PCH Culture Mondo Online Study – Summary Report Prepared for the Department of Canadian Heritage - March 2005

PCH Culture Mondo Online Study – Summary Report

Prepared for the Department of Canadian Heritage - March 2005

Proprietary WarningThe information contained herein is proprietary to the Department of Canadian Heritage and may not be used, reproduced or disclosed to others except as specifically permitted in writing by the originator of the information. The recipient of this information, by its retention and use, agrees to protect the same and the information contained therein from loss, theft or compromise. Any material or information provided by the Department of Canadian Heritage and all data collected by Decima will be treated as confidential by Decima and will be stored securely while on Decima's premise (adhering to industry standards and applicable laws).

Table of Contents

Introduction 4Background 5Study Objectives 6Methodology 7

Top-Line Results 9Portals General Profile 10Portals Purpose and Scope 16Funding and Marketing Structure 24Editorial Strategy and Technical Structure 35

Appendices 40A. Verbatim summaries 41

Introduction

Background• e-culture is a direction of the Public Affairs and Communications sector of the

Department of Canadian Heritage. e-culture, in cooperation with other international cultural portal authorities formed Culture.Mondo, and is conducting a survey to gather information on their counterparts throughout the world. Analysis of the results will help compare situations, look at similar challenges, and share best practices.

• The Culture.Mondo sponsors are:

• The Culture.Mondo steering committee is formed by:

Study Objectives

• The research was designed to collect information in areas such as:

– Organization “firmographics” such as number of full-time employees, contact information, how long the organization has been in existence, how are they constituted, relationship with their government, etc.

– Purpose of the organization in terms of mission statement, objectives and strategic operational steps considered to reach these objectives

– Nature of the services offered

– Sources of funding and revenue

– Target audience

– Marketing and communications practices and priorities

– Performance indicators

– Editorial strategy – who prepares the content and who contributes and who has ultimate control on information presented

– Technical structure of the organization

– Overview of the organization’s website (based perhaps on a site map).

Methodology

• Survey design – Decima provided questionnaire design consultation to Culture.Mondo, recommending appropriate

changes and additions to the survey questions initially submitted by the client team. Decima ensured the entire survey was translated and provided the final English and French survey versions for approval by the client.

– Decima also designed and translated an invitation text that outlined for the participants the purpose of the research, the sponsors and how the information would be used. This letter also recommended to participants to involve as much staff as possible in the survey to ensure the highest degree of information accuracy possible.

• Sampling – Culture.Mondo provided Decima with several waves of databases of potential survey participants, all

of which were in electronic format.

• Data collection – The questions were fielded using an online data collection methodology (CAWI – Computer Assisted

Web Interviewing). Respondents could also access a PDF version of the survey which they could print, complete and fax back to Decima at their convenience.

– The first wave of approximately 100 invitations was initially sent by Decima on December 2nd, 2004, and a reminder email was sent the second week of January 2005. Subsequent invitations were sent directly to potential participants by the client team.

Methodology

• Data collection (contd).– Data was collected from December 2nd, 2004 to March 23rd, 2005. A total of 108 cultural organisations

around the world accessed the survey during this period of time, following approximately 370 invitations. Among those who accessed the survey, 80 completed at least half of the survey and were considered the final sample for analysis and reporting purposes, resulting in an overall response rate of 22%. Of the surveys returned, 77 were completed in English, and 3 in French.

• Verbatim reporting – A number of “free field”, or open-ended questions were included in the survey. The verbatim input

has been summarized in Appendix A. In addition, Decima has provided the client the raw, verbatim comments provided by the respondents for their own use.

• Data Accuracy – Based on a population of approximately 370 portals, a sample of of this size has a margin of error of

+9.7% at a 95% confidence interval. In other words, there is a 95% probability that an actual result would fall within about +9.7% of the reported results based on the sample used in this study.

Top-Line ResultsPercentages may not sum to one hundred due to rounding or the acceptance of multiple mentions

General Profile of Portals

General Information

Results over the next four slides provide detailed profiling information on the portals who participated in the study. These results can best be summarizes as follows:

– Most of organisations participating in the survey are located in Europe, North America, and Australia.

– The majority of portals are either not-for-profit (46%) or governmental (27%), with 46% indicating their organisation has a direct relationship with the government.

– Over one quarter (28%) say their portal is engaged in commercial partnerships, mainly in the form of selling to commercial organizations or sponsoring deals.

