I isolated myself in the mountains of North Carolina to work on my masters degree project. It was great, I had a lot done in the quiteness of this cabin. I am defending 11/27.
11 November, 2006
07 November, 2006
Oral defense arrangements
Project oral defense is scheduled for 11/27/2006, 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM CST.
Location: 76 I Gannett
Project paper will be submitted to the committee for review on/before 11/17.
05 November, 2006
Weekly notes 10/30-11/06
Interview with Susan Grant
President
CNN Newsource Sales, Inc.
Highlights:
Creating value-driven product is one thing. Managing it effectively is another. A crucial component in the company’s efficiency is the use of a home-grown Content Management System (CMS), referred to as CMS 2.0, or simply “The Tools.”
Bearing in mind the fact that a CMS solution is a very complex programming product, CNN.com was very effective in developing a home-grown solution and investing resources and time into this project. The CMS allows managing all types of content the company creates in one interface from putting story elements together to publishing it to the Web. The content landscape, therefore, is efficiently managed according to work flow, roles and approval chains.
With a high frequency of content changes, it is crucial that a reliable system is in place. The system is also used as a repository for archived content that can be easily searched and repurposed as necessary. Effectiveness of the system is further reiterated by capabilities of delivering content to all major platforms: e-mail, PDAs, cell phones, etc. The business logic behind a home-grown solution was that it would be flexible and efficient, leading to a high return on investment.
Effectiveness is part of the company’s organizational culture and tradition. On the offline, broadcasting side, a system called “Mediasource” is used for management of incoming video feeds. There is indexing, search and management of hi- and lo-resolution video, captions, keyframes, scripts and other metadata. The system is highly scalable, and is used at every editorial desk in the company.
Oral defense arrangements
Project oral defense is scheduled for 11/27/2006, 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM CST.
Location: 76 I GannettProject paper will be submitted to the committee for review on/before 11/17.
President
CNN Newsource Sales, Inc.
Highlights:
- Brand attributes: accuracy, immediacy, credibility, global reach.
- 96% of users come to CNN.com by typing in the URL
- The essence of the CNN tradition is being a visionary leader
- Headquarters in Atlanta – by design; away from influences of financial NY and political DC. The outsider perspective differentiates the company’s product from competition.
- Free video was launched in 2005, after broadband costs came down and it was no longer necessary for the business to charge consumers for content and the contract with Real Networks, Inc. was dropped
- Major business costs are people and newsgathering
- XM Radio – another distribution platform. CNN network as an audio product.
Creating value-driven product is one thing. Managing it effectively is another. A crucial component in the company’s efficiency is the use of a home-grown Content Management System (CMS), referred to as CMS 2.0, or simply “The Tools.”
Bearing in mind the fact that a CMS solution is a very complex programming product, CNN.com was very effective in developing a home-grown solution and investing resources and time into this project. The CMS allows managing all types of content the company creates in one interface from putting story elements together to publishing it to the Web. The content landscape, therefore, is efficiently managed according to work flow, roles and approval chains.
With a high frequency of content changes, it is crucial that a reliable system is in place. The system is also used as a repository for archived content that can be easily searched and repurposed as necessary. Effectiveness of the system is further reiterated by capabilities of delivering content to all major platforms: e-mail, PDAs, cell phones, etc. The business logic behind a home-grown solution was that it would be flexible and efficient, leading to a high return on investment.
Effectiveness is part of the company’s organizational culture and tradition. On the offline, broadcasting side, a system called “Mediasource” is used for management of incoming video feeds. There is indexing, search and management of hi- and lo-resolution video, captions, keyframes, scripts and other metadata. The system is highly scalable, and is used at every editorial desk in the company.
Oral defense arrangements
Project oral defense is scheduled for 11/27/2006, 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM CST.
Location: 76 I GannettProject paper will be submitted to the committee for review on/before 11/17.
29 October, 2006
Weekly notes 10/23-10/30
Work samples: Editorial work flow and its affects on value creation
During my research, I’ve identified that the value component of CNN.com’s business model is represented in three dimensions: intra-business (BB), business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C).
In the BB dimension, the value component is based on such value drivers as quality, effectiveness, innovation and firstness. Some value drivers are cross-functional and also are potent in other dimensions.
Effectiveness of the organization and its business model is reflected on several levels. In the BB dimension, effectiveness is reflected in the editorial work flow, content management, technology, staffing and talent.
Looking further into the editorial work flow and staffing components, CNN.com employs resources of many departments of the CNN Network, in addition to its own editorial team and the CNN Pipeline’s staff.
The way CNN.com approaches its work flow is very efficient, according to the company’s executives. The dot-com staff produces original Web-only packages, as well as uses the network’s reporting to deepen its news coverage and supply consumers with the highest-quality product possible.
First, let’s examine the dot-com relationships with the TV network and its subsidiaries and joint ventures.
CNN and CNN.com are brands of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., which is a Time Warner company.
As a Time Warner Company, CNN.com has access to the resources of worldwide workforce of approximately 87,000 people. (Statistics are as of December 31, 2005, according to
http://www.timewarner.com/corp/aboutus/fact_sheet.html) TBS, Inc., employs more than 8,000 people worldwide.
TBS, Inc.’s business operations are by no means perfect but very effective in case with delivering the best product to consumers. The company’s business model benefits from effectiveness being one of the constituents of the overall business value component.
CNN.com’s fruitful access to all those channels is yet another reflection of how effective the company can be in news gathering and having access to news first-hand, which, eventually, plays into the firstness attribute of the value component.
In the B2C/B2B environment, effectiveness is reflected through a variety of distribution channels and effectiveness of content re-use and delivery across those platforms.
TBS’s strategy of creating branded environments on emerging media platforms was once again delivered when the company recently launched two new broadband networks — GameTap (computer-based video-gaming experience) and CNN Pipeline (multiple live news feeds streaming service).
From firstness and product debuts – back to the discussion of effectiveness.
CNN.com is staffed 24 hours, seven days a week, and is located in CNN headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. In addition to that, CNN.com benefits from being affiliated with 42 CNN news bureaus worldwide.
News coverage is coordinated from the Atlanta HQs from 6 AM EDT to 12 PM EDT. While there’s a small editorial team on the night shift, to further ensure that the product is of the highest quality, editorial teams from other world bureaus take over the main coverage according to their prime-time time zones.
There are three bureaus that take over the main coverage when North America is sleeping and other parts of the world are waking up: Sydney, Australia; London, England, and Hong Kong. Each bureau has its own staff of writers, reporters and online producers to update the CNN.com Web site and its international edition.
CNN.com relies heavily on the network’s reporting to deepen its news coverage and supply consumers with the highest-quality product possible. While the majority of the dot-com product creation and content repurposing for the Web is carried through extensive relations with CNN TV networks, bureaus and wire services; the dot-com staff also produces original content in the form of traditional copy writing; interactive, multimedial storytelling and Web-only story packages.
CNN goes to great strides to be innovative and to create unique content that would differentiate the company from the competition.
Recently, the company started to focus more on the original production and original reporting, as the value of it has been more and more evident in the last several years. In order to create highly valuable, unique content; the business decided to invest more resources in the original reporting.
As the competitive environment is exploring and delivering on new methods of storytelling and development of original content that is unique and is not a mere repurposing of the networks’ TV packages; CNN.com is moving to changing its editorial flow and attitude to getting out of the newsroom and doing traditional reporting, using the latest technology available.
One of the examples of CNN.com’ original reporting that was completely separate from the network’s newsgathering is the special project called “Coming Home” that was launched in time for the Memorial Day celebration in 2006.
Click here
to see an overview video of the "Coming Home" special that I worked on. Or, click on "Play" button in the player window below.
As part of this project, online producers traveled to different parts of the U.S. to gather material that was later combined into a purely multimedial storytelling. It was a very unique example of not only extensive original reporting, but also of uniquely multimedial and interactive character of this special report.
I produced two audio slide shows and a gallery for the “Coming Home” special.
This is the special report http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2006/coming.home/
The slideshows:
Wife to widow with knock at door http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2006/coming.home/interactive/content.html?active=3
War takes a daughter’s best friend
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2006/coming.home/interactive/content.html?active=8
To give an example of a more traditional and less resource-consuming reporting that is done at CNN.com using the extensive resources of the network, is this audio slide show called “Pictures from Ramadi”
http://www.cnn.com/interactive/world/0512/slidewhow.cal.perry/frameset.exclude.html
This multimedia project was based on pictures taken by Cal Perry, a reporter at the Baghdad bureau, and a following interview with this reporter.
Note that the company continuously struggles to be on the forefront of technological advances and changes its concepts as new technology becomes available. This slide show was done on an old template that just recently changed to a bigger and more user-friendly layout.
21 October, 2006
Weekly notes 10/16-10/23
Why I chose this project
Why CNN.com:
Among the multitude of e-businesses, CNN.com’s business model was chosen as subject of this study due to the fact that this online news organization proved to be successful and profitable over more than 10 years of its existence.
Why the value component:
The concept of value component in BMs has been widely discussed in the general business research. My literature research points out the fact that research in online business models is quite extensive. Values and value creation processes are identified as a necessary constituents of any given business model. Additionally, the value component is the cornerstone of any business model. Without establishing product’s value and delivering the company’s value proposition through various value-creation processes, the business is hardly viable.
The question as to which value drivers are applicable to the online media industry in particular out of the multitude of general business value drivers is still not answered. More importantly, it is necessary to attempt to answer the question related to which parts of the value component demonstrated in the CNN.com business model can be adopted by other online media organizations seeking to be successful and profitable on the online arena.
