The impact on newspapers in the media mix is diminishing, and the proof id here: A growing number of publishing companies have filed for Chapter 11, Denver-based Rocky Mountain News stopped publishing last month, and today marks a new online-only era for what was once the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
San Diego’s news scene will get a little more competitive starting tomorrow, when the San Diego News Network goes live. The difference: San Diego Union-Tribune is still publishing.
SDNN CEO Neil Senturia won’t be fighting anchormen – or desk editors – with tridents or hand grenades, but he did offer Chief Marketer’s Tim Parry a glimpse at what he feels is the future of online media, and his thoughts on where traditional media went wrong.
PARRY: The San Diego news scene can get awfully competitive – look at the fight scene in “Anchorman, The Legend of Ron Burgundy.” Though that was a fictional account, each network brought a different niche to the table. What will SDNN.com’s niche or mission be?
SENTURIA: We love “Anchorman,” and our goal is to help San Diego “Stay classy.” More seriously, SDNN.com thinks of itself as a media and technology company. We do not think of ourselves as an online newspaper. Our goals are to provide our readers with more personalization where they live, work and play; offer greater depth and breadth of local news – more hyper local – with a focus on our region’s diverse communities; deliver content in many forms—audio, video and text; truly engage in a conversation with our audience—readers, listeners, viewers; and provide multi-generational arts and entertainment coverage.
It’s also important to note that we understand that we have to be credible and trustworthy. At the same time, we don’t take ourselves too seriously. We have a bit of “attitude,” and we want to be the place to which our community turns when people want to have a conversation on topics from the silly to the serious.
PARRY: When people hear that an online entity is launching, they think of The Huffington Post, which is more about blogs and opinion than news. How different will SDNN.com when compared to The Huntington Post?
SENTURIA: Our content comes from the following sources so you can see that SDNN.com is much more than a collection of blogs. We have a core full-time staff of experienced journalists responsible for breaking news, sports and enterprise stories, and what we think are the best free lance writers in the region. We have award-winning journalists from the San Diego Union-Tribune, radio and television serving as contributing editors for lifestyle sections such as education, arts and entertainment, books, health, travel, real estate and home and garden.
We also will use active media partners, including community newspapers, specialty magazines, television and radio, covering several different aspects of San Diego from varying perspectives. We’re also going to use the Associated Press and other national and international news sources, and expert bloggers on a wide variety of topics including local politics, money, movies, restaurants and sports.
PARRY: Where did newspapers go wrong? Why are we seeing so many newspaper publishers file for Chapter 11, and in the case of the Rocky Mountain News, just shutting down. Why is that?
SENTURIA: The basic problem that newspapers have is a high cost structure in an era in which more and more customers want to get their news online. What’s more, most traditional media outlets have leveraged their online properties only to complement their other news services. As such, they have not invested, and in many cases reduced, their news gathering abilities.
SDNN is structured with a much lower operational costs in terms of delivery of services and staffing with an unmatched capability to provide more personalized, hyper local news and information for readers where they live, work and play. Additionally, SDNN will have greater opportunities for advertisers to target specific local audiences based on demographic and psychographic information with pinpoint accuracy than other media outlets – the local equivalent to what Google can do on a national level.
Traditional print media has struggled to stay alive in a world that’s becoming more and more dominated by the Internet. Even the Web sites of many daily newspapers have struggled to generate revenue.
PARRY: Does this mean there will be a different business model fueling SDNN than traditional newspapers?
SENTURIA: Yes, our business model is different. The backbone of SDNN is our consortium of media partners who include community newspapers, regional magazines, TV and radio. These media partners participate in our ad revenue.
In exchange, we are able to use their content and they provide us with free advertising on an ongoing basis. Our ads are already running on three of our radio partners, and our print campaign starts in two weeks.
We have a small full-time paid staff. Our contributing editors – about 25 – work primarily for a share of the ad revenue generated from their sections. They do not sell the ads, and the advertisers do not dictate the editorial content.
PARRY: How will you know that SDNN is a success?
SENTURIA: Our customers will tell us.
PARRY: But a lot of popular Web sites – and newspapers – failed because they weren’t generating revenues or turning a profit. So is it customer feedback only that will make it a success? Or does a certain level of advertising still have to be sold to make it?
SENTURIA: We view ourselves as both a media AND technology company. Generating revenue is king for us, and will be primarily ad-driven. We do believe that our strategy will succeed where other media companies have failed.
Here’s why: We honestly feel that we’ve got the best technology system in place to bring advertisers and consumers together in the most relevant, meaningful way. We’ll have more in-depth, hyper local coverage to drive readership and be able to help sponsors reach specific audiences that hold unique interests more effectively. Our competitors do an adequate job. We believe our site will do an outstanding one and deliver a higher ROI for advertisers as a result.
In addition to our core editorial staff, we also leverage freelance journalists and media partners to deliver more relevant, comprehensive local news and information about the places that people live, work and play in San Diego. It’s the best of both worlds; more coverage with less overhead than traditional media outlets.
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