– Close to 9 in 10 (87%) believe their portal is dedicated to consumers (B2C), and 13% to businesses (B2C).

– On average, 4 full-time employees work for these portals with the majority (53%) employing only 2 full time employees.

8

6

6

5

4

3

3

3

2

2

2

16

0 5 10 15 20

United Kingdom

Germany

Sweden

Netherlands

Belgium

Croatia

Hungary

Russia

Serbia and Montenegro

Spain

Switzerland

Other

Geographic Distribution of Portals

“Other” includes countries with only one mention: Austria, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, France, Greece, Greenland, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Slovak Republic, and Turkey.

6

4

1

1

1

1

5

1

1

1

0 2 4 6 8 10

Canada

U.S.

Mexico

Costa Rica

Cuba

Argentina

Australia

New Zealand

Iran

Singapour

Europe 72%

Americas 18%

Oceania 8%

Asia / Middle East 2%

Please provide the mailing address for the organisation that manages your portal - Country

Base = All respondents (n=80) / Valid responses (n=80)

Portal Status and Government Relationship

What is the status of your portal?


No54%

Yes46%

Does your organisation have a direct relationship to the

government?


16%

3%

9%

27%

46%Not-for-profit

Governmental

Non-governmental

For profit

Other

Commercial Partnerships

Is your portal engaged in partnerships with commercial partners? These could involve the

selling of products and/or services to commercial organisations, exchange of deals,

sponsorship of deals, etc.

No72%

Yes28%

What kind of partnerships are these?

63%

63%

44%

31%

Selling tocommercial

organisations

Sponsorship ofdeals

Exchange ofdeals

Other

Base = All respondents (n=80) / Valid responses (n=77) Base = Portals with commercial partners (n=24) / Valid responses (n=22)

Client Focus and Full-Time Staff Profile

Is this portal dedicated to consumers (B2C) or to businesses (B2B)?

B2B13%

B2C87%

Average 4

Median 2

Mode 1

How many full time employees work for the portal you represent?

Base = All respondents (n=80) / Valid responses (n=78) Base = All respondents (n=80) / Valid responses (n=74)

Purpose and Scope of Portals

Overview of Purpose and Scope of Portals

Results over the next six slides provide insight into the operational stage of participating portals, their geographic coverage, and the type of services and information they provide:

– Close to 60% of portals are either national cultural portals or specialized thematic portals.– Most of the portals are at the operational stage (92%) while none were at the conceptual

stage.– Four in ten portals (42%) have been operating for at least 4 years and 31% have been in

operation for no more than one year.– The geographical coverage is mostly national (71%) and international (69%) in scope.– English is by far the dominant language of communications among participating portals

(75%). Close to half of all respondents (48%) say their portal is available in more than one language.

– Cultural sectors are mainly museums and galleries, heritage, music, libraries and archives.

– The most common types of information offered via the portals include links to partners sites (83%), and institution details (76%).

– The most common services offered include a search function (83%), a database of links (70%), an events calendar (64%) and an electronic newsletter (58%).

Type and Operational Stage of Portals

How would you best describe your portal?

37%

6% 27%

30%

National cultural portalSpecialized thematic portalObservatory on cultural policyOther

92%

8%

At a concept stageUnder development but not operational yetAt an operational stage

At what phase is your portal now?

Base = All respondents (n=80) / Valid responses (n=79)Base = All respondents (n=80) / Valid responses (n=80)

19%

15%12%

10%

32%

12%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

Less than 1year ago

1 year 2 years 3 years 4 years Over 5 yearsago

Age of Portals

When did you launch your portal online?

Base = Respondents with portals at an operational stage (n=73) / Valid responses (n=73)

Geographical Coverage

What is the geographical coverage of the various audiences your portal

targets?

5%

3%

3%

3%

3%

1%

1%

1%

1%

16%

8%

10%

11%

20%

75%

5%

English

French

German

Spanish

Swedish

Dutch

Russian

Croatian

Danish

Hungarian

Norwegian

Bulgarian

Estonian

Finnish

Turkish

Other

In what languages is your portal available?

45%

54%

69%

71%National

International

Regional

Municipal /local


Cultural Sectors Coverage

What cultural sectors does your portal cover?

