National Geographic Competitive Assessment

1

December 9, 2005

Competitive Assessment and Audience Profiles

2

Table of Contents

•  Executive Summary •  Competitor Assessment

–  Overview of Competitors –  Feature Details –  Key Competitive Observations

•  Audience Profiles –  Overview –  Segment Details –  Key Implications

•  Appendix –  Additional findings and supporting detail

3

Executive Summary

Competitive Assessment •  Nineteen websites that provide content that competes for the same

audience as National Geographic.com were reviewed •  In summary, competitors highlight several best practices including

focused efforts to: –  Make content easy to find –  Keep visitors engaged and involved –  Guide visitors to other sections within site –  Create everyday relevance

Audience Profiles •  Six different audience profiles were analyzed to distinguish their

online needs and interests. Some common themes include: –  Comfortable with online technology and has Internet easily available –  Often enjoy entertainment through television and movies –  Enjoy and pursue travel frequently

4

Competitor Overview

5

A feature-by-feature review revealed that the sites differed dramatically

Competitor Summary

Competitive analysis revealed that each site emphasized different features, content types and styles

6

SpaceNY Times (Sci)LiveScience

NPR

AOL

Nick

DiscoveryMSNBC

ABC

PBS

BBCCNN

AETV Discover

Sci. AmericanPBS Kids

Wired

Washington Post Yahoo! Travel*

Nat. Geo.

Closer analysis reveals four principle categories based on multimedia depth and participatory breadth

Competitor Summary

Richness of Experience: Multimedia usage including Video, Audio, Photos, Interactives Range of Participation: Breadth of Community, Subscription, VCC, and Downloads

“Richness of Experience”

“Range of Participation”

“S’Mores”

“Info Arcades”

“Online Zines”

“Info Outlets”

7

Though certainly not conclusive, select representatives do have different visitor behavior profiles

Competitive Summary

101

4225

5 8

77

22 235 9

S'M

ore

(A

OL)

Arc

ade

(P

BS)

Info

Out

let

(Was

hing

ton

Post

)

Onl

ine

Zine

(NPR

)

Nat

iona

lG

eogr

aphi

cWeb Pages per Person Time Spent per Person

Source: Nielsen NetRatings: April 2005, Websites Rank Parent excluding Internet Application; Panel Home and Work; National Geographic stats from November 2005

Web Statistics by “Quadrant” Using 1 Representative Site

Richer media and participatory features may lead to further exploration

Design, branding, and ease of navigation are equally important

8

Feature Details

9

Video is prominently used amongst the competitors

Video provision on sites n=19

Those that do feature original, branded content; Not surprisingly

sites with TV roots excel online n=10

Video

53%47%

0

2

4

6

8

10

VideoSearch

Live Feed RecordedStream

OriginalContent

Branded

Primary feature

Negligible

ABC, AOL, CNN, Discovery, MSNBC, Nick, PBS exhibit

strongest video features

10

Architecturally, video is split between WMP and RealPlayer

WMP and RealPlayer are primary streaming architectures, while Flash occasionally used for “stitched” pseudo-video

Video

0

2

4

6

Windows Media RealPlayer Flash

11

Both PBS and CNN’s Video Search facilitate access to deep archives

Video Best Practice

•  Both offer keyword search and filter by topic/TV program

•  CNN offers site-wide searching, whereas PBS offers search within a TV program’s archives

•  PBS’s search results are displayed as images

CNN: Search results for “hurricane”

PBS: Video search interface for “Nature” TV program Search results using TV program filter

12

Video is heavily promoted in various locations on CNN.com Video Best Practice

•  Majority of news headlines also feature video

•  Additional opportunities to watch video highlighted on main page

“WITH FREE VIDEO” is part of CNN.com logo on every page

13

Video Cross-Promotion is frequent

Video Best Practice On Nick.com, every page emphasizes "More Videos"

“Watch Video!” is included in navigation bar

14

“Video of the Day” encourages repeat visits and promotes video throughout the website

Video Best Practice

Features videos from multiple subbrands of Discovery.com

Central location on main Discovery.com page

Discovery.com main page Video player opens in same window

15

Message Boards and Blogs are widespread

Presence of Community Features n=19

21%

79%

Community

Not Offered

Offered

02468101214

MsgBoard

Blog Chatroom

Email Other

Community Features Offered n=15

All sites offering community features also offer subscription content

16

AOL has the most advanced community features while most sites offer only message boards and blogs

