News Websites online Marketing Strategy

What Your Online News Audience looking for ?

Who IS the Audience?

How do you go about knowing your audience? What you need to know and why about who they are and how they consume online news? How do you serve and grow your audience?

How do you go about knowing your audience?

Tools Techniques Data Analysis Other Strategies

Techniques
Fielding
Panel
Random Digit Dial (RDD) Online

Server Random

Collection
Meter Survey

Tools
Volumetric Measures Market Research Ad Planning Qualitative Measures Site Centric (Web) Analytics

Volumetric Measures
Data Providers
Nielsen//NetRatings Hitwise
Complementary Service Search!! Data is purchased from ISPs

ComScore
Direct competitor Market Research Most media clients use it for panel size and local reporting

Why it is used
Ad Sales
The biggest number!!!

Competitive Benchmarking
Less important

Strategic Research
Least important

Market Research
Custom
Forrester, etc
Strategic

Everything is a tool, they just sit on top of it Answers The Big Questions Highest $$ per project

Survey Research
Harris, Greenfield, FGI, SSI, Etc

Models
DIY (client builds it then turns it over) Consultative (spec, serve, analyze)

Ad Planning Tools
Syndicated Studies
MRI (magazine) @Plan (internet) Scarborough (newspapers)
AdRelevence (internet)

Ad Tracking

Advertising Effectiveness
Ad Servers View through/click trough Dynamic Logic Style Test and control methodology Normative Database

Qualitative Tools
Focus Groups
Usability testing etc
In person Remote - Vivadence

Site Centric Analytics

Server Side Measurement
Tagging or Cookies Measurement
Audience: # of browsers by way of cookie Pages: # of requests

Providers
Omniture SiteCensus (N//NR)

Research Methods
Regression
Why Things Happen
Relationship between multiple independent variables and a dependent variable

Segmentation
Who People Are
Understanding the differences in the audience leads to better user experience

What you need to know and why, about who they are and how they consume online news?
Who they are What they do Hows it changing

Current Events & Global News Top-line Audience Metrics

Source: Nielsen//NetRatings NetView Service, September 2006

Current Events & Global News Index Against Total Online Population
160
143

140 120
104 120 114 105 97 86 93 73 Unique Audience Page Views 111

100 80 60 40 20 0 Men

Women

18-34

25-54

55+

Source: Nielsen//NetRatings NetView Service, September 2006

Current Events & Global News Unique Audience (000) Trend

92,000 90,000 88,000 86,000 84,000 82,000 80,000 78,000 76,000 74,000

Ap r-0 6 M ay -0 6 Ju n06

ov -0 5

Ja n06

Se p05

Ju l-0 6 Au g06

ct -0 5

Fe b06

ec -0 5

Source: Nielsen//NetRatings NetView Service

Se p06

ar -0

Current Events & Global News Page Views (000) Trend

9,000,000 8,000,000 7,000,000 6,000,000 5,000,000 4,000,000 3,000,000 2,000,000 1,000,000 0

Ap r-0 6 M ay -0 6 Ju n06

ov -0 5

Ja n06

Se p05

Ju l-0 6 Au g06

ct -0 5

Fe b06

ec -0 5

Source: Nielsen//NetRatings NetView Service

Se p06

ar -0

Current Events & Global News Time-per-person Trend

1:55:12 1:40:48 1:26:24 1:12:00 0:57:36 0:43:12 0:28:48 0:14:24 0:00:00

Ap r-0 6 M ay -0 6 Ju n06

ov -0 5

Ja n06

Se p05

Ju l-0 6 Au g06

ct -0 5

Fe b06

ec -0 5

Source: Nielsen//NetRatings NetView Service

Se p06

ar -0

Loyalty Indicators
Site
AP CNN LA Times MSNBC NPR

Share of Active Days %

14 25 10 21 10

Retention Rate %
49 58 37 58 27

USA Today
WSJ Online Yahoo! News

14
12 25

46
31 66

Source: Nielsen//NetRatings NetView Service. Work, September 2006

Engagement

Source: Nielsen//NetRatings NetView Service. Work, September 2006

Visitors To General News Sites Frequently Provide Advice On

135 130 125 120
116 Index 134 128 126

115 110 105 Politics / Current Events Online Shopping Internet Content & Services Financial Information

Source: Nielsen//NetRatings @Plan Service, Fall 2006

Visitors To General News Sites Enjoy The Finer Things

140 135
140

130

128 125 123 125 125 Index

125 120

115 110
Political/Community Event (last 30 days) Museum/Art Gallery (last 30 days) Gourmet food Heavy Spending (p/online/6mo.) Wine Collecting/Tasting Cultural/Historic Sites (vacation last 2 years) Independent (movies/rented/last 30 days)

