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ISA Conference - Publishers "Turn Words Into Bytes"

Newsbytes News Network - July 17, 1995

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1995 JUL 17 (NB) -- Online services are providing interactivity, searchability, and expanded space to publishers, but they also pose challenges in terms of content presentation, pricing, advertising, and the need for specialized personnel, said publishers of the online editions of Newsday, USA Today, the Nynex Yellow Pages, and Penthouse, during a session at the Interactive Services Association (ISA) Conference in Boston.

"Even if you do nothing but offer the same information -- and I certainly wouldn't stop there -- you are offering something fundamentally different," summed up Frederick J. Tuccillo, director of electronic publishing for Newsday, and general manager of Newsday Direct.

Changing patterns in newspaper readership constitute one of the key reasons why Newsday has added an online version, according to Tuccillo.

Readership of daily newspapers has "taken a beating" over the past two decades, the general manager acknowledged. The steepest drop is among 18-to-21-year-olds, where the percentage of people who read newspapers has slipped from 71 percent to 67 percent, he asserted.

Still, a readership figure of 67 percent in that demographic group "is not something that most advertisers would dismiss," noted the Newsday exec.

But research also shows that today's young people tend to treat newspapers differently from the traditional approach, Tuccillo added. Eighteen-to-21-year-olds are now "reading selectively," looking at the articles that interest them, but "ignoring the rest."

Even without special content, online publications change the nature of the reading experience by introducing "searchability," he continued.

But the online edition of Newsday is, in fact, bringing new content, while at the same time "leveraging" existing sections of the paper like movie and theater reviews, and Newsday's popular "Subway" column, Tuccillo maintained.

Newsday Direct has just added interactive crossword puzzles, and will soon unveil a new section aimed expressly at kids, he illustrated.

Lorraine Chickowski, VP and general manager for USA Today Information Networks, told the ISA audience that, although USA Today has needed to make adjustments to its revenue model, online technology is allowing the addition of content ranging from crossword puzzles to college, minor league, and high school sports.

The online version of USA Today was initially launched on Compuserve, and is now available on the World Wide Web, as well.

But with pricing for commercial online services continuing to slide, USA Today has already adjusted its own access charges for this venue once, and is now looking at a second price adjustment, Chickowski reported. USA Today's new Web site can be accessed free of charge.

The publishing executive added that the graphics from USA Today's print edition are "too big" for online use, requiring the production of special images for each electronic issue.

Nynex originated its interactive Yellow Pages in text format on the Internet, before instituting a pair of graphical editions on Prodigy and the Web, pointed out Kathy Ives, Nynex's director of interactive services.

With household incomes averaging $60,000, and backgrounds that typically include college degrees, Prodigy users are "very qualified" as potential buyers of the products and services sold by the 2.1 million businesses listed in the online directory, and the 2,200 businesses advertising so far, according to Ives.

But Nynex's sales staff, she contended, is "challenged" by the fact that many businesses today still need to be "educated" about online services, before deciding to take out ads.

On an upbeat note, though, Nynex has been pleasantly surprised by the effectiveness of online promotions in advertising its online services to end-users, Ives maintained. One recent promotion, for example, led to an "immediate" tripling in number of hits.

In the future, Nynex plans to add "platform independence" and offline search capabilities -- including agents -- plus "transactional" and security services on the Web side, she revealed.

"There are three things you need to do: define your publishing strategy, establish a Web site, and make lots of money," recommended Clifton Karnes, newly appointed director of product development for General Media's Internet and Online Services division.

Karnes' first project in this capacity, Penthouse Interactive, is now generating more than 2,000 hits a day, said John Kelsey, moderator of the ISA conference session, which was entitled "Turning Words into Bytes."

Karnes told the ISA crowd that, in setting their online strategies, publishers should first determine whether their ultimate goal is mainly to produce revenue, promote their companies, or "provide support for customers and staff."

Publishers should also proceed along the lines of an "entertainment" model, in which "presentation is just as important as content," according to Karnes.

Specialized personnel should be put in place to handle: hardware, software and bandwidth administration; HTML (hypertext markup language) programming; content development; and conversion of graphics, video, and other media from non-Web sources.

Selection of hardware and server software should be based on expected "activity" levels, Karnes added. A "medium" load of 50,000 to 100,000 hits per day will require a minimum of an Intel 50 megahertz (MHz) 486 with 32 megabytes (MB) of RAM.

A "heavy" load of 100,000 to 500,000 hits per day will require a 100 MHz Pentium with 64MB RAM, while a "super heavy" load above 500,000 hits calls for an SGI WebForce with 96MB RAM, according to the product development director.

Publishers with large loads will also require either Netscape Communications Server or -- for added security -- Netscape Commerce Server, the audience was told. Both products are available for Unix and Windows NT.

Publishers anticipating fewer hits can use an NCSA (National Center for Supercomputing Applications) or CERN (European Laboratory for Particle Physica) Web server for Unix, or EMWAC or WebSite for Windows NT, suggested the General Media exec.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19950417/Reader and Press Contact: Interactive Services Association, 301-495-4955)

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