By Marcelo Duran
Associate Editor
Yahoo Inc. said that 94 more publications joined its newspaper consortium, bringing the total number of participants to 779.
New companies in the consortium include the Sun-Times News Group, which publishes the Chicago Sun-Times and a number of other suburban Chicago papers; Black Press; Stephens Media Group; Independent Newspapers and Yankton Media Inc.
The new members will be able to cross-sell recruitment ads on Yahoo’s HotJobs network and also add the forthcoming Yahoo Advertising Management Platform technology to their portfolios.
Member newspapers can also integrate Yahoo’s paid search technology across their sites and be able to distribute their content across multiple Yahoo properties.
AMP rolling out
Meantime, Yahoo said it expects to roll out AMP to its first newspaper users this summer.
The ad management software provides tools designed to allow consortium members to target ads to specific audiences, as well as to manage and package inventory from across the network.
Gail Provenzano, Yahoo’s senior director of operations at the consortium, said the search engine company began working on developing an ad-serving product early last year.
“As a part of the partnership, Yahoo was working on researching the next generation of ad-serving technology and putting together a marketplace,” she said. “We worked with the newspaper consortium to define what requirements they had as a part of using our ad platform technology.”
Once AMP is installed, Provenzano said newspapers can use the app to generate proposals and oversee display advertising, order entry, inventory management, creative management and reporting.
Yahoo will work with each newspaper to roll out the initial AMP sites but expects them to be self-sufficient after the initial training, Provenzano said.
Finally, Yahoo launched an online ad circular program that allows retailers to deliver personalized newspaper circulars directly to consumers based on their areas of interest.
Yahoo Circulars will be using content from ShopLocal, which converts local print promotions and Sunday circulars into online formats.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
4 Questions with Billy Thieme
Billy Thieme, president and chief executive officer of ThieMedia Consulting LLC, a newspaper advisory firm, talks about why smaller and alternative newspapers are thriving and what metros can do in response.
What are some of the online issues newspapers are facing today compared to two or three years ago?
I think we can say that while the “Craigslist effect” has probably settled, papers are well aware that their longtime revenue stream from print classifieds has essentially dried up. The time it takes for any story to be posted and read online, from the time the author pens it, keeps shrinking, and newspapers continue to bleed readership to the Web. Even those newspapers with a highly developed and intelligent Web presence are having trouble maintaining any consistent readership in the face of the growing popularity of social networking, blogging and Web self-publishing.
These issues tend to be less strenuous on the alternative, community weekly newspaper and shopper market — but are still felt.
What are some of the reasons smaller and alternative newspapers are thriving compared to metro dailies?
There are a few reasons these weeklies are growing, or at least are not shrinking at the same rate as the dailies. The size of these papers influences their livelihood immensely. It’s much easier to change directions, and adapt and change a business plan when there are only 25 to 50 employees — as is the case with many of these papers.
Weeklies and community papers are ready and willing to try a new product or sales initiative on the fly. Major dailies subject themselves to decision-making processes that move at a glacial pace.
But the most powerful reason for the weeklies’ growth in the face of dailies’ implosions is the weeklies’ commitment to their readers and their readers’ interests. For far too long, while the dailies’ editorial content overall has been shrinking, they continue to increase the amount of wire-gathered national and international news across all sections — most of which holds little or no interest for local readers.
This power of local weeklies is also reflected in their advertising base. The dailies offer a footprint to the local advertiser that is frankly more than they are interested in reaching, in many cases. Dailies have effectively priced most local businesses out of their papers. The local weeklies and shoppers offer an audience that these small merchants cannot only handle, but is their community. The weeklies can offer this audience at a price these businesses can afford. With the inevitable growth of self-service advertising, the margin on these ads for the local shoppers and weeklies will only increase.
What are some of the online features newspapers and their readers are asking for on their Web sites and why?
I’ve always thought it comical that the one product that a business cannot purchase online is the newspaper’s No. 1 product — display advertising. I think we’re on the verge of seeing a huge explosion in self-service advertising, wherein advertisers will use the Web to book, build and buy their own print ads. This trend is already somewhat established in the classified liner category, where customers are encouraged to enhance print line ads on the Web — adding photos, videos, much more descriptive text, etc.
