By Marcelo Duran
Associate Editor
Trib Total Media’s Web 2.0-enhanced-site, www.pittsburghlive.com, is taking personalization to a new level for Pittsburgh-area readers and advertisers.
The newspaper group, which publishes the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review as well as other daily and weekly newspapers, launched the hub’s redesign in January, incorporating new features that give readers customized content.
“The site has a much greater focus on entertainment and community-based information while [sister site] PghTrib.com does the daily and hard news,” said Ed Kost, division manager for TTM (see related story, page 70).
Pittsburghlive.com uses software from Pittsburgh-based developer mSpoke Inc. to suggest content to readers based on their habits and personal preferences. The approach mirrors the strategy followed by such popular sites as Netflix and Amazon, both of which deliver tailored content to their customers.
Individualized content
MSpoke’s Adaptive Personalization Engine generates individualized content, advertising and product recommendations for subscribers.
“It delivers relevant RSS headlines to the individual,” said Kost.
The Web site collects personalized news from dozens of news sources and blogs, local and abroad, and applies the adaptive personalization technology to filter out the stories of interest. Users can also suggest news sites for their customized sections.
The adaptive technology also learns to suggest and change its recommendations as tastes change for each user.
The Tribune-Review dedicates 16 workers to its online staff, with eight handling operational/technical aspects and eight overseeing editorial/news.
The Web site is engineered to show users why certain stories are suggested to them, Kost said.
“Consumers want and need transparency and empowerment. It enables them to declare their intentions,” said Kost.
The site is also bolstered with Eurekster Inc.’s Swicki search engine. The app allows users to create searches on topics that reflect the interest of a particular Web site or blog.
To that end, PittsburghLive’s Swicki includes keywords housed in a customized buzz cloud that continually display the most popular search terms in the community, such as classifieds, Penguins and Pirates, the latter reflecting the city’s hockey and baseball teams, respectively.
Promotes afternoon daily
The Web site also promotes the Tribune-Review’s Monday-through-Friday afternoon paper, the Trib. The 32,000-circulation free sheet debuted in 2003 and is aimed at downtown workers.
TTM is constantly tweaking Pittsburghlive.com. Last month, for example, the site began offering streaming video in a partnership with Google.
“We experimented with Google to (show videos) on what used to be a main ad position,” Kost said. “It’s mostly videos on style and there’s one featuring skiing in the Rockies.”
Additional video support is in the works. Next month the site will add more video channels, including slots aimed at entertainment, news and other areas, Kost said.
Web site Snapshot
www.pittsburghlive.com
Launched 1995
Last major redesign: January 2007
Owner: Trib Total Media
Newspapers:
•Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
•Daily Courier in Connellsville, Pa.
•Leader Times in Kittanning, Pa.
•The Valley Independent in Monessen, Pa.
•Valley News Dispatch in Tarentum, Pa.
TTM also owns 23 weekly community newspapers, an afternoon edition Trib p.m. and several magazine.
Web Traffic for Pittsburgh Tribune-Review*
Total unique audience: 588,084
Total page views 9,859,825
Visitors’ household income
$25-$49,999 81,324
Visitors’ household income
$50-$99,000 262,101
Visitors’ household income
$100,000+ 196,164
*Source: NAA NAdbase Fall 2006
Sunday, April 1, 2007
Newspapers land first punch in online video ad battle
By Marcelo Duran
Associate Editor
When it comes to the burgeoning local online video advertising market, newspapers are capitalizing in the battle they are waging against their cross-town broadcast television rivals.
In 2006, newspaper-run Web sites racked up $81 million in online video sales versus $32 million notched by broadcasters, according to a February study released by Borrell Associates Inc.
The study reports that print media are using the Internet as a crossover platform to tap traditional TV advertisers; just as TV stations and a number of other organizations are trying to top traditional print advertisers.
Nearly all local broadcast TV Web sites feature classified ads, and almost half of all newspapers sites offer video, the study said.
The study also finds that online competition between newspapers and broadcast TV stations will intensify this year as both sides develop Web-based video products.