Community Best Practice

For sites with TV roots, message boards tend to be

organized by programs

abc.com Message Board center

AOL brings members with common interests together through directories, message

boards, blogs, user submitted photo galleries

17

Visitor Created Content is a frequently offered feature, but limited in scope

VCC supported n=19

Visitors permitted to share reviews, opinion, and occasionally photographs, but Blogs, Video rare

Visitor Created Content

21%79%

024681012

Opinion/Feedback

Photos/Art

Blogs/Stories

Video

Offered Not offered

VCC and other community features co-exist 80% of time

18

Visitor Created Content allows for cheap content and keeps users engaged and interactive

Visitor Created Content Best Practice

Everyone has the opportunity

to share photos

FROM THE BOARDS “It's great to see the scenes with [Mac] and her family. It makes you remember that she’s more than just a president...she’s a mom and wife. Sometimes u forget that when she’s dealing w/ presidential problems.” Posted By: sexii_italian (Commander in Chief board)

Contest and Voting keeps

users engaged after photo submission Space.com

ABC.com

19

53% of competitors support some form of personalization

Site Personalization n=19

However, only 6 offer extensive (“My Site”) personalization

n=12

Personalization

53%47%

0

2

4

6

8

My Site

My Photos

Alerts

Local li

stings

/wea

ther

Offered Not offered

20

Galleries and Themed Photo Essays are most popular photo formats

Photography formats used n=19

News sites update daily/weekly, while others produce photo essays and themed collections on long-term production schedule

Photos

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Gallery Photo Essay Promotional

Most stories are told in 3-5 pictures News sites house significant photo content

02468101214161820

Daily Weekly Monthly/Yearly

21

BBC photo set-up appeals to a broad range of users and is easy to navigate through

Photos Best Practice

Easy to navigate drop-

downs

User submitted

photos Professional photos

22

LiveScience highlights daily spotlights to drive frequent visits

Photos Best Practice

Interactive and gives user incentive to

participate

Interactive and engaging

Daily image to encourage return visits

23

Audio is a prominent feature on just over half the surveyed sites

53% utilize audio prominently n=19

•  90% feature Podcasts •  47% of competitors feature both

video and audio

Audio

53%47%

24

Podcasting frequently and attractively highlighted Audio Best Practice

BBC’s Podcasts

are promoted on homepage

PBS focuses on educating

consumer about new technology

CNN’s Podcasts are frequently updated and cover a large range of

topics

25

Vast majority of competitors offer subscription services

Subscription services n=19

Base feature is Newsletters, but RSS has broad adoption including 100% of “News” sites

Subscriptions

11%

89%

02468

10121416

Newsletters RSS Mobile Alerts "X" of theDay

Offered

Not offered

Podcasts and RSS are offered together

80% of time

26

Interactives are common amongst competitor sites

Interactive Applications n=19

Puzzles, Quizzes, and Games are most popular choices

Interactives

21% 79%

0

2

4

6

8

10

Puzzles

/Quizz

es

Games

Adventures Sim

s

Surveys

eCard

s

Maps/E

ncyc

lo.

Deskto

p Aler

ts

Offered Not offered

Discovery, PBS, and Nick strongest interactive producers

and promoters

27

PBS emphasizes a rich library of interactives and emphasizes easy access to them

Interactives Best Practice

Interactives promoted alongside all topics and collection incredibly varied

28

Branding strategy vary across competitors, but some site type-specific trends emerge

Choice of Branding n=19*

Branding

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Consistent Site-Wide

Multiple Sub-Brands

Multiple PartnerBrands

* Sum of responses greater than 19 because some sites employ mixed strategy (e.g. consistent site-wide style/parent brand with nested sub-brands)

•  7 out 7 News sites utilize consistent site-wide branding

•  “TV” Sites emphasize show-specific sub-brands and landing pages

•  Partner brands often emphasized for special features (e.g. Blogs)

29

Branding approaches are varied, but consistency helps to prevent visitor confusion

Branding Best Practices

BBC utilizes a consistent banner on all sub-sites even though individual sites may be

very different in style

Discovery Parent brand less emphasized in sub-sites, but layout, style, navigation nearly identical

except for color

30

Traditional navigation is complemented by topic indexes, breadcrumbs, and graphical schemes

Navigation scheme n=19

Navigation

0

4

8

12

16

Top/Bottom Nav/Sub or Side-Nav

TopicIndex/Dropdown

Breadcrumbs Graphical

• Topic Index and Side-navs easy to use

• Children’s focus accompanied by graphical approach

31

Simple, easy-to-use navigation effectively guides visitors through content-rich sites

Navigation Best Practice Search

Note Popular

Searches

Topic Index Topic Flavor

Topic & Program

Filters

32

Wired cross-promotes related content next to each feature to keep the visitor reading

