_Tim Shore is the publisher of “blogTO”:http://www.blogto.com, a city blog focused on Toronto culture, recently named by Forbes Magazine as “Best of the Web”:http://www.forbes.com/bow/b2c/category.jhtml?id=323. In his day job, he works for the interactive arm of a Toronto-based ad agency. (Tim is front right along with blogTO Managing Editor Tanja-Tiziana Burdi (left) and contributors Christine Miguel and Paul Fler. Photo by Sabrina Cariati.)_
*One Degree: What inspired you to start blogTO.com?*
I think there was both an opportunity and a need. The opportunity was that there was this great new low-cost publishing platform called a blog (not to mention a great way to experience the Internet). On the need side, there was a lack of good web sites which focused on Toronto culture. There seemed to be general consensus that “toronto.com”:http://www.toronto.com was garbage and that the rest of the media players were treating online as an afterthought.
That combined with my passion for the city and the fact that readership and ad dollars continue to migrate online, it was a no brainer.
*One Degree: Just like One Degree, BlogTO depends on a broad spectrum of contributors. I’m curious about your opinions on whether group blogs should emphasize the individual or the group. How do you balance the personality and talents of the various contributors with the need to present a somewhat consistent and/or authoritative voice to readers – or do you?*
Category: Online Advertising
Earlier this month we did a “Five Questions with Kaboose President Jonathan Graff”:http://www.onedegree.ca/2005/08/04/five-questions-for-jonathan-graff-a-president-kaboose-inc where we asked him:
bq.. *One Degree: Have your business model and sources of revenue changed since the site was first envisioned and if so, how?*
Indeed. Kaboose was founded in 1999 as a multimedia development company and switched to a paid content subscription business in 2002. Finally, in mid-2003 we were receiving many calls from Fortune 500 companies such as Mattel, Kellogg’s and Nintendo who wanted to leverage our network to reach this audience. We analyzed the online ad market and saw tremendous positive differences between then and two years earlier. We changed our focus to become a free online media company supported by advertising and we have become the largest independent online media company in the kids and family space in North America. It was a great move.
This is a bit off topic, but the “New York Times has an article”:http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/12/business/media/12adco.html?ex=1281499200&en=882fe6685315a047&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss _(registration probably required)_ saying:
bq.. The Aug. 22 issue of “The New Yorker”:http://www.newyorker.com/, due out Monday, will carry 17 or 18 advertising pages, all brought to you by the “Target”:http://www.target.com discount store chain owned by the Target Corporation. The Target ads will even supplant the mini-ads from mail-order marketers that typically fill small spaces in the back of the magazine.
The Target ads, in the form of illustrations by more than two dozen artists like Milton Glaser, Robert Risko and Ruben Toledo, are to run only the one time in the issue. They are intended to salute New York City and the people who live – and shop – there.
Many mainstream magazines like Time and Life have published what are known as single-sponsor issues, carrying ads only from marketers like Kraft Foods and Progressive insurance. Target has been a sole sponsor before of issues of magazines, among them People.
The goal of a single-sponsor issue is the same as it is when an advertiser buys all the commercial time in an episode of a television series: attract attention by uncluttering the ad environment.