AR&D - Audience Research and Development

Terry Heaton's PoMo Blog    

10/31/2006 Entry: "Another milestone for WKRN"

For the first time since we embarked on a pure Media 2.0 strategy for audience development at WKRN-TV in Nashville, aggregate traffic to the station's 19 blogs last week exceeded traffic to the station's primary Website, wkrn.com. This means the station has doubled its reach and created niche "businesses" in the market at the same time.

Two of the blogs are aggregators, and the rest are run by various departments (weather and sports), anchors, and niche (beat) VJs.

I'm very proud of Mike Sechrist, Steve Sabato and the whole gang at this progressive station, and as George Peppard used to tell The A-Team, "I love it when a plan comes together."

UPDATE: Rex Hammock observes: "I guess it’s because people like me are always pointing their way because they know how to point this way, as well."

Well said, Rex.

Posted by tish grier @ 11/01/2006 01:40 PM CST

Nice spin. Maybe wkrn.com is getting less pageviews because it's weak on content.

Posted by just observing @ 11/02/2006 10:07 PM CST

Nothing gets by you, just observing. WKRN.com, with its Worldnow-like cookie-cutter over-cluttered crap (all the stuff Terry preaches against) is weak on content. Nashville is Talking, with its interactive, engage-the-audience, rule-breaking bent, is strong on content and traffic. Terry's philosophies work in real life. Exactly!

Calling that "spin" is kind of funny, though. "It's raining outside! The ground is soaking wet!" "You and your spin! Maybe the ground is soaking wet because it's weak on sunshine!"

I'm sorry. I know I probably just started a freakin' flame war, but sheesh.

Posted by Holly @ 11/03/2006 06:57 AM CST

Furthermore....WKRN.com, while over-cluttered and all that, still isn't nearly as bad of a local news website as, say, the three local news websites from my town. If one of those three had the balls to start something like Nashville Is Talking, the traffic difference would be so massive as to be laughable. Kind of like that Philadelphia 76'ers player who was, what? Seven foot four or something, and married a girl who was five feet nothing? LOL.

Posted by Holly @ 11/03/2006 07:09 AM CST

"Just observing" is likely an employee of one of the competing stations in Nashville, but the point is reflective of a lot of 1.0 thinking -- that if you just drive enough traffic to a portal, you'll make up for revenues being lost in the broadcast paradigm. This is sadly untrue.

So here's the wager, Just: Come back in a year, and let's see whose aggregate traffic has grown the most -- that which is on your portal or that which is on the multitude of new businesses that WKRN-TV is growing. If eyeballs is the game, then let's see if you can drive enough through the strength of your content.

And keep telling yourself this is just spin. That's exactly what we're hoping you think.

Posted by Terry @ 11/03/2006 08:48 AM CST

terry, make note of the guy at mike's site calling himself tvnewsguy.

i might be wrong, but not long ago he was an all out basher. his tune is changing though.

with a wink he says "...we'll copy it".

copy that.

Posted by tdc @ 11/03/2006 08:57 AM CST