Threading Best Practice

Related stories and Popular

stories next to every feature

At bottom, read more by author, related stories, older features

Blogs, Feedback,

Special Topics promoted

Links within a story to other articles and

external content

33

Several sites aggressively cross-promote in interesting ways

Threading Best Practice

PBS highlights a featured site within each subject area

A&E search results spawn related, classified links across the site

LiveScience posts links to several types of content next to each feature

34

Representative Content Partnerships

Partnerships Tech

Blogosphere

News

Travel

Sites occasionally partner with one another to broaden content offering: •  Discovery & NY Times •  PBS & BBC •  MSNBC & Space.com

35

Representative Technology Partnerships

Partnerships Community Features – Message Boards, VCC, etc.

Video

Mobile

Subscriptions

36

Discovery utilizes partnerships to create a rich environment for visitors Feature Partner Travel Portal

Message Boards

Subscriptions

Video Library

Site Search

Example

Content

37

Key Observations: Competitive Assessment

What are competitors doing to keep visitors on their site and encourage frequent visits?

•  Make content easy to find –  Logical and simple navigation –  Video search

•  Keep visitors engaged and involved –  Easy to launch video –  Creative interactive content like games and puzzles –  Visitor-created editorial through message boards and blogs –  Story-telling with pictures

•  Guide visitors to other sections within site –  Cross-promote related content next to feature –  Highlight most popular, “must-see” features

•  Create everyday relevance –  Take it with you everywhere (podcasts) –  RSS keeps you updated –  Frequently refreshed features supported by dynamic architecture

38

Audience Profiles

39

Six target audiences were profiled

Soccer Parents

“DINK-y” Men

Work Hard Play Hard

Women

Gender

Age

Household Income

Educational Level

Occupation

Children in Household

Male

25 - 49

$75K +

College Grad/ Post Grad

No

Female

25 - 49

$75 +


Yes

Male & Female

25 – 54

$75K +


Professional/ Managerial

Yes

“Wired” Youth

Cultured Boomers Hipsters

Male & Female

55 +

$75K +

Any College

Nearing Retirement

No

Male & Female

25 - 34

$50K +

Any College

No

Male &Female

18-21

High School

Student

No

7.2%

7.2%

2.4%

2.0%

5.4%

3.1%

4.7%

4.9%

8.2%

10.2%

3.9%

4.1%

Online % NatGeo %

Source: Nielsen NetRatings @Plan

40

Soccer Parents

Nat Geo 7.20%

Online 7.20%

Audience Profile

•  Male & Female Age 25 to 54

•  Household Income $75k+

•  College +, Professional/ Managerial Roles

•  Married with Children

•  Children going to college, owning a home

Basics

Major Life Events/ Home

•  Participate in outdoor sports

•  Drive SUVs and trucks, prefer imported vehicle

•  Watch TV cartoons, buys DVDs, goes to movies

•  Personal finance (brokerage accts, securities)

•  2+ home computers, camcorder, digital camera

•  Entertain at home

Leisure Activities


41

Soccer Parents Audience Profile

•  Experienced surfers (86% online for 5+ years, 65% online daily)

•  Online access at home and work

•  Manage personal finances (bill pay, monitor investments)

•  Interest in news, business, sports, politics, entertainment, weather

•  View / post photos online

Online Activity

•  Research potential purchases but purchase books, clothes/shoes, and travel online

•  Airline tickets and hotel reservations

Online Purchases

•  Frequently travel for vacation, mostly domestically

•  Travel to beach, family reunions, and theme parks

Travel


42

“DINK”y Men Audience Profile

•  Male Age 25-49


•  College +

•  Mostly married with no kids

Basics

•  Read a book, rent or go to a movie, ESPN

•  Entertain at home, BBQs

•  Outdoor sports activities

•  Bars and clubs

•  Beer and sodas

Leisure Activities

•  Changing jobs or buying a home

Major Life Event


43

“DINK”y Men Audience Profile



•  Interest in sports, bill paying, news, politics, weather, travel, and research products

Online Activity

•  Books, clothes/shoes, music, event tickets, and travel

•  Cell phones, computers, cars, and real estate

Online Purchases

•  Frequently travel for business and vacation, both domestic and abroad

•  Travel to beach, family reunions, camping, cultural/historic sites and casinos

Travel


44

Work Hard, Play Hard Women Audience Profile

•  Female Age 25-49


•  College +

•  Mostly married with kids

Basics

•  Read a book, rent or go to a movie, TV

•  Sports/ fitness activities

•  Entertain at home

•  Wine, fruit juices, and sodas

Leisure Activities

•  Owns a home

•  Decision maker on most purchases

Home

45

Work Hard, Play Hard Women Audience Profile



•  Interest in news, politics, weather, travel, research products, and entertainment