I believe the next level will be for advertisers to place print display ads on the Web. As newspapers continue to see the intrinsic value in this type of online interaction and production, I believe we’ll see a turnaround in newspapers’ profit margins. Just as Amazon and eBay have used the Web to change the world of retail, I believe self-service applications will change the face of newspaper advertising.
What are some ways newspapers can maintain or even add to their online readership base?
The explosion in social media networking is a sector of marketing that I think newspapers have yet to really even touch, let alone take advantage of. Newspapers should have their own My-Space or Facebook page, as should editors and writers. Another feature newspapers need to continue to evaluate and support is reader-generated content. The weeklies have always depended on submissions from local sources, and have always offered a strong grassroots platform for local writers. Now, with the power of the Web, the growing phenomenon of citizen journalism holds a lot of promise for these papers.
I believe newspapers have a long way to go in understanding how to intelligently benefit from the Web, and those that develop a Web-savvy attitude and interactive business plan will be the ones on top for years to come.
What are some of the online issues newspapers are facing today compared to two or three years ago?
I think we can say that while the “Craigslist effect” has probably settled, papers are well aware that their longtime revenue stream from print classifieds has essentially dried up. The time it takes for any story to be posted and read online, from the time the author pens it, keeps shrinking, and newspapers continue to bleed readership to the Web. Even those newspapers with a highly developed and intelligent Web presence are having trouble maintaining any consistent readership in the face of the growing popularity of social networking, blogging and Web self-publishing.
These issues tend to be less strenuous on the alternative, community weekly newspaper and shopper market — but are still felt.
What are some of the reasons smaller and alternative newspapers are thriving compared to metro dailies?
There are a few reasons these weeklies are growing, or at least are not shrinking at the same rate as the dailies. The size of these papers influences their livelihood immensely. It’s much easier to change directions, and adapt and change a business plan when there are only 25 to 50 employees — as is the case with many of these papers.
Weeklies and community papers are ready and willing to try a new product or sales initiative on the fly. Major dailies subject themselves to decision-making processes that move at a glacial pace.
But the most powerful reason for the weeklies’ growth in the face of dailies’ implosions is the weeklies’ commitment to their readers and their readers’ interests. For far too long, while the dailies’ editorial content overall has been shrinking, they continue to increase the amount of wire-gathered national and international news across all sections — most of which holds little or no interest for local readers.
This power of local weeklies is also reflected in their advertising base. The dailies offer a footprint to the local advertiser that is frankly more than they are interested in reaching, in many cases. Dailies have effectively priced most local businesses out of their papers. The local weeklies and shoppers offer an audience that these small merchants cannot only handle, but is their community. The weeklies can offer this audience at a price these businesses can afford. With the inevitable growth of self-service advertising, the margin on these ads for the local shoppers and weeklies will only increase.
What are some of the online features newspapers and their readers are asking for on their Web sites and why?
I’ve always thought it comical that the one product that a business cannot purchase online is the newspaper’s No. 1 product — display advertising. I think we’re on the verge of seeing a huge explosion in self-service advertising, wherein advertisers will use the Web to book, build and buy their own print ads. This trend is already somewhat established in the classified liner category, where customers are encouraged to enhance print line ads on the Web — adding photos, videos, much more descriptive text, etc.
I believe the next level will be for advertisers to place print display ads on the Web. As newspapers continue to see the intrinsic value in this type of online interaction and production, I believe we’ll see a turnaround in newspapers’ profit margins. Just as Amazon and eBay have used the Web to change the world of retail, I believe self-service applications will change the face of newspaper advertising.
What are some ways newspapers can maintain or even add to their online readership base?
The explosion in social media networking is a sector of marketing that I think newspapers have yet to really even touch, let alone take advantage of. Newspapers should have their own My-Space or Facebook page, as should editors and writers. Another feature newspapers need to continue to evaluate and support is reader-generated content. The weeklies have always depended on submissions from local sources, and have always offered a strong grassroots platform for local writers. Now, with the power of the Web, the growing phenomenon of citizen journalism holds a lot of promise for these papers.
I believe newspapers have a long way to go in understanding how to intelligently benefit from the Web, and those that develop a Web-savvy attitude and interactive business plan will be the ones on top for years to come.
Company putting new spin on video ads
By Marcelo Duran
Associate Editor
Self-service video ads could be coming to a newspaper Web site near you.
