GNET >>> Great CBS article on Interview with GNET - CEO R. Horowitz
Soapbox
Targeting the top 10
Go2Net CEO talks ambition
By August Cole, CBS MarketWatch
Last Update: 10:56 AM ET May 26, 1999 Also: Net Stocks
SEATTLE (CBS.MW) -- By posting strong gains in the month of April, according to Media Metrix, Web community Go2Net (GNET: news, msgs) broke into the top 20 Web sites at No. 19. Chief Executive Russell Horowitz recently spoke with CBS.MarketWatch.com about the company's ranking and direction, broadband communications and more.
How do you use the Media Metrix rankings yourself when you look at the direction the company is going to take?
Horowitz: There's a few ways. One of the things is, first off, it's nice to break into that group -- it's all part of a process, and we've been pretty clear and direct about our goal to be a top 10 property this year. Last year's goal was the top 25. ... The thing that we recognize in why these are important goals is (that) it's pretty universally well-recognized that there's a disproportionate benefit, particularly on the advertising sales side, by having broader reach and greater recognition. And we've continued to see the disproportionate benefit as we've climbed the charts. And so we know that top 10 position will provide us with a lot of opportunities we haven't had.
Today on CBS MarketWatch
Tech sector falters
Europe lifted by surge in S&P futures
Durable orders sink 2.3%
Korea Telecom raises $2.49 billion in ADR sale
Kushner-Locke: Picking up the pieces
More top stories...
CBS MarketWatch Columns
Updated:
5/26/99 10:34:36 AM ET
What else?
Horowitz: The release today was even more so to highlight the flattening or declining reach of the major portals. We've seen our reach grow by approximately 36 percent over the last three months and 11 percent last month. We've talked about ourselves as being the exception in terms of the overall trend. ... We remain as confident as ever we will be in the top 10 this year.
In terms of using (Media Metrix ratings) overall, we can look pretty scientifically at all of our traffic measurement of our sites internally, but you really don't have a good sense of the relative growth. So the Media Metrix reports and the way that we use them is looking at some of the third-party objective measurements not just of us, where we may have much more detailed statistics than Media Metrix ever will, but from the perspective of what we're doing relative to what we consider competitors or comparables.
With Paul Allen's Vulcan Venture interest, there's a lot of broadband potential, and that's something on everybody's mind. As Vulcan took an interest recently in Datek, what does all this mean for Go2Net? Is there going to be a melding of interests?
Horowitz: I think that there's some things that I can comment on and some things that I can't. But all will be revealed in due course. (Laughs.) There's a lot of things going on. As you look at the interests Paul Allen has in dozens and dozens of companies, ... as you go down the list, you can clearly see a number that would clearly have some kind of strategic benefit by having a relationship with Go2Net and vice versa. Perhaps more importantly, as we start to look at content categories that Go2Net is already in, and other ones that would be of interest to Internet users, we really are at a point of convergence, both in terms of taking some of those strategic relationships and positioning it onto a platform that can be used in a broadband environment as a foundation for adding services incrementally for categories we're already in.
It probably wouldn't be a huge stretch to look at the interest he's taken in Datek and knowing the relationship he has with Go2Net and saying, "Hey, there's some potential strategic synergy between a site like Silicon Investor and Datek, given their focus on online trading." See related story.
On the broadband track, you have a new CTO (chief technology officer) from the University of Washington, Oren Etzioni. How do you view broadband in general as there's a blurring of the multimedia capabilities of the Net?
NPNT
NASD
Last Chg.
34 1/8 +1 1/8
% Chg. Vol.
+3.41% 371,600
Day Lo. Day Hi.
31 5/8 34 1/2
Open Prev.
33 3/4 33
As of
May 26/99 11:16 am ET
Last Trade
May 26/99 11:01 am ET
15 MIN. DELAY
Horowitz: The main approach I take with broadband is the main approach I take with most anything. You're not going to have answers to all the questions. All you can hope to do is to identify all the questions. This is a case where, collectively -- and when I say that I mean us, Paul Allen, Vulcan Ventures and Charter, which is the cable companies -- we are looking at this and we've identified what I believe are all the real pertinent questions related to developing content delivery on the various broadband platforms. That's the one thing we'll be facing is (that) you're going to be looking at all sorts of different consumer devices. The other part of broadband, Charter specifically, Vulcan also has interests in DSL providers. NorthPoint (NPNT: news, msgs), focusing on the business segment, they have a significant interest in. ...We have not specifically, publicly, enumerated what the strategy is. Internally, we have started that process of answering the questions about how we need to adapt the content and evolve the content for delivery on what will be multiple platforms.
The relationship between content and technology is changing. At MarketWatch, for example, there's a lot of emphasis both on our editorial content but also on the technical charting that the site can offer.
Horowitz: That's exactly right. Recently, aside from the announcement of Vulcan and Datek today, we announced the acquisition of IQC. ...You guys have clearly gone out and looked at this area with BigCharts (whose acquisition MarketWatch.com announced in late April). We think it's a real important area to address as well. It's particularly well-suited for this medium, and, at the same time, given our model of technology-driven content, charting and technical analysis are a key component in the financial space.
The categories that you're working on: personal finance, search, Internet commerce. What's next? Is there another direction?
Horowitz: The other one that doesn't get mentioned as much ... is multiplayer games. I really think that's going to be a significant next-generation product. Java has really emerged as a platform for multiplayer games on the Web. We were one of the first major commercial enterprises to embrace it -- us and Yahoo were. It's going to become a standard offering. It's going to become a standard offering. ... Multiplayer games as a medium is going to evolve. If it's 2-D now, it's going to be 3-D.
Seattle's changed a lot since the Net boom. What's it like being in Seattle?
Horowitz: Aside from the Internet companies driving up real-estate prices ... it's interesting. When we started, Seattle didn't have a significant Internet presence. Aside from Microsoft, you really had Amazon and RealNetworks. Since then, we've come along, and there've been a couple others, and we've all grown. So our presence in this community has grown pretty significantly. Is it a lot different than down in Silicon Valley where you've got dozens, if not hundreds, of Internet companies? ... You are seeing a miniboom following in Seattle that's trailing the same trends you saw in the Valley a year or two ago. ... This is the case where you can be the bigger fish in a smaller pond from the perspective of competing for key talent and also the overall visibility and community support.
|