To provide some proof to the statement that CNN.com’s business model is indeed successful and profitable, let’s look at online metrics and financial statements. As far as the first part of this equation, Nielsen//Net Ratings of May 2006 indicate that CNN had the following numbers in the sub-category News and Information at Home/Work:
Gross Usage Minutes: 828,135,000
Unique users: 21,510,000
Average time per person: 38.5 minutes
In March 2006, CNN had the largest share of online news among its competitors (the table also gives comparison to the previous month and to one year earlier):
As of May 2006, CNN.com held several leading positions in online metrics as reported by Nielsen:
In the case with financial profitability and revenue generation, there is a challenge. The accounting and financial reporting structure of CNN.com’s parent company – Time Warner – is set up in such a way that no direct revenue numbers generated by the business’ flagship online news medium are separated in financial statements.
At the end of 2006 Q3, Time Warner filed Form 10-Q to the SEC reporting that during the six months ended June 30, 2006, the company generated revenues of $21.219 billion, which is an increase of 1% compared to $20.948 billion in 2005.
According to the latest, 2005 Annual Report, Time Warner generated revenues of $43.652 billion, which is a 4% growth as compared to $42.081 billion in 2004.
Time Warner’s Networks segment comprised of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (CNN brand falls under TBS), Home Box Office Inc. and The WB Television Network delivered revenues of $9.611 billion, which makes up 20% of the Company’s total revenue.
The Turner networks include such brands as TBS, TNT, CNN, Cartoon Network and CNN Headline News.
Additionally, the company reported on investment expenses related to high-quality programming and news, among others, led to strong ratings, which, in turn, positively affected the advertising and subscription revenue growth, as well as strong brands and operating efficiency.
This table compares financial results from 2001 to present days, showing steady growth in revenue generation:
Why CNN.com:
Among the multitude of e-businesses, CNN.com’s business model was chosen as subject of this study due to the fact that this online news organization proved to be successful and profitable over more than 10 years of its existence.
Why the value component:
The concept of value component in BMs has been widely discussed in the general business research. My literature research points out the fact that research in online business models is quite extensive. Values and value creation processes are identified as a necessary constituents of any given business model. Additionally, the value component is the cornerstone of any business model. Without establishing product’s value and delivering the company’s value proposition through various value-creation processes, the business is hardly viable.
The question as to which value drivers are applicable to the online media industry in particular out of the multitude of general business value drivers is still not answered. More importantly, it is necessary to attempt to answer the question related to which parts of the value component demonstrated in the CNN.com business model can be adopted by other online media organizations seeking to be successful and profitable on the online arena.
To provide some proof to the statement that CNN.com’s business model is indeed successful and profitable, let’s look at online metrics and financial statements. As far as the first part of this equation, Nielsen//Net Ratings of May 2006 indicate that CNN had the following numbers in the sub-category News and Information at Home/Work:
Gross Usage Minutes: 828,135,000
Unique users: 21,510,000
Average time per person: 38.5 minutes
In March 2006, CNN had the largest share of online news among its competitors (the table also gives comparison to the previous month and to one year earlier):
As of May 2006, CNN.com held several leading positions in online metrics as reported by Nielsen:
In the case with financial profitability and revenue generation, there is a challenge. The accounting and financial reporting structure of CNN.com’s parent company – Time Warner – is set up in such a way that no direct revenue numbers generated by the business’ flagship online news medium are separated in financial statements.
At the end of 2006 Q3, Time Warner filed Form 10-Q to the SEC reporting that during the six months ended June 30, 2006, the company generated revenues of $21.219 billion, which is an increase of 1% compared to $20.948 billion in 2005.
According to the latest, 2005 Annual Report, Time Warner generated revenues of $43.652 billion, which is a 4% growth as compared to $42.081 billion in 2004.
Time Warner’s Networks segment comprised of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (CNN brand falls under TBS), Home Box Office Inc. and The WB Television Network delivered revenues of $9.611 billion, which makes up 20% of the Company’s total revenue.
The Turner networks include such brands as TBS, TNT, CNN, Cartoon Network and CNN Headline News.
Additionally, the company reported on investment expenses related to high-quality programming and news, among others, led to strong ratings, which, in turn, positively affected the advertising and subscription revenue growth, as well as strong brands and operating efficiency.
This table compares financial results from 2001 to present days, showing steady growth in revenue generation:
Due to the structure of the company’s accounting polices, financials of CNN.com are reported as part of the Turner Networks, therefore, making it difficult to separate the revenues of the company’s interactive wing from those of the advertising-supported cable TV Networks.
However, by analyzing overall continuous growth in revenue generation, one may conclude that CNN.com is continuously delivering financial results on the profitability side.
Additionally, as reported in the 2005 Annual Report, the following revenue was generated in subscription, advertising, content and other areas:
The increase in subscription revenues is primarily related to increases in Cable and Networks segments. The increase in the Cable segment is reported as due to the penetration of advanced services, such as high-speed data, advanced digital video services and Digital Phone, in addition to service rate increases.
The Networks segment’s revenue numbers increased due to higher subscription rates and an increase in the number of subscribers at Turner and HBO.
The increase in advertising revenues was primarily due to growth at the AOL, Networks and Publishing segments. The increase in Networks segment was driven by higher CPMs (advertising cost per one thousand viewers), which can be viewed as a direct measure of CNN.com’s success, as their advertising rates went up as well.
The increase in content revenues is related to increases in Filmed Entertainment, Publishing and Networks segments. The increase at the Networks segment was due primarily to HBO’s broadcast syndication sales of Sex and the City.
However, by analyzing overall continuous growth in revenue generation, one may conclude that CNN.com is continuously delivering financial results on the profitability side.
Additionally, as reported in the 2005 Annual Report, the following revenue was generated in subscription, advertising, content and other areas:
The increase in subscription revenues is primarily related to increases in Cable and Networks segments. The increase in the Cable segment is reported as due to the penetration of advanced services, such as high-speed data, advanced digital video services and Digital Phone, in addition to service rate increases.The Networks segment’s revenue numbers increased due to higher subscription rates and an increase in the number of subscribers at Turner and HBO.
The increase in advertising revenues was primarily due to growth at the AOL, Networks and Publishing segments. The increase in Networks segment was driven by higher CPMs (advertising cost per one thousand viewers), which can be viewed as a direct measure of CNN.com’s success, as their advertising rates went up as well.
The increase in content revenues is related to increases in Filmed Entertainment, Publishing and Networks segments. The increase at the Networks segment was due primarily to HBO’s broadcast syndication sales of Sex and the City.
15 October, 2006
Weekly notes 10/09-10/16
Interview with Dennis Quinn
EVP Business Development
TBS
Highlights:
Consumers don’t interact the same way with different types of media distribution platforms, i.e. broadband, wireless, VOD, etc. For CNN to be successful with those various platforms, it needed to understand user expectations and act on them. With TV, for example, there’s little interaction; whereas on a Web site there’s more opportunity for navigation and seeking out of information. Knowing user behavior helps define CNN.com how to achieve the best value possible out of its product.
TV-viewing is a leaning backwards experience, while Internet news Web site browsing is a leaning forward experience. Wireless products are designed to be digested quickly – only then they will have the strongest value proposition for both consumers and businesses.
It is important to take into the account of business development various cultural and technological habits and developments. In the U.S., mobile technology is not digested as quickly, as in other parts of the world, and Asia in particular. While the general value proposition is transparent – this technology helps people stay in touch and access news on the go – the reception of this technology by users differs from one part of the globe to another.
In Asia, as well as in Europe, there’s one uniform standard for mobile technology, while in the U.S. there are several. As an international operations company, CNN has to take a close look at such instances when evaluating its value propositions.
On the other hand, there’s no such preponderance of cable in Asia and Europe, as there’s in the U.S.; therefore, the natural inclination of users to go mobile in those parts of the world is far higher than in the U.S.
Depending on the market and cultural tendencies, CNN launches products that have the potential of having the highest value possible, therefore, supporting the business model’s core; which in turn translates into higher revenue numbers.
CNN started delving into broadband in the early stages of its penetration. This was predicated by the fast-growing development of broadband and its availability to genera; audiences. Nowadays, more than 60% of households in the U.S. use broadband, and CNN,com is the number one news site, according to Nielsen/Net Ratings.
When the company launched its broadband initiatives, it exhibited its “firstness” phenomenon, while following business calculations on how profitable this new medium can be in the future. Both the “firstness” and careful analysis of the business and technological environments allowed CNN to be the first on the broadband front, which paid off in establishing a highly-desirable for advertisers and significant in size audience.
The product is delivered to various platforms in the CNN’s style and fashion: promptly and accurately. The ubiquity of CNN is reflected 24/7 on all major distribution platforms: be it a PDA, a laptop or a TV set. There’s SMS and e-mail alerts to reach users that are not in front of their TV sets.
Establishing this ubiquity early on, now allows CNN to distribute its product effectively from both reach and cost perspectives; therefore, establishing value to both consumers and businesses. This is also effective from the cost perspective, as distributing the same product via different channels doesn’t cost as much as creating different product for different platforms.
EVP Business Development
TBS
Highlights:
Consumers don’t interact the same way with different types of media distribution platforms, i.e. broadband, wireless, VOD, etc. For CNN to be successful with those various platforms, it needed to understand user expectations and act on them. With TV, for example, there’s little interaction; whereas on a Web site there’s more opportunity for navigation and seeking out of information. Knowing user behavior helps define CNN.com how to achieve the best value possible out of its product.TV-viewing is a leaning backwards experience, while Internet news Web site browsing is a leaning forward experience. Wireless products are designed to be digested quickly – only then they will have the strongest value proposition for both consumers and businesses.
