• by August 17, 2000

The latest research from WorldNow shows that many TV stations throughout the US have yet to commit the resources needed to build a profitable Internet business.

Overall, the survey found that television stations appear to be satisfied with matching expenses when doing business on the Internet, in contrast to newspapers who view the Internet as a new market space, and an opportunity to generate additional revenues and profits. The study indicated that website business strategy appears to be an afterthought for many stations, rather than a key business strategy.

The study surveyed 63 website managers and included 38 TV station sites, nineteen newspaper sites and six city sites, and found that city sites attracted 12 times more page views than TV stations (6,870,000 to 606,000), and generated 10 times more average revenue ($50,000 to $500,000). Newspapers Web sites, compared to TV stations Web sites, received six times the number of monthly page views (3,960,000 to 606,000) and earn between four to eight times the revenue ($200,000-$400,000 to $50,000- $100,000).

"This data shows us that television stations are not sufficiently capitalizing upon the Internet revolution, and associated local online audience and market activity," said Gary Gannaway, CEO of New York City based WorldNow. "TV stations must realize that they are no longer viewed as simply a station, but in fact can be the number one provider of local information in many markets, on many platforms. There is tremendous potential on the Web for stations to raise their brand profile, awareness, revenues and help drive ratings -- unfortunately many of them are missing the boat," added Gannaway.

What Will It Take?

Page views, content employees and sales employees are key figures in explaining higher newspaper site revenue. WorldNow found that average newspaper sites, among those surveyed, have 3.96 Million monthly page views, in contrast to TV stations who have 606,000. Newspaper sites on average have 5.68 full time content employees; TV stations only 1.32. Newspaper sites on average have 3.71 full time sales employees and TV stations 1.34.

Additionally, the number of newspaper site advertisers average 81.44, while for TV stations the number of advertisers averages 22.34. Also, among different types of advertisers the survey found that retailers are the #1 source of revenue for newspapers, accounting for almost 30.25% of the total number of companies advertising in newspaper websites, followed by auto dealers that represent a mere 8.91%. The primary source of advertising dollars for TV station Web sites is auto dealers with 8.38%, followed by retailers with 5.45% and Internet companies with 5.39%.

"It is up to broadcasters to provide compelling local news and information on the Web through improved design, content and timeliness, in order to build larger, more loyal audiences and create the growth necessary to build a sustainable business," said Gannaway.