SpotMixer, in cooperation with AdFare Marketing, is offering newspapers the tools to give local businesses a way to dive into the online video ad market.
Redwood City, Calif.-based SpotMixer in May rolled out a self-service online video ad service aimed at small-to-medium sized businesses looking to produce online ads quickly.
“Small businesses often have to make a choice between standing behind the cash register and making sure the business is open and doing their marketing program,” said Brett Gardner, SpotMixer’s vice president of marketing. “We wanted to lower the barrier of entry and with SpotMixer we’ve done this as much as possible.”
SpotMixer’s parent company, One True Media, first developed the software underpinning its current product three years ago as a way for users to create online movies. But it discovered that several companies were using the service to create ads, she said.
From Hollywood to Madison Ave.
“A lot of people were starting to use our services for their businesses — everything from real estate agents creating listings to people doing customer testimonials they could give out to prospective clients,” Gardner said. “So we launched SpotMixer, dedicated to businesses that want to create their own online video ads.”
SpotMixer offers hundreds of different premixed style templates, which include suggestions of where to place graphics and text in the video ad. Users can also create their video ad with still images, Gardner said.
Users can publish their videos to Google AdWords, YouTube or export their ad as an mp4 file and use it anywhere.
The template guides the user on what kind of text should be placed in a spot and users can also add a voice-over track.
“We offer you the opportunity to either upload a voice-over track or record one of your own, which is easier now that most laptops have a built-in microphone,” she said. “You can hit a button in the editing tool and record a voice-over that will synchronize up with your video.”
Recoup fee
SpotMixer partnered with Newbury Park, Calif.-based AdFare Marketing to offer the service to newspapers.
AdFare President Frank Lucero said SpotMixer is priced at $79 per month for a one-month plan or $59 per month for a six-month contract.
Newspapers can recoup some of that fee if an advertiser signs up, Lucero said. The amount varies from $20 to as much as $150 depending upon which service plan a marketer chooses.
AdFare will also create the ad for companies that send the company materials.
“No matter how simple (it might be to create a video ad) people don’t want to do this and AdFare’s alliance comes into play,” Lucero said. “They can press a button and all the information in the order will go to AdFare and we can then talk to the advertiser to see how they want (their video ad) to look.”
Lucero said that adding SpotMixer’s self-service portfolio is another tool to allow AdFare to provide additional features to its newspaper customer base, which includes Gannett, Tribune Interactive, E.W. Scripps Co., McClatchy Co., Freedom Communications and Copley Newspapers.
Do or DIY
Do-it-yourself Web technology is moving to the forefront as newspaper sites look to make it easier for small- and medium-sized companies to place ads online.
The New York Times, for example, just launched a self-service banner ad service using software from AdReady Inc.
“This new feature allows NYTimes.com to better serve small businesses and the long tail for online display advertising,” said Denise Warren, senior vice president and chief advertising officer for The New York Times Media Group.
Advertisers can create a self-service account at www.nytimes.com/selfservice, design an ad and launch an ad campaign on the site.
Advertisers will have access to AdReady’s library of ad themes, real-time ad customization tools, an intuitive Web-based interface and detailed reporting on all performance of their campaigns.
The toolset
Meantime, BrandMuscle Inc. launched the BuildMyAd platform that allows advertisers to customize print and online ads.
BuildMyAd lets any user create fully customized print materials through an online interface. The app’s five-step process walks the advertiser through planning, designing and purchasing display advertisements, as well as classified ads, printed inserts, online banners and other materials.
Each interface can be customized and all rates, sizes and packages can be set up by the publication.
Advertisers know upfront how much each ad costs before they get to the point of purchase and they can save their work at any time and return later to complete the order.
Associate Editor
Self-service video ads could be coming to a newspaper Web site near you.
SpotMixer, in cooperation with AdFare Marketing, is offering newspapers the tools to give local businesses a way to dive into the online video ad market.
Redwood City, Calif.-based SpotMixer in May rolled out a self-service online video ad service aimed at small-to-medium sized businesses looking to produce online ads quickly.
“Small businesses often have to make a choice between standing behind the cash register and making sure the business is open and doing their marketing program,” said Brett Gardner, SpotMixer’s vice president of marketing. “We wanted to lower the barrier of entry and with SpotMixer we’ve done this as much as possible.”