Online Activity

•  Books, clothes/shoes, music, toys and furniture

•  Event tickets and travel

Online Purchases

•  Frequently travel for business and vacation, mostly domestically

•  Travel to beach, family reunions, and theme parks, and camping

Travel

46

Hipsters Audience Profile

Source: TBD and Jupiter Research

•  Male & Female Age 25 to 34


•  Some college

•  No children, 42% single

•  Likely to move, change careers, buy first home

Basics

Major life events

•  Watch MTV, VH-1, E!, Comedy Central

•  Go out on dates, frequent bars and clubs, work out at gyms, rent movies

•  71% have consumed alcoholic beverage within last 7 days, prefers beer

•  PDA, mp3 player, home theatre system, Xbox

Leisure Activities

47

Hipsters Audience Profile

Source: Nielsen @Plan


•  Online at home and work, 72% have broadband access at home

•  Read newspapers primarily online rather than in print

•  Interest in sports, business, finance, politics and general news

•  Pay bills and manage credit cards

•  Restaurant research

Online Activity •  Travel and event tickets

•  Books, clothes and shoes

•  Home electronics, computer hardware and software

•  44% have shopped using auctions

•  16.1% have bought digital music online w/in past 6 mo. (compared to only 5.9% of total online population)

Online Purchases

•  Frequently travel for vacation, often abroad

•  New York, Las Vegas

Travel

48

“Wired” Youth Audience Profile

•  Male & Female Age 18-21

•  Household Income $35k+, though often dependent on parents income

•  High school +, Students, Single

•  Going to college, renting first apartment

Basics

Major Life Events/ Home

•  Play a musical instrument, outdoor sports, cultural events

•  Alternative rock, pop, hip-hop, rap, comedy

•  Dating, video games, sports events, travel

•  Pet lovers

Leisure Activities


49

“Wired” Youth Audience Profile

•  25% downloaded music, 22% downloaded video and movie clips in last 30 days

•  30% IM daily; play games online, use iTunes, actively maintain a home page, read online

•  Interest in comedy, cartoons, documentaries

•  Always online at libraries, friend’s homes, pc/laptop, café

•  95% shopped online in the last 6 months

• Frequent contributors of content

Online Activity

•  Clothes

•  Music, Movies, Games

•  Airline tickets

Online Purchases

•  Frequently travel for vacation, often internationally

•  Travel to Europe, Florida, and internationally

Travel


50

Active Boomers Audience Profile

•  Male & Female Age 55+


•  Some college

•  Retired or nearing retirement

•  Expecting grandchild, Paying off house

Basics

Major life events

•  Bridge, gourmet cooking, sailing, golf, travel

•  Live theater, museums, political events

•  Classical music, oldies, symphony

•  Scotch and wine aficionados

•  Photography

Leisure Activities

51

Active Boomers Audience Profile

• Experienced surfers (6+ years online, usually on daily)

• Often online at home office, 61% have broadband access at home

• Utilize internet heavily for research

• Use Internet Café

• Interest in entertainment and basic online games/puzzles

• eCards, email newsletters, download multimedia content

Online Activity • Purchase gourmet food/gift baskets online

• Books

• Travel Packages

Online Purchases

•  Frequently travel for vacation to major US cities and hotspots, often internationally

•  Travel with grandkids and families (museums, national parks, themeparks) or with spouse (cruise, all-inclusive resorts, historical locales)

Travel

52

Profile differences suggest unique content and online needs

Key Implications

•  Like to enjoy activities as a family: NG as a way to pursue hobbies, learn, and travel together •  Opportunity to build community of parents through VCC (share pictures online, home videos) •  High level of travel: May want to suggest opportunities to explore family oriented nature activities

during vacation

Soccer Parents

•  High level of travel: May want to inform them of sports/fitness and camping opportunities during their travels or write features on cultural/historical vacations

•  Watch movies and TV: May want to have features tied-in to movies/television programs that are targeted to this group

“DINK-y” Men

•  Involved in children’s activities: May get interested in NG through educational enhancements for their children or through features on children-focused entertainment (ex. King Kong)

•  High levels of travel: Entice with children-friendly vacation ideas on the regions they will soon visit •  Juggling many responsibilities: May offer features on healthier living through work-life balance

Work Hard, Play Hard Women

•  Constantly online and constantly sharing content: potential to create short-form content that can be forwarded virally and bring visitors back to NG