“The clash will focus on automotive advertisers initially, and real estate, health and employment are prime targets as well,” the study said.
Newspapers in the video business
Newspapers have made the transition to Web-based video advertising quicker than their local broadcast competitors.
Newspapers are rapidly converting classified advertisers, particularly in the help-wanted and automotive verticals, into online video advertisers.
The study said that 40 percent of the 1,450 daily newspapers in the United States offer Web-based video.
Most use AP Digital’s video software, which each day delivers a selection of the world’s top stories.
A growing number of dailies are offering their own local services. The Naples (Fla.) Daily News, for example, last April launched Studio 55, a vodcast highlighting local news, sports and entertainment coverage.
“It is a new version of a newscast formulated for the Web,” said Andrea Lynn, the Daily News’ multimedia director.
“Studio 55 delivers news at the speed of life, via any platform, anytime.”
The Daily News began running 20- to 30-second video classified ads on the service at the end of last year. Today, the paper now runs around 20 of the ads, Lynn said.
Advertisers can submit their own video ads but the newspaper offers in-house production capabilities for higher-end videos.
“Visuals are an important offering in any content environment, whether in storytelling or in advertising,” Lynn said. “Rich media advertising has become the standard, and we want to provide clients the opportunity to connect with their audiences in every possible way.”
Real estate, jobs and automotive ads are popular video messages on the Daily News site, Lynn said.
“The click-throughs on the video ads are generally higher than other forms of standard Web ad types,” she said. “It is higher than the national click-rate average by about four times.”
Video ads booming
Borrell estimates total revenue from local video advertising will reach $371 million this year with the major cities capturing the biggest benefits.
Last year, the three largest markets — New York, Los Angeles and Chicago — each attracted more than $5 million from local advertisers that wanted to place streaming-video commercials on newspaper and broadcaster Web sites.
There were 37 additional markets that saw online video advertising eclipse $1 million, Borrell said.
By 2012, local online video advertising will surpass $5 billion, representing more than one-third of all local online advertising, the research firm said.
Video virals spread
Newspapers and vendors continue to roll out video-related services. A rundown of recent announcements:
•AP Digital and McClatchy-Tribune Information Services said they will distribute some of their content through Voxant’s Viral Syndication Network.
VSN lets publishers deliver licensed content to thousands of Web sites and blogs. The information is available on Voxant’s The NewsRoom Web site at www.thenewsroom.com, from where it is redistributed to other sites.
“Voxant provides a vehicle for AP to allow non-traditional customers to post individual stories, photos and video clips while maintaining control over its intellectual property,” said Jane Seagrave, vice president and director of AP Digital.
•AP and Microsoft wrapped up testing an online video platform aimed at letting newspapers, radio outlets and TV stations upload, publish and monetize locally created video, Beet TV reported last month. Papers evaluating the service, slated to go live in April, included The Houston Chronicle and (Denver) Rocky Mountain News.
•The New York Times said it would enable couples posting wedding announcements to submit videos detailing how they met to nytimes.com/weddings.
•The Miami Herald launched a daily video podcast on its Web site, miamiherald.com. The podcast, dubbed “What the 5!” covers the South Florida entertainment scene, the newspaper said.
Associate Editor
When it comes to the burgeoning local online video advertising market, newspapers are capitalizing in the battle they are waging against their cross-town broadcast television rivals.
In 2006, newspaper-run Web sites racked up $81 million in online video sales versus $32 million notched by broadcasters, according to a February study released by Borrell Associates Inc.
The study reports that print media are using the Internet as a crossover platform to tap traditional TV advertisers; just as TV stations and a number of other organizations are trying to top traditional print advertisers.
Nearly all local broadcast TV Web sites feature classified ads, and almost half of all newspapers sites offer video, the study said.
The study also finds that online competition between newspapers and broadcast TV stations will intensify this year as both sides develop Web-based video products.
“The clash will focus on automotive advertisers initially, and real estate, health and employment are prime targets as well,” the study said.
Newspapers in the video business
Newspapers have made the transition to Web-based video advertising quicker than their local broadcast competitors.