SpotMixer’s parent company, One True Media, first developed the software underpinning its current product three years ago as a way for users to create online movies. But it discovered that several companies were using the service to create ads, she said.
From Hollywood to Madison Ave.
“A lot of people were starting to use our services for their businesses — everything from real estate agents creating listings to people doing customer testimonials they could give out to prospective clients,” Gardner said. “So we launched SpotMixer, dedicated to businesses that want to create their own online video ads.”
SpotMixer offers hundreds of different premixed style templates, which include suggestions of where to place graphics and text in the video ad. Users can also create their video ad with still images, Gardner said.
Users can publish their videos to Google AdWords, YouTube or export their ad as an mp4 file and use it anywhere.
The template guides the user on what kind of text should be placed in a spot and users can also add a voice-over track.
“We offer you the opportunity to either upload a voice-over track or record one of your own, which is easier now that most laptops have a built-in microphone,” she said. “You can hit a button in the editing tool and record a voice-over that will synchronize up with your video.”
Recoup fee
SpotMixer partnered with Newbury Park, Calif.-based AdFare Marketing to offer the service to newspapers.
AdFare President Frank Lucero said SpotMixer is priced at $79 per month for a one-month plan or $59 per month for a six-month contract.
Newspapers can recoup some of that fee if an advertiser signs up, Lucero said. The amount varies from $20 to as much as $150 depending upon which service plan a marketer chooses.
AdFare will also create the ad for companies that send the company materials.
“No matter how simple (it might be to create a video ad) people don’t want to do this and AdFare’s alliance comes into play,” Lucero said. “They can press a button and all the information in the order will go to AdFare and we can then talk to the advertiser to see how they want (their video ad) to look.”
Lucero said that adding SpotMixer’s self-service portfolio is another tool to allow AdFare to provide additional features to its newspaper customer base, which includes Gannett, Tribune Interactive, E.W. Scripps Co., McClatchy Co., Freedom Communications and Copley Newspapers.
Do or DIY
Do-it-yourself Web technology is moving to the forefront as newspaper sites look to make it easier for small- and medium-sized companies to place ads online.
The New York Times, for example, just launched a self-service banner ad service using software from AdReady Inc.
“This new feature allows NYTimes.com to better serve small businesses and the long tail for online display advertising,” said Denise Warren, senior vice president and chief advertising officer for The New York Times Media Group.
Advertisers can create a self-service account at www.nytimes.com/selfservice, design an ad and launch an ad campaign on the site.
Advertisers will have access to AdReady’s library of ad themes, real-time ad customization tools, an intuitive Web-based interface and detailed reporting on all performance of their campaigns.
The toolset
Meantime, BrandMuscle Inc. launched the BuildMyAd platform that allows advertisers to customize print and online ads.
BuildMyAd lets any user create fully customized print materials through an online interface. The app’s five-step process walks the advertiser through planning, designing and purchasing display advertisements, as well as classified ads, printed inserts, online banners and other materials.
Each interface can be customized and all rates, sizes and packages can be set up by the publication.
Advertisers know upfront how much each ad costs before they get to the point of purchase and they can save their work at any time and return later to complete the order.
Sonoma Index-Tribune going greener with hybrid options
N&T Staff Report
The twice-weekly Sonoma (Calif.) Index-Tribune is hoping its readers join the revolution as the newspaper moves to reduce its paper and energy consumption.
To that end, the 129-year-old newspaper launched a SmartEdition digital newspaper produced in partnership with NewspaperDirect.
Publisher Bill Lynch said that the Index-Tribune has already racked up a list of green initiatives, including using recycled newsprint, soy-based ink and backing a commitment to recycle every bit of waste it can.
“We cut back on the number of sections and pages we print and deliver by more than 30 percent but the most important change is getting our readers to join us in the biggest green revolution in the history of newspapers — going paperless,” he said.
Each story in the paper is available in 12 languages including Spanish, French, Italian, German, Chinese and Japanese and SmartEdition also offers audio capabilities, thus allowing subscribers to listen to the news stories.
The NewspaperDirect software also lets readers print out articles, perform keyword searches, share articles, read offline and post content with such social networking sites as Facebook, Digg and Del.ico.us.
