NDM - ITV to launch female-focused channel

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/feb/12/itv-new-channel-itvbe-the-only-way-is-essex

This article focuses on the a ITV launching a new channel called ITVBe which primarily targeting the female audience and be shown towards the end of the year. ITVBe will be available on Sky, Freeview, Virgin and will be focusing on the lifestyle  and reality TV programming. Significantly, the target audience for ITVBe are young females and therefore the programmes which would be shown will be directly aimed at females, such as The Only Way is Essex, Real Housewives and US Real Housewives. 

The director of Television at ITV, Peter Fincham states: "We identified an opportunity to develop what is currently part of the ITV2 schedule – reality and non-scripted shows, which are very popular with young women and housewives with kids - into a distinct channel proposition, aimed more squarely at that audience". This establishes that ITVBe will have similar elements to ITV2 but the programmes that will be aired would solely for female entertainment. Additionally, Adam Crozier (chief executive of ITV) argues notes: "ITVBe reinforces our plan to maximise audiences and revenues from our broadcasting business". This establishes that the launch of this new channel may increase revenue for ITV and attract a large mass of audience.

Overall, the launch of ITVBe could be highly successful among the female audience as it gives them an opportunity to watch programmes which meets their criteria. As the channel is aimed at a female demographic this would be significant in allowing them to watch their favourite programmes daily, which would of been shown on ITV2. As a result, ITVBe may attract a large mass of female audience and therefore increasing the revenue for the company.

NDM- New iPhone music app lets any fan rap like Tinie Tempah

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/feb/05/tinie-tempah-iphone-music-app

This article focuses on the British rap singer, Tinie Tempah, launching his own new Iphone music app for fans. The app is called Rap Demonstration which is a a lip-sync sing along with the his track on his new album and solely focuses on his lips. The app identifies the song from the album and synchronises it with the exact point in the track, and therefore plays the video of Tinie Tempah's lips rapping to the song.

Notably, the British agency 'We Make Awesome Sh' development the mobile app with Tinie Tempah and his music label Parlophone. This agency has worked with a variety of brands and music industry clients such as Calvin Harris, which conveys that the company is extremely successful. Significantly, Co-founder Syd Lawrence states in The Guardian: "Tinie Tempah project shows how official artist apps can be much more creative than simply pushing news, download links, videos and social networking updates to fans, as many do". Furthermore, the music industry perceives apps as an important part of the marketing campaign around the new albums, as it would attract more of the audience. For example, One Direction recently launched an app to keep their fans connected to them and Lady Gaga released a companion app for her album ARTPOP album.

Overall, the development of this new app would be successful amongst the audience, especially to the young demographic as they are mostly going to engage with new digital technology. Also, this is a successful promotion technique to attract a large mass of audience into downloading or buying the album, if they enjoy his songs. 

NDM- Mail Online fuels DMGT ad revenue rise

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/feb/05/mail-online-dmgt-ad-revenue-daily-mail

This article focuses on the increase of ad revenues on the Daily Mail website to £14m in the final three months of 2013. Significantly, Daily Mail's increased by 50% which highlights the site popularity and is going to switch the website to a global domain in order to further increase the advertising revenues growth. In relation to the print version, the revenues fell 2%, with the company increasing the cover price last year.

According to the Daily Mail & General Trust, the advertising revenue across Daily Mail's print and online version grew 5% by the end of December. Notably, in relation to DMGT media (Daily Mail & General Trust) the division which houses the Mail busisness as well as Metro and daily deal service Wowcher, reported a underlying revenues up 2% each year to £201m. Moreover, DMGT reported a total of revenues up to 6% which gave them £472m and their share price rose 4.5%, 43p to £1.01p.

Overall, it can be argued that the Mail Online is a very popular site globally as it covers different issues such TV&Showbiz, U.S, News etc. All of these variety of stories would appeal to different target audience and therefore more people are likely to subscribe to the website or use it daily. Notably, the controversial headlines which are promoted by the company may appeal to some of the audience's to read the article and possibly write their own comments, thus highlighting the concept of user-generated content.

NDM - Facebook's first 10 years: is it now in danger of swallowing the web?

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/feb/01/facebook-first-10-years-mark-zuckerberg

This article focuses on the success of the social networking site Facebook, which was created by Mark Zuckerberg. According to The Guardian, Facebook has 1.23 billion users and has impacted people across the globe in giving them freedom to express their views on a certain issue, or to interact with people. Notably, when Facebook was developed it was immediately compared to Myspace, which was another popular social networking site. Myspace was described as being "vulgar, and slightly weird", as it gave people the opportunity to decorate their own webpage.

Significantly, "Facebook's growth had been driven by young people" which could convey that the young generation are more likely to engage in social media. As a result, this has made Facebook even more successful as more teenagers would use the site regularly, attracting more users. However, researchers at Princetion University concluded that "Facebook has just entered the abandonment phase and that its user base would soon decline rapidly". It could be suggested that Facebook will be in decline in the future, as there is a emergence of new social networking sites which would attract the young generation, including adults. Thus, this would prevent some Facebook users visit the site daily, which would decrease this site popularity. According to Tim;-Berners Lee " There are hundreds of millions of people in the world today who think Facebook is the internet".

Overall, it can be argued that Facebook is still successful and popular amongst people, as individuals still access the site. Thus, this social networking site has empowered people as it has given them the freedom to express their own views, post up videos and even interact with others across the world. However, others may argued that Facebook will be in decline in the future, as there are new social networking sites which would become more popular amongst teens.