Online Games for Children

This chapter studies the niche market segment of the gaming industry which is the educational games for children aged 3-12. Gaming behaviors including both positive and negative effects of online gaming on children were noted. A framework for developing an online children’s educational game is proposed. A prototype is developed to illustrate the use of the framework. Together with the proposed framework (and prototype), the ADVISOR framework has been used to discuss on the product platform, sales, and marketing strategies. The promotion of such online educational games is discussed based on the advertising and promotion strategies. The pricing strategy of the digital product will be discussed using the 3 Cs of pricing framework. Recommendations are suggested to help the online educational gaming industry to cross the chasm. The authors would like to propose the following set of CSR initiatives with alignment to government regulatory.

Bundling Strategy in the IDM Marketplace

In recent years, many local telecommunication firms are selling their interactive digital media (IDM) services such as broadband and Pay Television in the form of a bundle to their customers. On the other hand, many IDM firms (e.g. Apple iTunes) have chosen to sell their IDM services to customers in an unbundled manner. This chapter studies the effect of bundling and unbundling of any type of information goods which can be digitized. We will discuss the four factors which encourage IDM firms to choose either bundling or unbundling strategy in their marketing of digital goods. The four factors are customer, environmental, firm, and product. This chapter concludes by emphasising that bundling or unbundling might not be necessarily good or bad. The choice boils down to the market segment – the value that customers perceive from the products. It is also important to take into account the overall marketing strategy that the firm is embarking on and to also consider the market situation at the point in time.

IDM Products vs. Services

In today’s increasingly competitive market, marketing a product or a service is getting tougher than before, especially in the industry domain of interaction digital media (IDM), which produces completely different types of digital goods. Knowing the key differences between them is vital, as it will allow IDM companies to position resources more effectively. Moreover, it will help get more profits from investments. Unfortunately, research done on this topic is still rare and inadequate. This chapter aims to give a comparative analysis between the digital products and services study from the perspective of marketing, in a bid to better understand their differences and similarities. The comparative analysis is divided into different stages according to the new digital goods development process. We use two case studies to support the points of view: WSJ.com and PayPal. Directions for future research are discussed at the end of this chapter.

Television in Flux

The television landscape is in a state of flux. In this new environment, profit-driven media companies have to balance tradeoffs between traditional and new channels of video distribution to optimize returns on their investments in content generation. This chapter describes the challenges traditional television service providers face in adapting their strategies to an environment in which the internet is playing an increasingly prominent role as a new distribution channel. In the short to intermediate run there is the challenge of finding ways to monetize an internet audience without cannibalizing profits earned through traditional distribution channels. The longer-term challenge is adapting to a distribution technology that embeds a fundamentally different economic logic for video market organization. In this chapter, we describe and analyze current trends in the internet television market and traditional television industry players’ efforts to respond to the opportunities and threats posed by internet distribution.

Saviours and Barbarians at the Gate

This chapter is based on the Keynote Speech at International Workshop on Regulatory Policies for New Media at Leipzig on 23-25 September 2009. It addresses the tensions between the inevitable need for some kind of regulation of the new media and the essentially uncontrollable nature of the architecture and the function of the media. State-regulation, self-regulation, and co-regulation have each its own strengths and weaknesses as a regime, and there is no magic bullet for keeping the new media under control. Ultimately, self-control of the end user seems more critical to the outcome than externally imposed control regimes.

Review of the Virtual World Community

This chapter provides a discussion and an analysis on the virtual world community from the economic and commercial angle to explore further its financial potential. A prominent virtual world called Second Life has been chosen as a proxy of the review. A background section is provided for readers unfamiliar with the concepts and colloquialisms of Second Life, and it is followed by an in-depth discussion of virtual economy and commerce. Understanding the essence of virtual world consumption is seen as necessary to realize the financial potential. It concludes with the need to abide by DRM rights and understand the line between fantasy fulfillment and entertainment when participating in the virtual world.

Deriving Value from Platforms in IDM

In this chapter, we will discuss what value is and how a firm in the Interactive Digital Marketplace may garner it with a fundamental technology option. Firms often come to a crossroad, choosing whether to keep a platform open or closed. This decision is never direct or ever simple. We explore the various value propositions that a firm may derive by keeping the platform open versus closed and see how the firm has to look both ways, inwards and outwards, to arrive at a solution. Market forces, though invisible, are strongly felt by the firm. This chapter also investigates how these forces affect this decision. Lastly, we propose an overarching framework that we hope may prove useful in aiding the reader with this difficult decision.

Buffet or à la Carte

Pricing strategy plays a key role in most organizations. The pricing decision of bundling or à la carte in the case of cable television industry is a long debated one. While consumers seem to favor the à la carte option, operators are persistent in continuing with the bundling options. In this chapter, we explore both sides of the argument. We then discuss several factors affecting the players in the eco-system of cable television industry; these include the subscriber-operator relationship, operator-distributor relationship, and the role of government policies affecting their decisions. In concluding we use these factors to conceptualize a framework that seeks to assist the players in the cable television industry in choosing an adequate pricing model.

A Comparison of Pricing Strategies for Digital Goods

This chapter is a review of pricing strategies for digital goods. The basis for a number of such strategies is analysed. Using the case of online music, some lessons for the practice of digital pricing are derived.

The Future of Newspapers

There are many challenges faced by newspaper companies to gain competitive advantage over the internet and increasing digital media consumption. How do newspaper companies face these challenges? How can they refine and strategize their business model to remain competitive? What are the issues that newspaper industries face? With all these questions, this chapter discusses key areas and conceptual models of future newspapers’ strategy framework and supply chain management through literature review and analysis of technologies and innovations.