“Just as hybrid cars are transitional to some future vehicle that will not use any fossil fuels, this is our hybrid phase,” Lynch said. “We still use paper, but a lot less and NewspaperDirect’s SmartEdition is loaded with features that will make this transition easier.”
The paper said it’s also working with TownNews to add more features that attract readers and help local advertisers reach prospective customers.
The twice-weekly Sonoma (Calif.) Index-Tribune is hoping its readers join the revolution as the newspaper moves to reduce its paper and energy consumption.
To that end, the 129-year-old newspaper launched a SmartEdition digital newspaper produced in partnership with NewspaperDirect.
Publisher Bill Lynch said that the Index-Tribune has already racked up a list of green initiatives, including using recycled newsprint, soy-based ink and backing a commitment to recycle every bit of waste it can.
“We cut back on the number of sections and pages we print and deliver by more than 30 percent but the most important change is getting our readers to join us in the biggest green revolution in the history of newspapers — going paperless,” he said.
Each story in the paper is available in 12 languages including Spanish, French, Italian, German, Chinese and Japanese and SmartEdition also offers audio capabilities, thus allowing subscribers to listen to the news stories.
The NewspaperDirect software also lets readers print out articles, perform keyword searches, share articles, read offline and post content with such social networking sites as Facebook, Digg and Del.ico.us.
“Just as hybrid cars are transitional to some future vehicle that will not use any fossil fuels, this is our hybrid phase,” Lynch said. “We still use paper, but a lot less and NewspaperDirect’s SmartEdition is loaded with features that will make this transition easier.”
The paper said it’s also working with TownNews to add more features that attract readers and help local advertisers reach prospective customers.
Philly.com gears up for local content dominance
By Marcelo Duran
Associate Editor
Philadelphia Media Holdings this spring ushered in a redesigned Philly.com Web site as the publisher attempts to land a knockout punch against its local online competitors.
According to Philly.com President Eric Grilly, the competition is anyone vying for eyeballs or ad dollars, online and offline.
The redesign is part of PMH’s efforts to revitalize The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News through a number of initiatives designed to innovate and energize its advertiser and readership base (see Newspapers & Technology, April 2008).
The Clickability Inc.-anchored site, which debuted May 11, was 11 months in the making. PMH hired local firm Avenue A Razorfish Inc. to help the company conduct the market research necessary to better understand the needs of local users.
“We wanted to understand what (readers) were doing on the Web, how they were using it and how they were using our competitors,” Grilly said. “What we found is that 80 percent of our users can be broken down into three categories, foodies, planners and doers and sports enthusiasts.”
The research also showed that there were already several features on Philly.com geared toward what readers wanted, including Philly Uncorked, a local wine review page; and Philadelphia Business Today.
Local, local, local
The retooled Web site carries the motto “Anything and everything Philly,” below its logo and that philosophy underpins the entire operation, Grilly said.
To that end, Philly.com contains a wide swath of information, covering everything from sports to cultural events.
Content is changed throughout the day and week to match consumers’ moods and interests.
“For example, on Thursdays and Friday afternoons people start thinking about the weekend and what they might do with their families or what they might want to know about when a new restaurant is open,” said Grilly. “Rather than serving them the same meal morning, noon and night we’re going to give them a different meal.”
The Web site also includes a row of quick links for readers wanting to check lottery results, horoscopes, Sudoku, crossword puzzles, traffic and obituaries.
Although the bulk of the content is still contributed by Inquirer and Daily News journalists, user-generated news and information is playing an increasingly larger role.
“The user-generated content experience is a big part of the new site,” Grilly said. “It’s been factored in and weaved into nearly everything that we are doing.
“We tried to color-code things and make it easier for people to find what we are doing on the site.”
Case in point: Yellow-shaded boxes indicate stories and information in which a dialog discussion interactive feature is available, asking readers for comments or to react to a particular event.
The goal, Grilly said, is to increase user engagement, which he said rose 25 percent in the first 30 days after the redesign was launched.
Philly.com Vice President and Editor Wendy Warren credits the Web site’s commenting and discussion features as primary tools to woo readers to the site.
“When we say we talk about interaction with users we aren’t talking about adding a comment or two, we are talking about discussions that eclipse the story that sparked the interaction,” she said. “Some of our stories consistently end up with 100 or more comments from our readers.”
Multimedia independence
The newspaper also enhanced the site’s search capabilities and added video support through Maven Media Service’s video player.