Newspapers are rapidly converting classified advertisers, particularly in the help-wanted and automotive verticals, into online video advertisers.
The study said that 40 percent of the 1,450 daily newspapers in the United States offer Web-based video.
Most use AP Digital’s video software, which each day delivers a selection of the world’s top stories.
A growing number of dailies are offering their own local services. The Naples (Fla.) Daily News, for example, last April launched Studio 55, a vodcast highlighting local news, sports and entertainment coverage.
“It is a new version of a newscast formulated for the Web,” said Andrea Lynn, the Daily News’ multimedia director.
“Studio 55 delivers news at the speed of life, via any platform, anytime.”
The Daily News began running 20- to 30-second video classified ads on the service at the end of last year. Today, the paper now runs around 20 of the ads, Lynn said.
Advertisers can submit their own video ads but the newspaper offers in-house production capabilities for higher-end videos.
“Visuals are an important offering in any content environment, whether in storytelling or in advertising,” Lynn said. “Rich media advertising has become the standard, and we want to provide clients the opportunity to connect with their audiences in every possible way.”
Real estate, jobs and automotive ads are popular video messages on the Daily News site, Lynn said.
“The click-throughs on the video ads are generally higher than other forms of standard Web ad types,” she said. “It is higher than the national click-rate average by about four times.”
Video ads booming
Borrell estimates total revenue from local video advertising will reach $371 million this year with the major cities capturing the biggest benefits.
Last year, the three largest markets — New York, Los Angeles and Chicago — each attracted more than $5 million from local advertisers that wanted to place streaming-video commercials on newspaper and broadcaster Web sites.
There were 37 additional markets that saw online video advertising eclipse $1 million, Borrell said.
By 2012, local online video advertising will surpass $5 billion, representing more than one-third of all local online advertising, the research firm said.
Video virals spread
Newspapers and vendors continue to roll out video-related services. A rundown of recent announcements:
•AP Digital and McClatchy-Tribune Information Services said they will distribute some of their content through Voxant’s Viral Syndication Network.
VSN lets publishers deliver licensed content to thousands of Web sites and blogs. The information is available on Voxant’s The NewsRoom Web site at www.thenewsroom.com, from where it is redistributed to other sites.
“Voxant provides a vehicle for AP to allow non-traditional customers to post individual stories, photos and video clips while maintaining control over its intellectual property,” said Jane Seagrave, vice president and director of AP Digital.
•AP and Microsoft wrapped up testing an online video platform aimed at letting newspapers, radio outlets and TV stations upload, publish and monetize locally created video, Beet TV reported last month. Papers evaluating the service, slated to go live in April, included The Houston Chronicle and (Denver) Rocky Mountain News.
•The New York Times said it would enable couples posting wedding announcements to submit videos detailing how they met to nytimes.com/weddings.
•The Miami Herald launched a daily video podcast on its Web site, miamiherald.com. The podcast, dubbed “What the 5!” covers the South Florida entertainment scene, the newspaper said.
Citizen Kane, meet MySpace
By Marcelo Duran
Associate Editor
Who’s in your network?
That question is becoming more than an ad slogan as newspapers stake their own social network homesteads across the digital frontier.
The Roanoke (Va.) Times (daily, 88,901; Sunday, 103,374), for example, last month launched BigLickU.com, a social site geared toward the area’s diverse college student population.
BigLickU.com was launched last month by The Roanoke (Va.) Times in an effort to serve the area’s diverse college student population. The site is designed as if it were a faux university, with various college-themed resources.
The site is designed like a faux university, with various college-themed resources such as the dining hall, which contains restaurant reviews and the study lounge; a housing area and class reviews; and a career center, according to Chris Winston, provost/general manager of the site.
“The Times’ circulation area includes numerous colleges and universities with more than 50,000 combined students,” Winston said. “We didn’t feel like advertisers in our area had a strong way to reach this audience, so we decided to build a social networking site to help them market to this crucial demographic.”
In the first week of operation, the site attracted more than 150 users, Winston said. Four full-time writers and five part-time students work on the site.
The site is open to the public, but to keep the site correctly focused, only users who register with a verified .edu e-mail address can participate.