It is important to take into the account of business development various cultural and technological habits and developments. In the U.S., mobile technology is not digested as quickly, as in other parts of the world, and Asia in particular. While the general value proposition is transparent – this technology helps people stay in touch and access news on the go – the reception of this technology by users differs from one part of the globe to another.
In Asia, as well as in Europe, there’s one uniform standard for mobile technology, while in the U.S. there are several. As an international operations company, CNN has to take a close look at such instances when evaluating its value propositions.
On the other hand, there’s no such preponderance of cable in Asia and Europe, as there’s in the U.S.; therefore, the natural inclination of users to go mobile in those parts of the world is far higher than in the U.S.Depending on the market and cultural tendencies, CNN launches products that have the potential of having the highest value possible, therefore, supporting the business model’s core; which in turn translates into higher revenue numbers.
CNN started delving into broadband in the early stages of its penetration. This was predicated by the fast-growing development of broadband and its availability to genera; audiences. Nowadays, more than 60% of households in the U.S. use broadband, and CNN,com is the number one news site, according to Nielsen/Net Ratings.
When the company launched its broadband initiatives, it exhibited its “firstness” phenomenon, while following business calculations on how profitable this new medium can be in the future. Both the “firstness” and careful analysis of the business and technological environments allowed CNN to be the first on the broadband front, which paid off in establishing a highly-desirable for advertisers and significant in size audience.
The product is delivered to various platforms in the CNN’s style and fashion: promptly and accurately. The ubiquity of CNN is reflected 24/7 on all major distribution platforms: be it a PDA, a laptop or a TV set. There’s SMS and e-mail alerts to reach users that are not in front of their TV sets.
Establishing this ubiquity early on, now allows CNN to distribute its product effectively from both reach and cost perspectives; therefore, establishing value to both consumers and businesses. This is also effective from the cost perspective, as distributing the same product via different channels doesn’t cost as much as creating different product for different platforms.
08 October, 2006
Weekly notes 10/02-10/09
Innovation and new technology as part of the value-driving process
From the network's start as the first 24/7 news operation, to being the first to break the news on September 11 – CNN has always had the idea of not only “the most trusted source in the news” but the first one as well.
The idea of firstness lies in the basis of CNN.com’s business model and translates to its value component as the most desired part of the value proposition for customers. To be the first on the market means establishing itself before other companies get to the same piece of the audience pie (which also means the ad revenue pie).
CNN.com was the first major news and information Web site. It was the first among major news organization to launch a completely user-driven application “CNN Exchange.” It was the first to offer a unique subscription-based and ad-free video product – CNN Pipeline.
Even in instances when launching a new product may face some resistance from consumers, CNN.com still followed the firstness model. Exchange was a risly enterprise, but CNN.com made sure it is as good as its own reporting product by putting people-reporters through the same process of vetting and approval as it does its own correspondents.
Then there was podcasting -- to add value to the existing CNN Radio product and to promote this product better across online channels of distribution. However, the public understanding of “podcasting” is still forming. When asked to define podcasting, a majority of Americans mention “file transfer,” “downloading,” “iPods,” “radio and/or television programming” most often. There seems to be some confusion about the differences among podcasting, Internet broadcasting and downloadable music.
Innovation and novelty, introduction of new products and marketing techniques; new methods of production and distribution have always been traditional ways of value creation. E-businesses also have an advantage of new distribution techniques in a new medium. E-bay moved forward in the marketplace after it introduced a new method of conducting transactions: consumer-to-consumer auction buying.
CNN.com is revolutionizing the media landscape by introducing and embracing around-the-clock and all-media approach to distributing news: from cable to radio to broadband to mobile to online. Regardless of where consumer is located physically, there’s always access to CNN.com. When consumers are not on the Web site generating pageviews, they can be reached via mobile services and e-mail alerts. This reach allows CNN.com to consume consumers in all lifecycles and in all environments.
The hassle-free way of getting news is in the basis of CNN’s business model and part of its value component. This approach is a one-stop shop for news consumers, which makes the product increasingly valuable due to its extent of reach and ease of access.
By launching Pipeline, CNN.com created a totally new market for video distribution, creating an even more attractive product by eliminating ads and offering a subscription-based model.
By launching Exchange, CNN.com reversed the information flow and allowed consumers to gain additional value by being a part of the newsgathering process and the ability to become a part of the firstness and the phenomenon of CNNing. The tagline CNN.com uses for promoting Exchange to users is “I report for CNN.” There are even corresponding t-shirts available for sale in the Turner store.
Virtual markets are unique. There are no time or place constraints. Geography is of no importance to the World Wide Web. Physical constraints are going away as well, as users are able to access the Internet not only from their desktop computers, but also from wireless laptops and wireless cell phones and PDAs. And CNN is represented in every channel of distribution.
Even with the newest technological advances like i-Pods and podcasting, CNN is making itself available to users and continue supporting its value to consumers.
Consumers find cell phones and broadband Internet access the most “life-changing” new technologies, according to Arbitron’s Internet and Multimedia 2006 report.
In its research, Arbitron have found that the item consumers reported having the most impact on their lives is the cell phone, with 38% of all respondents saying it had made a “big impact” on their lives. The second most important technology, the most powerful item is broadband Internet access. In the last year, iPod ownership more than doubled, from 10% to 22%.
Households with broadband Internet access have overgrown those with dial-up access. In 2005, the ratio of broadband and dial-up connections was 1 to 1. In 2006, 58% of households use either a cable or DSL modem for a high-speed Internet connection. 25% of those without a broadband Internet connection, say they plan to get high-speed Internet service in the next 12 months.
From the network's start as the first 24/7 news operation, to being the first to break the news on September 11 – CNN has always had the idea of not only “the most trusted source in the news” but the first one as well.The idea of firstness lies in the basis of CNN.com’s business model and translates to its value component as the most desired part of the value proposition for customers. To be the first on the market means establishing itself before other companies get to the same piece of the audience pie (which also means the ad revenue pie).
CNN.com was the first major news and information Web site. It was the first among major news organization to launch a completely user-driven application “CNN Exchange.” It was the first to offer a unique subscription-based and ad-free video product – CNN Pipeline.
Even in instances when launching a new product may face some resistance from consumers, CNN.com still followed the firstness model. Exchange was a risly enterprise, but CNN.com made sure it is as good as its own reporting product by putting people-reporters through the same process of vetting and approval as it does its own correspondents.
Then there was podcasting -- to add value to the existing CNN Radio product and to promote this product better across online channels of distribution. However, the public understanding of “podcasting” is still forming. When asked to define podcasting, a majority of Americans mention “file transfer,” “downloading,” “iPods,” “radio and/or television programming” most often. There seems to be some confusion about the differences among podcasting, Internet broadcasting and downloadable music.
Innovation and novelty, introduction of new products and marketing techniques; new methods of production and distribution have always been traditional ways of value creation. E-businesses also have an advantage of new distribution techniques in a new medium. E-bay moved forward in the marketplace after it introduced a new method of conducting transactions: consumer-to-consumer auction buying.
CNN.com is revolutionizing the media landscape by introducing and embracing around-the-clock and all-media approach to distributing news: from cable to radio to broadband to mobile to online. Regardless of where consumer is located physically, there’s always access to CNN.com. When consumers are not on the Web site generating pageviews, they can be reached via mobile services and e-mail alerts. This reach allows CNN.com to consume consumers in all lifecycles and in all environments.
The hassle-free way of getting news is in the basis of CNN’s business model and part of its value component. This approach is a one-stop shop for news consumers, which makes the product increasingly valuable due to its extent of reach and ease of access.
By launching Pipeline, CNN.com created a totally new market for video distribution, creating an even more attractive product by eliminating ads and offering a subscription-based model.
By launching Exchange, CNN.com reversed the information flow and allowed consumers to gain additional value by being a part of the newsgathering process and the ability to become a part of the firstness and the phenomenon of CNNing. The tagline CNN.com uses for promoting Exchange to users is “I report for CNN.” There are even corresponding t-shirts available for sale in the Turner store.
Virtual markets are unique. There are no time or place constraints. Geography is of no importance to the World Wide Web. Physical constraints are going away as well, as users are able to access the Internet not only from their desktop computers, but also from wireless laptops and wireless cell phones and PDAs. And CNN is represented in every channel of distribution.
Even with the newest technological advances like i-Pods and podcasting, CNN is making itself available to users and continue supporting its value to consumers.
Consumers find cell phones and broadband Internet access the most “life-changing” new technologies, according to Arbitron’s Internet and Multimedia 2006 report.
In its research, Arbitron have found that the item consumers reported having the most impact on their lives is the cell phone, with 38% of all respondents saying it had made a “big impact” on their lives. The second most important technology, the most powerful item is broadband Internet access. In the last year, iPod ownership more than doubled, from 10% to 22%.
Households with broadband Internet access have overgrown those with dial-up access. In 2005, the ratio of broadband and dial-up connections was 1 to 1. In 2006, 58% of households use either a cable or DSL modem for a high-speed Internet connection. 25% of those without a broadband Internet connection, say they plan to get high-speed Internet service in the next 12 months.
28 September, 2006
Weekly notes 09/25-10/02
Current online media landscape and trends
Since the inception of the online media business models used by news Web sites, the business landscape hasn’t changed much, except advertising becoming the main revenue source. Advertising is the dominate source of revenue to online news sites (Brown, 2003; Greer, 2004).
