surry Hills, send your resume to jobs@thesoundalliance.net by January 26, 2010.

The issue hasn’t really gotten much coverage so I’m encouraged to see the ABA and the MFA going on the front foot this week.  Yesterday Kerry Field of Mindshare and the MFA sent out an email to all its member agencies highlighting the issue and asking them to ‘encourage your staff to start demanding online publishers for audited numbers’.  President of the MFA, Gary Hardwick took a strong stance in B&T stating “I encourage our industry to be extremely cautious about using numbers that have not agreed to undergo this process to make these commercial decisions. The truth is in the detail and for sites that are not audited, can we believe in the numbers?”.

Sound Alliance was one of the first publishers to complete the audit process and pass with flying colours.  We whole-heartedly support the audit process and recognise the importance of placing publishers on an even playing field.  One of the goals of my blog is to shine the light on the shady practices within the industry and it’s good to see the ABA doing some great work to lift everyone’s game.

What will be interesting is to see how everyone responds, and consequentially who passes and fails the audit and what impact removing auto-refresh has on the traffic figures.

To give the process a nudge, here’s the list of sites I’m aware of that use auto-refresh.  As you can see we are not talking about amateur set ups here:

SMH homepage – auto refresh of 5mins
Sportal – auto refresh of 6mins
IT Wire – auto refresh of 15mins, all pages
Lifehacker – auto refresh of 15mins, all pages
Weatherzone – auto refresh of 10mins
Gizmodo – auto refresh of 15mins, all pages
Zoo weekly – auto refresh of 15mins
RSVP – auto refresh of 60mins
Essential Baby – auto refresh of 5mins
Business Spectator – auto refresh of 4mins
Real Estate.com.au – auto refresh of 5mins
Kotaku – auto refresh of 15mins, all pages
Defamer – auto refresh of 15mins, all pages

And here’s the email from Kerry:

Dear members

Did you know that in Australia some online publishers of specific content e.g. breaking news use a practice called auto refresh?  With the practice of auto refresh, if you log onto a breaking news page and then leave it open on a tab or walk away from your desk the page and all the ads on the page refreshes every 2-3 mins.  As you can imagine, this equates to many of our clients’ online ads being served but not necessarily being seen. Not only are our clients paying a premium for these ad impressions but they are also paying for the adserving.This is one of many ways that publishers can manipulate the numbers in our industry counting systems.

You may have read in the press recently that the ABA are developing their auditing business into the digital world. One of the areas of focus is  ensuring that the numbers that appear in Nielsen’s Market Intelligence are fully audited based on a set of rules that have been agreed by an industry Watchdog Committee (on which the MFA have representation) for example, auto refresh numbers are not allowed to be counted. I have attached the list of rules for your perusal.

Having audited numbers is an extremely important development for the online industry.  Please distribute this email and the attachment to anyone in your agency that is planning/buying online campaigns. Please encourage your staff to start demanding online publishers for audited numbers.

The site’s holding page states “Your music downloads paid for by brands” and then “Many thanks to the leading brands that are paying for your downloads” with a bunch of logos including Johnson & Johnson, McDonalds and Bacardi among others.

I can’t help thinking that the whole concept is just a bit naff.  If the average 18 year old music fan had written the copy it would more likely read “Your music downloads paid for by dumb brands desperately trying to be cool”.

The brands participating are like the dorky kid at school who bought the cool kids lunch in an attempt to be invited into their gang.  The gang accepted whilst sniggering behind their back, the whole action just proving how much of a loser the kid really was.

Good marketing should stand out, grab and hold your attention. It should be unexpected and creative. The concept of buying consumers music in exchange for them seeing your advertising message seems to be missing the point and not really trying.  It’s saying to the consumer “Hey, we’re not creative enough to stand out so we just paid these guys to give you some free stuff…please love us for it!”.

I like that concepts like this and Spotify are having a go at saving the recorded music business. I just don’t believe the Guvera model is the answer.  To change behaviour and create the revolution Guvera promises you have to make the experience faster, easier and better than illegal downloading.  You have to understand the motivations behind why users download illegally in the first place. To me Guvera does neither.

The irony of naming a blatantly commercial global brand driven service after Che Guevara, the marxist revolutionary is not lost on me either. The essence of the countercultural icons life mission was a desire to create the consciousness of a new man driven by moral rather than material incentives.  I’m sure Che’s turning in his grave!

Clients are buying them, but they don’t know it.  Their agency partners are using the clients marketing dollars to dress up the results of mediocre campaigns.  The goal is to present a mirage of success to an unwitting client who looks at the numbers and assumes the agency is delivering engaging work.

