Fox News Web Traffic Surges; But Will Advertisers Sign Up For A 9-5 Daily Webcast?
This story was written by David Kaplan.
FoxNews.com has gone from a small trickle of web traffic to a considerable surge last month, as Nielsen Online points to a near-50 percent rise in April uniques to 15.7 million from the 10.5 million the year before. And as Mediaweek reports, the cable news site has also recorded an overall increase in FoxNews.coms stickiness, with pageviews gaining 75 percent last month, going from 382 million last year to 669 million this year.
Those are the kinds of numbers that are leading FoxNews execs to make a bigger bet online video in general and its live, eight-hour video webcast The Strategy Room. The online-only talkfest will get a major overhaul this July, with a particularly ad-friendly bent. The thought of offering a daylong webcast that's otherwise similar to what's offered on TV, as opposed to computer screens, has a number of media buyers I spoke to intrigued. But somewhat dubious about shifting a great deal of spending. I spoke to Jeremy Steinberg, VP, Digital Sales & Business Development for the cable news channel, about how he plans to convince advertisers that daytime online viewers are just as valuable as their TV watching counterparts. More after the jump
Live, from 9-5: Among the coming changes, Strategy Room will be moving away from its pop-up video mode to an embedded style. Fox News is also working on dynamic ad insertions. But even though YouTube and Hulu have been pushing more long form video, the live, 9AM to 5PM streaming newscast will still bear more resemblance to TV from an advertiser standpoint, Steinberg said. There will be three breaks per hour and the programs will not be like It's not like Hulu, where the breaks are built in. The site will run the spots, at seven minutes after the hour, then at 20 minutes and 45 minutes. Beyond that, the currently five-month old Strategy Room will rely heavily on brand integration, with TV screens behind the anchors featuring a particular marketer.
Using the upfront: The promise of cross platform deals have been a staple of TV upfront negotiations for the past decade. But this year, the small cost of online ads relative to TV could provide a boost to web deals. Cable sites could be in an even better position this year too. As the broadcast networks sag, Media Life magazine finds media buyers and analysts suggesting that cable ad spend could be flat to slightly up. So given Fox News' steady ratings dominance, the network can afford to make a bigger push for its online video, especially since the network claimed that digitally, there was a 30 percent gain in digital revenue in the past fiscal year. Steinberg has been promoting the online video offerings during the cable upfront as a way to seed the ground for the relaunch and other new streaming offerings, including 15-minute "after-shows" with on-air personalities Glenn Beck and Bret Baier. "The video options we're presenting to advertisers is different what our competitors are doing, so the upfront is a good time to walk them through those differences and lay the groundwork before we start selling," Steinberg said.
By David Kaplan