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)
• Ad Tracking
– AdRelevence (internet)
• 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… • How’s 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
120
114
111 105
104
100
97
93 86
80
Unique Audience Page Views
73
60 40 20 0 Men
Women
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings NetView Service, September 2006
18-34
25-54
55+
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
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings NetView Service
Se p06
Ju l-0 6 Au g06
Ap r-0 6 M ay -0 6 Ju n06
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74,000
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
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings NetView Service
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Ju l-0 6 Au g06
Ap r-0 6 M ay -0 6 Ju n06
6 ar -0 M
Fe b06
Ja n06
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Se p05
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
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings NetView Service
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Ju l-0 6 Au g06
Ap r-0 6 M ay -0 6 Ju n06
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0:00:00
Loyalty Indicators Site
Share of Active Days %
Retention Rate %
AP
14
49
CNN
25
58
LA Times
10
37
MSNBC
21
58
NPR
10
27
USA Today
14
46
WSJ Online
12
31
Yahoo! News
25
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
134
130
128 126
125 120 116
115 110 105 Politics / Current Events
Online Shopping Internet Content & Services
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings @Plan Service, Fall 2006
Financial Information
Index
Visitors To General News Sites Enjoy The Finer Things‌ 140
140 135
130
128 125
125
125
125
123
Index
120
115 110 Political/Community Event (last 30 days)
Museum/Art Gallery (last 30 days)
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings @Plan Service, Fall 2006
Gourmet food Heavy Spending (p/online/6mo.)
Wine Collecting/Tasting
Cultural/Historic Sites (vacation last 2 years)
Independent (movies/rented/last 30 days)
Visitors to General News Sites Just Can’t Get Enough News… 160 140
154 140 130 122
124
120 100 80 Index
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)
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings @Plan Service, Fall 2006
ConsumerReports.org (paid subscription)
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
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings NetView
Jul06
Aug- Sep06 06
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 that’s what I call new media
Dude, I was doing that in 2003 You are so, like, 2000
My.Internet:
Old, New Media:
16%
37%
I'll Do Nothing
And Like It:
47%
How Are They Consuming Media Online? Metric: Index against overall respondent average
471
My.Internet Old, New Media I'll Do Nothing And Like It
402
355
248 216
200
199 171
166
160 137
Average
97 64
50 15 Downloaded a full length video
13 Downloaded a podcast
12 Downloaded a video clip
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings Consumer Survey (6/06) n = 1,300
13 Listened to streaming audio
21 0 Made a podcast
Read an RSS feed
10 Watched streaming video
For The Most Part My.Internet Likes The Same Sites As Everyone Else
Q: What is your favorite news and information website? (Open ended)
My.Internet
Old, New Media
MSNBC
MSNBC
24%
Other News
19% 16%
Yahoo!
CNN
16%
CNN
Fox News
6%
18% 14% 13%
Fox News
Google News
5%
Google News
AOL News
5%
AOL News
ESPN
30%
Other News
Yahoo!
2%
I'll Do Nothing And Like It
6% 2% 3%
MSNBC Other News
10%
Fox News
10%
Google News
4%
ESPN
0%
ESPN
0%
0%
WPNI
0%
USA Today
1%
USA Today
1%
USA Today
CBS News
1%
CBS News
1%
CBS News
Ask.com
1%
Ask.com
1%
Ask.com
ABC News
1%
ABC News
WebMD
1%
WebMD
1%
WebMD
Drudge
1%
Drudge
1%
Drudge
Comcast
1%
Comcast
BBC News
1%
4%
3%
BBC News 0%
0%
Other ISP
NYTimes 0%
NYTimes
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings Consumer Survey (6/06) n = 1,300
3%
AOL News
WPNI
0%
15%
CNN
1%
Excite
22%
Yahoo!
WPNI
Other ISP
21%
Excite
1% 2% 1%
ABC News
Comcast
2% 4% 1% 2% 1% 0% 2%
BBC News
1%
Other ISP
1%
NYTimes
1%
Excite
0%
Loyalty, However, Is Not Their Strong Suit Metric: Number of News and information sites visited by visitor to “Brand A�
63.9
Del.icio.us
31.2
Flickr
30.0
Digg.com
25.4
YouTube
24.5
Topix.net Facebook
22.0
Frappr!
21.8
MySpace General News/Information Category Source: Nielsen//NetRatings Netview Service. Work, April 2006
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 I’ve 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.
2.
Although the reason is unclear, those consumers who use RSS seem to have less overall satisfaction with the media sites that they do visit.
RSS Users Aggressively Use Current Events and Global News Information Metric: Minutes per month
178
Current Events & Global News
58 36
Special Interest News
22 21
Directories/Local Guides
19 22
Weather
14 14
Research Tools
10 Multi-category News & Information
8 7
RSS Control
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
32
60%
Top 20 News/Information Sites
51%
All Other News/Information Sites
50%
"Other" as a percentage of "Top 20"
25
40% 36%
20
16
15
30% 11
20%
10 4
5 0
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
Aware Of RSS Use
Yes
Yes
No
Uses RSS
No
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
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
The source itself
Unaware RSS User
24%
A site that brings together a number of news sources
18%
A site that allows me to personalize the news sources I see
17%
A RSS reader either built into your browser or as an application
28%
Not A RSS User
32%
35%
30%
31%
21% 0%
A search engine
6%
Email newsletters
4%
5%
Other
4%
4%
9%
16% 0% 9% 6% 3%
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
38%
I frequently send links to news stories to friends and family
34%
I typically buy new technology before friends and family
39%
I typically sign up for or download new Internet services before friends and family
38%
I frequently send links to interesting new products to friends and family
33%
People come to me to find out about new websites
28% 11%
Not A RSS User
41%
59%
I frequently send links to new interesting websites to friends and family
I frequently access the Internet from devices other than a laptop or desktop computer
Unaware RSS User
34%
29%
22%
28%
20%
21% 24%
18% 16%
19% 17% 9%
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%
Aware RSS User Unaware RSS User
60%
Not A RSS User
50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Blogs
Editorial International Business
Politics
Technology National “Front Breaking and Science Page” news news
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%
Aware RSS User Unaware RSS User
70%
Not A RSS User 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
The Role Of Greater Awareness In The RSS User Experience
Levels of Engagement
Content Saturation Reached
RSS Efficiency Awareness Develops
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?