63%

61%

59%

59%

59%

63%

77%

77%

68%

65%

63%

Museums

Heritage

Galleries

Libraries / Archives

Plastic arts / Painting / Sculpture

Music

Photography

Education

Theatre

Digital arts / Multimedia

Architecture / Design

38%

27%

23%

29%

52%

52%

54%

54%

58%

51%

Dance

Literature / Poetry

Research

Crafts

Folk culture

Cinematography

Amateur arts

Languages

Journalism

Other


Types of Information Provided

What type of information does your portal offer?

41%

45%

83%

76%

59%

53%

46%

Links to partnersites

Institution details

Educationalresources

Cultural calendarlimited to

important events

Onlinecollections

Editorial features

Cultural calendarfor local events

20%

14%

36%

25%

35%

33%

33%

31%

30%

Individual item descriptions

New exhibition reviews

Contact info. of individual artists /performers

Collections details

Sound

Video

Promotions

Advertising

Other


Types of Services Offered

What type of services does your portal offer?

24%

19%

16%

15%

24%

83%

70%

64%

58%

35%

Search

Database of links

Events Calendar

Electronic newsletters

Listings guide

Tools that allow visitors to entertheir own cultural events

Forum

Personal profiles of staff orcontributors

Cultural Thesaurus

Online authoring tools

6%

5%

24%

9%

11%

9%

9%

9%

9%

Personal profile page for visitors toindicate their preferences

Newsgroups

Sales

Voting

Registries

Bulletin Boards

Weblog

Online ticketing

Other


Fundingand Marketing Structure

Overview of Funding and Marketing Structure

Results over the next eight slides provide details on funding and marketing structure and activities:

– Over half of all respondents (55%) indicate their portal’s turnover in 2004 is derived entirely from the public sector, 5% say all their funding comes from sponsors, 12% say it comes from other sources, and 26% indicated their funding is obtained from a combination of public sector, advertising, sponsors, and/or other sources.

– Approximately two-thirds of respondents (63%) say less than 5% of their 2004 budget was allocated to the marketing budget, while 32% say they allocated between 6% and 20%.

– Close to one-fifth of respondents (17%) say they do not have staff dedicated to marketing, and over half say up to 10% of their staff is dedicated to marketing.

– The most common types of target audiences include cultural experts (97%), adults (88%) and local amateur culture enthusiasts (92%).

– Over two-thirds of portals (68%) say they conduct market research with their site users, however only 8% of these have the research results available online.

– Approximately 82% of respondents promote their portal online. Partnering with other cultural sites seems very common and portals are more likely to undertake a variety of activities (online banners, logo postings, shared links, etc.) with other cultural sites than with non-cultural sites.

Overview of Funding and Marketing Structure

(Contd.):– The most common methods used for reaching their target audience offline include cultural

events, partnerships with smaller cultural organisations, or print media. – Cultural events and partnerships with cultural organisations are largely paid through an

exchange; use of newspapers and magazines is typically paid with a combination of money and exchange, and print flyers and posters are usually paid for by the organisation.

– In addition to the use of typical website metrics as performance indicators, half of all respondents also rely on public awareness (51%), website user satisfaction (50%), and the number of partnerships with cultural partners (47%) as key performance indicators.

Funding

Please indicate the breakdown of your portal's turnover in 2004

Combined sources

26%

Other12%

From Sponsors5%

From Public Sector55%


Funding

16%

14%

10%

8%

10%

20%

2%

10%

12%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

Less than$1000

$1K-$5K $5K-$10K $10K-$20K $20K-$50K $50K-$100K $100K-$200K

$200K-$300K

Over $300K

Average CD $153,700

Median CD $31,800

What was your portal's annual turnover in 2004?


*Monetary values based on approximate currency conversions

76

61

57

55

45

45

39

36

30

29

27

27

29

35

30

36

31

41

35

46

43

31

25

33

30

36

27

31

40

45

36

21

27

9

19

15

8

12

4

0 20 40 60 80 100

Cultural experts (n=78)

Adults (n=74)

Local and amateur culture enthusiasts (n=75)

General Public (n=76)

Youth - College/University (n=75)

'Friends' of cultural organizations (n=75)

Other professional status (n=72)

Visit Planners - Tourists (n=75)

Youth - Casual learners (n=74)

Youth - Elementary/High school (n=75)

Retired/Elderly (n=74)

Local and amateur historians (n=75)

Other audience (n=35)

Percentage

Primary Audience Secondary Audience Not an audience

Target Audiences

Indicate how each type of target audience relates to your portal

Base = All respondents (n=80)

Market Research

How frequently do you carry out market research with your site

users?

