Narrowcasting Content What is narrowcasting? Interactive narrowcasting Commercial Applications Podcasting

1. What is Narrowcasting? Broadcasts are transmitted to the general public, available for any general receiver with the capability to capture the signals. Narrowcasting is directed to a particular audience via proprietary equipment and encryption, or by some other discriminatory means. What is Narrowcasting? Narrowcasting is a catchall term used for communications such as radio or television signals that are limited to subscription customers or otherwise prohibited from being broadcast. Broadcasts are transmitted to the general public, available for any general receiver with the capability to capture the signal(s). Narrowcasting is directed to a particular audience via proprietary equipment and encryption, or by some other discriminatory means. One of the most common examples of narrowcasting is cable TV. The encrypted signals can only be viewed on a TV by first running through a descrambler provided by the cable company for a monthly fee. Another example of narrowcasting is satellite radio. Satellite radio is commercial-free radio, requiring a proprietary receiver or tuner. Satellite radio is also a paid subscription service, but narrowcasting doesn’t always involve a fee. The Internet itself encompasses both broadcasting and narrowcasting. Websites that are open to any visitor without registration or subscription are essentially broadcasts. Those websites or subnets requiring passwords, registration, or some form of membership are examples of narrowcasting. Mailing lists are yet another example of narrowcasting, as are podcasts that are generally geared towards a highly specific segment of the public. With some exceptions, mailing lists, podcasts, and subscription-centric websites are generally free narrowcasting services. Because narrowcasting is directed towards a limited pool, it is associated with target and niche marketing. Narrowcasting has also found useful applications in malls, airports, and other public facilities where visitors use touch screens to find flight schedules, shop locations, restaurants or other information. Sometimes referred to as interactive narrowcasting, this type of narrowcasting can reduce the need for customer service personnel. Original television networks CBS, NBC and ABC sought to appeal to as many people as possible by varied broadcast programming throughout the 50s, 60, and 70s. Now newer cable TV networks specialize in narrowcasting. MTV was the original music-only channel, while CNN produces news only. Home and Garden, the History channel, Sci-Fi, ESPN sports, and the Animal channel are all prime examples of the fundamental shift from broadcasting to narrowcasting in cable network television. While the original broadcast networks continue to offer a variety of programming, narrowcasting has arguably influenced that model as well. Programs that appeal to the same audience segment are often offered back-to-back on the major networks, and while one night of the week might be dominated by legal dramas, the next night might be dominated by teen shows or sitcoms. There is little doubt that narrowcasting will continue to grow as technology opens doors to the average tech-savvy Joe and Jane. Where it once it took a great deal of money to broadcast a message, today even a teenager can use an Internet café and a free website to reach the world, or their own little niche audience. Written by R. Kayne http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-narrowcasting.htm

1. What is Narrowcasting -continued common examples Cable TV The encrypted signals can only be viewed on a TV by first running through a descrambler provided by the cable company for a monthly fee. Satellite radio Satellite radio is commercial-free radio, requiring a proprietary receiver or tuner. Satellite radio is also a paid subscription service Mailing lists Mailing lists are podcasts that are generally geared towards a highly specific segment of the public. With some exceptions, mailing lists, podcasts, and subscription-centric websites are generally free narrowcasting services. What is Narrowcasting? Narrowcasting is a catchall term used for communications such as radio or television signals that are limited to subscription customers or otherwise prohibited from being broadcast. Broadcasts are transmitted to the general public, available for any general receiver with the capability to capture the signal(s). Narrowcasting is directed to a particular audience via proprietary equipment and encryption, or by some other discriminatory means. One of the most common examples of narrowcasting is cable TV. The encrypted signals can only be viewed on a TV by first running through a descrambler provided by the cable company for a monthly fee. Another example of narrowcasting is satellite radio. Satellite radio is commercial-free radio, requiring a proprietary receiver or tuner. Satellite radio is also a paid subscription service, but narrowcasting doesn’t always involve a fee. The Internet itself encompasses both broadcasting and narrowcasting. Websites that are open to any visitor without registration or subscription are essentially broadcasts. Those websites or subnets requiring passwords, registration, or some form of membership are examples of narrowcasting. Mailing lists are yet another example of narrowcasting, as are podcasts that are generally geared towards a highly specific segment of the public. With some exceptions, mailing lists, podcasts, and subscription-centric websites are generally free narrowcasting services. Because narrowcasting is directed towards a limited pool, it is associated with target and niche marketing. Narrowcasting has also found useful applications in malls, airports, and other public facilities where visitors use touch screens to find flight schedules, shop locations, restaurants or other information. Sometimes referred to as interactive narrowcasting, this type of narrowcasting can reduce the need for customer service personnel. Original television networks CBS, NBC and ABC sought to appeal to as many people as possible by varied broadcast programming throughout the 50s, 60, and 70s. Now newer cable TV networks specialize in narrowcasting. MTV was the original music-only channel, while CNN produces news only. Home and Garden, the History channel, Sci-Fi, ESPN sports, and the Animal channel are all prime examples of the fundamental shift from broadcasting to narrowcasting in cable network television. While the original broadcast networks continue to offer a variety of programming, narrowcasting has arguably influenced that model as well. Programs that appeal to the same audience segment are often offered back-to-back on the major networks, and while one night of the week might be dominated by legal dramas, the next night might be dominated by teen shows or sitcoms. There is little doubt that narrowcasting will continue to grow as technology opens doors to the average tech-savvy Joe and Jane. Where it once it took a great deal of money to broadcast a message, today even a teenager can use an Internet café and a free website to reach the world, or their own little niche audience. Written by R. Kayne http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-narrowcasting.htm