“We are pretty excited about the short-form branded entertainment that we are producing,” Grilly said. “We’ll have six shows, all unique to us, created here in this marketplace before the end of June, each with a sold sponsor.”
The site’s existing wine and business shows, meantime, will be bolstered by shows covering gossip, gardening, restaurants and health.
Grilly said Philly.com also plans to roll out a sitcom and a series of documentaries, including one that covers the history of organized crime.
All of these short-form video programs are part of an effort by Philly.com to produce content unique to the site.
“When I came to Philly I was asked to turn Philly.com into a stand-alone Internet media company with its own voice and identity in the marketplace,” Grilly said. “A big area where you are seeing Philly.com’s voice is around culture and the way we are doing that is launching new channels anchored by video with people that resemble and reflect the audiences we are trying to reach.”
This approach, he said, allows the site to reach a younger audience without alienating its core audience.
“We are trying to create and open up as many communication lines as possible with our users, whether it’s by capturing an event or experience through a cell phone or offering another way to submit user-generated content via an opinion poll — a story, a photo a video a comment or a rating on a restaurant,” Grilly said.
Zeppy continues
One feature that didn’t change when philly.com launched the new site was Zeppy.com, an online shopping venture that allows people to purchase products reviewed by Inquirer and Daily News writers.
“The thought here wasn’t that we were going to take on Amazon.com,” Grilly said. “We have a lot of talented artists, authors, movie producers; there’s a lot of creative talent in this marketplace and it’s trying to find a way to leverage our relationship with those individuals and finding ways to integrate transactional opportunities around our content.”
Users can purchase products related to what’s presented on the site, ranging from Philadelphia Phillies baseball tickets to books reviewed by one of the papers.
Subscribers to either of the papers receive a 25 percent discount when they make a purchase on the site.
Associate Editor
Philadelphia Media Holdings this spring ushered in a redesigned Philly.com Web site as the publisher attempts to land a knockout punch against its local online competitors.
According to Philly.com President Eric Grilly, the competition is anyone vying for eyeballs or ad dollars, online and offline.
The redesign is part of PMH’s efforts to revitalize The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News through a number of initiatives designed to innovate and energize its advertiser and readership base (see Newspapers & Technology, April 2008).
The Clickability Inc.-anchored site, which debuted May 11, was 11 months in the making. PMH hired local firm Avenue A Razorfish Inc. to help the company conduct the market research necessary to better understand the needs of local users.
“We wanted to understand what (readers) were doing on the Web, how they were using it and how they were using our competitors,” Grilly said. “What we found is that 80 percent of our users can be broken down into three categories, foodies, planners and doers and sports enthusiasts.”
The research also showed that there were already several features on Philly.com geared toward what readers wanted, including Philly Uncorked, a local wine review page; and Philadelphia Business Today.
Local, local, local
The retooled Web site carries the motto “Anything and everything Philly,” below its logo and that philosophy underpins the entire operation, Grilly said.
To that end, Philly.com contains a wide swath of information, covering everything from sports to cultural events.
Content is changed throughout the day and week to match consumers’ moods and interests.
“For example, on Thursdays and Friday afternoons people start thinking about the weekend and what they might do with their families or what they might want to know about when a new restaurant is open,” said Grilly. “Rather than serving them the same meal morning, noon and night we’re going to give them a different meal.”
The Web site also includes a row of quick links for readers wanting to check lottery results, horoscopes, Sudoku, crossword puzzles, traffic and obituaries.
Although the bulk of the content is still contributed by Inquirer and Daily News journalists, user-generated news and information is playing an increasingly larger role.
“The user-generated content experience is a big part of the new site,” Grilly said. “It’s been factored in and weaved into nearly everything that we are doing.
“We tried to color-code things and make it easier for people to find what we are doing on the site.”
Case in point: Yellow-shaded boxes indicate stories and information in which a dialog discussion interactive feature is available, asking readers for comments or to react to a particular event.
The goal, Grilly said, is to increase user engagement, which he said rose 25 percent in the first 30 days after the redesign was launched.
Philly.com Vice President and Editor Wendy Warren credits the Web site’s commenting and discussion features as primary tools to woo readers to the site.
