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Both Feet In: The New York Times
Embraces the Promise and Peril of Rich Data |
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3 April 2006 |
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The New York Times has taken the plunge into a
data-enriched online offering designed to lure in
investment-oriented readers and to make much more potent
use of its interactions with readers. In doing so they are
positioning themselves for online-first competition with
general purpose portals that offer a broad array of rich
data sources. Publishers have much to gain from such rich
data initiatives but they have far more to gain from
recognizing that rich data is only the beginning of
building effective brands around online audiences that have
many choices of sources and venues for high-quality
content. In doing to they may discover that getting both
feet in to rich data offerings requires different
strategies for different circumstances. |
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As I peeled through today's
edition of
The New York Times at the breakfast table (yes, print is
still useful) I came across the announcement in the business
section about their new business information offerings. It was
a two-page spread that carried a lot of details about how
information is laid out and new features to help people
understand investments. All great stuff, but the most
interesting part was this: more than three quarters of the
space was devoted to the changes to their online
edition. Along with several other new features at their portal
introduced today The New York Times has introduced a richly
featured investment management portal that allows users to
track portfolios, get alerts, dig up investment ideas and
follow the markets online. The "Markets" pages in the print
edition replacing comprehensive stock tables are designed to
complement online features with selected data and analysis.
Yes, that's right. For the first time a major U.S. paper has
made it perfectly clear that print is becoming an extension of
a core online rich data strategy. This point is underscored by
some of the other new features in the newly redesigned Times
portal: there are now
lists of most emailed, weblogged and searched items by
category, most popular films, an
"as it appeared in the paper" feature that replicated the
front page and allows people to view the articles appearing in
the print edition, enhanced multimedia content and a "Times
Topics" online section that offers a reference section of
bio materials, multimedia and news articles on major figures
and topics. Add to this other advanced portal features and you
wind up with a package that is aimed more at
Yahoo!
audiences than other papers, a destination content site for a
variety of purposes well beyond those that support core print
operations.
This is not to say that The New York Times has its online
strategy all ironed out. Like many other major papers it pulls
its punches when it comes to community content, keeping readers
and other independent sources at arm's length or more. But at
its core The New York Times has committed itself to being a
publisher of rich data and multimedia content that will use the
burgeoning growing audience for online news (AP
coverage) to power sales of its paper edition as an elite
fashion accessory for those with the privileged luxury of time
available to spend flipping through its pages. Here are
some thoughts about lessons that this newly invigorated portal
offering may hold for other publishers wrestling with the
transition to rich data offerings:
- Not all publications are created equal in the rush to
rich data. The New York Times enjoys the unusual position
of being a major international brand for news and opinion,
something that is rare even among other major global economic
centers. It certainly benefits from its local venue but
increasingly New York City is becoming a fashionable backdrop
for its development of content with global appeal and market
potential. The few superstars of news that have the focus and
market potential to drive into the upper echelons of online
destination sites have a much different mission and market
profile from most news organizations that are struggling to
define how to service local audiences online while still
relying heavily on print ads from local sources. It's
important for these publishers to learn good lessons from the
Times' increasingly aggressive efforts but also to recognize
that most newspapers will need to draw more heavily on their
community's own publishing to build up valuable rich data.
- Rich data does not necessarily help to focus a content
brand's identity. While the general structure of The New
York Times' refreshed portal is becoming not too unlike many
other portal offerings for general audiences, its brand is
still tied to the print world. That's not altogether bad:
their somewhat upscale audiences are attractive for portal
advertisers and content partners. But in the wrestling match
for the minds and hearts of both its readers and its
editorial staffs newspapers are off into uncharted
territories, having difficulty adapting print-based brands
into a new status order of brands defined by many new news
brands and outlets. It's a struggle that many magazines are
experiencing also as both newspapers and brands move towards
similar product and audience profiles through their online
offerings. Rich data alone will not address the branding
crisis that faces many publications not well-tuned to their
audiences as they move to an "online first" world.
- A day of reckoning for news portals as destinations is
looming. As new source-agnostic news portals continue to
nibble market share from newspaper-based portals the issue of
branding is becoming more difficult to address. While
newspapers are capable to doing a lot for their audiences,
many have been stubborn to move towards including editorial
content beyond their control into their portals that can
expand those experiences. The most potent plays for rich data
come from those who are willing to take on all content
sources as potentially valuable and to use audiences to help
them cull out the most useful and valuable. Newspapers may be
able to carve out profitable strategies through proprietary
content but in doing so they may become niche suppliers in a
landscape of players more willing to define broader contexts
for news.
As general and business media outlets from the print world
try to carve out more profitable niches online many are
discovering that online conservatism over the past few years
may have assigned their brands a permanent seat on the rear
benches of online content. Rich data is one way to try to
wiggle down to the front rows, but for those that do not have
the financial and brand muscle of The New York Times to develop
a potent portal the alternatives are looking a little daunting.
The solution for many will be to recognize that getting your
content to where the audiences are rich may be just as
important as trying to lure them in to your own enriched
portal. Either route poses challenges, but in either case it's
time for publishers to plunge into far deeper rich data
strategies.
-
John Blossom
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