2. Interactive Narrowcasting A new type of narrowcasting is evolving in the form of interactive narrowcasting Interactive narrowcasting enables shoppers to influence the content displayed via narrowcasting (i.e. airport flight schedules, shop locations, restaurants or other information using touch screen systems) These systems enable brands to communicate with their customers via a personal computer The advantage of the majority of interactive narrowcasting projects is that they are more effective and less costly over time. Interactive narrowcasting A new type of narrowcasting is evolving in the form of interactive narrowcasting. Interactive narrowcasting enables shoppers to influence the content displayed via narrowcasting. One way of doing this is via a touch screen. More and more systems are being introduced into the narrowcasting market. User-driven content also provides an excellent medium for narrowcast marketing, provided the correct product is matched with the appropriate medium. These systems enable brands to communicate with their customers via a personal computer. The advantage of the majority of interactive narrowcasting projects is that they are more effective and less costly over time. . Narrowcasting has also found useful applications in malls, airports, and other public facilities where visitors use touch screens to find flight schedules, shop locations, restaurants or other information. Sometimes referred to as interactive narrowcasting, this type of narrowcasting can reduce the need for customer service personnel. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrowcasting#Interactive_narrowcasting

3.Commercial Applications Narrowcasting is particularly useful as a commercial advertising too Pre-recorded television programmes are often broadcast to captive audiences in taxi cabs, buses, elevators and queues (such as at branches of the Post Office). Forget broadcasting, the future is narrowcasting A multimedia information service for Thomson Reuters financial service subscribers that launched since 2009. Commercial application Narrowcasting is particularly useful as a commercial advertising tool. Pre-recorded television programmes are often broadcast to captive audiences in taxi cabs, buses, elevators and queues (such as at branches of the Post Office in the United Kingdom). The theory being that, by identifying particular demographics viewing such programmes, advertisers can better target their markets. Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrowcast Forget broadcasting, the future is narrowcasting Mar 4, 2009 11:41 EST Chris Cramer | media | multimedia | narrowcasting | reuters | Reuters Insider | Thomson Reuters Chris Cramer is Global Editor of Multimedia at Reuters News and has editorial oversight of Reuters Insider, a multimedia information service for Thomson Reuters financial service subscribers that will be launched this year. Media organizations the world over are currently focusing on the future of their businesses. As audience and viewer attention fragments and the internet fuels a wholly different kind of information consumption there are many siren voices suggesting that traditional media business models are dead, or in some cases on life support. Rising print and distribution costs and flagging advertising are driving even flagship newspapers and magazines to slash their costs, jettison journalists and production staff, and in some cases, go entirely out of business. In Britain, television companies like ITV — once described as having a license to print money — are reconsidering their entire business rationale and, crucially, their future relationship with viewers and consumers. Yet this week the world’s largest multimedia news agency, Reuters, unveils what we believe will be the future of news dissemination — not broadcasting, but narrowcasting. Later this year we will launch the next-generation information service which will produce live markets coverage, analysis and breaking news for the financial professional — in this case the five hundred thousand institutional professionals currently subscribing to Thomson Reuters financial services. The service — delivered exclusively via broadband internet — launches during the world’s most profound financial crisis in half a century, a story Reuters is throwing all its resources against, and will draw upon our huge global network of 2,500 journalists, almost 200 worldwide bureaus and writers and commentators from Thomson Reuters professional publications. This is not the first time the news agency has launched a television service just for its clients. Reuters Financial TV went to market, delivered via bandwidth hungry data lines, in 1993. The service was then considered well ahead of its time and, though professional and highly-regarded by its customers, had excessive distribution costs. It stopped transmitting in 2001. But Reuters has long held ambitions to return to the programming business and during the past year we have secretly planned for a return to narrowcasting. In record time we have built state of the art studios in London and New York and broadband transmission points in many of our overseas