Growing Audience E-AlertGrowing Audience, April 22, 2009
Ohio Papers Report Increased Efficiency, Traffic Bump with Shared Content
Ohio newspapers that are sharing content with each other are saving money and time, and getting a bump in Web site traffic, due in part to the agreement. Editors at the newspapers involved in the Ohio News Organization talked to MediaShift about the efficiency of the system and the resources every newspaper is saving through the agreement.
The newspapers are sharing articles, art and other elements that can be used in print or online through a secure Web site. If a newspaper uses another publication's article in print, the newspaper has to put the headline on its homepage and link the headline directly to the other newspaper. The increase in traffic is small compared to the effect of links from the Drudge Report or Digg, one editor said.
Source: MediaShift
Former Seattle P-I Journalists Launch PostGlobe Online News Site
Some journalists who were not included in the online continuation of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer are launching their own online news outlet called the Seattle PostGlobe.
The Editors Weblog reported that the journalists involved are essentially working as volunteers. "They have a meager $3,000 and another $3,000 pledged. The Web site intends to monetize mainly through reader donations, aiming for 8,000 to pledge $10 a month. They currently use KCTS-TV's office space and may strike a deal with the station. They are also looking to sell advertising."
Source: The Editors Weblog
RELATED ARTICLE
InDenverTimes May Launch Even if Subscriber Goal is Not Met
Ten Tips to Make the Online Only Edition a Winner
What do online-only newspapers need to keep in mind? Dr. Mario R. Garcia shares ten tips to make the most of your online edition:
- Do not recreate the printed version in your online edition.
- Leverage the interactive elements that make the Internet different from print; incite your readers to become engaged.
- Emphasize the cult of personality by bringing in your best columnists and new ones with varied perspectives.
- Learn a sense of the “instantaneous moments” used at other social networking sites.
- Redefine news extending it to the personal; we have never been more interested in the minutiae of life.
- Sell advertising packages in a variety of configurations, embracing content in ways never allowed in print.
- Pursue highly local people content, down to the little league games.
- Use the storytelling capabilities online to guide the user through events happening in the city, new exhibits...
- Cover the garage sales, news from here to there and daily samplings.
- Don’t neglect investigative journalism, but enhance it with online offerings.
Source: garciamedia.com
Viewers Will Pay to Go Adless
A new global survey on broadcast viewing from Accenture shows despite the recession, a growing number of consumers would rather pay for content to avoid advertisements. The survey which polled 14,000 consumers in 13 countries showed 49 percent of respondents indicated a willingness to pay for digital programming -- up from 37 percent in last year's poll.
In addition, the survey found in more developed markets interest in consuming content on new platforms declines sharply with age. For example, the number of respondents in the U.S. who said they would enjoy viewing content on their mobile devices peaked at 50 percent for those under 25 years old and bottomed out at 9 percent for those 55 and older. In less developed markets interest in consuming content on new platforms was higher among younger and older consumers.
Source: adweek.com
Six Ways to Simplify Social Media Updates
The growth of social networking has made it possible for marketers to reach out and engage audiences but with so many platforms it becomes difficult to manage multiple network accounts and generate sustainable results.
Todd Tweedy, CEO of Audience Machine, offers six tips to help you engage your desired audience through social media tools:
- Set up two email accounts: Use Gmail and Yahoo mail to activate and manage your profile and tools. Set up folders for each application you create so you can quickly locate credential documents and keep notification emails from Twitter and Facebook from cluttering your corporate account.
- Claim your identity: Think of securing a username on a social network as owning a domain name for your company. UserName Check can help you look at 104 different sites at one time and will save you a lot of time in the selection of your organization's ID.
- Register your Identity and Store Your Account Information in an Excel Spreadsheet: When you're registering 75 or more profiles and over 4,000 screen names you will need to archive the username and password information for each account. Also, use multiple passwords so that no single password grants an unwanted user universal access to all your accounts.
- Populate Your Profile: The best advice is to plan ahead. You will need to have an avatar or image that links to sites, historic information and links to third-party content you want to plug in.
- Dashboard the process of updating your social network profiles: Use tools to automate publishing especially if you have 15-25 profiles. These tools like ping.fm and Tweetdeck turn your content into software. Use them to leverage the power of a distributor to reach more of your audience.
- Monitor and Measure Outcomes: There are a number of free tools to help you monitor what people are saying like search.twitter.com and free Google alerts.
