medialifemagazine.com
From the FT, a lush invite to network
By Heidi Dawley
Feb 26, 2008 - 1:05:25 AM
It was bound to happen, and it has. Some big social networking sites are seeing a slowing in the pace of their growth, and that's grabbing all the headlines.
But in the shadow of all that we're seeing a dramatic example of what's the next trend in social networking, the niche play.
The Financial Times is launching a social network aimed at the world's top executives, and the invitation is to mix and mingle with their peers and the leading experts in their fields.
That in itself is not so surprising. You'd expect that of a niche social network, whether for chess buffs or cross-dressing badminton players or dealers in old porches. It all but defines what social networking is about: a chance to rub shoulders.
What may be surprising about the FT network is that it carries a membership fee, a stiff one too: about $3,400 a year or more.
Obviously, the stiff price is about generating revenue, but it's also aimed at keeping the network membership exclusive, explains the FT. In the first year it hopes to sign up to 150 members. As of Friday, the day it launched, the network had six.
This particular network, titled the Telecoms Media and Technology Executive Membership Forum, is aimed at media and technology executives. Others will follow.
The pricey membership allows access to an online forum where members will be able to network with peers and experts in the field. That’s the social networking part.
But there's more. Members will receive a complimentary pass to an FT conference, access to speakers’ presentations through the forum and a subscription to the FT. There is also the opportunity to do some face-to-face networking with speakers and FT editors at specially arranged briefings. In effect, the FT is creating a virtual extension of its conference business.
“This is very much about building niche communities and strengthening loyalty to existing products that we already have,” says Jayne Van Hoen, the FT's global director of conferences and events.
“What I think is interesting is that the FT is bundling the social networking in with a number of things,” says Rebecca Jennings, principal analyst at Forrester Research.
But also interesting to media people is the choice of the paid model, and it may be the choice that other niche networking sites choose as well. Social networks are hugely popular but generally they've struggled at the revenue end.
“Social network sites still haven’t really figured out the revenue model,” says Bob Ivins, executive vice president of comScore in London.
The big social networks have been experimenting with bringing in advertising, he says, and while some have made progress in using search advertising, brand advertising has been more difficult.
Likely, the paid model will work for a select number of sites, those similar to the FT's, where members have the wherewithal to afford to belong. Says Forrester's Jennings: “I don’t think that charging will be the new model for social networking."
Meanwhile, in online ratings for the week ended Feb. 17, according to Nielsen Online, Google claimed the top spot among parent companies, followed by Microsoft, Yahoo, Time Warner and News Corp. Online. The top five brands were Google, Yahoo, MSN/Windows Live, AOL Media Network and Microsoft.
NexTag was the No. 1 advertiser with 5.9 million impressions, closely followed by No. 2 Experian Group Limited at 5.7 million. With 27.3 million ads served, Yahoo was again the top advertising site, well ahead of No. 2 MySpace at 2.7 million.
Sessions per person per week were even to the previous week at 17, and domains visited per person were down one to 40. PC time per person was even compared with the previous week, at 18 hours and almost 26 minutes.
|
Top 25 parent companies
Through Feb. 17 |
|
#
|
Parent
|
Unique Audience (000)
|
Reach %
|
Time Spent per Person (hh:mm:ss)
|
|
1
|
Google
|
89,652
|
63.7
|
0:34:10
|
|
2
|
Microsoft
|
86,788
|
61.7
|
0:45:39
|
|
3
|
Yahoo!
|
79,387
|
56.4
|
1:08:59
|
|
4
|
Time Warner
|
70,608
|
50.2
|
1:23:03
|
|
5
|
News Corp. Online
|
41,530
|
29.5
|
0:49:52
|
|
6
|
eBay
|
34,159
|
24.3
|
0:50:06
|
|
7
|
InterActiveCorp
|
29,232
|
20.8
|
0:12:36
|
|
8
|
Amazon
|
26,208
|
18.6
|
0:12:48
|
|
9
|
Walt Disney Internet Group
|
24,139
|
17.2
|
0:21:10
|
|
10
|
Apple Computer
|
23,972
|
17.0
|
0:32:21
|
|
11
|
Wikimedia Foundation
|
23,024
|
16.4
|
0:10:30
|
|
12
|
Landmark Communications
|
22,874
|
16.3
|
0:10:58
|
|
13
|
New York Times Company
|
20,967
|
14.9
|
0:10:18
|
|
14
|
AT&T Inc.