Source: Nielsen//NetRatings @Plan Service, Fall 2006

Visitors to General News Sites Just Cant Get Enough News

160 140 120 100 80
Index 140 130 122 124 154

60 40 20 0
Any New s Weeklies Political (TV programs, last National New s - Cable (TV E-mail New sletter (magazine, last 7 days) 7 days) programs, last 7 days) Read/Signed up (Last 30 days) ConsumerReports.org (paid subscription)

Source: Nielsen//NetRatings @Plan Service, Fall 2006

Broadband is More Prevalent

80% 75% 70% 65% 60% 55% 50% Sep- Oct- Nov- Dec- Jan- Feb- Mar- Apr- May- Jun05 05 05 05 06 06 06 06 06 06 Jul06 Aug- Sep06 06

Source: Nielsen//NetRatings NetView

More Users, More Usage

Source: Nielsen//NetRatings NetView

Growth in Video Content

Wall St. Journal 10/07/06

Emergence of My.Internet or Web2.0

My.Internet are websites that put the control of the content, either user generated or not, in the hands of the consumers. These sites allow consumers to define their own online experience through technology such as RSS or content genres such as blogs and social networking.

Key Questions
Who the heck are these kids? What are they really looking for in a website? Oh man, does this mean I have to advertise to them differently? Do I have to worry about how they feel about my site? Please say no...

So Who Are These People?

Clicked on an online advertisement Downloaded a full length video, such as a TV show or movie Downloaded a podcast Downloaded a video clip Listened to streaming audio Made a podcast Participated in an online community, such as MySpace, Friendster, LinkedIn or Facebook Posted a blog Read a blog Read an RSS feed Watched streaming video

What Are They Saying?

Now thats what I call new media

Dude, I was doing that in 2003 You are so, like, 2000

My.Internet: 16%

Old, New Media:

I'll Do Nothing

37%

And Like It:

47%

How Are They Consuming Media Online?

Metric: Index against overall respondent average

My.Internet Old, New Media I'll Do Nothing And Like It 355

471 402

248 216 160 137 97 50 15

Downloaded a full length video

200 166
Average

199 171

64 21 0 10
Watched streaming video

13
Downloaded a podcast

12
Downloaded a video clip

13
Listened to streaming audio

Made a podcast

Read an RSS feed

Source: Nielsen//NetRatings Consumer Survey (6/06) n = 1,300

Q: What is your favorite news and information website? (Open ended)

For The Most Part My.Internet Likes The Same Sites As Everyone Else
My.Internet
MSNBC 24% 19% 16% 16% 6% 5% 5% 2% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 0% MSNBC Other News Yahoo! CNN Fox News Google News AOL News ESPN WPNI USA Today CBS News Ask.com ABC News WebMD Drudge Comcast 6% 2% 3% 0% 0% 1% 1% 1% 4% 1% 1% 3% 18% 14% 13%

Old, New Media

30% MSNBC Other News Yahoo! CNN Fox News Google News AOL News ESPN WPNI USA Today CBS News Ask.com ABC News WebMD Drudge Comcast BBC News Other ISP NYTimes Excite

I'll Do Nothing And Like It

21% 22% 15% 10% 10% 3% 4% 0% 0% 2% 4% 1% 2% 1% 0% 2% 1% 1% 1% 0%

Other News Yahoo! CNN Fox News Google News AOL News ESPN WPNI USA Today CBS News Ask.com ABC News WebMD Drudge Comcast BBC News Other ISP

BBC News 0% Other ISP NYTimes Excite 1% 2% 1%

NYTimes 0% Excite 0%

Source: Nielsen//NetRatings Consumer Survey (6/06) n = 1,300

Loyalty, However, Is Not Their Strong Suit

Metric: Number of News and information sites visited by visitor to Brand A

Del.icio.us Flickr Digg.com YouTube Topix.net Facebook Frappr! MySpace General News/Information Category
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings Netview Service. Work, April 2006

63.9 31.2 30.0 25.4 24.5 22.0 21.8 19.1 17.3

Enable The Mash-Up

And This Is What You Get

Key Finding: Be Not Afraid

There is a new class of Internet users, but it turns out that they are pretty much the same as the old ones. They
Are younger and more internet media centric Are more engaged Less loyal than average Seem to like the same sites as everyone else

For Publishers: The winners will let them be in control of both content and their advertising experience.

The Effects Of RSS On News Sites

What The Heck Is RSS Doing To My Site?

I used RSS as a novelty at first, now find the data aggregation it provides time saving. I have a couple of sites I trust, but Ive been expanding.