Furthermore, advertising is growing to be more sophisticated, interactive and targeted to extend the value proposition on the B2B side, as clients are looking for more innovative ways to showcase their products.
In 2006, advertisers are looking for more hi-tech and innovative ads: from simple banners to rich media like Flash, animations and interactive ads.
Studies show that 89 percent of news Web sites contain advertising (Greer, 2004), and 75 percent of revenue to newspaper Web sites comes from classified advertising (more than double the 36 percent for hardcopy editions) (Brown, 2003; Newspaper Association of America, 2006). A typical news homepage has five ads that take up about 10 percent of the front page (Greer and Mensing, 2004).
By 2004, online ad spending was at $145 per U.S. household with Internet access compared to $674 per newspaper home (Robertson, 2005-2006). After the dotcom crash in 2000, ad revenues dropped but traditional brand advertisers became the biggest spenders (Bruner, 2005; Greer, 2004).
By 2005, online advertising raised to almost $13 billion, which is almost 5 percent of total media spending (Foege, 2006). In 2003, it was only 2.5 percent.
Along with the revenue numbers, online traffic metrics is one of the measures of success. CNN.com gets over 22 million average monthly unique users (in 2005; Nielsen ratings). This amount of “eyeballs” is definitely attractive to any advertiser and translates well into revenue numbers for CNN.com.
Paid content is becoming increasingly important in CNN.com’s revenue stream, as the company is being able to offer unique and exclusive content wrapped in premium packages like Pipeline. The Wall Street Journal’s online edition follows the same model, offering unique business-related content.
Most news content providers and aggregators, however, may not be able to extend the same value proposition of a unique product. Their revenue seems to be mostly based on “bounty” and licensing fees, or revenue share models. When there’s no unique value proposition, there will be consumer resistance to subscription-based revenue models.
CNN.com as a continuous breaking news operator delivering the freshest content 24/7/365 has a unique advantage of having close to 4,000 journalists in all parts of the world, including the company’s 42 worldwide bureaus and more than 1,000 affiliates.
What makes the product even more valuable to consumers is the fact that most reporting is done by locals: be it in the U.S. or in Somalia. With the exception of a mega stars like Anderson Cooper going to Afghanistan on reporting trips, the majority of breaking news is handled by local correspondents that have knowledge of local history, customs, background of events and can offer a unique insight into a news development.
And the faster the broadband grows, the more “eyeballs” will CNN.com get: both at work and at home. Currently, the model seems to be serving users at work more than users at home, as many employers supply the broadband needed for watching premium products like Pipeline. But home use seems to be growing as well. As of March 2006, Internet penetration reached 73 percent of all American adults – 90 percent have broadband access at work and 42 percent at home (Horrigan, 2006b).
To further extend its product value, CNN.com captures its audience with mobile technologies. When there’s no Internet and no breaking news e-mail alerts, the text messaging technology SMS works to the company’s advantage in its “CNNtoGo” product line.
Since the inception of the online media business models used by news Web sites, the business landscape hasn’t changed much, except advertising becoming the main revenue source. Advertising is the dominate source of revenue to online news sites (Brown, 2003; Greer, 2004).
Furthermore, advertising is growing to be more sophisticated, interactive and targeted to extend the value proposition on the B2B side, as clients are looking for more innovative ways to showcase their products.
In 2006, advertisers are looking for more hi-tech and innovative ads: from simple banners to rich media like Flash, animations and interactive ads.
Studies show that 89 percent of news Web sites contain advertising (Greer, 2004), and 75 percent of revenue to newspaper Web sites comes from classified advertising (more than double the 36 percent for hardcopy editions) (Brown, 2003; Newspaper Association of America, 2006). A typical news homepage has five ads that take up about 10 percent of the front page (Greer and Mensing, 2004).
By 2004, online ad spending was at $145 per U.S. household with Internet access compared to $674 per newspaper home (Robertson, 2005-2006). After the dotcom crash in 2000, ad revenues dropped but traditional brand advertisers became the biggest spenders (Bruner, 2005; Greer, 2004).
By 2005, online advertising raised to almost $13 billion, which is almost 5 percent of total media spending (Foege, 2006). In 2003, it was only 2.5 percent.
Along with the revenue numbers, online traffic metrics is one of the measures of success. CNN.com gets over 22 million average monthly unique users (in 2005; Nielsen ratings). This amount of “eyeballs” is definitely attractive to any advertiser and translates well into revenue numbers for CNN.com.
Paid content is becoming increasingly important in CNN.com’s revenue stream, as the company is being able to offer unique and exclusive content wrapped in premium packages like Pipeline. The Wall Street Journal’s online edition follows the same model, offering unique business-related content.
Most news content providers and aggregators, however, may not be able to extend the same value proposition of a unique product. Their revenue seems to be mostly based on “bounty” and licensing fees, or revenue share models. When there’s no unique value proposition, there will be consumer resistance to subscription-based revenue models.
CNN.com as a continuous breaking news operator delivering the freshest content 24/7/365 has a unique advantage of having close to 4,000 journalists in all parts of the world, including the company’s 42 worldwide bureaus and more than 1,000 affiliates.
What makes the product even more valuable to consumers is the fact that most reporting is done by locals: be it in the U.S. or in Somalia. With the exception of a mega stars like Anderson Cooper going to Afghanistan on reporting trips, the majority of breaking news is handled by local correspondents that have knowledge of local history, customs, background of events and can offer a unique insight into a news development.
And the faster the broadband grows, the more “eyeballs” will CNN.com get: both at work and at home. Currently, the model seems to be serving users at work more than users at home, as many employers supply the broadband needed for watching premium products like Pipeline. But home use seems to be growing as well. As of March 2006, Internet penetration reached 73 percent of all American adults – 90 percent have broadband access at work and 42 percent at home (Horrigan, 2006b).
To further extend its product value, CNN.com captures its audience with mobile technologies. When there’s no Internet and no breaking news e-mail alerts, the text messaging technology SMS works to the company’s advantage in its “CNNtoGo” product line.
25 September, 2006
Weekly notes 09/18-09/25
Interview with Ramonica Harton
Director, Sales and Programming
CNN Interactive
Media Pool
Highlights:
Director, Sales and Programming
CNN Interactive
Media Pool
Highlights:CNN.com has its own sales force, which is separate from Time Warner, and Turner
The value of this proposition is very clear: getting to the audience through multiplatform approach is a dream come true for advertisers. Speaking of the B2B side of the value component of CNN.com’s business model…
With its adaptability and access to new platforms, essentially the Internet and its podcasting, video-on-demand, mobile services, interactive TV, CNN positions itself as a great catch for advertisers.
Greg D’Alba, the
As dot-com’s business model is ad revenue supported for the most part, the dollar numbers are of importance here. According to Broadcasting and Cable, domestic ad sales in 2005 were more than $400 million for CNN, Headline News and CNN.com.
With the explosion of pay-for-performance (
Overture and Google let advertisers to appear in search results as well as on partner Web sites. The companies generate revenue when users click the links. This is a revenue share model, as distribution partners get some percentage of it.
Overture is a very large pay-for-performance search engine that offers search listings in its extensive partner network on a pay-per-click basis. Minimum bid: $0.10. The partner network includes Yahoo!, Altavista, CNN.com, InfoSpace, MSN, NetZero, Juno, Sympatica, Dogpile, and many others. Overture claims advertiser receipt of over 170 million leads per month.
In the end, Overture get wider distribution, and CNN gets its ad dollars. According to
When Dell bought sponsorship of dot-com’s new product – the Exchange – the value of this deal was obvious for both sides. Dell’s desire to be associated with innovative technologies and groundbreaking content approach was in sync with CNN.com’s search for additional ad dollars from its long time customer.
The content product offered by CNN.com is appreciated by advertisers, as the breadth and depth of it allows specific targeting to achieve greater results, i.e. impressions, clicks and any other conversion metrics. Marriott buys ad space on the Travel section of the Web site, as there is the audience that is looking to travel.
To emphasize its value proposition, CNN.com sells ad spaces in special reports, which are sometimes produced for a specific advertiser. As in the case with
CNN's digital ad inventory is essentially limitless and includes streaming video, wireless, podcasting,
15 September, 2006
Weekly notes 09/11-09/18
Interview with Mitch Gelman
SVP & Executive Producer
CNN Interactive
Interview with Cecilia Villanueva
Manager of Partner relations
Sales and Programming
CNN Interactive
Media Pool
Highlights:
Satire: Summer intern already forgotten
SVP & Executive Producer
CNN Interactive
Interview with Cecilia Villanueva
Manager of Partner relations
Sales and Programming
CNN Interactive
Media Pool
Highlights:
No news organization can create all the content that it can benefit from. There are such obvious restrictions as the area of expertise, human and technological resources, timing, finances, etc. The idea of content acquisition and content partnerships has been widely employed on the CNN.com grounds. The benefit is obvious, when partners are carefully selected. The content acquired should compliment the already existing content and fit in the business model. The complimentaries play a substantial role in value component of any business model at several different points in time: from its inception to sustainability.
Currently, CNN.com has content partnerships with SportsIllustrated.com, EntertainmentWeekly.com, Business 2.0, The Christian Science Monitor, Time Magazine, Edmunds.com, CNN Money, People Magazine, MayoClinic.com, Fortune Magazine, CourtTV.com, FindLaw.com, BudgetTravelOnline.com, MedPage Today, CareerBuilder.com and CNN’s affiliate stations throughout the country.
