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Medill Research Finds Print Media Perceive Web Portals Primary Online Threat

Posted on: Thursday, 20 July 2006, 09:00 CDT

New research out today shows that the leading print media fear the threat from web portals but are rapidly moving to incorporate multimedia and other interactive strategies to attract and grow audiences as they migrate from paper to an online world.

Preliminary findings from a survey of more than 150 US and UK print media outlets conducted by Northwestern University will be presented today at an industry roundtable hosted by The NewsMarket at the Yale Club in New York. Dr. Patricia Whalen, assistant professor in the Medill Integrated Marketing Communications program at Northwestern, will present highlights of the research, conducted over a 12 week period, which examined the overall strategy of the online publication, but specifically investigated the use of multimedia content and the level of interactivity on the news site. The survey showed that the online publications see the web portals such as Google and Yahoo! as their main competition.

Advertising revenues have followed the younger, web-focused viewer online where she can get personalized news and entertainment. The migration and intensity of the competitive environment is exacerbating the overriding issue of newsrooms' resource pressures, yet savvy publishers and editors have found if they deliver news as their audience wants, they are far more likely to keep them engaged.

The survey elicited responses from a group of senior executives and thought leaders at publications including USA Today, Newsweek, US News & World Report, Fortune, San Francisco Chronicle and The Times (UK) and provides great insight into their current perspectives. A 78% response rate from the US target publications indicates the importance of the topic.

Some of the top-level findings are:

   -- The objectives of the online edition have changed dramatically      since its launch         o A significant drop in those who see the site as merely a           marketing tool for the print publication         o A greater optimism for potential ad revenues and a sharp           drop in expectations for subscription revenues   -- Competition is primarily perceived to be online portals (such as      Google and Yahoo!)   -- Multimedia skills are being developed internally and increasing      ad revenue is projected from the use of video, specifically         o 79% of the publications have the capability to create           original video content         o More than 50% of respondents expect to generate higher ad           revenues with video   -- Third-party multimedia content is being incorporated, initially by      the AP and Reuters but other content is being selectively sourced 

"The report shows the increased focus on audience engagement is driving publishers to embrace 24 / 7 news delivery, mobile access and multimedia," said Dr. Patricia Whalen, assistant professor at Northwestern University who oversaw the research.

The NewsMarket, the leading online platform for news video, prompted this study of the top US and UK publications after seeing a sharp increase in the non-broadcast media outlets requesting multimedia content from www.thenewsmarket.com, now totaling over 9,000 institutions in 144 countries.

"In the first six months of 2006, the non-broadcast media outlets requesting content from The NewsMarket increased from 5% to 45% of our total user base," said Shoba Purushothaman, CEO and Co-founder of The NewsMarket. "Television broadcasters are clearly going to confront not just the threat of portals and news aggregators, but the print media embracing video in their online editions."

A summary of the event will be available from www.thenewsmarket.com. For the complete report conducted by Northwestern, email Alison Minaglia, Technology PR for The NewsMarket at aminaglia@technologypr.com or call (203) 972-3170.

About The NewsMarket

The NewsMarket is the leading online platform for news video. Journalists from 9,000 media outlets in 144 countries rely on www.thenewsmarket.com to search, preview and download broadcast-standard video for their news stories. The NewsMarket is used by journalists at outlets such as the AP, BBC, BusinessWeek.com, CNN, Forbes.com, Fox News, N24, Nippon TV, NYTimes.com, RAI, TVE, ZDF, and Zee News. Organizations like adidas, AOL, the American Red Cross, Google, GM, Intel, Lenovo, Microsoft, Motorola, the UK Ministry of Defence, the US Department of State, UNICEF, Volvo, Vonage and Yahoo! use The NewsMarket to host and deliver video content to support their global communications strategies. Headquartered in New York, The NewsMarket has operations in London, San Francisco, Munich, Singapore, Hong Kong and Mumbai. For more information, visit www.thenewsmarket.com.

 Media Contact: Alison Minaglia Technology PR for The NewsMarket +1 (203) 972-3170 Contact via http://www.marketwire.com/mw/emailprcntct?id=C1B3E6B6AB7309C2  

SOURCE: The NewsMarket, Inc.

Source: MARKET WIRE

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