So far, restaurant and class reviews appear to be the most popular, Winston said.
Traditional interests
“Most of student life revolves around these things — class, studying, eating and residential life.”
Winston said BigLickU will let The Times experiment with ad concepts it hasn’t tried on its main roanoke.com Web site. The paper may also use some of the content management tools and ratings software now appearing on the college site and tailor it to The Times’ audience.
Bakotopia, backed by The Bakersfield Californian, first rolled out in 2005. The site features stories, video, photos and other user-generated content.
In the meantime, Winston said BigLickU is working with advertisers to see how it can work with companies interested in targeting the college audience.
“Advertisers have been excited to see where the social site will go from here,” he said.
“We could use the same advertising content on both sites, but we will also look into building new creative ideas for advertisers to focus more on their benefits for college students.”
The Times’ move to create a site geared toward a younger demographic is an attempt to break away from a one-site-fits all mentality, Winston said.
“There are few products out there that have benefits for everyone 8 to 80 years old,” Winston said. “The Internet, with its relatively quick time to market and low barriers to entry, allows you to build more niche products based on location, life stage or areas of interest.”
California streaming
The Bakersfield Californian, meantime, is a social network veteran, through its homegrown Bakomatic social media software, which it rolled out two years ago as part of its Bakotopia.com Web page.
“As readership of daily newspapers declines, it’s essential that we continue to find new ways to connect with our communities,” said Mary Lou Fulton, vice president of audience development for The Californian (daily, 60,975; Sunday, 72,322). “Social media creates ways for people to express themselves and through that activity we can stay in touch with what our community thinks is important. That’s the lifeblood of our business.”
“We came up with that name Bakomatic because we hoped to use the platform to automatically create many sites in Bakersfield,” she said.
So far the app has lived up to its name. The Californian uses the software to power seven other local sites and infuse its features on the flagship site, Bakersfield.com.
“Our platform includes the ability for users to contribute articles, pictures and events; create their own blogs; and social media features including profiles, interest tags and the ability to add friends,” she said.
The Californian began licensing this software to other newspapers at http://participata.com. The (Phoenix) Arizona Republic signed up to use Bakomatic in January.
Power to the people
Fulton said The Californian launched the social site to give its users a way to connect with others who share their interests and to leverage those interests into new business opportunities.
“Our social features are now generating more than 1 million page views a month, or about 25 percent of our traffic across our local network,” she said.
The social sites have also produced unique products specific to the Bakersfield area.
For example, Bakotopia.com just released its first compilation CD, featuring local bands that posted profiles and music on the site.
In addition, Bakersfield.com released a local business guide, described by Fulton as “MySpace meets the Yellow Pages,” which allows people to rate and review area businesses as well as become “an online regular or friend,” she said.
Next up: classifieds social networking, a service the paper is evaluating.
Associate Editor
Who’s in your network?
That question is becoming more than an ad slogan as newspapers stake their own social network homesteads across the digital frontier.
The Roanoke (Va.) Times (daily, 88,901; Sunday, 103,374), for example, last month launched BigLickU.com, a social site geared toward the area’s diverse college student population.
BigLickU.com was launched last month by The Roanoke (Va.) Times in an effort to serve the area’s diverse college student population. The site is designed as if it were a faux university, with various college-themed resources.
The site is designed like a faux university, with various college-themed resources such as the dining hall, which contains restaurant reviews and the study lounge; a housing area and class reviews; and a career center, according to Chris Winston, provost/general manager of the site.
“The Times’ circulation area includes numerous colleges and universities with more than 50,000 combined students,” Winston said. “We didn’t feel like advertisers in our area had a strong way to reach this audience, so we decided to build a social networking site to help them market to this crucial demographic.”
In the first week of operation, the site attracted more than 150 users, Winston said. Four full-time writers and five part-time students work on the site.
The site is open to the public, but to keep the site correctly focused, only users who register with a verified .edu e-mail address can participate.
So far, restaurant and class reviews appear to be the most popular, Winston said.
Traditional interests
“Most of student life revolves around these things — class, studying, eating and residential life.”