|
16,829
|
12.0
|
0:24:45
|
|
15
|
RealNetworks, Inc.
|
15,593
|
11.1
|
0:17:41
|
|
16
|
E.W. Scripps Company
|
14,413
|
10.2
|
0:06:47
|
|
17
|
Comcast Corp.
|
13,573
|
9.7
|
0:26:15
|
|
18
|
Verizon Communications
|
12,830
|
9.1
|
0:19:27
|
|
19
|
United Online
|
12,302
|
8.7
|
0:27:50
|
|
20
|
CNET Networks
|
11,932
|
8.5
|
0:05:06
|
|
21
|
Bank of America
|
11,531
|
8.2
|
0:26:37
|
|
22
|
Viacom Digital
|
11,335
|
8.1
|
0:31:46
|
|
23
|
CBS Corporation
|
11,165
|
7.9
|
0:13:36
|
|
24
|
General Electric
|
11,081
|
7.9
|
0:08:48
|
|
25
|
Gannett
|
11,054
|
7.9
|
0:12:13
|
|
Source: Nielsen Online
|
|
Top 25 brands
Through Feb. 17 |
|
|
Parent
|
Unique Audience (000)
|
Reach %
|
Time spent per person (hh:mm:ss)
|
|
1 |
Google
|
82,041
|
58.3
|
0:26:37
|
|
2 |
Yahoo!
|
79,152
|
56.3
|
1:08:43
|
|
3 |
MSN/Windows Live
|
63,265
|
45.0
|
0:46:33
|
|
4 |
AOL Media Network
|
55,932
|
39.8
|
1:32:57
|
|
5 |
Microsoft
|
55,869
|
39.7
|
0:18:04
|
|
6 |
Fox Interactive Media
|
36,018
|
25.6
|
0:53:04
|
|
7 |
YouTube
|
35,204
|
25.0
|
0:21:29
|
|
8 |
eBay
|
28,622
|
20.3
|
0:53:04
|
|
9 |
Apple
|
23,972
|
17.0
|
0:32:21
|
|
10 |
Wikipedia
|
22,950
|
16.3
|
0:10:29
|
|
11 |
Amazon
|
21,031
|
15.0
|
0:12:03
|
|
12 |
Weather Channel
|
20,842
|
14.8
|
0:11:06
|
|
13 |
CNN Digital Network
|
19,600
|
13.9
|
0:19:04
|
|
14 |
Ask Search Network
|
17,736
|
12.6
|
0:13:21
|
|
15 |
Real Network
|
15,593
|
11.1
|
0:17:41
|
|
16 |
Blogger
|
15,413
|
11.0
|
0:05:56
|
|
17 |
About.com
|
13,008
|
9.2
|
0:03:12
|
|
18 |
AT&T
|
12,508
|
8.9
|
0:29:44
|
|
19 |
Bank of America
|
11,180
|
8.0
|
0:26:25
|
|
20 |
Facebook
|
10,516
|
7.5
|
0:30:28
|
|
21 |
Comcast
|
10,503
|
7.5
|
0:32:14
|
|
22 |
Disney Online
|
10,467
|
7.4
|
0:24:34
|
|
23 |
Craigslist
|
10,335
|
7.3
|
0:35:42
|
|
24 |
Chase
|
9,110
|
6.5
|
0:14:31
|
|
25 |
IMDb - Internet Movie Database
|
8,468
|
6.0
|
0:09:38
|
|
Source: Nielsen Online |
|
Top 25 advertisers
(excludes house ads)
Through Feb. 17 |
|
#
|
Company
|
Impressions (000)
|
|
1 |
Experian Group Limited
|
5,936,954
|
|
2 |
NexTag, Inc.