Here’s how the scam works (based on a recent campaign for a brand that shall remain nameless). Agency X sells Client Y on an idea that involves the agency creating a piece of content.  Agency X puts the content up on a social media platform and within a matter of days the content has been clicked on several thousand times with no media spend.  Agency X hails the campaign a huge success claiming it has gone viral and talking up the number of clicks.

Here’s what really happened: Agency X went to Company Z who sells ‘guaranteed clicks, fans, followers’ for a small fee.  Company Z then buys access to a database of bored housewives and the unemployed who get paid in shopping vouchers and credits to click mindlessly on links. An ultimately valueless exercise for the brand, tantamount to a warehouse full of monkeys sitting at PC’s.

The agency hails the campaign a success claiming that the brand has cut through and engaged its target audience. After all, the clicks never lie!  The harsh reality is something altogether different.  All clicks are not created equal.

What needs to change for this practice to disappear?  Firstly, clients need to be better educated as to the value of engagement over just clicks.  The agency should be evaluated on engagement with the right audience in the right environment.

Secondly, agencies that support this practice need to lift their game and take a long hard look at themselves.  If I was a client and I knew one of my trusted agency partners was doing this, I’d be asking some serious questions about that agencies intentions.  Hopefully some clients read this and start asking the right questions of their agency partners.

Lastly, the industry needs to look at metrics beyond clicks to demonstrate the value of online. In the real example I gave, there was a huge artificial spike and then a drop off in views which is the red flag that something fishy is going on.  Where’s the momentum?

The interest level in the content is well below average, another clear signal that viewers are clicking then closing the video without watching it, resulting in low interest and engagement.

Sure, there were clicks, but how valuable were they?  I’d argue it delivers negative value.  Paying people to click on content actually gives the paid viewer the impression it is less than worthless. Not even good enough to be free!

I should go away more often if it means we have more months like October. The momentum we have built over the winter months continues unabated and October, traditionally a big month, delivered across the board. SA reached a new domestic record of 32k Daily UB’s, 619k monthly UB’s, 9% up on last months record. Pages also broke records with 9.7M in total.

inthemix maintained its #1 spot in the Netratings Music & Radio category, posting its biggest month ever – 18,625 daily and 351k monthly UB’s and a whopping 5.68M pages.  Festival and NYE line up announcements flew in thick and fast and events like Parklife drove a flurry of activity and buzz across the site.  Page traffic has returned to the pre-social networking levels we saw in 2006.  Ad revenue spiked dramatically with 34% year on year growth for the month.  ITM has proven to be a resilient old dog.  As it’s tenth year of operation approaches the brand is arguably stronger than ever.

FasterLouder’s strong run continues with the big story on FL being page growth. Pages fell just shy of the 2M barrier (1.848M) up 10% on last month and up 96% on Oct 08!  UB’s stayed strong at 8,726 daily 185k monthly UB’s placing us 8th in the Music & Radio category.  FasterLouder now hosts the Big Day Out, Splendour in the Grass & Laneway Festival forums clearly establishing its position as the go-to destination for live music events.  The challenge now is communicating this phenomenal growth to advertisers who may still perceive the site to be a lot smaller than it now is.

SameSame had a fantastic traffic month jumping 19% to 2,683 daily and 60k monthly UB’s and 1M pages.  The growth is consistent month on month which is fantastic given it’s all coming from word of mouth.

Consistent month from Mess+Noise, 42k UB’s and 1M pages.

Elsewhere, The Vine continued its descent, down -14% to 13k daily and 331k total UB’s.  At this rate FasterLouder will catch them pretty soon.  Channel V’s new site dropped slightly after a few good months of growth since launch but that’s to be expected.  TripleM Sydney & Melbourne both suffered significant falls, down -19% & -32% respectively.  Radio sites tend to spike and drop a lot which I assume is driven by on-air promos.

Moshtix had a great month, up 19% with all their big festival on-sales to 9k daily and 218k monthly UB’s.  Timeout also spiked by 34% to 5k daily and 131k total UB’s but their engagement is pretty low with just 475k pages.  Still, one to watch.

That’s my round up for the month.  If you’re interested in me covering any other sites feel free to drop me a comment.  Hard to know if this is useful without feedback so all comments welcomed.

*All stats sourced from Nielsen Netratings Market Intelligence, Domestic Traffic, October 2009

Nick popped up on my radar just a year ago and since then he’s achieved an awful lot, particularly with the launch of the music aggregator We Are Hunted and Native Digital, neither of which existed when we met.

Nick, like many other entrepreneurs is deeply passionate about ideas.  But as any successful entrepreneur knows, there are many obstacles in the way of taking a brilliant idea to execution.  The toughest obstacle of all is raising capital.

Australia is a notoriously difficult market to raise capital for digital ventures.  I know.  Our business is one of a limited few who have successfully been through the process.

Nick’s post looks at who in Australia is pushing boundaries and innovating in the digital media space.

