For newspaper publishers and newspaper readers, iPad apps tend to be nice to have but not especially important. Given the choice of rich newspaper apps like The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, I actually opt for the browser versions over the apps: I can see a lot more at once, they’re updated more often, and they load faster.

But I’ve found that newspaper apps for “lite” newspapers are much better. USA Today’s headline and short story format is perfect for the iPad. The Washington Post (not such a lite paper) has a great iPad app, too.

In early December, The San Diego Union-Tribune — a truly lite newspaper but with good local news and features — also launched an iPad app. The result is vastly superior to the print and browser version of the newspaper. More than 11,000 downloads have already taken place.

The U-T’s iPad launch coincides with the elevation of digital chief Mike Hodges to president and COO, and today, a rebranding of the newspaper company, which recently changed hands, to U-T San Diego. The new name also does away with the dated “Sign On San Diego” city guide moniker.

An announcement on the company’s website notes that “We will now use one company name and logo on all of our media products and communications: U-T San Diego. This change marks a new era in our company’s history. It will help us unify our print and digital products under a single brand with a clear and consistent expectation of quality. SignOnSanDiego.com is now UTSanDiego.com, to match the nameplate of the newspaper and our newly released iPad app.”

Hodges, a digital real estate marketing vet prior to joining Freedom Communications and then The U-T, has been responsible for several new revenue initiatives. These include a heavy emphasis on the local daily deal, bolstered by the acquisition of Discover SD, an events guide and deals platform for a younger demographic.

Hodges notes that the iPad app was specifically designed to have an entertainment orientation. “The primary time that people are looking at it is after 6 p.m., when people want to lean back after dinner and watch TV. They’re often reading the app as well,” he says.

The app, designed by MindGruve Interactive, is geo-enabled for traffic and Surfline surf reports. It features a FlipBoard-like news page, along with dropdown “sections” for easy access. The sections include a full graphic on the Daily Deal — it shows up very well. It also prominently highlights features that were obscured in print and on the website, including arts, photos and videos.

Notably, in an effort to keep it simple, The U-T App doesn’t offer newspaper content such as comics, a television programming guide, letters to the editor, user-generated content or local news — although Hodges says a major local initiative will launch in early January. Other Phase 2 items will include more in-depth, iPad-only content. It might also include more localized weather (the temperature in the San Diego region varies by as much as 15 degrees from one area to the next).

Much has been made of the iPad’s appeal for advertisers. The charter advertiser for The U-T’s free phase is Cadillac. When the app goes to a premium model next quarter after an introductory period, sponsorship will be available for multiple sponsors on a premium basis.

Pricing for the app, however, is still being finalized. When it is introduced during Q1, there is likely to be an a la carte three month subscription for users who just want the app, especially those outside the San Diego area. My guess is it might be priced in the neighborhood of $5 a month. But there will also be bundles for people who want seven-day delivery or three-day weekend delivery.

We’ll see whether The U-T pulls the trigger on a firewall for the app. Several other publishers have announced plans to charge but haven’t done so.

The post Via iPad App, the Reintroduction of U-T San Diego (The San Diego Union-Tribune) appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

Daily deals are one of the hottest new areas for local advertising and promotions, with Groupon, Living Social and more than 150 other players rolling out their own versions. At least two companies, Click-N-Shout and Deal Current, are targeting local media companies as partners. Basically, they’ll provide the technical and logistical know-how, and the media companies would provide sales and marketing. Both companies launched dueling products in San Diego this month with The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Sign On San Diego and the upstart San Diego News Network.

Deal Current CEO Jimmy Hendricks says he’s carved the company from Artistic Hub, a 10-person firm that’s been providing support for various media properties for two-and-a-half years, including Time Warner Cable, the Oakland Raiders and Active.com, where he previously worked on its tennis vertical.

Deal Current launched in November, when it began developing Daily Deal with SDNN, which had used the company to build several photo contests involving the San Diego Chargers, pets, etc. But the company’s ambitions go beyond daily deals.

“Our goal is to build a suite of private-label solutions for media partners to engage their visitors and to increase revenue,” says Hendricks. Just this week, for instance, the company launched several online contests for Entercom, the radio station group. “Content software is too expensive” for media companies to build on a one-off basis, he notes.

Regarding the Daily Deal, Hendricks expects to be announcing a number of white-label deals with media partners. Hendricks compares his efforts to Click-N-Shout, which he calls a “redirect” that requires use of a Click-N-Shout URL and branding.

“Media partners can run their own program and embed our software on their site,” says Hendricks. Deal Current also provides full turn-key solution including sales training, promotional plans, customer support and operations.

Whether embedded or redirected, Hendricks believes the key to success for daily deals is going to be the quality deals. “It won’t work without good merchants and good advertisers,” he says. It is also important not to dilute the quality control so that only the most interesting and desired advertisers are featured.

Ultimately, Hendricks believes the daily deal market will shake out to top consumer brands such as Groupon and Living Social, and leading local media plays as well. “All the small guys with 5,000 e-mails are going to get pushed out,” he says.

Deal Current hopes to mine the best local media partners. Partnerships will be offered on an exclusive basis for the first six months or so, then complementary local media partners may be added as well (i.e., radio stations with newspapers).