Winston said BigLickU will let The Times experiment with ad concepts it hasn’t tried on its main roanoke.com Web site. The paper may also use some of the content management tools and ratings software now appearing on the college site and tailor it to The Times’ audience.
Bakotopia, backed by The Bakersfield Californian, first rolled out in 2005. The site features stories, video, photos and other user-generated content.
In the meantime, Winston said BigLickU is working with advertisers to see how it can work with companies interested in targeting the college audience.
“Advertisers have been excited to see where the social site will go from here,” he said.
“We could use the same advertising content on both sites, but we will also look into building new creative ideas for advertisers to focus more on their benefits for college students.”
The Times’ move to create a site geared toward a younger demographic is an attempt to break away from a one-site-fits all mentality, Winston said.
“There are few products out there that have benefits for everyone 8 to 80 years old,” Winston said. “The Internet, with its relatively quick time to market and low barriers to entry, allows you to build more niche products based on location, life stage or areas of interest.”
California streaming
The Bakersfield Californian, meantime, is a social network veteran, through its homegrown Bakomatic social media software, which it rolled out two years ago as part of its Bakotopia.com Web page.
“As readership of daily newspapers declines, it’s essential that we continue to find new ways to connect with our communities,” said Mary Lou Fulton, vice president of audience development for The Californian (daily, 60,975; Sunday, 72,322). “Social media creates ways for people to express themselves and through that activity we can stay in touch with what our community thinks is important. That’s the lifeblood of our business.”
“We came up with that name Bakomatic because we hoped to use the platform to automatically create many sites in Bakersfield,” she said.
So far the app has lived up to its name. The Californian uses the software to power seven other local sites and infuse its features on the flagship site, Bakersfield.com.
“Our platform includes the ability for users to contribute articles, pictures and events; create their own blogs; and social media features including profiles, interest tags and the ability to add friends,” she said.
The Californian began licensing this software to other newspapers at http://participata.com. The (Phoenix) Arizona Republic signed up to use Bakomatic in January.
Power to the people
Fulton said The Californian launched the social site to give its users a way to connect with others who share their interests and to leverage those interests into new business opportunities.
“Our social features are now generating more than 1 million page views a month, or about 25 percent of our traffic across our local network,” she said.
The social sites have also produced unique products specific to the Bakersfield area.
For example, Bakotopia.com just released its first compilation CD, featuring local bands that posted profiles and music on the site.
In addition, Bakersfield.com released a local business guide, described by Fulton as “MySpace meets the Yellow Pages,” which allows people to rate and review area businesses as well as become “an online regular or friend,” she said.
Next up: classifieds social networking, a service the paper is evaluating.
Seattle P-I launches newsreader
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer deployed a customized digital newsreader application designed to give readers a more intuitive and reader-friendly way to view the publication’s content, the paper said.
Tacoma, Wash.-based interactive design and development firm IdentityMine developed the app.
The PC-based PI Reader lets readers view content in a format that mimics the look and feel of the printed edition, according to the vendor.
Users running Microsoft Windows XP or Windows Vista can connect to the Internet and synchronize the latest news from the publication to their desktops, and since the content resides locally, it can then be viewed whether or not a computer is connected to the Internet.
“The newsreader experience opens the door to a medium that entices readers with its familiar interface and encourages them to explore the publication’s interactive content and advertisements,” said Chad Brown, senior vice president of products and services at IdentityMine.
A sample of the P-I Reader’s content is available on www.seattlepi.com.
Tacoma, Wash.-based interactive design and development firm IdentityMine developed the app.
The PC-based PI Reader lets readers view content in a format that mimics the look and feel of the printed edition, according to the vendor.
Users running Microsoft Windows XP or Windows Vista can connect to the Internet and synchronize the latest news from the publication to their desktops, and since the content resides locally, it can then be viewed whether or not a computer is connected to the Internet.
“The newsreader experience opens the door to a medium that entices readers with its familiar interface and encourages them to explore the publication’s interactive content and advertisements,” said Chad Brown, senior vice president of products and services at IdentityMine.
A sample of the P-I Reader’s content is available on www.seattlepi.com.
