This article should spell out pretty clearly why Yahoo & Doubleclick will have a tougher time with ad revenue & clickthroughs & why GNNU's relationship with IPG & the online newspaper sector is so important.
biz.yahoo.com
Thursday September 14, 7:05 am Eastern Time
Press Release
NFO AD:IMPACT Reports Strong `Local' Position For Online Newspapers
GREENWICH, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 14, 2000--In major markets across the country, online newspapers are some of the most recognized and visited web sites among local-oriented Internet destinations, according to marketing research firm NFO AD:IMPACT, a company of NFO Worldwide, and member of The Interpublic Group of Companies.
According to the data, which aggregated survey results from more than 10,000 online consumers across 17 major local markets between January and June 2000, two-thirds (66%) of all online consumers, on average, were aware of online newspaper web sites. In contrast, an average of about one-third (34%) of online consumers were aware of local competitive city guide sites. Further, nearly half (48%) of online consumers had visited the local newspaper site, on average, and more than 22% had visited in the past 30 days. In comparison, across these same markets, only an average of 16% of online consumers had ever visited the local city guide sites measured and less than 5% visited in the past month.
From a projected total population perspective for those 17 major markets, NFO AD:IMPACT estimates that nearly five million online users (4.97M) had visited the newspaper sites in the previous 30 days, almost twice as many as the combined traffic of the local city guides assessed in those same markets.
Since the end of 1998, NFO AD:IMPACT has been tracking on a quarterly basis online consumers' use of various web sites across many of the nation's major local markets. By focusing its research effort on the local marketplace and, more specifically, on how local online consumers use web sites to assist with both online and offline shopping, NFO's research offers a unique perspective of Internet usage not currently provided by more well-known, national web measurement services.
In addition to driving strong traffic numbers, online newspapers also drive a higher volume of more ``valuable traffic'' as it relates to potential online advertisers and
their efforts to attract shoppers. As a result of visiting the newspaper web sites examined in this research, nearly 1.4 million online consumers report contacting a business in the previous 30 days and more than half of those 750,000 made purchases (either online or offline). Again, both of those numbers exceed the combined figures for the local city guides assessed in this study.
The 17 major markets and online newspapers examined in this investigation include: Atlanta and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's ajc.com; Boston and New York
Times Digital's boston.com, Chicago and Tribune Interactive's Chicagotribune.com, Denver and the Denver Post Online, Detroit and KnightRidder.com's Detroit Free Press, Ft. Lauderdale and Tribune Interactive's Sun-Sentinel.com, Los Angeles and Latimes.com, Miami and Knightridder.com's The Miami Herald Internet Edition; Minneapolis and StarTribune.com, New Orleans and Advance Internet's NOLA Live, Orlando and Tribune Interactive's Orlando Sentinel Online, Phoenix and the Arizona Republic's AZCentral.com, Portland and Advance Internet's Oregon Live, Charlotte and The Charlotte Observer's Charlotte.com, Salt Lake City
and the Salt Lake Tribune's Utah Online, Seattle and the SeattleTimes.com and Washington, D.C. and WashingtonPost.com.
Local competition compared across each of the 17 markets included America Online's Digital City service, Lycos Cityguide and Ticketmaster CitySearch.
In addition, NFO Worldwide also assessed the performance of online newspapers against Yahoo's local city guide equivalent, Yahoo!Local, in seven major markets (Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, and Washington D.C.).
Online newspapers again emerged on top. Across those seven markets, online newspapers had an average awareness of 74% among online users compared to 34% for Yahoo!Local; 56% of online users visited the newspaper sites, on average, compared to 16% for Yahoo!Local; and 28% indicated visiting newspapers' sites in the past month relative to Yahoo!Local's 4%.
``It's clear from these recent results that within the local space major newspapers have done an excellent job of leveraging their existing traditional brands to drive significant online traffic,'' says Emil Morales, President of NFO AD:IMPACT.
``The online newspapers are in a wonderful position to focus on building user traffic that is not only interested in gathering news and local market information, but is also interested in shopping. That ultimately provides the most compelling value story for prospective online advertisers, and it's clear that newspapers are making great strides in that direction.''
NFO AD:IMPACT is a leading provider of custom and syndicated marketing research for the local media business sector. In 1998, NFO launched NFO//Consumer.choice, a syndicated web measurement survey designed to track online consumers' use of various web sites and their shopping behaviors within the
local marketplace. NFO currently measures, on a quarterly basis, more than 30 major markets with plans to be in the top 50 markets by 2001. For each market, more than forty-five top web advertising sites are examined including: Online Newspapers, City Guides, Internet Yellow Pages, Search Engines, and Vertical Content sites. Respondents' online usage both at home and at work is assessed. NFO//Consumer.choice utilizes NFO Worldwide's online panel, NFO//Net.Source, the largest representative panel of interactive users in the United States - over 475,000 online households.
NFO//Consumer.choice is a third party, independent initiative; none of the companies and web sites surveyed has commissioned this research. For questions regarding this information and NFO//Consumer.choice, in general, please call 203-629-8888.
NFO Worldwide is a leading provider of research-based marketing information and counsel to the worldwide business community. With more than 15,000 full and part-time employees and operations in 38 countries, NFO provides clients with trusted insight into the behavior, attitudes and opinions of customers around the globe. NFO is the largest custom marketing research firm in North America and is among the top three in the world, serving 4,000 clients in key sectors such as consumer packaged goods, healthcare, financial services, high-tech/telecommunications, travel & leisure, automotive, business-to-business and e-commerce.
Together with its affiliated companies, NFO is the world's largest provider of Internet-based custom marketing research. NFO is a member of The Interpublic Group of Companies (NYSE:IPG - news). Visit NFO Worldwide on the Web at nfow.com
Contact:
NFO AD:IMPACT
Jade Cusick, 203/618-8613 |
