LDS Media Talk

I am pleased to report that the free Mormon Channel iPhone application is now available. This application allows iPhone users to tune into content being broadcast on the Mormon Channel, as well as listen to audio recordings of General Conference addresses, magazine articles, and the Church’s standard works. This application also works on the iPod Touch.

We are working on something similar for other mobile phones.

Get the Mormon Channel iPhone app

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Many listeners of the new Church radio station, the Mormon Channel, have asked about a widget that can be shared on their Facebook page or other social networking site.  It is now available at  radio.lds.org.

An application to listen to the channel on an iPhone has also been developed and is making its way through the Apple approval process. It should be available shortly.

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To celebrate Mother’s Day this Sunday, the Church has created a special video, “Happy Mother’s Day, Mom! ”

We invite you to watch it, rate it, and leave comments. We also invite you to share it with your friends, family, and those of other faiths by e-mailing them the following link: www.youtube.com/mormonmessages

You might also consider posting the video to your Facebook profile or placing it on your blog.

Happy Mother’s Day!

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Online radio, iPod/MP3 players, and podcasting are growing.

• 17% of the U.S. population (ages 12+) listens to online streams of AM/FM radio broadcasts every week.
• 20% of the 25-54 year-old population listens weekly. 
• Online radio listeners are more likely to be upscale, well-educated, and employed full time.

iPod and portable MP3 player use also continues to grow dramatically:

• 42% of people aged 12+ own a portable MP3 player; that number is 64% for 18-24 year-olds
• 32% of people aged 12-24 are spending less time with over-the-air radio, specifically due to time spent with portable MP3 players
• 22% of Americans 12+ have ever listened to an audio podcast
• 11% (27 million) reported having listened to an audio podcast in the past month in 2009

The complete study, The Infinite Dial 2009: Radio’s Digital Platforms, may be downloaded free of charge from Arbitron and Edison Research Web.

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As of Sunday afternoon, the videos in the Mormon Messages YouTube channel had been viewed 2,000,000 times. We are pleased that the popularity of this new channel continues to grow. We are especially grateful for the support of the many people who have viewed the videos, rated them, left comments about them, and shared them with their friends.

Using these videos is a great way to sharing the gospel with your friends.

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Mormon Messages has posted a new video message from Elder Richard G. Scott about finding happiness even in turbulent times.

Also, because of limitations on the Mormon Messages Facebook Group, we have now opened up a Mormon Messages Facebook “Fan Page” and will be closing the existing group down. We invite you to join the new page at:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Mormon-Messages/74124545100

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A new Mormon Messages video has been released featuring Elder M. Russell Ballard explaining the importance of the Holy Bible.

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The Audiovisual Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is seeking your ideas and opinions about improving Church audio content offerings. We would appreciate you taking a short survey on this topic. The survey is anonymous and the information gathered will not be provided to any third parties.

If you are willing to participate in this survey, click here. Please feel free to share this survey link with other members of the Church who might be interested in participating. If you have any questions about the survey, please contact Jason McDonald for further information. Thank you for your participation

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Last Friday evening, the Church released the video An Apostle’s Easter Thoughts on Christ, based on a recent general conference address by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, available in both English and Spanish.

In less than 24 hours (by Saturday afternoon), the video became the #31 most-watched video on all of YouTube and was climbing fast. At that time, it was also the #1 most-watched video in YouTube’s Nonprofits & Activism category.

By Sunday morning, it was the #11 most-watched video on YouTube, as was still climbing. By then, it had been watched nearly 100,000 times. The video was named the #1 “viral” video on the Internet, according to ViralVideoChart.com.

At this writing, the views are approaching 350,000. The Church’s Newsroom article has more information about the success of this video.

Although we expect that many of the views were from members of the Church, it was clear from the comments that some nonmembers were watching it. Here are some sample comments posted to the video (with responses from members):

brahmamurti: powerful message. i wish i could believe because it is so full of beauty and sounds so comforting i want to believe

marinathemom (in response to the previous statement): Believing is not always about knowing. Sometimes it starts out as just feeling. If you pursue how that feeling makes you feel, you can have that comforting feeling available all the time. Sometimes when we go through difficult times or choose to walk a path that is familiar instead of the one we think will bring us happiness, it can seem overwhelming or unattainable. My hope is that you will seek out the true source of the comfort you felt by this message. God bless.

Theroymustang: Why did he not mention anything specifically Mormon related? That could have very easily been a Catholic or Protestant message.

5boysdeep (response to the previous statement): The difference is that the message came from an Apostle of Jesus Christ, rather than simply someone who has studied His life or even dedicated their life to Him.

1KYfriend: Thank you. I have never heard these ideas put so simply and beautifully. I do not feel so lonely any more. Thank you. (Is he really an apostle?)

tawnjohns (response to the previous statement): Yes, Elder Holland really is an apostle of the Lord. As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, our Church was established in the same manner as Christ organized His Church on the earth in his time, with a prophet and 12 apostles. He truly is an apostle of the Lord–and those feelings you have while watching this are the Spirit testifying to you that what Elder Holland has said are true.

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Please share this inspiring  Mormon Messages Easter video with friends, family, and those of other faiths this Easter weekend by posting it to your Facebook profile, emailing it, or placing it on your blog. Thank you and Happy Easter!