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Ask any serious investor and you’ll soon realise that the Australian investment culture is in need of a boost, particularly when it comes to digital.

The first step in any great enterprise is an idea.  That idea becomes a business, and with the right product, investment and growth, it may well become successful.

But it all starts with ideas.  And to understand why Australia’s investment culture is lacking, we first need to ask if there is enough Australian talent and innovation worthy of investment.

Because my particular area of interest is digital media, I’ve put the spotlight on Australia’s digital media innovators and asked: How Deep Is Australia’s Digital Media Talent Pool?

What follows is my subjective answer to this question, heavily influenced by the people and companies I’ve interacted with.

My hope is that in the comments, we can build a more complete picture of the digital media talent in Australia, so that everyone who reads this post comes away with a new person to meet, or great content to consume. If you fit somewhere in this post, leave a comment or email me – nicholascrocker at gmail dot com.

Australia’s Digital Media Talent Pool

At the top of the pile is Sound Alliance.  Yes this is their blog.  But they have size, scale, dollars and impact.  Nine years old and counting, the business founded by Neil Ackland, Andre Lackmann and Libby Clark traverses advertising, sponsorship, ticket sales, merchandising, consulting, research, creative, content and web design services, events, music sales and memberships.  It’s a true, diversified, digital media business.

No discussion of digital media in Australia could exclude Eric Beecher, Chairman of Crikey, Smart Company, Business Spectator and the Eureka Report.  He has found a way to monetise content online where many others have failed.  In the maelstrom of debate around paid news, Beecher has a model that works.  Beecher sits outside the talent pool, identifying and investing in Australia’s next wave digital talent, but his model leads the way.

Barrie Barton at Right Angle Publishing has built a diversified business model with multiple offshoots.  Their Rooftop Cinema in Melbourne is the physical embodiment of their capabilities, and they still publish by traditional means, but it’s their online communities – connected through The Thousands – that sets them apart digitally.

The Zavos brothers, Zac and Zolton, run Conversant Media, which produces the excellent trends and pop culture website Lost At E Minor, sports opinion site The Roar and music discovery site My Secret Playlist.  They have an established presence as market leaders in quality content creation online.

The Cool Hunter, run by Bill Tikos, has an incredible following, particularly internationally.  The business model centres on an image-driven site and weekly mailout, and has already begun extending itself into consulting and events.

Pedestrian.TV, founded by Chris Wirasinha and Oscar Martin, has found a groove in smart fashion, music and pop culture.  They’re a diversified business too, offering a full-service production house and events.

Pages, founded by Marnie Neck, publish online magazines pages, Monkey Say and Groupie Magazine while also diversifying into events and custom publishing.

Matthew Levinson edits Cyclic Defrost, blogs at the micro-wonderful darlinghurstnights.com, and, among others, contributes to New Matilda, a powerful digital property in its own right.

Mark Pollard, who combines life in Adland and Dadland with Stealth Magazine and a great blog, has a long history of leveraging the value of content to build a community.

Tim Burrowes has created something that engages a particular audience very intensely with Mumbrella.  It’s Gawker for Australian marketers.

The hyper-talented Mia Freedman is another great example of building a community around content online.

From there, you’ll find some amazing projects that are passion driven rather than commercially focussed.  Vive Cool City started by Kirk Docker and Ryder Jack Susman is an on-line TV channel that streams 2-3min original episodes.

Docker’s now turned up on The Denton-backed Hungry Beast which also features Dan Ilic whose viral talents are displayed on the Where The Hell Are You Spoof.

For viral talent you can’t go past The Handsomity Institute whose Trent From Punchy and Beached Whale videos have almost than 10M views between them.  And of course, Natalie Tran, Australia’s favourite Vlogger whose Community Channel on YouTube has 21.5M views to date.

While writing this, I discovered Kluster which exists in the stylistic realms of Frankie and Monster Children, themselves physical publications with followings that would justify vital digital properties.  Stab is another great example that fits here.

Ned Dwyer runs ElectroRash, Dave Ruby Howe runs Mass Hyperbole; Who The Hell and Jonny runs Polaroids of Androids.  There’s an entire community of music bloggers creating something worthwhile, particularly the video recordings at Shoot The Player.

I imagine this is replicated across fashion and politics too.

I can’t help but mention the indescribable Mark Catanzariti.  Watch these, if you’re not familiar.

The digital media talent pool is slightly obfuscated by the fact so much of it is being co-opted by day-jobs.  Arturo at Modular, Andy Miller and the Gutter Club crew, Jess at Something Changed, Seb Chan at the Powerhouse Museum, Mark Bulgin and the team at MySpace and Ben Shepherd at Maxus.

And finally, the Creative Catalysts list covers a lot of people who would plug in to or around a number of the initiatives listed above.

