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Subscribe BROADCAST STATION AND WEB SITE PROGRAMMING Articles
SINCLAIR'S BALTIMORE SUPERCAST WEB SITES DRIVING TRAFFIC AND REVENUE WITH CLASSIFIEDS Sinclair Broadcasting Group, Inc. began offering free classified advertising space on its Baltimore Supercast sites WBFF (www.wbff45.com) and WNUV (www.wnuv54.com)three months ago, and VP of New Technology Nat Ostroff says he's already convinced the initiative can not only pay for site development but also turn into a profit center. Broadcasters trying to make a buck with Web sites have to exercise every revenue-generating possibility like everyone else online. The advantage for broadcasters like Sinclair, however, is their over-the-air franchise is a powerful platform to point people online, and on-air mentions can be slotted into a variety of promotional opportunities running throughout the day. Sinclair went into classified business for several reasons: 1) To create content that is compelling and drives repeat usage; 2) Direct that user traffic to other Supercast pages; and 3) Get the headcount up which provides incentive for advertisers to buy more media on other parts of the site. While the classified advertising business is new to Sinclair, and other broadcasters for that matter, the business model is a very familiar one to Internet developers: User-generated content is hosted to foster communities of interest. Traffic and eyeballs forming around targeted content are equivalent to online currency, because that user traffic can be sold to advertisers. "Private parties can put up advertising for free. That creates content for people to browse, and commercial advertisers (auto dealers, commercial real estate brokers, mortgage loan offices) pay a flat fee for ad positioning within those content domains. It's no different than buying an ad in the Baltimore Sun," says Ostroff. Ostroff declined to reveal CPM rates, but did say pricing is based on the "perception" of value to a particular client. "Each deal is negotiated. As we develop more experience in this process, there will be less and less negotiation." Both sites have seen a positive slope in usage since the classifieds went up. There were months -- prior to classifieds going up -- when traffic was flat. "We think classifieds are a growing phenomenon. People are only beginning to discover them. We're just now starting to get the first personal ads. Once the personal ads get launched, the area will become a larger meeting point and another area against which to sell sponsorships." WBFF and WNUV are getting a combined 20,000 unique user sessions per month. WBFF is an O & O and WNUV is operated under a local management agreement (LMS). Sinclair's Supercast site is set up so there is a common site interface, but each of the station's URLs is promoted individually. Only 14 out of 44 (32%) of Sinclair's O & O stations, LMAs and pending acquisitions have Web sites up and running (see table below). Classifieds will be eventually rolled out across all Sinclair sites, but some sites may not be run under the Supercast brand name.
Sinclair is considering contracting with outside vendors to develop some its sites, particularly those without local news teams. Sinclair does not have any stations in the top ten DMAs (and does not face the FCC mandate to begin digital broadcasts this year), and its highest market ranked stations are WPGH and WPTT in Pittsburgh, PA. Pitching for GRPs Interactive media ventures are often held to high performance standards compared to cable TV channels and other entertainment media programming that launch and don't expect to see payback for years. Sinclair's New Media Group has to present a good business case for Gross Ratings Points (GRPs) to promote its online classifieds and other programming initiatives, but Ostroff says the battle is somewhat easier because company president David Smith is an advocate of the venture. "The owner of the company gets it, and he is willing to invest GRPs and some of the company's revenue to find out what the killer app is." There is no information available on the number of GRPs Sinclair allocates per week to inform viewers. "We have not added up the gross rating points, but they have been made available." Turnkey content providers (i.e. CityWeb and NBC Interactive Neighborhood) pitch for as many as 125 GRPs per week to supply national and customized programming to broadcast affiliates. Sinclair has so far not worked with CityWeb or NBC IN, and has not been approached by those providers, according to Ostroff. Supercast sites do have links to network sites and news progammers like CNN, but they have to go to Sinclair pages to get there. Nat Ostroff 410-467-5005 WFAA-TV CONCLUDES TWO-WEEK WEBCAST OF MIDSHIPMAN TRIAL, SOLIDIFIES RE-BROADCAST RELATIONSHIP WITH AUDIONET Dallas-based WFAA-TV began simulcasts of its news and morning variety programming on the Web January 9 of this year, and recently concluded its first alternative ‘event’ Webcast in cooperation with Audionet, a two week live video feed from the murder trial of a former female U.S. Navy Midshipman. "WFAA wasn’t going to broadcast the trial live over the air, but instead chose to broadcast it over the Web. It was a test of alternative programming available exclusively through a broadcast affiliate over the Internet," according to Walt Zwirko, Director of Internet Development at WFAA. "We view simulcasts as a competitive advantage. The numbers on the Web can’t compare with over the air broadcasts, but it’s a new market we have to be in for competitive advantage," he said. WFAA is the number one rated broadcaster in the Dallas/Ft. Worth market. WFAA’s web site (see table) generates about 10,000 user sessions per day. The average session length is about 10 minutes on the site. Weather is the biggest draw.