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The following video featuring the newest Apostle, Elder Neil L. Andersen, is now available on the Mormon Messages YouTube channel.

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A new Web site launched today at MormonMusic.org. This site with top-rated LDS music provides a rich and flexible platform for online music lovers to stream, download, and enjoy both prominent and up-and-coming LDS musical selections—from jazz piano and classical guitar to inspirational vocals and seasonal choral numbers.

Featured artists include Abe Mills, Jon Schmidt, Hilary Weeks, Kenneth Cope, Michael Dowdle, Jessie Clark Funk, Jenny Oaks Baker, Sam Payne, and scores more. You’ll also find over 800 musical selections from newly-discovered LDS singers and musicians worldwide, performing in their native language.

The site was created by the More Good Foundation, a non-profit creator of quality Web sites, social networks, and virtual communities that facilitate peer-to-peer dialog between Mormons and friends of all faiths online. This is an impressive milestone for the More Good Foundation and its developer Heather Newell.  Site features include user-generated playlists (by topic, genre or artist), customized user profiles (with favorite albums, videos, and most recently played songs), ranking of favorites, selected free downloads, LDS music news, and variable, embeddable playlists. The site also highlights each artist, sharing not only their music and upcoming venues, but their lives and beliefs through personal biographies, photo and video galleries, and links to the artists’ own Web sites and blogs.

The site’s vision, according to the foundation’s President, Jonathan Johnson, “is multi-dimensional. First, it is a way to extend the powerful, spirit-filled, expressive medium of music to those across the globe from Kiev to Quatar, some of whom may not have immediate or any access to affordable LDS CDs—providing them with some free downloadable selections of quality orchestral, instrumental, or vocal music streaming in their homes that might not otherwise be possible. Secondly, the site is intended to be a gathering place for friends of other faiths to have a glimpse into our lives and music. By getting to know our artists, listening to uplifting music and reading about their faith-infused lives, misperceptions about us as a people will likely be dispelled and doors opened to conversations about our beliefs.”

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I read an eye-opening study over the weekend on video consumption conducted by the Nielsen company’s Council for Research Excellence (CRE). The study was shocking to me because of the strong position traditional television still has, even among the youngest demographics.  According to Nielsen, 99% of the video people watch is on TV, the other 1% is on computers.  While the youngest demographic, the 18 to 24 year old age group, watches twice as much video on the computer (2%), they are still watching the vast majority, 98% of their video, on a television set. Click here to read the entire article, Ground-Breaking Study of Video Viewing: Traditional Television Remains “800 Pound Gorilla” In Video Media Arena.

Perhaps my full-time job, which is in the Internet world, has tainted my perspective, but I expected the percentage of online video consumption to be much higher, especially for the younger demographic.  Perhaps also contributing to my mis-perception of the size of online video consumption is my personal use of YouTube, and presentations I hear, like one a few months ago I heard by an executive of a leading provider of online video streaming technology.  The executive said that 18 to 24-year-olds don’t even buy television sets anymore because they watch all their video online. Seeing the Nielsen data, though, made me realize that statement was either based on anecdotal evidence or was simply an exaggeration.  Without a doubt, the younger generation is moving fast in the direction of online video consumption, but for now it is still but a small fraction compared to sitting on the couch and watching the good old TV.

The study found that the average American watches 309 minutes of live TV per day, that’s just over 5 hours. On top of that they watch an average of 23 minutes of DVDs/videotapes and 15 minutes of DVR/TiVo.  Now I don’t know if I’m out of touch with America or what, but how can people watch so much TV?  Personally, I can hardly find any programs worth watching anymore.

The study was conducted by having researchers follow around subjects and record their video video activity. This methodology is used because people tend to overestimate their use of online video usage, while underestimating their amount of TV viewing by 25% on average.  This is why Jakob Nielsen’s first rule of usability is don’t listen to users, instead, watch what they do.

Other interesting findings from the study were that the average person spends 49 minutes per day browsing the Web and 37 minutes a day on email.  Mobile phone use came to about 20 minutes per day.  It’s also interesting to note that the computer has replaced radio as the second biggest channel for media activity.  This is true even in big cities where commute times can be long and drive-time radio remains popular. Radio is now in third place with print media in fourth.

Conclusion

The Church has made some great strides recently by starting several YouTube channels (LDS Public Affairs, Mormon Messages, and New Era MormonAds), and posting timely videos about topics such as Why Mormons Build Temples.   While these developments are wonderful, I guess I was just a little disheartened to realize that these online videos are, at most, only 1% of the total video watching experince of most people.  So for now, online viewing of video is still only a blip on the radar compared to viewing on TV, but at least we still have BYU TV out there.

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I don’t know who made this beautiful video about Mormon temples, but it is inspirational.

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As of this afternoon, the 18 videos on the Mormon Messages YouTube channel have been viewed over 1,000,000 times! The two recent videos about Mormon temples have been viewed over 430,000 times since they were put up 12 days ago and 4 days ago, respectively. I am amazed at the response by so many good people to promote these videos.

You may also notice that the Mormon Message channel now has an updated design, thanks to the flexibility granted when the Church obtained Content Partner status with YouTube.

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