Newspaper.com Audience Strategies: Newspaper.com Audience Strategies Jay Small Director of Online Audience and Operations, Newspapers E.W. Scripps Co.


What we’ll cover: What we’ll cover Audience management Counting the heads you have Audience development Understanding the heads you don’t have Audience research Translating consumer wants into products Payoff: You can do many of these things regardless of company size


What’s the goal, anyway?: What’s the goal, anyway? How many page views? How many unique visitors? How many registrations? How many people?


What’s the goal, anyway?: What’s the goal, anyway? How many people visit my Web site that are addressable by, interested in and of interest to local advertisers? How can I get more people like that to visit? How can I get the people who visit to show up more often, stay longer, and use more of my products and services?


What’s the goal, anyway?: What’s the goal, anyway? Is my news and information the right mix for the job? Is my site architecture transparent enough for the audience to use it? How can I learn enough about my audience to grow advertising without scaring people off? What new products and services will help me grow audience?


Audience management: Audience management Counting the heads you have


Metrics terminology, standards: Metrics terminology, standards What is a ‘page view’? HTML document with content, successfully delivered to a Web client (browser) Is this a trustworthy metric? Reporting packages vary little in tracking page views Site managers, advertisers understand it Closest to a standard


Metrics terminology, standards: Metrics terminology, standards What is a ‘unique’? A Web client tracked uniquely during a reporting period, using a cookie, the client’s IP address or both How many different ways are they counted? Unique visitors per period Unique visits or sessions IP, cookie methods both imperfect


Metrics terminology, standards: Metrics terminology, standards What do site managers have to do to count actual people? Registration or subscription Cookies, Flash trackers or repeat log-ins Personal greetings Imperfect, but far more accurate than tracking audience in other media


How site architecture influences metrics: How site architecture influences metrics Few sections w/lots of stories, or lots of sections w/few stories? Time spent on indexes vs. articles Where do they abandon? At the home page? At another index? At an article? At a form?


Web traffic reporting methods: Web traffic reporting methods Server log file analysis Script/cookie reporting, analysis Third-party research, auditing Panel-based competitive reports Panels plus ISP data


Server log file analysis: Server log file analysis


Server log file analysis: Server log file analysis


Script/cookie reporting, analysis: Script/cookie reporting, analysis


Script/cookie reporting, analysis: Script/cookie reporting, analysis


Third-party research, auditing: Third-party research, auditing


Using analytics for ad targeting: Using analytics for ad targeting Simple/common Inventory for lifestyle-topic sections Moderate Demographic targeting based on registration data Hard/expensive Targeting based on Web behavior on-site Targeting based on Web behavior elsewhere


Using analytics for ad targeting: Using analytics for ad targeting Strengths Behavior and interest segmentation Weaknesses Segments too small Sales too hard Opportunities Blended targeting After-the-fact targeting Threats Paid search Syndicated context targeting


Audience measurement vs. analytics: Audience measurement vs. analytics We're good at counting heads We're poor at interpreting the numbers Overvalue gross numbers Fail to dissect traffic trends at detail level


Audience measurement vs. analytics: Audience measurement vs. analytics Case study: News site redesign Gross numbers: 15% page view decline, but: Site managers ‘cleaned house’ Views to top 50 stories held steady or increased Ad inventory did not shrink Month-over-month comparison ignored weekend patterns Look inside the gross numbers!


Audience development: Audience development Understanding the heads you don’t have


Site growing 15%/year is losing share: Site growing 15%/year is losing share Number of new Internet users tapers But current users going online more, longer Many smaller markets still have Internet traffic upside for years Page view growth should outpace unique visitor growth


Audience segmentation: Audience segmentation Determining niche consumer needs and wants for information services Traditionally, we haven’t done it We haven’t had to Online, our convenience bundles are being segmented for us by competitors


AD leads product development: AD leads product development A good segmentation exercise identifies consumer ‘jobs to be done’ Many of these could be viable online information services operated by local newspapers


AD leads product development: AD leads product development


Good outside sources: Good outside sources U.S. Census data Bureau of Labor Statistics ESRI Market Potential database


Audience research: Audience research Translating wants into products


User testing: User testing Focus groups Recurring ‘advisory boards’ Ad hoc groups meeting filtering criteria Review existing products Demo new products Try to identify ‘jobs to be done’


User testing: User testing Usability tests Paper or screen prototypes Casual or observed/recorded New vs. existing product Predetermined vs. user-identified tasks


User testing: User testing Usability tests: Morae test kit ‘in a box’


User testing: User testing Low-cost approaches Hook up with nearby college Test with wireframes ‘Friends and family’ tests


Competitive analysis: Competitive analysis Why do other products fare better in some segments? Pure-play branding vs. newspaper.com bundle Marketing, online and off Search optimization


You can do this: You can do this Why audience development isn’t just a ‘big paper’ thing


Cost to engage continues to fall: Cost to engage continues to fall Analytics Mint Google Analytics SiteMeter StatCounter Industry comparative metrics NAA


End management-by-anecdote: End management-by-anecdote Make daily list of top 10 viewed stories Track sold/unsold inventory % by content section Study inbound e-mail for audience development clues Watch entry and exit pages, especially forms Study inbound traffic to articles From search engines From RSS/syndication feeds


Thank you! Find me here:: Thank you! Find me here: Scripps: jsmall@scrippsweb.com Small Initiatives: jay.small@smallinitiatives.com http://smallinitiatives.com/