Key Finding
While RSS has different affects depending on specific site strategy, there appear to be two constants in the way RSS use changes the ways consumers interact with media properties online.
1. At least in the initial period of use, RSS seems to increase overall media engagement. This includes with familiar sites, as well as broadening site use to sites outside of the top 20 media properties. Although the reason is unclear, those consumers who use RSS seem to have less overall satisfaction with the media sites that they do visit.

2.

RSS Users Aggressively Use Current Events and Global News Information
Metric: Minutes per month

Current Events & Global News

178 58 36 22 21 19 22 14 14 10 8 7 RSS Control

Special Interest News

Directories/Local Guides

Weather

Research Tools

Multi-category News & Information

RSS Users Tend To Visit 3 Times As Many News Sites As Non-Users

Metric: Average number of Current Events and Global News sites visited in a month

10.6

3.4

RSS

Control

While They Still Read The Top Media Sites, RSS Users Expand Outside Of The Top 20
Metric: Visits per person per month

35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0

32 51%

Top 20 News/Information Sites All Other News/Information Sites "Other" as a percentage of "Top 20"

60% 50% 40% 36%

16 11 4

30% 20% 10% 0%

RSS

Control

Most RSS Users Do Not Even Know They Are Using RSS
Metric: Percent of behavioral RSS users who answer that they use RSS

17%

Aware RSS User Unaware RSS User

83%

RSS Awareness is Reflected in Length Of Online Tenure and Gender

Yes

Uses RSS

No

Yes

Aware Of RSS Use

78% Male 48% Online before 94 46% College Grad+ 25% $100k + 17% Uses Gecko Engine Web Browsers (FireFox, Netscape etc) 17% 18 to 34 Years Old
54% Male 36% Online before 94 53% College Grad+ 27% $100k + 15% Uses Gecko Engine Web Browsers (FireFox, Netscape etc) 25% 18 to 34 Years Old 46% Male 34% Online before 94 43% College Grad+ 22% $100k + 5% Uses Gecko Engine Web Browsers (FireFox, Netscape etc) 16% 18 to 34 Years Old

No

Unaware Users Frequently View RSS As Going to The Source Itself

Q: When you read news online, which of the following sources do you use to read a news story most often? (please select one)

Aware RSS User

Unaware RSS User

Not A RSS User

The source itself A site that brings together a number of news sources A site that allows me to personalize the news sources I see A RSS reader either built into your browser or as an application A search engine Email newsletters Other
6% 4% 4%

24% 18% 17% 28% 0% 9% 5% 4%

32% 30% 21% 0% 9% 6% 3%

35% 31% 16%

Even Those Who Are Unaware of Use Are Influencers

Q: To what degree do each of the following statements apply to you? Please rate each on a scale from 1 to 10 [Top 3 Box]

Aware RSS User

I am more comfortable with technology than most of the people I know I frequently send links to new interesting websites to friends and family I frequently send links to news stories to friends and family I typically buy new technology before friends and family I typically sign up for or download new Internet services before friends and family I frequently send links to interesting new products to friends and family People come to me to find out about new websites I frequently access the Internet from devices other than a laptop or desktop computer

Unaware RSS User

Not A RSS User

59% 38% 34% 39% 38% 33% 28% 11%

41% 29% 28% 21% 24% 19% 17% 9%

34% 22% 20% 18% 16% 20% 14% 7%

All RSS Users Are Newsies

Q: When you go online for news and information, which of the following types of information do you typically read? (please select all that apply)
90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Blogs Editorial International Business Politics Technology National Front Breaking and Science Page news news Aware RSS User Unaware RSS User Not A RSS User

Availability Is Key, However Aware Users Look To Search, While Unaware Users Look For Timeliness
Q: Why do you use the Internet for news and information (please select all that apply)
90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Available 24 hours a day Easy to search Most up to date news Wide variety Amount of Can be Entertaining Like certain of sites / information personalized sections / sources available columnists Aware RSS User Unaware RSS User Not A RSS User

The Role Of Greater Awareness In The RSS User Experience

Content Saturation Reached RSS Efficiency Awareness Develops

Levels of Engagement

Content Equilibrium Reached Content Added Aggressively RSS Reader Use My Yahoo! Use

No Awareness

Moderate Awareness

Full Understanding

Take Aways
Relationship
RSS undeniably changes the ways consumers interact with a media property. While some sites have seen great benefits from RSS functionality, others are clearly being hurt. Perhaps the greatest beneficiaries of RSS may be sites outside of the Top 20 properties, which should continue to see increased usage from RSS traffic.

The Future
Current evidence suggests that near-term effects may not last. As consumers become more comfortable with RSS they seem to be using it to streamline their online experience, rather than broadening it.

Questions?