The expertise and superior content that is brought by partners is used to emphasize the value of CNN.com’s own product. By attracting expert opinions, the dot-com’s product is reinforced as the leader in the news (entertainment, technology, health, etc.).
The benefit is mutual. While CNN takes advantage of additional content, the partners gain exposure to CNN.com’s 22 million uniques per month. In addition, every content deal is developed on a co-branded page and a link to “More information,” which goes straight to the partner site.
Partnership deals are carried out throughout the world due to the networks worldwide presence. In
No deal is the same. In 2005, CNN.com signed a deal with Yahoo! Inc. ABC News was also a part of this video content partnership, in which both news organizations were set to provide daily video feeds to Yahoo!
While Yahoo! is gaining reputable video content and shares the respectability of the abovementioned brands, it also makes profit by integrating CNN.com’s video content into the Yahoo! News section on a free and ad-supported platform.
On the consumer side, this partnership benefits the users by allowing them to access the inventory available on the Internet.
For CNN.com, the value of this agreement, is in the exposure to bigger online audiences, especially, since Yahoo! is on the list of dot-com’s major competitors on the Nielsen//NetRatings scale, even though it is only an aggregator.
The year of 2005 also brought the MedPage content partnership. CNN.com brings MedPage Today with its physician-reviewed, in-depth medical news to its more than 20 million unique visitors each month (including over 500,000 healthcare professionals).
"Our partnership with MedPage Today helps to enhance the delivery of top-quality content to CNN.com users," said Mitch Gelman, Senior Vice President and Executive Producer, CNN.com. "Our readers are highly engaged and appreciate in-depth reporting on stories they care about."
From the press release: “As part of the agreement, links to MedPage Today's contextually relevant medical news content will be available from CNN.com's health section. MedPage Today will also develop custom content for CNN.com, including two weekly columns: Medical Journal Roundup and Profiles in Medicine. MedPage Today will also feature links on its news website, www.MedPageToday.com, to CNN.com's health section, thereby providing its audience with better insight into the health news coverage by the mass media.”
Around September 2006, CNN.com added “The Onion” to the list of its content partners. “The Onion” is a known satiric news source on the Web and has a reputation of one of the nation's most popular humorous news publications and is all about parody, satire, sarcasm and mockery. One of the examples of their headlines as follows: "Schwarzenegger Campaign Running out of Movie-related Campaign Slogans."
With a weekly readership of over 2 million, The Onion’s BM is largely based on advertising revenue for both online and print editions. In addition to that, there is a book publishing business: Compilations of Onion’s articles are published as books and are available in bookstores nationwide. The latest one is called "The Onion Ad Nauseam, Volume 14."
Satire: Summer intern already forgotten
Under the terms of the partnership, CNN.com gives the Onion a prominent placement on the home page as well as on the U.S. section page and a co-branded environment with external links directly to The Onion’s Web site.
08 September, 2006
Weekly notes 09/04-09/11
Interview with Andy Mitchell
CNN Interactive -- New York
Director of Interactive Marketing
Dept.: Strategic Marketing
Highlights:
Dot-com's marketing department is working constantly on different marketing initiatives. The campaigns are mostly worldwide. Interactive marketing is implemented on several platforms: Online, free video, Pipeline, interactive TV, wireless. These digital properties are also used to promote TV content online -- TV/Web integration.
The selling point is the brand. In the current state of the media, CNN means immediacy, trust, worlwide and around-the-clock news coverage.
RPU (Revenue per User) is an online metric used to showcase revenue for every unique on a monthly basis. While there are no exact numbers available publicly, the RPU reflects the year over the year growth and financial success of the company.
Audience is broad -- 30 million, which is about the half of total online population. It is mixed in gender and is relatively upscale. Very little of behavioral marketing is done, if any. Most efforts are very broad marketing without particular targeting.
Dot-com's marketing is very active in the advertising and marketing industry and is frequently featured in such publications as Advertising Age and Media Week to position itself in front of the advertisers.
CNN's Ad/Marketing Strategy:
In terms of reinforcing and maintaining the value component of its business model, CNN.com operates on two fronts: B2C and B2B. If Business2Consumer part operates primarily on the editorial level, the Business2Business component is strategized and implemented in the Interactive Marketing and Sales departments.
The company employs a multiplatform ad strategy to satisfy the interests of both its advertisers and consumers. As any other media company in the era of the emerging media platforms industry, dot-com is focusing on delivering its value/product via different digital platforms: Internet, video, wireless, podcasting, video on demand, etc.
"Consumers access news everywhere: at home, at work, on the go by using different technology available at that point in time," says Andy Mitchell, Director of Interactive Marketing for CNN.com.
The more there are product distribution platforms, the more there are benefits for advertisers. CNN.com’s marketing strategy offers both end users and advertisers a unique proposition of accessing news on several different platforms, as well as place advertisements on those various platforms.
Ad placements on the site vary from textual ad links to fixed positions as the homepage roadblocks. In the end, the company creates more opportunities for more ad inventory on different distribution channels. The limited premium digital ad inventory gives advertisers access to CNN.com’
Success comes from combining various distribution platforms to maximize the reach and consumer exposure to ads, therefore, enhancing ad revenue. The advertising industry probably never had it this good, since multimedia content revolution took place on the Internet, as well as traditional media outlets.
The most successful marketing campaign
"The power of CNN under your command" (http://www.cnn.com/yourcommand/), launched in November 2004, featured a set of funny videos with the starry cast of TV personalities such as Christiane Amanpour, Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper, Lou Dobbs, Paula Zahn and Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
The humorous promotional spots were showcased on both TV and the Internet.
This project allowed CNN.com to showcase CNN as a whole and show that they don't take their serious business too seriously. For the online side of the business, it was a good experience to be associated with famous TV personalities, therefore, extending the brand name and its talent components to the digital platform. This project provided an online outlet for TV personalities and created a certain buzz in the industry as a whole.
Struggles with wireless
To many users, the wireless technology is still foreign, which makes it difficult to market CNNtoGo, the company's wireless arm. The new product must be logical and easy for users to understand, otherwise, it will fail. Wireless is still a relatively new notion in the minds of many consumers. The wireless carries promote their product and it helps in the overall education of consumers. CNNtoGo is built to accommodat current technology used by the carriers. People fear things they don't understand.
The eureka moment
It sounds silly, but it just dawned on me that the value component in dot-com's BM is not entirely concentrated in the editorial/consumer part of it -- i.e. the B2C and product offering module. The big part of the value-driving activity is in marketing, advertising, sales, programming, intra- and inter-company relations -- i.e. on the B2B side.
CNN Interactive -- New York
Director of Interactive Marketing
Dept.: Strategic Marketing
Highlights:
Dot-com's marketing department is working constantly on different marketing initiatives. The campaigns are mostly worldwide. Interactive marketing is implemented on several platforms: Online, free video, Pipeline, interactive TV, wireless. These digital properties are also used to promote TV content online -- TV/Web integration.
The selling point is the brand. In the current state of the media, CNN means immediacy, trust, worlwide and around-the-clock news coverage.
RPU (Revenue per User) is an online metric used to showcase revenue for every unique on a monthly basis. While there are no exact numbers available publicly, the RPU reflects the year over the year growth and financial success of the company.
Audience is broad -- 30 million, which is about the half of total online population. It is mixed in gender and is relatively upscale. Very little of behavioral marketing is done, if any. Most efforts are very broad marketing without particular targeting.
Dot-com's marketing is very active in the advertising and marketing industry and is frequently featured in such publications as Advertising Age and Media Week to position itself in front of the advertisers.
CNN's Ad/Marketing Strategy:
In terms of reinforcing and maintaining the value component of its business model, CNN.com operates on two fronts: B2C and B2B. If Business2Consumer part operates primarily on the editorial level, the Business2Business component is strategized and implemented in the Interactive Marketing and Sales departments.
The company employs a multiplatform ad strategy to satisfy the interests of both its advertisers and consumers. As any other media company in the era of the emerging media platforms industry, dot-com is focusing on delivering its value/product via different digital platforms: Internet, video, wireless, podcasting, video on demand, etc.
"Consumers access news everywhere: at home, at work, on the go by using different technology available at that point in time," says Andy Mitchell, Director of Interactive Marketing for CNN.com.
The more there are product distribution platforms, the more there are benefits for advertisers. CNN.com’s marketing strategy offers both end users and advertisers a unique proposition of accessing news on several different platforms, as well as place advertisements on those various platforms.
Ad placements on the site vary from textual ad links to fixed positions as the homepage roadblocks. In the end, the company creates more opportunities for more ad inventory on different distribution channels. The limited premium digital ad inventory gives advertisers access to CNN.com’
Success comes from combining various distribution platforms to maximize the reach and consumer exposure to ads, therefore, enhancing ad revenue. The advertising industry probably never had it this good, since multimedia content revolution took place on the Internet, as well as traditional media outlets.
The most successful marketing campaign"The power of CNN under your command" (http://www.cnn.com/yourcommand/), launched in November 2004, featured a set of funny videos with the starry cast of TV personalities such as Christiane Amanpour, Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper, Lou Dobbs, Paula Zahn and Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
The humorous promotional spots were showcased on both TV and the Internet.
This project allowed CNN.com to showcase CNN as a whole and show that they don't take their serious business too seriously. For the online side of the business, it was a good experience to be associated with famous TV personalities, therefore, extending the brand name and its talent components to the digital platform. This project provided an online outlet for TV personalities and created a certain buzz in the industry as a whole.
