roundtable 2015: jim bernard
TRANSCRIPT
August, 2015
Jim Bernard, SVP Digital
Value of Viral Traffic: A Case Study
2|
Unique Visitor Growth
“The unique visitor number tells one story quite well—and begs another.
What is the business value of that traffic increase? How’s it doing in
monetizing those new readers?”
Ken Doctor, Is the Washington Post closing in on the Times?
http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/media/2015/08/8573545/washington-post-closing-times
3|
Eagle/Lion Case Study
4|
• Eagle
5|
The Eagle
• Dramatic picture of Eagle in local veterans cemetery was covered by staff columnist and then caught viral attention twice. The first wave was on publishing in 2011 and the second was independent viral activity on Facebook in 2015.
• Three or four assets: stories, follow up stories, one photo
• Reach: 1M visitors for 1.5m pv total
• Round 1 (2011) -- 300k visitors for 500k pv
• Round 2 (2015) -- 700k visitors for 1M pv
6|
0
200,000
400,000
600,000
800,000
1,000,000
Jun-11 Dec-11 Jun-12 Dec-12 Jun-13 Dec-13 Jun-14 Dec-14 Jun-15
Pag
e V
iew
s
Total Facebook
FB 51K, 16%
FB 633K, 70%
7|
• Lion
8|
The Lion
• Local (to us) dentist and game hunter kills famous lion in Zimbabwe and outrage explodes including local protests. Over the course of a week the story evolves.
• Dozens of assets: articles, photo galleries, videos, “Google bombs”
• Reach: 800k visitors on 1.5M pageviews
9|
Entry on Story97% 77%
Non - Minnesota
99% 92%
75% 7%
Google37%3%
10|
Handset
74% 34%
Non-Subscriber
1% 92%
11|
Relative incremental advertising value of Lion and EagleIndexed to “normal” advertising value of 100
83
97
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
12|
9
82
-
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Relative incremental circulation value of Lion and EagleIndexed to “normal” circulation value of 100
13|
140
All deviceAverage
Index 100
20110
REVENUE PER VISIT
350
340
Sub All deviceAverage 280
350
REVENUE PER SUBSCRIBER VISIT
160270
Non Sub All deviceAverage 70
100
350
REVENUE PER NON-SUBSCRIBER VISIT
1070
Relative visit value of ST trafficIndexed to average visit value of 100, June 2015
14|
Observations
• Not all traffic is created equal: we should invest where we create the most business value.
• Subscriber engagement and handset monitization are foundation layers and impact both viral and core revenue potential.
• Non-core viral audience is less profitable but still incrementally helpful.
• Facebook is a handset game, so all solutions (aud growth, FB instant, etc) should be seen in the light of handset revenue (which is poor).
15|
Subscriptions and ad services are driving digital revenueDisplay revenue under pressure due to less inventory, lower yield;
growth coming from direct consumer and marketing services.
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 ROY
Display Ads Adv Services Circulation
