Digital initiatives

in the UK The Economist is encouraging its UK readers to Text ALERT to 80801 to receive a free text message from The Economist every Friday morning. The message will highlight the key global issue on the cover of that week’s edition. The Economist's UK publisher, Yvonne Ossman, said: “The Economist takes a step back and adds perspective to the news. Our covers help to frame what The Economist sees as the most important issue to think about in that week. We hope that a short text each Friday will be a useful reminder for readers of what the magazine offers, and will also inspire those less familiar with our magazine to take a second look, so they don’t miss out on the stories that matter to them.” Source: Press release

Online video viewing jumps 34 per cent according to comScore Digital marketing company comScore reported that individual viewings of online videos in the US totalled 12.7 billion during November, a 34 per cent increase over the same month in 2007. Google sites ranked as the top US video property with nearly 5.1 billion videos viewed, representing a 40 per cent share of all videos viewed. The YouTube.com video-sharing site accounted for more than 98 per cent of Google's total. Fox Interactive Media ranked second with 439 million videos (3.5 per cent), followed by Viacom Digital with 325 million (2.6 per cent) and Yahoo sites with 304 million (2.4 per cent). More than 146 million US online users watched an average of 87 videos per viewer in November, according to comScore. Source : http://www.fipp.com/Default.aspx?PageIndex=2002&ItemId=14709