Struggles with wireless
To many users, the wireless technology is still foreign, which makes it difficult to market CNNtoGo, the company's wireless arm. The new product must be logical and easy for users to understand, otherwise, it will fail. Wireless is still a relatively new notion in the minds of many consumers. The wireless carries promote their product and it helps in the overall education of consumers. CNNtoGo is built to accommodat current technology used by the carriers. People fear things they don't understand.
The eureka moment
It sounds silly, but it just dawned on me that the value component in dot-com's BM is not entirely concentrated in the editorial/consumer part of it -- i.e. the B2C and product offering module. The big part of the value-driving activity is in marketing, advertising, sales, programming, intra- and inter-company relations -- i.e. on the B2B side.
02 September, 2006
Weekly notes 08/28-09/04
Interview with Manuel Perez
Supervising Producer-Interactive
CNN Interactive
U.S. Editorial
Highlights:
Org. Structure
What's interesting is that even mega stars like CNN.com are having recruiting troubles. That's me talking again about the organizational structure and the importance of versatile and talented staff that is responsible for creating the company's major product -- content. Dot-com is on a dry land for talented online journalists, as what the "old force" learned, it learned on the spot, but there are no people who come in with specific education in online journalism and convergence -- at least, not yet, or not as many as desired.
The need is in professionals of digital storytelling, which still is a rare talent/skill to find, bus so much needed by the industry.
I produced several multimedia projects working in a team with a writer whose background is quite impressive and includes experience of working for major newspapers and wire services. But the thing is that there's no multimedia background, or knowledge, which, clearly, complicates the process of achieving goals. So, I see why dot-com is struggling to find talents.
Sustaining the product value
On a different note, there's a struggle to refine products all the time. In the late 90's video integration was crude as the videos themselves (very low quality). Now, video is integrated into interactivity and textual stories. In the latter, it is a link next to a relevant line in the story; that would pop up a video player window to show you something that's better to see than to read about. Video is also being vigorously integrated into multimedia content: photo galleries and explainers, as well as interactive maps. This only makes sense from a business perspective, where there is so much video content that is aggregated in the process of newsgathering, it would be wrong not to put it through all available channels of distribution: from cable to online.
Reputation
When nothing happens, people watch/read Fox, but when there’s breaking news – it’s always CNN, as the network, along with its other distribution channels like Internet, became almost a synonym for breaking news. The reputation of the brand name may be considered to be well deserved: CNN was the first (or the best) to have covered the Berlin Wall destruction, the Persian Gulf War, September 11 attacks and Hurricane Katrina devastation to name a few. For the latter, the network even got a Peabody Award in 2005. The value of dot-com’s product in the event of breaking news is consistency, proven results, worldwide coverage, speed and accuracy. In addition, there’s a network developed perception of “the most trusted name in the news,” which translated to online beautifully. And it even got better: on the Internet people go t find out what’s breaking right this second, and, chances are, CNN.com will tell them.
Stickiness
An online metric crucial to the success of an online medium… On the editorial side of dot-com, there is a continuous effort to improve writing, headlines, provide more compelling images and frequent updates. To pull people in, there are breaking news e-mail alerts and banners.
Supervising Producer-Interactive
CNN Interactive
U.S. Editorial
Highlights:
Org. Structure
What's interesting is that even mega stars like CNN.com are having recruiting troubles. That's me talking again about the organizational structure and the importance of versatile and talented staff that is responsible for creating the company's major product -- content. Dot-com is on a dry land for talented online journalists, as what the "old force" learned, it learned on the spot, but there are no people who come in with specific education in online journalism and convergence -- at least, not yet, or not as many as desired.The need is in professionals of digital storytelling, which still is a rare talent/skill to find, bus so much needed by the industry.
I produced several multimedia projects working in a team with a writer whose background is quite impressive and includes experience of working for major newspapers and wire services. But the thing is that there's no multimedia background, or knowledge, which, clearly, complicates the process of achieving goals. So, I see why dot-com is struggling to find talents.
Sustaining the product value
On a different note, there's a struggle to refine products all the time. In the late 90's video integration was crude as the videos themselves (very low quality). Now, video is integrated into interactivity and textual stories. In the latter, it is a link next to a relevant line in the story; that would pop up a video player window to show you something that's better to see than to read about. Video is also being vigorously integrated into multimedia content: photo galleries and explainers, as well as interactive maps. This only makes sense from a business perspective, where there is so much video content that is aggregated in the process of newsgathering, it would be wrong not to put it through all available channels of distribution: from cable to online.
Reputation
When nothing happens, people watch/read Fox, but when there’s breaking news – it’s always CNN, as the network, along with its other distribution channels like Internet, became almost a synonym for breaking news. The reputation of the brand name may be considered to be well deserved: CNN was the first (or the best) to have covered the Berlin Wall destruction, the Persian Gulf War, September 11 attacks and Hurricane Katrina devastation to name a few. For the latter, the network even got a Peabody Award in 2005. The value of dot-com’s product in the event of breaking news is consistency, proven results, worldwide coverage, speed and accuracy. In addition, there’s a network developed perception of “the most trusted name in the news,” which translated to online beautifully. And it even got better: on the Internet people go t find out what’s breaking right this second, and, chances are, CNN.com will tell them.
Stickiness
An online metric crucial to the success of an online medium… On the editorial side of dot-com, there is a continuous effort to improve writing, headlines, provide more compelling images and frequent updates. To pull people in, there are breaking news e-mail alerts and banners.
28 August, 2006
Weekly notes 08/21-08/28
CNN.com realizes the value of citizen journalism
Although dot-com has been making some attempts in the area of collecting user-generated content earlier, CNN.com wasn't the first among news organizations to introduce citizen journalism as a substantial part of their product and business activities. Look at MyMissourian, for example :) But, as far as major news organizations, plunging into the the world of user-submitted content, CNN.com yet again is a pioneer in the industry.
CNN Exchange http://www.cnn.com/exchange/ launched in August 2006, and is now positioned equally to other sections, such as Politics, Health, and Entertainment.
CNN Exchange organizes user-submitted content on a page in a catalogized fashion. The page includes a spotlight section
http://www.cnn.com/exchange/ireports/spotlight.html
Blogs and commentaries from TV personalities also found their home on Exchange: Anderson Cooper’s 360° Blog, analytical commentaries from people outside the news organization write their thoughts under the “Special for CNN” initiative.
There are also polls (Quick Vote), links to other "citizen journalism" sites, user commentaries, on daily news reports, CNN.com Top Picks section and Cartoon Clicks.
Exchange also serves as a placeholder for the legal disclaimer, which, again, is designed to conserve resources and employee resources that would normally be spent on signing releases, fact checking (which is still done), contacting users for verification purposes, etc.
This is the first time dot-com gave so much space and importance to the wonder of the online world, that has been a popular topic in the online world for both professionals and professors. With the culture of innovation being so ingrained in this company, it is strange that citizen journalism hasn't received its portion of attention earlier. However, the company presents it in a different light: “In another indication of CNN Worldwide's leadership in journalistic innovation, CNN.com today announced the launch of "CNN Exchange," a comprehensive user-generated content destination that features user-submitted video, audio, articles and graphics and also allows users to interact directly with the site's news reports, commentaries and polls.”
From the official press release http://www.timewarner.com/corp/newsroom/pr/0,20812,1221643,00.html
I would think that business objectives stood in the way of devoting resources and time to a project like this: while it’s hot and talked about, the business owners are not quite convinced it’s worth the effort and the financial investment. However, as soon as the value of this product was realized (after it was proven in other media outlets), CNN.com went forward with developing its own citizen journalism application in order to remain competitive and add value to the overall product.
On the other hand, Web 2.o ventures, like MySpace.com are only slightly profitable, as advertisers are wary of having their names displayed next to examples of “unprofessionalism.” And for dot-com being fully supported by ad revenue, it is understandable to be cautious with the launch of this new product. Right now, Dell is one of the sponsors of CNN Exchange. How CNN managed to do that? By imposing the same quality standards on user-submitted content, as they do on their own journalists’ work. See more on that below.
Several mini-attempts have been made during major breaking news events like bombings in London, Hurricane Katrina, earthquake in South Asia, and others. Here are some examples of user-generated content from the era before the Exchange:
Gallery: Katrina aftermath http://www.cnn.com/interactive/us/0508/gallery.katrina.citizens/frameset.exclude.html
Gallery: People pitch in http://www.cnn.com/interactive/us/0509/gallery.citj.relef/frameset.exclude.html
Gallery: Asia quake
http://www.cnn.com/interactive/world/0510/gallery.quake.viewer.photos/frameset.exclude.html
Gallery: Online evolution
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2005/online.evolution/interactive/gallery.email/frameset.exclude.html
Most frequently, citizen journalism existed in the form of soliciting feedback about certain events. This is an example from the times of Hurricane Katrina coverage:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/11/07/feedback.rebuild/index.html
Simple, yet effective way, of getting user-supplied content was done through user submission pages and forms on the Web site, which then go to a designated e-mail box and are manually sorted through and moderated by the editorial department.
With the launch of CNN Exchange, a more sophisticated way of collaborating with viewers/readers took place. The branding of this portion of the site is concluded in I-reports that allow you to “Send your story. Share your thoughts. Make your mark.”
To start off, CNN gives you a do-it-yourself guide to being a journalist. This “Toolkit” was created by interviewing real CNN journalists, camera men, photographers, audio editors to gather tips for best practices of online journalism and to establish a standard that CNN’s business model is built on.