22%

24%

22%

33%

0% 20% 40%

On a regularbasis

Occasionally

We have doneone study

Never

No92%

Yes8%

Are the results of this research available online?

Base = All respondents (n=80) / Valid responses (n=79) Base = Respondents who carry out market research with their site users (n=53) / Valid responses (n=53)

Staff and Budget Dedicated to Marketing

What percentage of your portal's overall staff time is dedicated to

marketing?

Up to 10%23%

Up to 20%14%

Over 20%13%

Up to 5%33%

None17%

What percentage of your annual budget in 2004 was allocated to the Marketing

Budget for 2004-2005?


Up to 10%18%

Up to 20%14%

Over 20%5%

Up to 5%33%

None30%


Online Promotion

Do you promote your portal online?

No18%

Yes82%

How do you promote your portal online?

81%

96%

100%

92%

96%

80%

36%

31%

34%

54%

46%

50%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Online Banners(n=26)

Include your logo(n=47)

Link Exchange (n=50)

Mention portal innewsletter (n=49)

Include calendarinformation (n=24)

Other (n=10)

Percentage

Other cultural sites Other non-cultural sites

Base = Respondents indicating they promote their portal online (n=63)


Advertising Payment

How do you reach your target audience offline?

76%

68%

64%

51%

29%

29%

22%

19%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Through culturalevents

Partnershipw/cultural orgs

Newspapers,magazines, print

Online

Through educationalcentres

Through directmarketing

TV/radio

Other - Specify

Percentage

13%

31%

21%

82%

11%

35%

38%

46%

76%

24%

62%

53%

8%

18%

8%

12%

7%

25%

18%

17%

12%

24%

23%

29%

8%

6%

2%

4%

83%

67%

11%

64%

13%

12%

6%

14%

5%

8%

2%

2%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Cultural events (n=46)

Partnership w/cultural org. (n=42)

Newspapers (n=32)

Magazines (n=28)

Print - Flyers, posters (n=44)

Online (n=36)

Educational centres (n=25)

Direct marketing (n=17)

TV (n=13)

Radio (n=17)

Percentage

Pay Exchange Both Other

How do you pay for advertising?

Base = All respondents (n=80) / Valid responses (n=72) Base = All respondents (n=80)

Performance Indicators Used

Indicator AverageValid

responses

Visitor sessions to your site 124,981 43

Unique visitors to your site 71,730 42

Pageviews / impressions 391,210 42

Average pages per visit 6 38

Average visit duration time 7 37

During November 2003-November 2004, what was the monthly average of the

following indicators?

51%

50%

47%

34%

8%

2%

2%

29%

0% 20% 40% 60%

Public awareness (n=57)

Website user satisfaction (n=60)

No. of partnerships w/ cultural partners(n=57)

Membership (n=59)

Cost per visit (n=52)

Awareness / Marketing Budget ratio (n=49)

Membership / Budget ratio (n=49)

Other (n=28)

(% of Yes)

Does your portal use any of the following as additional performance

indicators:



Editorial Strategy and Technical Structure

Overview of Portal Editorial Strategy and Technical Structure

Results over the next three slides provide insight into the editorial strategy and technical structure of the portals:

– Half of all respondents (50%) say the production of the main bulk of their portal content is both central and decentral.

– External contributors can upload content to their portals mainly through webform (63%).– Approximately one-third of respondents (35%) say their writers have journalistic training,

and 48% say that their portal is updated at least daily.– About one in ten portals (12%) say they provide RSS newsfeeds, and 17% say their

portal harvest metadata from others through OAI, Z39.50 or web services.

Editorial Strategy

Who produces the main bulk of the content – is it central or decentral?

Both50%

Central28%

Descentral22%

How can external contributors upload or add content to your portal?


63%

39%

47%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80%

Webform

Databaseexchange

Other

Base = Respondents indicating the main bulk of the content is decentral or both central and decentral (n=61) / Valid responses (n=51)

Editorial Strategy

Do your writers have journalistic training?

Yes35%

No48%

Don't have writers

17%

How often is the portal updated?

Less than once a month

4%

Monthly13%

Weekly35%

At least daily48%


Technical Structure

Do you provide RSS newsfeeds?

Yes12%

No88%

Does your portal harvest metadata from others – through OAI, Z39.50 or web

services?

No83%

Yes17%


Documents

PCH Culture Mondo Online Study – Summary Report Prepared for the Department of Canadian Heritage - March 2005