In short, the digital talent pool is more than deep enough.

There’s multiple examples of interesting, valuable media ideas, content and creators in Australia.  There’s a lot of inter-connection and crossover between the main players, and a lot of mutual support.  Admittedly, there’s a lack of mainstream media coverage and influence, but there are true audiences.

I’d argue that there’s suppressed value in the audiences and an overflow of under-commercialised talent.  And that makes Australian digital media an interesting playground for the right investor.

Nick Crocker is MD of Native Digital and co-founder of We Are Hunted.

Below is a case in point which is currently live on Myspace.  It’s difficult to know what the product is, but more importantly, does ramming it down the throats of the average teenager they are most likely targeting mean they give a shit? And what does this say about the Myspace brand, when they are basically prepared to sell the homepage completely to get the $ across the line.

I’ll get shot down in flames for saying it, but this kind of product just belongs on TV, or at the very least in an ad where it’s attributes can be effectively communicated (whatever the hell they are????).

To me this in indicative of a bigger problem within digital.  Creatively the options available are still limited to commodotised 728×90 or 300×250 banner ads,  skins or takeovers or mega-annoying TVC’s in a pop-ups.  For digital to take a bigger share of TV spends for categories like FMCG, we need to find a better, less tacky and ultimately more effective way of driving brand and product awareness.

It seems every year the ticket scalping issue rears its ugly head again. A few months ago, AC-DC’s sold out stadium tour brought a similar outpouring of consumer anger and frustration.  The biggest loser in all this, as always, is the loyal ticket buying public.  But for all the Facebook hate groups, forum rants and media articles, what’s been done to fix the issue? Apart from a small minority of pro-active promoters (whose venues are not contracted to Ticketek and Ticketmaster) not a whole lot from what I can tell.

Big Day Out use venues which are contracted to Ticketmaster.  But Ticketmaster don’t seem too interested in developing a system that eradicates scalping.  In fact, if you followed the Bruce Springsteen saga in the US, they appear to be the biggest scalper of all.

Ebay are often singled out as the bad guy for selling scalped tickets.  When the same issue occurred with AC-DC back in May, ebay took the unusual step of speaking out to defend its position, blaming the promoters.

In an article here, EBay Australia spokesperson, Daniel Feiler, said “When you dump 500,000 tickets on the market in one day, when computer systems [become overloaded] by the major ticket sellers – and they do seem to [become overloaded] around these blockbuster events – it’s little wonder that [ticket scalping] happens,” he said.

“When there are promoters who are putting in the effort to make a difference and make sure genuine fans get tickets in the first case, I don’t know why these other promoters can’t employ similar practices.”

Feiler singled out Splendour in the Grass as an event that made efforts to stop scalping.

“They staggered the release of tickets, limited the number anyone could buy down to a low number and people had to come to the concert with their ID,” he said. “It’s not [eBay’s] job to help promoters get tickets into the hands of genuine fans.”

As an owner of the ticketing company (Qjump) that helped Splendour eradicate scalping completely, I have a vested interest here.  I don’t expect Big Day Out or AC-DC’s promoters to be knocking on our door anytime soon, because the venues they use are contracted to either Ticketek or Ticketmaster.

The promoters have very little choice but to use these venues, so really the blame has to sit with the ticketing providers who hold the ticketing contracts.  Why is it, when there are simple, proven systems that they could implement to stop scalping that Ticketek and Ticketmaster continue to ignore the issue?

September is a traditionally a big month across the board for Sound Alliance. The pent up energy of hundreds of thousands of passionate festival goers reaches fever pitch as the season is just weeks away from lift off.

September 2009 was even bigger than anticipated with records being broken across the board for the second consecutive month.  Average Daily Unique Browsers to SA sites was up 9% to 30,984 and Total Unique Browsers of 569,882.  Engagement was up, with a jump in page impressions to 8.8M.

FasterLouder continued its stellar run with another significant increase month on month of 13% to 8,984 Daily and 193,364 Monthly UB’s.  ITM regained Number 1 status in the Music & Radio category in Netratings with a 13% jump to 17,883 Daily and 312,368 Total UB’s.

Our sites passed the ABA Web Audit.  We are the first in the entertainment category to complete and pass the audit, which basically means we are not pulling any cheap tricks like auto-refresh. It will be interesting to see how the ABA go in bringing the big publishers on board.

The biggest climber in Music & Radio, again was Channel V’s new site vmusic.com.au. They are up an impressive 57% to 79,512 Total UB’s.  Their engagement is still pretty low with frequency and page impressions needing to improve.  They have invested in a decent product so it will be interesting to see how traffic holds up when the launch glow wears off.  The Vine had a poor month, dropping 8% to 16,064 Daily UB’s.

August Site Traffic Update