WFAA started simulcasting news and other local programming in audio only with one PC in Zwirko’s office back in 1996. "It was hard to demonstrate the potential to station executives without the video component. Audio was simple to do, but did not make an impact." "We’re in the video business. On the Web, even less than broadcast quality video is acceptable for a trial, panels or talking heads. And executives were impressed with the out of market access." According to Audionet, about 70% of its users tune to local stations, and 30% are out of market. A.H. Belo-owned WFAA used RealNetworks Real Video streaming media solution. Dallas-based Audionet supplied the video servers, bandwidth and handled distribution. WFAA purchased access to the pool feed from Court TV. The video feed was also being simulcast on Court TV’s site using Microsoft’s Netshow product. The live, unedited video feed went out over the Web for two weeks. No usage or traffic figures were available at press time, but Zwirko says Audionet was pleased with the overall results. Technologically, the event was a low-tech undertaking. Zwirko and his crew brought along one VCR, a character generator (purchased from Best Buy), a Radio Shack switcher and microphone mixer and then hooked up Audionet servers to an ISDN line. The video feed was sent out over the Web as a 28.8 Kbps stream. First TV deal for Audionet WFAA is the first TV station to sign a re-broadcast agreement with Audionet, and the ABC affiliate is positioned prominently on the company’s homepage. Audionet has signed over 250 radio stations to Internet rebroadcast agreements and locked up rights to numerous colleges and professional sports events. "This is the first step, but it’s going to be huge. We have every intention of making a major dent in Cable TV distribution," Mark Cuban, President of Audionet said during an exclusive interview. "One thing about video on the Internet is even though it’s not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, this is the worst it’s ever going to be. It’s going to get better." Cuban is tackling TV affiliate re-broadcast deals with the same arguments Audionet used in radio negotiations. "The economics for an individual affiliate don’t work. The economics work for AudioNet because we can amortize the incremental costs across all our radio stations, business events and concerts. It works in aggregation, but it doesn’t work as an individual application." "It’s a whole new daypart to broadcasters. You can’t name ten people who have TV sets on their desk at work. That’s the whole point. All of downtown and urban environments are potential markets for this programming. This is a way to reach them." Zwirko said WFAA determined it didn’t have the technical skill or manpower to do it alone, and AudioNet needed video programming. He says it was an in-house decision to move forward with simulcasts and the partnership with Audionet, even though the station is located across the street from Belo’s corporate offices. Belo station KHOU in Houston conducted trials of live streaming on the Web last year with another partner, but those tests have now ended. As a station group, Belo has not announced a company-wide policy about simulcasting. Distribution deals are bartered The business model is one Audionet pioneered with radio stations. WFAA pays Audionet for bandwidth and storage with advertising inventory both in the simulcasts and in over-the-air time. Audionet can then resell the time to other media buyers for cash. In addition, during WFAA’s newscasts, on-air anchors mentioned the simulcast during daily coverage. There were also announcements made during the closing credits of the on-air program. Local news is one of the biggest franchises owned by network affiliates, and it’s a powerful revenue generator. Stations control 100% of the ad inventory during that daypart. The 6PM WFAA newscast, for example, generates a 12 rating and 24 share (according to November Nielsen Media Research information), and costs about $229 per rating point. A 30-second spot run during that time period would be worth $2,750, so on-air mentions are value to Webcasters like Audionet. Walt Zwirko Wzwirko@wfaa.com 214-748-9631 Mark Cuban Mcuban@audionet.com Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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