“When we say we talk about interaction with users we aren’t talking about adding a comment or two, we are talking about discussions that eclipse the story that sparked the interaction,” she said. “Some of our stories consistently end up with 100 or more comments from our readers.”
Multimedia independence
The newspaper also enhanced the site’s search capabilities and added video support through Maven Media Service’s video player.
“We are pretty excited about the short-form branded entertainment that we are producing,” Grilly said. “We’ll have six shows, all unique to us, created here in this marketplace before the end of June, each with a sold sponsor.”
The site’s existing wine and business shows, meantime, will be bolstered by shows covering gossip, gardening, restaurants and health.
Grilly said Philly.com also plans to roll out a sitcom and a series of documentaries, including one that covers the history of organized crime.
All of these short-form video programs are part of an effort by Philly.com to produce content unique to the site.
“When I came to Philly I was asked to turn Philly.com into a stand-alone Internet media company with its own voice and identity in the marketplace,” Grilly said. “A big area where you are seeing Philly.com’s voice is around culture and the way we are doing that is launching new channels anchored by video with people that resemble and reflect the audiences we are trying to reach.”
This approach, he said, allows the site to reach a younger audience without alienating its core audience.
“We are trying to create and open up as many communication lines as possible with our users, whether it’s by capturing an event or experience through a cell phone or offering another way to submit user-generated content via an opinion poll — a story, a photo a video a comment or a rating on a restaurant,” Grilly said.
Zeppy continues
One feature that didn’t change when philly.com launched the new site was Zeppy.com, an online shopping venture that allows people to purchase products reviewed by Inquirer and Daily News writers.
“The thought here wasn’t that we were going to take on Amazon.com,” Grilly said. “We have a lot of talented artists, authors, movie producers; there’s a lot of creative talent in this marketplace and it’s trying to find a way to leverage our relationship with those individuals and finding ways to integrate transactional opportunities around our content.”
Users can purchase products related to what’s presented on the site, ranging from Philadelphia Phillies baseball tickets to books reviewed by one of the papers.
Subscribers to either of the papers receive a 25 percent discount when they make a purchase on the site.
Journal Comm. taps Clickability for papers, outlets
Journal Communications Inc. said it will roll out Clickability Inc.’s Web content management software to underpin its Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, community newspaper, radio and television Web sites.
Under the new multiyear agreement, Clickability will develop, host, and provide the content management system for all of Journal Communications’ media and niche portal Web sites.
For Journal Communications’ Milwaukee television and radio stations, Clickability will partner with Broadcast Interactive Media to provide Web content services.
Meantime, Clickability said that it joined Google’s Website Optimizer Technology Partner program.
As a member, Clickability will allow its customers to revise their Web site content based on results generated from Google Web site Optimizer, which indicates which content and layouts are most effective in reaching an audience.
Under the new multiyear agreement, Clickability will develop, host, and provide the content management system for all of Journal Communications’ media and niche portal Web sites.
For Journal Communications’ Milwaukee television and radio stations, Clickability will partner with Broadcast Interactive Media to provide Web content services.
Meantime, Clickability said that it joined Google’s Website Optimizer Technology Partner program.
As a member, Clickability will allow its customers to revise their Web site content based on results generated from Google Web site Optimizer, which indicates which content and layouts are most effective in reaching an audience.
Study: Local online ad revs on the rise; newspapers top media rivals
By Marcelo Duran
Associate Editor
Newspapers continue to outpace broadcasters and radio stations in the amount of local ad revenues placed on their Web sites, according to a study released last month by Borrell Associates.
The report, “What Local Media Web sites Earn: 2008 Survey,” stated that, on average, the local newspaper snared almost 12 percent of the online advertising market, while broadcasters and radio stations each captured less than a 1 percent market share.
The report analyzed Web revenues for more than 3,100 media properties, including 741 daily and 272 weekly newspapers, and found that overall local online revenues are growing at a rate of 50 percent this year. Borrell expects revenues from local online ads to reach $13.1 billion this year, up slightly from the $12.6 billion the firm estimated in December 2007.
Borrell said that one factor contributing to the growth in local online advertising is the number of media companies selling advertising on their own sites.
The economic slowdown is also motivating advertisers to abandon more traditional spending patterns as they seek out more economical methods of reaching potential customers.
Newspapers as the aggressors
The study reported that newspapers spent much of last year regrouping and approaching the Internet as attackers instead of waiting to be attacked by competitors such as the Yellow Pages.