The page http://www.cnn.com/exchange/ireports/toolkit/index.html gives tips on taking good photos, audio and video and uncovers “trade secrets” to educate users about online journalism, so the “I-Reporters” can provide quality content for use on the Web site. This is sort of “It’s better to train, that re-train” idea employed here in order to save time and money and scarce resources.
In the PR campaign devoted to the launch of CNN Exchange, the product was presented as demanding the same quality as of CNN’s own reporters. All submissions go through the same vetting and approval process as CNN’s own original reporting.
CNN’s spokesperson Jen Martin said "All of our reporting, even from our own internal correspondents, goes through some very strict vetting. We're going to hold this user-generated content to those same standards." In other words, it is the same editorial control as inside the network, which is healthy for both high-quality journalism standards and for attracting advertisers like Dell. But, then again, journalists as gatekeepers is not a new idea at all.
Quote from http://www.internetnews.com/ec-news/article.php/3623906:
I especially like this feedback on Exchange from mashable.com, where the author refers to the service as CNN’s answer to YouTube, as well as notes how late in the game CNN was with this product offering: http://mashable.com/2006/07/31/cnn-exchange-cnns-answer-to-youtube/
From MediaWeek:
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002915775
While CNN has been collecting user-generated fare for some time, as more Web users become active participants when consuming news, professional organizations must further embrace this trend, say officials. “User-generated content has the potential to play a pivotal role in journalism whether it’s online or offline,” said Mitch Gelman, senior vp and executive producer for CNN.com. “With CNN Exchange, we’ve essentially created a one-stop shop for CNN.com users to share their contributions with other Internet users, as well as to weigh in on the day’s most pressing news.”
Other opinions on CNN’s new venture include this one from Gawker.com (Warning: Gawker’s language may be offensive) http://www.gawker.com/news/cnn/cnn-exchange-enters-messy-clusterfuck-of-citizen-journalism-191238.php
The major difference between CNN’s citizen journalism product and other media outlets that embrace readers’ contribution is that CNN imposes the same standards of quality, as to its own, in-house created product. All of that is done in order to protect “the most trusted name in the news” brand, and still keep the value of the product up a notch.
Other citizen journalism pros talk about the value of objectivity, but in a different sense: The OhMyNews.com founder Oh Yeon Ho has a different view of objectivity. He says “We put everything out there and the people judge for themselves… We do not regard objective reporting as a source of pride. OhmyNews does not regard straight news articles as the standard. Articles including both facts and opinions are acceptable when they are good. Thus, we not only break the concept of "who reporters are," but also break the formula of "reporters are supposed to be like blah, blah, blah." From http://www.mediamanagementcenter.org/updates/mainstory.asp
Although dot-com has been making some attempts in the area of collecting user-generated content earlier, CNN.com wasn't the first among news organizations to introduce citizen journalism as a substantial part of their product and business activities. Look at MyMissourian, for example :) But, as far as major news organizations, plunging into the the world of user-submitted content, CNN.com yet again is a pioneer in the industry.
CNN Exchange http://www.cnn.com/exchange/ launched in August 2006, and is now positioned equally to other sections, such as Politics, Health, and Entertainment.
CNN Exchange organizes user-submitted content on a page in a catalogized fashion. The page includes a spotlight section
http://www.cnn.com/exchange/ireports/spotlight.html
Blogs and commentaries from TV personalities also found their home on Exchange: Anderson Cooper’s 360° Blog, analytical commentaries from people outside the news organization write their thoughts under the “Special for CNN” initiative.
There are also polls (Quick Vote), links to other "citizen journalism" sites, user commentaries, on daily news reports, CNN.com Top Picks section and Cartoon Clicks.
Exchange also serves as a placeholder for the legal disclaimer, which, again, is designed to conserve resources and employee resources that would normally be spent on signing releases, fact checking (which is still done), contacting users for verification purposes, etc.
This is the first time dot-com gave so much space and importance to the wonder of the online world, that has been a popular topic in the online world for both professionals and professors. With the culture of innovation being so ingrained in this company, it is strange that citizen journalism hasn't received its portion of attention earlier. However, the company presents it in a different light: “In another indication of CNN Worldwide's leadership in journalistic innovation, CNN.com today announced the launch of "CNN Exchange," a comprehensive user-generated content destination that features user-submitted video, audio, articles and graphics and also allows users to interact directly with the site's news reports, commentaries and polls.”
From the official press release http://www.timewarner.com/corp/newsroom/pr/0,20812,1221643,00.html
I would think that business objectives stood in the way of devoting resources and time to a project like this: while it’s hot and talked about, the business owners are not quite convinced it’s worth the effort and the financial investment. However, as soon as the value of this product was realized (after it was proven in other media outlets), CNN.com went forward with developing its own citizen journalism application in order to remain competitive and add value to the overall product.
On the other hand, Web 2.o ventures, like MySpace.com are only slightly profitable, as advertisers are wary of having their names displayed next to examples of “unprofessionalism.” And for dot-com being fully supported by ad revenue, it is understandable to be cautious with the launch of this new product. Right now, Dell is one of the sponsors of CNN Exchange. How CNN managed to do that? By imposing the same quality standards on user-submitted content, as they do on their own journalists’ work. See more on that below.
Several mini-attempts have been made during major breaking news events like bombings in London, Hurricane Katrina, earthquake in South Asia, and others. Here are some examples of user-generated content from the era before the Exchange:
Gallery: Katrina aftermath http://www.cnn.com/interactive/us/0508/gallery.katrina.citizens/frameset.exclude.html
Gallery: People pitch in http://www.cnn.com/interactive/us/0509/gallery.citj.relef/frameset.exclude.html
Gallery: Asia quake
http://www.cnn.com/interactive/world/0510/gallery.quake.viewer.photos/frameset.exclude.html
Gallery: Online evolution
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2005/online.evolution/interactive/gallery.email/frameset.exclude.html
Most frequently, citizen journalism existed in the form of soliciting feedback about certain events. This is an example from the times of Hurricane Katrina coverage:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/11/07/feedback.rebuild/index.html
Simple, yet effective way, of getting user-supplied content was done through user submission pages and forms on the Web site, which then go to a designated e-mail box and are manually sorted through and moderated by the editorial department.
With the launch of CNN Exchange, a more sophisticated way of collaborating with viewers/readers took place. The branding of this portion of the site is concluded in I-reports that allow you to “Send your story. Share your thoughts. Make your mark.”
To start off, CNN gives you a do-it-yourself guide to being a journalist. This “Toolkit” was created by interviewing real CNN journalists, camera men, photographers, audio editors to gather tips for best practices of online journalism and to establish a standard that CNN’s business model is built on.
The page http://www.cnn.com/exchange/ireports/toolkit/index.html gives tips on taking good photos, audio and video and uncovers “trade secrets” to educate users about online journalism, so the “I-Reporters” can provide quality content for use on the Web site. This is sort of “It’s better to train, that re-train” idea employed here in order to save time and money and scarce resources.
In the PR campaign devoted to the launch of CNN Exchange, the product was presented as demanding the same quality as of CNN’s own reporters. All submissions go through the same vetting and approval process as CNN’s own original reporting.
CNN’s spokesperson Jen Martin said "All of our reporting, even from our own internal correspondents, goes through some very strict vetting. We're going to hold this user-generated content to those same standards." In other words, it is the same editorial control as inside the network, which is healthy for both high-quality journalism standards and for attracting advertisers like Dell. But, then again, journalists as gatekeepers is not a new idea at all.
Quote from http://www.internetnews.com/ec-news/article.php/3623906:
I especially like this feedback on Exchange from mashable.com, where the author refers to the service as CNN’s answer to YouTube, as well as notes how late in the game CNN was with this product offering: http://mashable.com/2006/07/31/cnn-exchange-cnns-answer-to-youtube/
From MediaWeek:
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002915775
While CNN has been collecting user-generated fare for some time, as more Web users become active participants when consuming news, professional organizations must further embrace this trend, say officials. “User-generated content has the potential to play a pivotal role in journalism whether it’s online or offline,” said Mitch Gelman, senior vp and executive producer for CNN.com. “With CNN Exchange, we’ve essentially created a one-stop shop for CNN.com users to share their contributions with other Internet users, as well as to weigh in on the day’s most pressing news.”
Other opinions on CNN’s new venture include this one from Gawker.com (Warning: Gawker’s language may be offensive) http://www.gawker.com/news/cnn/cnn-exchange-enters-messy-clusterfuck-of-citizen-journalism-191238.php
The major difference between CNN’s citizen journalism product and other media outlets that embrace readers’ contribution is that CNN imposes the same standards of quality, as to its own, in-house created product. All of that is done in order to protect “the most trusted name in the news” brand, and still keep the value of the product up a notch.
Other citizen journalism pros talk about the value of objectivity, but in a different sense: The OhMyNews.com founder Oh Yeon Ho has a different view of objectivity. He says “We put everything out there and the people judge for themselves… We do not regard objective reporting as a source of pride. OhmyNews does not regard straight news articles as the standard. Articles including both facts and opinions are acceptable when they are good. Thus, we not only break the concept of "who reporters are," but also break the formula of "reporters are supposed to be like blah, blah, blah." From http://www.mediamanagementcenter.org/updates/mainstory.asp
21 August, 2006
Weekly notes 08/14-08/21
Creating values online
All business models for online media are created with one thought in mind: to generate revenue. Doing quality journalism at the same time is an extra bonus.
While adopting business models from offline businesses, online media tweak their own business models for several different purposes that are dependant on the business environment and objectives. With CNN.com, the online business model (BM) was based on the cable network BM, since cable was the originating business.