In San Diego, for instance, the San Diego News Network is partnered with San Diego 6 TV and with  San Diego Gay and Lesbian News, a niche site with 68,000 monthly users. Local sites like SDGLN may not have enough traffic on their own, but they’ll do well banded together, says Hendricks. Some deals may be structured so that media companies receive affiliate commissions from others in the market.

The post Deal Current Hopes to Level ‘Daily Deal’ Playing Field for Local Media appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

Daily deals are one of the hottest new areas for local advertising and promotions, with Groupon, Living Social and more than 150 other players rolling out their own versions. At least two companies, Click-N-Shout and Deal Current, are targeting local media companies as partners. Basically, they’ll provide the technical and logistical know-how, and the media companies would provide sales and marketing. Both companies launched dueling products in San Diego this month with The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Sign On San Diego and the upstart San Diego News Network.

Deal Current CEO Jimmy Hendricks says he’s carved the company from Artistic Hub, a 10-person firm that’s been providing support for various media properties for two-and-a-half years, including Time Warner Cable, the Oakland Raiders and Active.com, where he previously worked on its tennis vertical.

Deal Current launched in November, when it began developing Daily Deal with SDNN, which had used the company to build several photo contests involving the San Diego Chargers, pets, etc. But the company’s ambitions go beyond daily deals.

“Our goal is to build a suite of private-label solutions for media partners to engage their visitors and to increase revenue,” says Hendricks. Just this week, for instance, the company launched several online contests for Entercom, the radio station group. “Content software is too expensive” for media companies to build on a one-off basis, he notes.

Regarding the Daily Deal, Hendricks expects to be announcing a number of white-label deals with media partners. Hendricks compares his efforts to Click-N-Shout, which he calls a “redirect” that requires use of a Click-N-Shout URL and branding.

“Media partners can run their own program and embed our software on their site,” says Hendricks. Deal Current also provides full turn-key solution including sales training, promotional plans, customer support and operations.

Whether embedded or redirected, Hendricks believes the key to success for daily deals is going to be the quality deals. “It won’t work without good merchants and good advertisers,” he says. It is also important not to dilute the quality control so that only the most interesting and desired advertisers are featured.

Ultimately, Hendricks believes the daily deal market will shake out to top consumer brands such as Groupon and Living Social, and leading local media plays as well. “All the small guys with 5,000 e-mails are going to get pushed out,” he says.

Deal Current hopes to mine the best local media partners. Partnerships will be offered on an exclusive basis for the first six months or so, then complementary local media partners may be added as well (i.e., radio stations with newspapers).

In San Diego, for instance, the San Diego News Network is partnered with San Diego 6 TV and with  San Diego Gay and Lesbian News, a niche site with 68,000 monthly users. Local sites like SDGLN may not have enough traffic on their own, but they’ll do well banded together, says Hendricks. Some deals may be structured so that media companies receive affiliate commissions from others in the market.

The post Deal Current Hopes to Level 'Daily Deal' Playing Field for Local Media appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

The San Diego Union-Tribune and the upstart San Diego News Network are launching competing “Daily Deal” products, with Facebook and Twitter accompaniments, and will try to eat into the lead in the local market that has been assumed by Groupon (and Living Social and many others).

The SDUT launches its Groupon-like “Sign On San Diego Daily Deal” tonight at midnight with a special offer to get $50 worth of grub at Acqua Al 2, a chic Italian eatery, for $25 (and actually, just $15 if customers use their $10 deal bucks for signing up or referring a friend). Under rules of the promotion, 50 people need to sign up for it within a 24-hour period. Six people signed up for the deal within the first hour.

The SDUT’s Daily Deal sits on a platform provided by Click-N-Shout, a Cleveland-based company — one of apparently 155 rivals, per Groupon — that is testing the waters for newspapers with the SDUT. The newspaper’s sales forces have been offering the Daily Deal as part of their portfolio for a few weeks, and there is roughly a month’s worth of inventory in the system now.

Site GM Mike Hodges notes that The Daily Deal is hardly entering virgin territory. Roughly 80 percent of potential advertisers have been approached by Groupon or other Deal-a-Day services. But the newspaper believes it has many advantages over the competition, including the ability to promote The Daily Deal on the right-hand corner of the cover of every print issue and a database of 90,000 “special offer” e-mail subscribers.

Hodges believes The Daily Deal will prove complementary to other special e-mail offers that have long been provided by the newspaper, and notes that it is possible that many users will get a daily deal and special offer in the same day. Newspaper advertisers are being approached first.

Meanwhile, The San Diego News Network, the flagship of the fledgling U.S. Local News Network hyperlocal network chain, is launching its own, similarly titled “Daily Deal” next Monday, April 12. Built to custom specs by Deal Current, a local San Diego software company run by Jimmy Hendricks, the site has sold out its first month of inventory with local companies such as Hairspray salon, Vagabond Kitchen, Extreme Pizza, The Comedy Store, Cookies by Design, Cupcake Love and All American Grill.

Company President Chris Jennewein says he believes that “very competitive” pricing — presumably more favorable than the 35 percent to 50 percent of coupon value assessed by Groupon — will make a difference. It is also important “to have a sales executive from a local company that you can trust rather than a telemarketer,” he says.

The post ‘Daily Deals’ Galore: Dueling San Diego Media Take On Groupon appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.