locations, including Hong Kong, Washington, Singapore and other global newsrooms. Sophisticated newsgathering tools are currently being installed in our bureaus and hundreds of staff are being equipped with Flip video cameras and other IP transmission technology. A production team of more than 100 journalists and technical staff has been hired, including television anchors such as Axel Threfall from CNBC and Carrie Lee from CNN and producers from other business channels like Bloomberg. Pilot programming has been available to selected clients and business partners since October last year. The key to our success, we believe, is that our programming will not be linear — one programme after another — but will be vertical and will provide the kind of rich content and analysis our clients need. Not for them the breathless hype and audio visual tics associated with much of the business coverage currently available on broadcast and cable. We know through detailed user research that they want the facts, uncluttered and at a length they can cope with. Timely information and analysis in bite-sized chunks. We plan to offer deep verticals of content relevant to our clients — ranging from Commodities and Energy to Emerging Markets to Islamic Finance. Each programme segment specifically targeted to what our clients and partners tell us they need to inform and enable them to make smarter business decisions. But financial programming will be just a part of Reuters’ new service. The financial news and information service — code-named Reuters Insider — sits on a unique broadband media player which will also serve as an aggregation platform for third party content from traditional media companies. The media player will be fully interactive, serving both live programming and video on demand. It is capable of advanced personalization — users can create their own channels and services — and will offer passage navigation, instant transcripts and the ability to search, select and send edited passages to friends and business clients. Video clips, market reports and analysis can also be sent to mobile devices such as Blackberry or iPhone for offline viewing. Users can communicate with Reuters’ programme makers and journalists in real time, creating a financial community and an array of information verticals not currently available in the media marketplace. The media player will also serve as a first-to-market platform for individual Thomson Reuters market divisions such as Media, Sales and Trading, Investor A and Enterprise, enabling them to programme for staff and for customers. We believe Reuters Insider is the future of news dissemination. Delivering focused, fast, intelligent and relevant information to make our clients and customers smarter and more successful. Not broadcasting, but narrowcasting. http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2009/03/04/forget-broadcasting-the-future-is-narrowcasting/

4. Podcasting Narrowcasting is also sometimes applied to podcasting, since the audience for a podcast is often specific and sharply defined. An RSS feed icon, commonly used to indicate the Web feed for a podcast. A podcast (or non-streamed webcast) is a series of digital media files (either audio or video) that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication. Commonly used audio file formats are Ogg Vorbis and MP3. Podcast From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia   (Redirected from Podcasting) Jump to: navigation, search An RSS feed icon, commonly used to indicate the Web feed for a podcast A podcast (or non-streamed webcast) is a series of digital media files (either audio or video) that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication. The word usurped webcast in common vernacular, due to rising popularity of the iPod and the innovation of web feeds. The mode of delivery differentiates podcasting from other means of accessing media files over the Internet, such as direct download, or streamed webcasting. A list of all the audio or video files currently associated with a given series is maintained centrally on the distributor's server as a web feed, and the listener or viewer employs special client application software known as a podcatcher that can access this web feed, check it for updates, and download any new files in the series. This process can be automated so that new files are downloaded automatically. Files are stored locally on the user's computer or other device ready for offline use, giving simple and convenient access to episodic content.[1][2] Commonly used audio file formats are Ogg Vorbis and MP3. In many respects, this is closer to traditional publishing models associated with books and magazines (as opposed to radio, which uses a live stream). Academics at the Community, Journalism & Communication Research group at the University of Texas at Austin in the USA are proposing a four-part definition of a podcast: A podcast is a digital audio or video file that is episodic; downloadable; programme-driven, mainly with a host and/or theme; and convenient, usually via an automated feed with computer software. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting