Monetizing the News:The Web Strategy

#RTDNAWEB

April 12, 2011

RTDNA@NAB 2011

Today’s Panel

Chip Mahaney - Host

Scott Woelfel

Steve Schwaid

Ryan Murphy - Producer

@ChipMahaney

@rmurphydigital

EW Scripps Meredith Local Media

RTDNA

@swoelfel

Armchair Media

@schwaid

Who Are You Competing With?

VS. VS.

The Traditional Battle…

The Way It Really Is…

You

VS.

The Internet

“Show Me The (Advertising) Money”

Where the Revenue is Coming From:

On Air

Search

Sponsorship

Display via CPM

Key CPM Questions

“Do you know what drives your base CPM?” “Do you know CPM rate for local, video, remnant?” 

“Do you know the percentage of revenue

you're driving from digital vs. on-air?”   

“Is your team selling packages

across platforms? How?”   

Top U.S. Internet Display Advertising Site Categories – April 2010

Publisher Total Ad Imp. (MM)

Share of Impressions

Estimated Spend (000)

CPM

Newspapers 8,506 2.4% $ 59,441 $ 6.99

General News 10,850 3.1% $ 68,214 $ 6.29

Sports 10,850 3.1% $ 68,214 $ 6.29

Entertainment 38,104 10.7% $ 181,174 $ 4.75

Online Gaming 7,929 2.2% $ 21,234 $ 2.68

Portals 69,664 19.6% $ 181,266 $ 2.60

Total Internet 354,636 100.0% $ 893,681 $ 2.52

Community 15,884 4.5% $ 33,435 $ 2.10

Photos 7,391 2.1% $ 7,953 $ 1.08

e-mail 34,327 9.7% $ 32,370 $ 0.94

Social Networks 98,176 27.7% $ 54,684 $ 0.56

Source: eConsultancy.com http://econsultancy.com/us/blog/6096-online-news-commands-highest-cpm

What Parts of My Content Are Sellable?

How the New York Times Does It With “Digital Subscriptions...”

• “Three digital subscription packages, including an all-access option, so you can choose a plan that is right for you based on the devices you own (computer, smartphone, tablet).”

• “Readers who come to Times articles through links from search engines, blogs and social media will be able to read those articles, even if they have reached their monthly reading limit. This allows new and casual readers to continue to discover content on the open Web. On all major search engines, users will have a daily limit on free links to Times articles.”

Via Arthur Sulzberger Jr in aletter on March 17, 2011.

Paywalls: Your Thoughts?

“If the New York Times can, why can’t I?”

The Keys to Paywall Success, Simply:

Generate good content.

Convince your audience thatit’s worth paying for.

Cost Consideration

“In the debate about business models for digital publishers, the cost of audience impressions is often underestimated. The expense to create a sellable inventory of impressions requires more than content production, it also includes the cost of audience development, which can greatly exceed the cost of content production.” - Publisher vs. Advertiser Priorities: Loyalty vs. Scale

What Parts of My Content Are Sellable?

Subscription and Membership Opportunities…

The BIG Question: “Can your NEWS SITE charge for more specific or deeper focused content like Consumer Reports, Weight Watchers or ESPN Insider?”

Subscriptions

http://www.associatedcontent.com

http://open.salon.com/cover.php

Hyperlocal Content

http://www.boston.com/yourtown/

Hypertopical Content

TornadoAlleyLive.com

Local News Partnerships

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/flatpages/local/neighborhoodnewspartners.html

Syndication

“Why would I give my content away to Google or Yahoo?”

Social Media

Locate sources

“Change the “marketing” mindset! It’s not a social media campaign, it’s a social media “relationship.”

Number 1 Rule – Listen!

Don’t over share

Follow the right people

Track trends

“Remember! Engagement is tied to revenue!”

Monetizing Social Media

“Social media is more than driving people to your site..”

How It’s Done…

Via Lost Remote http://www.lostremote.com/top-tv-social-media/

Monetizing Mobile

Apps

Mobile Web

Mobile Video

Hyperlocal and Hypertopical Content

Location Based Coverage, User-Generated Content

Staffing & Workflow

Some Important Questions:

“How is your newsroom structured?”

“Who gets content onto the web? When? How?”

“Do you have a social media policy? A community manager?”

“Is your entire team thinking “content” and “revenue?”

“What’s web skills should all employees have?”

“Are you creating an environment promoting social journalism?”

“How and when do sales and news interact?”

Questions?

Chip Mahaney - Host

Scott Woelfel

Steve Schwaid

Ryan Murphy - Producer

@ChipMahaney

@rmurphydigital

EW Scripps Meredith Local Media

RTDNA

@swoelfel

Armchair Media

@schwaid