•  Create content that can be used on websites, accessed via RSS •  Invite content creation (e.g. VCC) about personal travel, perhaps linked to NatGeo “globe”

community

Wired “Youth”

•  Travel footage tied to vacation packages “research a destination” •  Branded eCards on locations, events that can be sent to family; potential for custom eCards using

photos •  Tie-ins to movies may have potential; Email newsletters a potential reach vehicle

Active Boomers

•  Highly receptive to entertainment-oriented and interactive environments •  News and photos most appealing content areas for this group •  Avid international travelers: Help them discover new and exciting locales through intriguing

photography

Hipster


53

Appendix

54

Discussion of Creative Good Findings

55

■  People think of National Geographic as a single entity and expect that online

■  Visitors are expecting amazing pictures from National Geographic. When they are able to find them, they are blown away

■  But, finding the pictures, or the answer to their question/goal, proves to be a challenge on the site

■  Search is widely used, but does a poor job of helping visitors explore all the related content

■  Visitors often get stuck in site “silos” and therefore see only a fraction of what National Geographic has to offer

Summary of NationalGeographic.com experience

A Quick Recap of the Creative Good Summary Findings

56

“People think of National Geographic as a single entity and expect that online”

Our findings support the consistent branding and navigation leads to less visitor confusion

BBC utilizes a consistent banner on all sub-sites even though individual sites

may be very different in style

Discovery Parent brand less emphasized in sub-

sites, but layout, style, navigation nearly identical except for color

57

“Visitors are expecting amazing pictures from National Geographic. When they are able to find them, they are blown away”

Our findings support that rich content can indeed drive website interest. Effective promotion and search can make the content accessible

BBC features photos in an accessible way

On Nick.com, every page emphasizes "More Videos"

58

“But, finding the pictures, or the answer to their question/goal, proves to be a challenge on the site”

Our findings support that strong search facilities are key to keeping visitors engaged. In the Google world, it is too easy to go elsewhere to find content if your search is broken!

PBS features a powerful, easy to use search…

…With graphical, well-annotated results AOL features a two part “guided” search 1. Enter Term

2. Select Search area: e.g. pictures

3. View results

59

“Search is widely used, but does a poor job of helping visitors explore all the related content”

Our findings support search combined with recommendations, lists of “popular” searches/content, and active cross-promoting is effective if it is relevant

BBC highlights new and popular content and searches Wired aggressively cross-promotes related content

AETV and Discovery Search results are categorically organized into features, related products, and related subject areas

60

“Visitors often get stuck in site “silos” and therefore see only a fraction of what National Geographic has to offer”

Our findings support the need to cross-promote across site sections and within them. Related content is not always within the same site.

Topic Index at PBS allows people to access all of PBS from a single, clearly visible dropdown

ABC and NY Times consistently use site-wide side-nav

Nick’s graphical header nav’s prominence anchors the visitor while simultaneously encouraging exploration

61

These four categories tend to manifest different architectures and branding strategies

Competitor Summary

“Richness of Experience”

“Range of Participation”

Information Arcades S'Mores

Information OutletsOnline Zines•  Static Architecture •  Inconsistent Branding

•  Static Architecture •  Site-wide Branding

•  Dynamic Architecture •  Strong Co-Branding

•  Dynamic Architecture •  Site-wide Branding

Richness of Experience: Depth of Multimedia usage including Video, Audio, Photos, Interactives Range of Participation: Breadth of Community, Subscription, VCC, and Download features

62

Dynamic architecture coupled with multimedia delivery

While sites are seemingly split with respect to architecture…

Architecture

47%53%

… A dynamic architecture is strongly coupled with multimedia content

Dynamic Hard-coded

20%

80%

Site Architecture n=19

Architecture of Video-focused sites n=10

Dynamic

Hard-coded

63

Only 47% of competitors feature downloads and they are limited in nature

Download offerings (across 9 sites)

Downloads

0

2

4

6

DesktopArt

Audio Games MobileContent

Printables

• Desktop art (screensavers, backgrounds) most common

• Sites strong in interactives also offer downloads

• Mobile content (e.g. ringtones, icons) hot trend, but not exploited here

64

Majority of sites produce guides or partner to deliver specialized advice

Guides n=19

Advice/How To’s and Shopping recurrent, but reviews common amongst tech, travel, entertainment

Guides

32%

68%

0

2

4

6

8

10

Advice/H

ow Tos

Shopping

Activit

ies/Trav

el

Review

s

Recipes

Joke

s

Offered Not offered

Educational content and themed/ geographically-tied recipes

interesting opportunities

65

Graphical Feature Scorecard (Page 1 of 2)

66

Graphical Feature Scorecard (Page 2 of 2)