Source: imediaconnection.com
ESPN Prepares to Launch Sports Information Site 
ESPN is poised to release a new sports encyclopedia archive called ESPNDB.com, or ESPN Database. The content will be fact checked and handled by professionals but the site will include some user-generated content. Initially the site will focus on the upcoming NFL Draft and then a similar reference hub will be created for the NBA finals in June. The site is free, supported by advertisements with opportunities to include "clickable" video.
Jim Noel, vice president of ESPNDB stated,
“Wikipedia has experienced tremendous growth over the last five years and we believe we can offer a better more definitive, more credible resource for finding facts and figures and information than anybody else." Source: MediaPost
ComScore: U.S. Hispanic Online Population Reaches Milestone
This February marked the first time the U.S. Hispanic population reached 20.3 million unique users or 11 percent of the total online U.S. population. This is a significant milestone as the Hispanic audience segment is now growing faster than the total U.S. online population by half.
So, where do Hispanic users go online? According to the comScore report, Hispanic users are highly engaged with entertainment and will likely be found in community spaces, gaming hubs, entertainment/multimedia sites, instant messaging, or on music sites.
Source: bizreport.com
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TIP OF THE DAY
Newspapers that want to compete in the New Media space must shift from a "product-driven" logic to an "audience-driven" logic. This implies a change of mindset, culture, methods, tools and competencies. Benoit Raphael editor of Le Dauphine Libere proposes three criteria to measure success and failure in launching a new product.
- Fix clear objectives (measurable when possible) for each small project with a clear time limit in order to be able to quickly stop if necessary.
- Track the number of direct access visitors (those who access the site directly without going through a search engine), and "worry if that number doesn't grow."
- Track the audience's activity more closely than the number of page views for each post, to see if they are inspired and engaged enough to participate.
Source: NAA’s 2009 Audience Planbook, Chapter 4, Launching a New Product. | |
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
"It's actually the exact opposite. I'm writing a birth notice. With the Internet come incredible opportunities. And I can be an obnoxious optimist about this, and I know I am, but I really believe that."
--Jeff Jarvis, blogger, in a Washington Post interview titled "Jeff Jarvis on Tough Love"; regarding how he feels about making people understand what is happening to the newspaper industry. | |
TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES
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Re-Inventing Ourselves-Young Reader Conference
 Friday, May 15, 2009
Arlington, VA
Conference Is Now a One-Day Symposium
Because registration has not met the minimum number required to stage the Young Reader Conference, the NAA Foundation has decided to restructure this event. We are hosting a one-day symposium instead of a two-and-a-half day conference.
The symposium is scheduled for Friday, May 15, at the conference facility next door to Foundation and NAA headquarters in Arlington, Va. Current plans are for it to begin at 11 a.m. and end at 6:30 p.m., and to include lunch and dinner.
Click Here for more information
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The Online Paid Content Debate: Newspaper Execs Share Their Experience
Monday, April 27, 2009 at 3:00 p.m. EST
 Before your newspaper launches an online paid content model, learn from the experience of two newspaper executives-Conan Gallaty of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and Dave Storey of Gazette Communications. Register Today!
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NAA PRODUCTS
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 Paid Content Financial Modeling: In a partnership with Mignon Media, NAA released a report detailing several possible financial scenarios for newspapers that choose to go online-only. The spreadsheet analyzes the financial impact of such a decision, and how different combinations of paid/free content would impact a newspaper's bottom line. It's available through www.naa.org/paidcontent. We are hosting a Webinar on these numbers April 15 at 3 p.m. ET.
E-Readers: Forrester Research presented a report to NAA on e-reader devices and the opportunities for newspapers in this area. You can read about it here.
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Audience Planbook
 The Audience Planbook is designed to provide newspaper executives with the practical tools they need to develop a successful audience strategy, and manage a portfolio of products that makes money now – and in the future.
This “living document” is updated quarterly and is designed to spark discussion on the topics of how best to build and delight our audience base in the midst of a transforming industry. Go to the Growing Audience blog to post commentary.
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Leadership Strategy: Reducing Frequency: A Strategic Framework
 Once a given, the notion of a daily newspaper is becoming far less of one. Over the past year, dozens of newspapers have announced plans to scale back frequency by one or more days a week, and the pace of such plans has accelerated. In Reducing Frequency: A Strategic Framework, NAA examines how publishers have used shifts in frequency as a market-specific tactic -- and as part of broader strategic initiatives. The white paper explores potential benefits, downsides and alternatives to frequency shifts, and offers guiding questions to help evaluate the factors driving such a decision. |