| The Growing Audience blog features regular postings regarding business strategies, market forces and new technologies that impact the audience development initiatives at media companies. Many of these postings reflect current news headlines as summarized in the Growing Audience e-alert which publishes on Thursdays, others may come from you, the audience.
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11/05/09 E-alert: How the TwitterTim.es Personalized News Site Impacts Newspapers
INSIDE THIS EDITION:
How the TwitterTim.es Personalized News Sites Impacts Newspapers
Wall Street Journal to Add a New York Report
NAA IDEAS GALLERY: Springfield News-Leader Creates Performance Plus Program to Target Non-Traditional Advertisers
MediaNews to Launch Partial Pay Walls at Two Newspaper Sites
In Spite of Changes to its Business Model and Frequency, East Valley Tribune to Shut Down Dec. 31
UPCOMING WEBINARS:
NAA Special Series: Monetizing Digital Content - Microsoft
Morris Communications Lead Generation Program - A Pay Per Performance Model
Free Classifieds Reverse Recent Trends
The Value of Going Green
Local Digital Revenue Streams
How the TwitterTim.es Personalized News Sites Impacts Newspapers
Based on two key strengths of Twitter, the ability to spread news easily and to create a voting system, the TwitterTim.es personalized online news site was created. Content chosen for the site is selected from the content and links shared by your friends and the friends of your friends. Those articles with the most popularity are used to build your personalized "newspaper" which updates every 30 minutes.
 Maxim Grinev, the projects technical lead, said he no longer goes to traditional news sources to find out what's happening. He's confident, if it's important, it will appear in his Twitter timeline. He doesn't discount the value of traditional news source reporting, but relies on Twitter to help him select what to read.
Grinev says they are interested in exploring a similar idea but one that aggregates content from a single source, such as The New York Times, and ranks the content by popularity. So users interested in all the content links on that site could see them ranked by how their friends valued the content. Grinev says they are in talks with one major newspaper about exploring this opportunity.
In addition, the site plans to extend content aggregation from other sources including Facebook and Friendfeed and feature a second tab showing the ranking of news by global popularity. The first tab featured is personal news and the second would be global news, allowing it to compete directly with Tweetmeme.
While the site is focused first on building audience, there are plans to consider various partnership schemes and include advertising.
Source: Online Journalism Review
Wall Street Journal to Add a New York Report
The Wall Street Journal plans to create a New York edition covering traditional city desk beats like courthouses, City Hall and the state capital, in addition to their already expanded New York arts coverage. The new edition will require about a dozen new staffers, but the paper plans to expand from there according to a New York Times article citing anonymous sources. The Journal has also placed more emphasis on government and politics, added regular sports coverage and a quarterly magazine, WSJ.
These changes are part of Murdoch's plan to make the WSJ more of a general interest paper and a more direct competitor to The New York Times. The Journal is also launching their San Francisco Bay area edition this week.
The Journal will bandon its South Brunswick, N.J. printing plant, shifting production to the News Corporation presses of The New York Post which offers more color capabilities and automated insertion.
Source: New York Times
NAA IDEAS GALLERY: Springfield News-Leader Creates Performance Plus Program to Target Non-Traditional Advertisers
The News-Leader Media group wanted to provide advertiser-facing solutions for non-traditional advertisers who relied heavily on phone calls for their business. They created a "Performance Plus" program and tested it on their existing clients, complete with a tracking phone number from Call Source that allowed both the advertising reps and the clients to listen to customer calls, helping them partner to modify the advertising message accordingly and provide better customer service. The results were so positive they decided to open the program to non-existing clients by inviting local businesses to a breakfast where they would introduce them to the program. A free 3x5 advertorial was provided as an additional incentive to get them to attend.
 During the presentation the News-Leader Media group showed testimonials on how their solutions worked for their clients: how they helped a medial business generate $225k in potential sales and a home service business generate $60k in potential sales, and how they helped a service business generate 70 potential long term clients.
At the conclusion of the Performance Plus presentation 100 percent of the local businesses in attendance scheduled appointments with their reps to find out how the News-Leader Media group could help them generate the same results.
To read more about this IDEA or to search for others, go to NAA's IDEAS Gallery or click here. Access requires member registration which is your business email address as username and password.
Source: NAA IDEAS Gallery
MediaNews to Launch Partial Pay Walls at Two Newspaper Sites
Two MediaNews Group papers, The Enterprise-Record in Chico, Ca., and the York (Pa.) Daily Record, will start charging for some of their online content in the first quarter of 2010. The decision came after an April executive meeting and subsequent task force work on the feasibility of Internet changes, including pay walls.
Decisions about which content will be free and which will be paid have not been made. "In front of the wall, you want to remain competitive" said Howard Saltz, vice president of content development. "But we are not giving away our premium content for free."
These two papers serve as test markets before rolling out similar plans to other MediaNews properties such as The Denver Post and San Jose Mercury News over the next two years. Dean Singleton, MediaNews Group CEO and vice-chair, does not expect an all-pay model but instead expects each market to choose which content should require a fee. "It will not be a cookie-cutter approach" he said.
Source: Editor & Publisher
In Spite of Changes to its Business Model and Frequency, East Valley Tribune to Shut Down Dec. 31
Freedom Communications announced this week it will most likely be closing the East Valley Tribune in Mesa, Arizona on December 31, citing the recession and changes in the newspaper industry as reasons for the decision. Freedom, which is reorganizing under Chapter 11, had placed the paper for sale earlier this year but received no viable bids. 
The news comes after the Tribune made dramatic changes to their business model and their publishing frequency, cutting its Monday, Tuesday and Thursday editions in January, and it's Saturday edition in May and offering the remaining copies free to readers in their core area with a distribution model of 80 percent home delivery and 20 percent single copy.
