What do Washington Post Newsweek Interactive (WPNI), National Public Radio (NPR), and STLToday.com have in common? They all offer innovative online products that extend the organization's reach to wider audiences. Each of these organizations has embraced the Internet to create non-traditional products instead of seeing the Internet as a rival for the core newspaper. Caroline Little, CEO and publisher of WPNI, Shaun Fogarty of STLToday.com, and Jay Brodsky, director of digital media for NPR, shared their success stories with attendees at the American Press Institute's "MediaPreneurship" seminar.
St. Louis Best Bridal: Mission:
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch decided to establish a product for people who are about to be married. It had a ready-made target audience in its large database of wedding announcements. Best Bridal strives to be a single-source local destination for brides- and grooms-to-be and their families.
Products:
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch sells a St. Louis Best Bridal magazine, distributed twice a year. It includes such features as "how we met" stories, along with local advertisers. The Web product, StLouisBestBridal.com, includes the content of the magazine as well as additional blogs on specific wedding topics. There is an in-depth directory of local sources for wedding needs. Couples, wedding guests and other gift-givers with local vendors are connected through a convenient online gift registry. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch also hosts a wedding convention, the "St. Louis Best Bridal Celebration."
Challenges:
St. Louis Best Bridal has several national and local competitors in the market. How does it stay ahead of the competition?
The Web site is not tied to the print product, giving it more freedom to reflect changing consumer needs. The Wedding Planner section provides an interactive tool for coordinators to keep track of the wedding while promoting the wedding services of Best Bridal's advertisers. A "Dancing with Nathan" column gives the male perspective on weddings.
Since St. Louis Best Bridal is an extension of St. Louis Today, has there been any sense of competition?
The company built internal consensus behind St. Louis Best Bridal even before launching the final product, to foster enthusiasm and to debunk the idea that the online employees are "wacky." The newspaper staff had an opportunity to comment on the new product before its launch. At the same time, Fogarty says that the dedicated staff of the Web site identify more with the bridal product than the newspaper. Although Best Bridal staff feels a sense of independence, it still retains the support of the main newspaper.
Future:
Shaun Fogarty stresses the importance of constantly monitoring and analyzing the product. St. Louis Best Bridal was founded with much room to grow and the company hopes to add new Web products to Stlouisbestbridal.com..
Washington Post Newsweek Interactive
Mission:
WPNI recognizes that ubiquity is the new exclusivity. Founded in 1996, this offshoot of the Washington Post Company strives to gain market share by fostering interactivity through its Web products.
Products:
Consisting of Slate.com, Washingtonpost.com, and Newsweek.com, WPNI does more than translate print articles onto the computer screen. Each site maintains its own identity by offering unique interactive features. Washingtonpost.com has recently launched web-exclusive blogs, including writing by non-Post staffers. "Uniquity is the new exclusivity." - Caroline Little, CEO of WPNI
Slate.com, originally a digital product, has now teamed up with NPR to create Podcasts of its content. Newsweek.com has a "My Turn Online" section in which readers can submit photos and video in addition to the traditional personal essay. Washingtonpost.com and Newsweek.com offer multimedia content such as photo galleries, video, and an interactive election guide. To, each of these sites gives people the opportunity to add RSS feeds and sign up for email newsletters on topics of special interest such as the City Guide or an e-newsletter of exclusive web content. Newsweek and Washingtonpost.com also use Technorati technology to track links to their articles.
Challenges:
Ninety percent of the visitors to Washingtonpost.com are from outside the local area. How can the Web site appeal to non-local readers while maintaining the core local readers on whom the classifieds rely?
The Post has designed two homepages: one for local readers featuring traffic, local news, and a City Guide piece, and a homepage for non-local readers featuring national and world news. The homepage is automatically chosen based on the ZIP codes new users give when they register.
Now that breaking news is nearly a commodity, how can WPNI remain fresh and relevant?
The key is interactivity. Until recently, there was no user-generated content on the Post's Web site. Now, users can post their own comments. Columns and opinions remain free to readers. Newsweek.com focuses on insightful analysis while slate.com offers readers a more "edgy" and often humorous take on current events.
If content remains free, how have the Web sites generated revenue?
Selling advertising has also taken some innovation. Little says that advertisers are starting to expect creative, multimedia advertisements online. Interactive advertising involving video that gives users the option to scroll over an image for more information, for example, can be a form of entertainment for the user.
Future:
WPNI has recently devised incentives for columnists and bloggers based on how popular their articles are to encourage more writing that users enjoy seeing. The program is still in its early stages, but initial reaction has been positive.
Washingtonpost.com is also looking at ways to streamline its registration process, perhaps giving users more article view before prompting them to enter an email and password.
National Public Radio:
Mission:
NPR strives to maintain its core values while extending its reach to a wider audience. Its core values include promoting a love of lifelong learning and curiosity, providing accurate news, idealism, and humor, and providing a uniquely human voice in its content. Realizing that people are more mobile than ever, NPR identified a way to make its broadcasts more mobile for users.
The Podcast:
When a user subscribes to a Podcast, his Podcast software (iTunes or MyYahoo) automatically downloads a basic MP3 file of the selected Podcast. The user can then transfer the digital file to an MP3 player.
As of today, NPR offers 361 Podcasts. Most of these are not created by NPR, but by local-affiliate stations nationwide. Podcasts range in length from a few minutes to a full hour. The shows cover topics from food to a shortened version of NPR's popular radio game show "Wait, Wait -- Don't Tell Me." Many Podcasts are web only, with no radio equivalent. NPR Podcasts have been wildly popular: In the first ten months, 40 million Podcasts have been downloaded. Podcasts have extended NPR's reach to younger audiences; although 70% of the general NPR audience is over 34 years old, over 50% of NPR's Podcast users are under 34.
Challenges:
How are Podcasts monetized?
Although NPR is a non-profit, Podcasting requires significant funds. A sponsorship message now opens and closes each Podcast. NPR approached Acura for its initial launch. The auto company thus received an exclusive on this product for a few months. Now, other organizations also sponsor Podcasts.
How are users tracked?
Although NPR knows how many Podcasts have been downloaded, the company still doesn't know how many Podcasts are actually listened to since Podcasts download automatically. iTunes does stop downloading the Podcast after a set amount of time, but Apple will not disclose the number of days it takes for iTunes to stop downloading. There is also very little knowledge of the demographics of the audience.
The Future:
Jay Brodsky shared some technology that could be the next opportunity for Web sites that wish to integrate the print product with digital products. Sony Playstation can now play Podcasts and may help an organization target a younger audience. Legal person-to-person MP3-sharing services like Napster may be used to create networks of Podcast listeners.