Some of the more aggressive moves newspapers took included the formation of the newspaper consortium with Yahoo, Borrell said. The study also credited newspaper associations with providing members the research they needed to combat rivals in the marketplace.
Nationwide, newspapers attracted more than $3.1 billion in online ad revenue in 2007 — $2 billion in local advertising and $1.1 billion in national advertising sales. That number is expected to grow to $3.7 billion this year, Borrell said.
But growth will begin to slow, Borrell said, with compound annual growth rates dropping below 15 percent over the next four years. That’s compared to a 48 percent annualized growth rate papers posted over the past four years.
By 2012, growth will decrease to the single-digit range, the firm said.
New online identities
The study also found that newspapers are retooling their Web sites to become more distinct from their printed counterparts.
The Miami Herald, for example, spun off Miami.com from its Miami.herald.com Web site in a bid to create a local portal that’s separate from its newspaper-branded online operation, Borrell said. The Bakersfield Californian and The Buffalo (N.Y.) News made similar moves.
Finally, the study found that the most successful online newspaper ventures shared common traits such as devoting more resources to online sales forces, launching multiple Web sites and reducing dependence on classified vertical categories.
Still, papers reported that on average, newspapers in 2007 received 41.9 percent of their online revenue from recruitment advertising, 10.7 percent from automotive and 10.4 percent from real estate.
Local online advertising
Revenue
2002: $655 million
2003: $811 million
2004: $1.2 billion
2005: $2.0 billion
2006: $2.6 billion
2007: $3.1 billion
2008: Projected $3.7 billion
Source: Borrell Associates
Associate Editor
Newspapers continue to outpace broadcasters and radio stations in the amount of local ad revenues placed on their Web sites, according to a study released last month by Borrell Associates.
The report, “What Local Media Web sites Earn: 2008 Survey,” stated that, on average, the local newspaper snared almost 12 percent of the online advertising market, while broadcasters and radio stations each captured less than a 1 percent market share.
The report analyzed Web revenues for more than 3,100 media properties, including 741 daily and 272 weekly newspapers, and found that overall local online revenues are growing at a rate of 50 percent this year. Borrell expects revenues from local online ads to reach $13.1 billion this year, up slightly from the $12.6 billion the firm estimated in December 2007.
Borrell said that one factor contributing to the growth in local online advertising is the number of media companies selling advertising on their own sites.
The economic slowdown is also motivating advertisers to abandon more traditional spending patterns as they seek out more economical methods of reaching potential customers.
Newspapers as the aggressors
The study reported that newspapers spent much of last year regrouping and approaching the Internet as attackers instead of waiting to be attacked by competitors such as the Yellow Pages.
Some of the more aggressive moves newspapers took included the formation of the newspaper consortium with Yahoo, Borrell said. The study also credited newspaper associations with providing members the research they needed to combat rivals in the marketplace.
Nationwide, newspapers attracted more than $3.1 billion in online ad revenue in 2007 — $2 billion in local advertising and $1.1 billion in national advertising sales. That number is expected to grow to $3.7 billion this year, Borrell said.
But growth will begin to slow, Borrell said, with compound annual growth rates dropping below 15 percent over the next four years. That’s compared to a 48 percent annualized growth rate papers posted over the past four years.
By 2012, growth will decrease to the single-digit range, the firm said.
New online identities
The study also found that newspapers are retooling their Web sites to become more distinct from their printed counterparts.
The Miami Herald, for example, spun off Miami.com from its Miami.herald.com Web site in a bid to create a local portal that’s separate from its newspaper-branded online operation, Borrell said. The Bakersfield Californian and The Buffalo (N.Y.) News made similar moves.
Finally, the study found that the most successful online newspaper ventures shared common traits such as devoting more resources to online sales forces, launching multiple Web sites and reducing dependence on classified vertical categories.
Still, papers reported that on average, newspapers in 2007 received 41.9 percent of their online revenue from recruitment advertising, 10.7 percent from automotive and 10.4 percent from real estate.
Local online advertising
Revenue
2002: $655 million
2003: $811 million
2004: $1.2 billion
2005: $2.0 billion
2006: $2.6 billion
2007: $3.1 billion
2008: Projected $3.7 billion
Source: Borrell Associates
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