The Tribune was featured in the NAA white paper "Reducing Frequency: A Strategic Framework" earlier this year. Other papers cited in the report include the Detroit Free Press and the Christian Science Monitor.
Two Tribune writers won a Pulitzer Prize earlier this year for investigative journalism. The Tribune employs 140 staff members.
Sources: East Valley Tribune, Editors Weblog, NAA
Special Series:
Monetizing Digital Content Vendor Update and Presentations
Tuesdays September 29 - November 10
2:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. EDT
In June 2009, industry leaders asked NAA to profile a variety of companies offering a "paid content" solution and communicate back to the industry the various models and capabilities of those companies. In July NAA distributed a "Request for Information" to a range of companies asking for details about their platforms and business. A full report was released summarizing the RFI responses and with links to documentation provided by each of the companies. Companies profiled in this report include those that have mapped out a specific solution for publishers as well as technology companies that have various tools and platforms that could be used to create a solution.
As a result of the report, NAA has created a Webinar series to showcase the findings, highlighting the technology solutions and providing an opportunity for NAA members to ask questions. The series of events will be held every Tuesday at 2 p.m. EDT from September 29 through November 10.
Final event in the series:
Part 6, Nov. 10: Microsoft
Microsoft does not have a turn-key system for newspapers but does have a suite of existing products, services and technologies to potentially build a digital content monetization platform.
This webinar series is free to NAA members. Click here to register!
After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
Morris Communications Lead Generation Program -
A Pay Per Performance
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. EDT
Looking for a new advertiser program that produces results and increases new business revenue? The Morris Communications Pay Per Action program could be just the answer for you. Launched in 2008, Morris identified three goals they wanted their new Pay Per Action program to achieve: deliver measurable results to advertisers with increased leads, make Morris print newspaper and online products more interactive, and connect buyers and sellers with the ability to offer advertisers a 24-hour distribution channel.
Morris reports that not only are their program goals being surpassed, they've also seen new business revenue increase. Seventy percent of the advertisers who joined the Pay per Lead program had never advertised with Morris in the past.
Attend this free webinar to hear directly from Morris Communications on how they created and implemented their Pay Per Performance program.
Speaker: Everton J. Weeks, Corporate Vice President of Advertising, Morris Communications
Moderator: Pili Linares, director, advertising, NAA
This webinar series is free to NAA members. Click here to register!
After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
Free Classifieds Reverse Recent Trends
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. EDT
Some newspaper executives believe that offering free classifieds - at least in some categories - can increase print circulation, online traffic, classifieds revenue or some combination of those positive results.
Learn about the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's program, how it has grown the newspaper's classifieds audience and how free classifieds might help your newspaper in this free webinar from NAA.
Speaker: Charlie Chance, director of digital advertising, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Moderator: Beth Lawton, manager, digital media, NAA
This webinar is free to NAA members. Click here to register.
After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
The Value of Going Green
Thursday, November 19, 2009
2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. EDT On Nov. 19, NAA will host a free webinar at 2 p.m. EST with Andrew S. Winston, best selling co-author of “Green to Gold” and “Green Recovery: Get Lean, Get Smart and Emerge from the Downturn on Top.” He has advised Boeing, Disney, DuPont, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, Toyota and Wal-Mart. He will discuss how green business practices can be a source of cost savings, growth and innovation. The webinar is free to NAA members. Learn which five areas of the business will generate the most savings when green practices are put in place. Hear about 10 ideas for green innovation in tough times. Learn how greening your business will free up capital to invest in building a stronger, more resilient company. Speaker: Andrew S. Winston, founder of Winston Eco-Strategies, co-author of Green to Gold and author of Green Recovery.
Moderator: Lisa Rabasca, NAA managing editor, digital communications This event is free to NAA members. Click here to register!
After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
Local Digital Revenue Streams
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. EDT
Innovation and opportunity in the local market often benefits from the expertise and experience of partners who have developed tools, technology and business models across many markets. Here is a no-cost, time friendly opportunity to hear specific, quick-to-market opportunities to drive digital revenues in your market.
Each of four sponsoring companies will present an overview of their offering, describe the business opportunity from a newspaper digital media perspective and invite follow-up questions on and offline.
Speakers:
Victor Wong, CEO of PaperG, a technology company that automates local ad creation and sales management. Partners include Hearst Newspapers, The Boston Globe and Newsday.
Matt Coen, CEO of Second Street Media, a provider of online contesting, photo e-commerce and fulfillment, user-generated content communiteis and email marketing for newspapers. Products include myCapture, UPICKEM and eBlastEngine.
Moderator:
Kevin McCourt, vice president, advertising and exhibitor sales, NAA
This webinar is free to NAA members. Click here to register.
After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
--- The "Inside Edition" portion of the e-alert is compiled by Diane Hockenberry, diane.hockenberry@naa.org. "Circulation News" is compiled by John Murray, John.Murray@naa.org. Please contact us with any questions or comments.
Published
Nov 05 2009, 03:26 PM
by
Randy Bennett
About Randy Bennett
I’m responsible for providing strategic direction and oversight for NAA’s efforts to help newspapers grow revenue, expand their audience and leverage emerging business opportunities across media platforms.
Prior to joining NAA in 1990, I was director of online services for America Online, where I was responsible for developing information services and information provider relationships. (Yes, I know. I left AOL in 1990. So much for “vision.”)
Before that, I worked at Knight Ridder’s Viewtron service, the first graphics-based online service in the U.S. Viewtron offered a range of interactive services including news, chat, shopping, advertising, games and more. (This is back in the early 1980s, mind you.)
I graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University (go “Battling Bishops”!) with a B.A. degree in journalism and politics and government. I served internships with The Advocate (Stamford, Conn.) and The Hartford (Conn.) Courant.
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