Daily News Web site gets new look
The (New York) Daily News launched a redesigned Web site last month.
New features on the site include stories reorganized into more user-friendly sections; new interactive functions like most discussed, most read and most e-mailed rankings and free access to its digital archives.
Users can comment on blogs and receive free e-mail delivery of morning headlines through registration.
The site also added a new classified section with improved search for packages on autos, jobs, real estate and marketplace, the paper said in an announcement of the redesigned site.
New features on the site include stories reorganized into more user-friendly sections; new interactive functions like most discussed, most read and most e-mailed rankings and free access to its digital archives.
Users can comment on blogs and receive free e-mail delivery of morning headlines through registration.
The site also added a new classified section with improved search for packages on autos, jobs, real estate and marketplace, the paper said in an announcement of the redesigned site.
Aussie paper archive goes digital
The Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald rolled out a digital archive service that contains all of the paper’s content from Jan. 1, 1955 to Dec. 31, 2001.
Olive Software Inc. and Melbourne-based Smedia Pty. Ltd. headed the project to digitize the paper’s 820,000 pages of microfilm onto Olive’s Active Paper Archive 3.0. Users can access the archive through a subscription to Smedia’s subscription management software.
A free demo of the new archive is available at http://archive.quarterlies.com.au/.
Olive Software Inc. and Melbourne-based Smedia Pty. Ltd. headed the project to digitize the paper’s 820,000 pages of microfilm onto Olive’s Active Paper Archive 3.0. Users can access the archive through a subscription to Smedia’s subscription management software.
A free demo of the new archive is available at http://archive.quarterlies.com.au/.
Four questions with Ed Kost
N&T speaks with Edward Kost, division manager, Trib Total Media.
1. What trends are you seeing in the online media market?
•Greater control of what is read, valued and followed being exercised by the reader/consumer through the online experience and on a one-to-one level. Automation of this control will be the trigger beyond just RSS aggregation.
•User-contributed content will grow but there will always be a need for well considered, well-written, non-biased and concisely edited reporting.
•Increased consolidation and partnerships where previously there might have been competition, including within and among newspapers online.
•Greater reliance upon credibility and first-hand knowledge of the source for the information, which in no way will diminish word of mouth, but becomes increasing word of mouse.
•Continued recognition that online is a separate media and medium with as many weaknesses and strengths as the more traditional media. It is the pace with which these weaknesses or strengths become apparent that has been the biggest change.
2. What are some of the major issues facing newspapers in regards to increasing their online presence?
Resources in people and general R&D, taking a mass audience media and tailoring to an audience of one and finding the right formula to get all the ROI from the effort that is possible.
3. What is a newspaper’s greatest strength to potential online advertisers?
Without a doubt, delivering the local market which advertisers want.
4. In what areas do they need to improve?
Changing a premium for the rights to speak with our consumers and generally selling the value proposition we have through our credibility and brand.
1. What trends are you seeing in the online media market?
•Greater control of what is read, valued and followed being exercised by the reader/consumer through the online experience and on a one-to-one level. Automation of this control will be the trigger beyond just RSS aggregation.
•User-contributed content will grow but there will always be a need for well considered, well-written, non-biased and concisely edited reporting.
•Increased consolidation and partnerships where previously there might have been competition, including within and among newspapers online.
•Greater reliance upon credibility and first-hand knowledge of the source for the information, which in no way will diminish word of mouth, but becomes increasing word of mouse.
•Continued recognition that online is a separate media and medium with as many weaknesses and strengths as the more traditional media. It is the pace with which these weaknesses or strengths become apparent that has been the biggest change.
2. What are some of the major issues facing newspapers in regards to increasing their online presence?
Resources in people and general R&D, taking a mass audience media and tailoring to an audience of one and finding the right formula to get all the ROI from the effort that is possible.
3. What is a newspaper’s greatest strength to potential online advertisers?
Without a doubt, delivering the local market which advertisers want.
4. In what areas do they need to improve?
Changing a premium for the rights to speak with our consumers and generally selling the value proposition we have through our credibility and brand.
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