MorphNMedia

Thanks for signin’ on. Let’s strap leather…

Sometimes it takes all you have just to hang on. The Ranger knows that only too well. Hopefully we can Wrangle up some info today that will help keep your butt in the saddle and your attitude higher than the Bronco’s backfire!

Let’s ride…and don’t pay no mind to what those yahoos on Wall Street are doin’ today!

Winning the Web

It’s officially become a two-horse race to win the premium programming crown on the Web.

You probably know who the equines are, but I’ll name names anyway: YouTube and Hulu.

OK, those sites are already pretty much the dominant homes of online video. But they’ve come at it from vastly different positions.

Hulu has made a name for itself as the de facto first stop for full-length episodes of TV shows, while YouTube has hung up its shingle as the purveyor of more viral videos than you could watch in a lifetime.

However, that’s not really how YouTube wants to be thought of going forward.

By inking a deal with Disney last week—although the deal for now calls for YouTube to carry only short-form and promotional clips—YouTube is sending a big message to all of Hollywood and all of Madison Avenue that it’s very serious about being a premium provider.

In a way, YouTube is serving notice to Hulu that it’s going to be playing on the same turf. And YouTube has the muscle to pull it off. In February, YouTube accounted for nearly 41% of all videos viewed online, with Fox Interactive Media second at 3.5%, Yahoo third at 2.7% and Hulu fourth at 2.5%, according to comScore. More from TV Week

Times tough?  Turn on the tube…Local News chases the Blues!

When times are tough, people turn more often to local TV for news. According to a new study by Frank N. Magid Associates for Hearst-Argyle Television, 99 percent of respondents said they are turning to local TV news at least as much as or more frequently than in the past due to the troubled economy. 

Conducted over two weeks in February, the study surveyed 2,500 TV news viewers in Hearst-Argyle’s 24 TV markets including Boston, Baltimore, Orlando, Cincinnati, Sacramento, Pittsburgh and Milwaukee. 

Sixteen percent said they are following local TV news “more.” The only medium surpassing local TV was the Internet, cited by 17 percent of respondents. Newspapers, radio and print magazines trailed at 10 percent, 9 percent and 6 percent, respectively.

Commercials airing on local TV news engage consumers more than other traditional media. When asked which types of ads respondents pay more attention to, 57 percent cited local TV versus 43 percent for magazines; 64 percent versus 36 percent for newspapers, 72 percent versus 28 percent for radio, 81 percent versus 19 percent for yellow pages, and 55 percent versus 45 percent for direct mail. Respondents also found local TV ads more engaging than all forms of online ads, on average 85 percent for local TV versus 15 percent for online ads.

Local news also got the highest scores compared to other media for creating “buzz,” having memorable ads, and the medium was on par with print magazines for trustworthiness and recall. Local news was also on par with print newspapers as the most important source of community information. More from MediaWeek

Gettin’ some of that Gov’ment money!

The state is paying more than $3 million to an Oklahoma media company, Griffin Communications, to advertise a state insurance program, and the company has promised to air television news stories on its Tulsa and Oklahoma City stations as part of the deal, records show. 

One media analyst expressed concern that by taking state money, the company has compromised the integrity of its television news outlets. 

“This kind of question arises when news media organizations try to diversify, when they are looking at more ways to make money,” said Joey Senat, associate professor of media law at Oklahoma State University. “It does create the potential for unethical behavior.” 

The key is whether a company discloses the sponsor of the information and “the number of walls they put between the newsroom and the other arm of the company doing the marketing,” Senat said.  More from the Tulsa World

The New York Times Co. has threatened to shut The Boston Globe unless the newspaper’s unions swiftly agree to $20 million in concessions, union leaders said yesterday. Executives from the Times Co. and Globe made the demands Thursday morning in an approximately 90-minute meeting with leaders of the newspaper’s 13 unions, union officials said. The possible concessions include pay cuts, the end of pension contributions by the company, and the elimination of lifetime job guarantees now enjoyed by some veteran employees, said Daniel Totten, president of the Boston Newspaper Guild, the Globe’s biggest union, which represents more than 700 editorial, advertising, and business office employees.