However, it was changed substantially to reflect a different environment and peculiarities of the medium – the Internet. In the cable network BM, there are B2B streams of revenue: from distribution and from advertisers. In the online BM, in addition to B2B streams there’s a C2B revenue stream, which is represented by subscription-based premium products like Pipeline, where users can pay additional money to be able to get access to the premium tier of the product.
But one of the common elements in the bricks-and-mortar model as compared to its online counterpart is value and processes of value creation. To be successful and profitable, the company must offer to customers a product that is not available somewhere else and that is of value to customers. (Porter, M. E. "Towards a Dynamic Theory of Strategy." Strategic Management Journal (winter 1991).
Affuah and Tucci note that customer value can take two forms: differentiation or lower cost. Since the second value is attributed mostly to distribution-based formulas for business models; the value of differentiated product is more appropriate to the discussion in terms of the business of online media.
To elaborate on this observation, I would also add such variables as timeliness, established brand name, customer loyalty, content, novelty (or innovation) and efficiency (i.e. usability) to the list of values important to customers of an online news organization like CNN.com. Lock-in and, the so-called, complimentaries also play an important role in the processes of value creation and maintenance. The latter two terms come from Amit and Zott and translate well into dot-com’s business model as stickiness and loyalty for the first one and partner-supplied content and other add-ons, or a good product mix, for the second term.
Porter, among other researchers, say that the differentiation component of customer value can be accomplished in 8 ways: product features, timing, location, service, product mix, linkage between functions, linkage with other firms and reputation. (Porter, M. E. Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors. New York: Free Press, 1980. (Republished with a new introduction, 1998.) Although, this is a general concept that’s not necessarily applicable to all business models and all business environments, there are some common traits that are universal to all BMs, including those employed by online media companies.
Targeting the right audience and appropriate market segmentation is also important for the viability of a BM. In case with CNN.com, the quality of their audience is an important indicator in the revenue-generating capability of the company, as demographics and other online metrics play a crucial role in the process of pricing ad placements for advertisers. On another hand, what’s of value to some people may not be of value to others. And dot-com does a great job of targeting its product to mature, adult, educated, sophisticated, employed demographics that is so desirable for the advertisers.
Another part of the value equation is the value creation activities that are performed by employees. According to Porter (Porter, M. E. The Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance. N.Y.: Free Press, 1998.), firms must perform the activities that underpin the value. CNN.com’s main line of activities to underpin the value is content creation. More on that -- in the earlier notes from August.
Human resources are crucial in the processes of value creation for online media business models. Dependant on the capabilities and versatility of talents, the product quality, and therefore its value, may differ substantially. Distinctive product is produced by distinctive workers – this is a universal principle that applies to many industries outside online media.
Sustainability of product value and profits is yet another challenge faced by online media companies that are trying to develop or maintain a well-sustained BM on the competitive arena. The more innovative are the ways to retain a competitive advantage, the better it is for the overall success of an enterprise. I would categorize CNN.com’s launch of CNN Exchange as one of those events, when to sustain its superiority on the market the company goes an extra mile to put yet another innovative product on the market in hopes to add to the existing value component of its BM.
14 August, 2006
Weekly notes 08/07-08/14
Interview with Laura Fortner
Time Warner
VP, Business Development & Planning
Dept: Business Development
Highlights:
Uniqueness of dot-com business model:
- The product wasn't dependent on TV
- Separate editorial team
- Early emergence in the online journalism arena
- Video offering (Didn't work that well during the era of dial-up)
- With time, more convergence between TV and online to benefit both
Revenue:
Mostly, ad-based revenue generation streams.
Time Warner
VP, Business Development & Planning
Dept: Business Development
Highlights:
Uniqueness of dot-com business model:
- The product wasn't dependent on TV
- Separate editorial team
- Early emergence in the online journalism arena
- Video offering (Didn't work that well during the era of dial-up)
- With time, more convergence between TV and online to benefit both
Revenue:
Mostly, ad-based revenue generation streams.
Advertisers appreciate and seek out for online metrics like CNN.com's, i.e. 23 million uniques/month. Advertisers are reached with brand, credibility, which allows CNN Sales to extend premium pricing options and make more money. Diversification also plays a great role in creating more revenue: as compared to cable business model (BM), there are more partner relations with more partner content, as well as unique video products not available in the cable environment (e.g. Pipeline).
Pipeline launched in December 2005, ad-supported and free, subscription-based model was dropped (with Real Networks) as prices for distribution grew, Pipeline- is CNN.com standalone product, allows to collect proper user information. Pipeline's model is compliant with modern ad market: more broadband accessibility at home and at work, unique product proposition, all depts in the company worked hand-in-hand on the product (convergence).
Talking about innovation and unique value propositions: the competitive edge of Pipeline is the ability for users to watch several live video streams at the same time. On the other side, there's constant effort to maintain stickiness, which in this case is reflected in resources and expense spent on developing a unique to the product and user-friendly video player.
The continuous challenge is to sustain the trademark and the breadth of content, by being the first source for consumers not only in breaking news situations, but on a daily basis. The goal is to develop more stickiness, where users spend more time on the site and generate more page views. The ideal situation is when they land on the home page and browse further: to the Health section, for example, and further to other sections from there. In the effort to make content more robust, dot-com is developing several partner relations with other news organizations, such as Time, Christian Science Monitor, and others. More on partner-supplied content and relations is coming up later.
The breadth of content and good numbers in online metrics reflects on the business side of the company: more content, more page views, more advertising inventory, more revenue.
Unique value proposition
Starting from the network's early history, revolutionary innovation has always been the key. Being a TV network that operates 24/7 around the world was revolutionary and translated well into the online environment. From original and brand new textual content to video and audio podcasts, dot-com strives to be ahead in the game. As part of the uniqueness, constant updates of the site (which are indicated on the main page as in Updated 10:36 p.m.) were also mentioned, although, this is not a distinctive feature in the online media market. NY Times, as well as others, have the same feature in place.
07 August, 2006
Weekly notes 08/01-08/07
Organizational structure and content creation
First, I think I'll talk about the organizational structure and processes of content creation at CNN.com. Why content, you ask? My theory is that content is the main component of an online medium success and the main ingredient in the value proposition extended by a company as part of its business model. Not to mention that Bill Gates uttered "Content is king," and I find it hard not to agree with him after so much time working as a print/broadcast journalist, and, most recently, -- as an online journalist.
There are several types of content offered at dot-com: textual articles, videos, multimedia, graphics. I was primarily involved in producing multimedia content. This is a content stream that differentiates cnn.com from competitors very well. Apart from the NYtimes.com, where multimedia content is created by, surprisingly, graphic designers, CNN.com is at the top of the game offering Internet-specific type of content: interactive and multimedial. This type of content is primarily represented by audio slide shows, interactive maps, interactive explainers, photo galleries, etc.
I'll show an example of such content, which I worked on. This is an example of, what I think, is a true piece of multimedia content (i.e. integration of several types of content, which, from a technical perspective, is unique to the Internet and is hardly achieved in any other media): Tour the aquarium http://www.cnn.com/interactive/us/0511/ga.aquarium.tour/frameset.exclude.html
The project was intended to give an online tour of the soon-to-be-open Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. From the organizational perspective, it involved several different departments within Cnn.com and beyond: editorial, design, Pipeline, CNN radio, CNN TV. Designers, working with their editorial counterparts (usually, an associate producer (AP) or a producer for interactivity), create the look and feel of an interactive, while accommodating all the editorial objectives. A photographer, who is also an AP, goes out to the location to shoot the material, which is later produced into a set of photo galleries. The content for photo galleries is written by an AP and edited by a copy editor. AP also does the research to be able to write content. As you see, there's very minimal use of human resources, which allows the company to have a tightly structured, yet successful team of editorial professionals, who are very versatile in their talents and can do many jobs at once.
While a designer creates the visuals and the mapped layout, the AP writes all copy for the whole interactive as well. Granted this project took more than one AP to research and write the copy due to its extensiveness, but usually the resources are more limited than this.
Not only it's a great example of multimedia content, but also it is very representative of TV-Internet convergence efforts taken at dot-com. CNN Radio was involved in producing audio pieces of the project (which is normally done at dot-com by APs, talking about versatility again). Pipeline’s anchor was involved as a narrator talent for this piece. TV’s crew went to the location to shoot a package and did some work for dot-com as well. It is quite rare that a non-breaking news event gets so much attention, but the fact of the location proximity (Atlanta, GA) and the extent of the event (the biggest aquarium in the world) allowed this project to get more resources.
Another example I wanted to share is this audio slideshow I produced for the Coming Home special project (for the Memorial Day). CNN goes to great strides to be innovative and to create unique content that would differentiate the company from the competition. Recently, more and more “real” online journalism has been surfacing in the Web site, where the staff actually travels to locations and does its own; separate from the network, newsgathering specifically to produce online content.
This is the special report http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2006/coming.home/ and one of the audio slide shows I worked on is about the widow of the war -- Ms. Fuller.
For breaking news situations, there’s an Enhanced Coverage Producer, whose role is to map out the newsroom’s involvement and create plans of attack as to how stories and interactivity gets accomplished. I will attach a sample plan later.
The whole idea of content creation is that the department puts every effort and being the first, but being accurate. It is this idea of supporting the brand name that takes dot-com further every time the news breaks. As well as a team of excellent journalists and supervisors, who were carefully selected and function well as a team. The team’s efficiency is the company’s efficiency in reaching its objectives on both the editorial and business sides.
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