MSNBC Jockeys for Attention Online

Campaign Is Designed
To Distinguish Site
In Crowded News Field

By EMILY STEEL
April 2, 2007; Page B4

It's no secret that the Web, with its ability to disseminate news at the touch of a button, has become the go-to outlet for breaking news. But as competition increases and advertising dollars follow consumers online, news sites increasingly are trying to distinguish themselves.

MSNBC.com, the No. 2-ranked news Web site behind Yahoo News, is starting its first branding ad campaign this week. Instead of selling itself as a "breaking news" destination, as it once did, the site is trying to highlight the range of news and entertainment it offers. Spots in print, on TV, outdoors and online will carry the tagline "A Fuller Spectrum of News," highlighting both MSNBC.com's original reporting and its partnerships with news outlets such as NBC, Newsweek and the Washington Post. MSNBC.com, jointly owned by Microsoft and NBC Universal, is spending $4 million on the campaign which runs through June, not including the cost of spots on NBC-owned networks. New York communications firm SS+K designed the campaign.

The marketing push comes as MSNBC.com's market position, long one of the strongest in the news sector thanks to its Microsoft ties, shows signs of strain. MSNBC.com's traffic fell 3% in February, despite strong growth in the overall news category, according to comScore Media Metrix. Yahoo News, CNN.com, FoxNews.com and AOL News each posted double-digit percentage gains.

MSNBC.com's executives say its internal figures -- backed up by another firm, Nielsen/NetRatings -- show that its traffic is increasing. They say the campaign isn't a response to traffic patterns but a desire to differentiate the site from other online news hubs.

Even so, the campaign shows how online news is maturing. When MSNBC.com began in 1996, it aimed to be a destination for breaking news on the Web, says Merrill Brown, editor of the site for its first six years. Aside from promotional support on MSN and onscreen references on NBC-owned networks, particularly MSNBC, the site did little in the way of traditional marketing.

Things have changed. The Web has become a conventional medium for news. Almost 100 million people visited online news sites in February, up 12% from the year-earlier period, according to comScore Media Metrix.

"For a long time, people viewed this as an experiment. The experiment, in our opinion, is over. We are mainstream news now," says Charlie Tillinghast, president and publisher of MSNBC.com.

But that shift has intensified competition and has made it harder for sites to stand out. With advertisers shifting dollars from newspapers and TV to the Web, most papers and TV networks are pouring resources into their Web sites. Not only do most sites now offer breaking news, a variety of other features are standard, including video, blogs and podcasts. As a result, customers find it hard to tell one news site from the other, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index, a survey of consumer behavior by ForeSee Results and the University of Michigan's business school.

MSNBC.com hopes its marketing campaign will give its brand name a clearer definition for consumers-and draw more direct traffic to the site. Right now, MSNBC.com is heavily reliant on traffic from Microsoft sites such as MSN. In February, just 7.8% of MSNBC.com's 25.8 million visitors logged on directly, according to comScore, while 47.8% came from Microsoft sites, which often are loaded as the standard home page on personal computers.

While CNN.com has a smaller audience, more come directly to the site -- 17.8% of February's traffic, comScore estimates. Because they are choosing to go to CNN, those visitors are more valuable for advertisers than people who are simply linked from another site. CNN has "an audience that are much more hard-core news followers. That's really valuable," says Jay Krihak, partner and group director of MediaEdge:CIA. CNN saw 50% growth in digital ad revenue in 2006, the company said, compared with 20% for MSNBC.com.

CNN is benefiting from its decades-old news brand name, of course. But the Time Warner-owned channel has also made efforts to beef up original reporting for the Web site. The channel says its entire staff contributes to CNN.com. While covering stories, reporters frequently create material both for the cable network and for the Web. CNN also has devoted a lot of energy to promoting its site. Aside from journalists mentioning the Web hub on the air, CNN has run marketing campaigns for the site with taglines such as "The Power of CNN Under Your Command."

Much of MSNBC.com's content comes from other outlets, but the site also is focusing on increasing original video and reporting for the Web. MSNBC.com's editorial staff -- about 80 people -- is relocating from New Jersey to NBC News headquarters in New York to promote more integration between the two organizations. Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Bill Dedman joined MSNBC.com last fall to work for the online news network's investigative-reporting team.