|
5,709,512
|
|
3 |
Netflix, Inc.
|
1,937,032
|
|
4 |
The Walt Disney Corporation
|
1,886,859
|
|
5 |
InterActiveCorp
|
1,754,658
|
|
6 |
Vonage Holdings Corp
|
1,686,577
|
|
7 |
Bank of America Corporation
|
1,072,921
|
|
8 |
Verizon Communications, Inc.
|
985,933
|
|
9 |
Apollo Group, Inc.
|
901,855
|
|
10 |
Echostar Communications Corporation
|
807,487
|
|
11 |
AT&T Corp.
|
722,461
|
|
12 |
General Motors Corporation
|
688,684
|
|
13 |
HSBC Holdings plc
|
642,967
|
|
14 |
CoolSavings, Inc.
|
629,695
|
|
15 |
1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc.
|
622,589
|
|
16 |
Scottrade, Inc.
|
619,301
|
|
17 |
GiftFreebies.com
|
584,426
|
|
18 |
TaxACT
|
578,117
|
|
19 |
Low.com
|
539,896
|
|
20 |
Citigroup Inc.
|
495,239
|
|
21 |
Deutsche Telekom AG
|
410,081
|
|
22 |
E*TRADE FINANCIAL Corp.
|
405,669
|
|
23 |
H&R Block, Inc.
|
387,353
|
|
24 |
eBay, Inc.
|
370,505
|
|
25 |
Fidelity Investments
|
357,262
|
|
Source: Nielsen Online, AdRelevance
Note: Nielsen Online, AdRelevance service estimated online advertising expenditures account for CPM-based image-based advertising. All reported estimated expenditures and impressions do not account for the following placement types: text only, paid fee services, performance-based campaigns, sponsorships, barters, in-stream ("pre-rolls") players, messenger applications, partnership advertising, promotions and email campaigns. AdRelevance currently does not report estimated spending for paid search advertising. Also, Nielsen Online, AdRelevance reporting data reflects advertising activity served on pages accessible via the World Wide Web and not within AOL's proprietary service. |
|
Top 25 advertising sites
(excludes house ads)
Through Feb. 17 |
|
|
Company
|
Impressions (000)
|
|
1 |
Yahoo!
|
27,323,268
|
|
2 |
MySpace
|
2,658,756
|
|
3 |
MSN
|
1,806,834
|
|
4 |
AOL.com
|
1,155,942
|
|
5 |
eBay
|
1,151,282
|
|
6 |
MSNBC
|
1,018,667
|
|
7 |
Comcast.net
|
693,708
|
|
8 |
Facebook
|
601,064
|
|
9 |
The Weather Channel
|
596,200
|
|
10 |
New York Times
|
589,434
|
|
11 |
FOXNEWS.COM
|
519,895
|
|
12 |
IMDb
|
474,804
|
|
13 |
CNN
|
471,834
|
|
14 |
NeoPets
|
460,417
|
|
15 |
Photobucket
|
425,428
|
|
16 |
MyPoints
|
397,839
|
|
17 |
NetZero
|
396,235
|
|
18 |
Home & Garden Television
|
387,729
|
|
19 |
Amazon
|
372,770
|
|
20 |
Juno
|
329,568
|
|
21 |
SI.com
|
271,248
|
|
22 |
ESPN.com
|
219,228
|
|
23 |
CNN Money
|
208,155
|
|
24 |
Excite
|
200,565
|
|
25 |
The Weather Underground
|
165,943
|
|
Source: Nielsen Online, AdRelevance
Note: Nielsen Online, AdRelevance service estimated online advertising expenditures account for CPM-based image-based advertising. All reported estimated expenditures and impressions do not account for the following placement types: text only, paid fee services, performance-based campaigns, sponsorships, barters, in-stream ("pre-rolls") players, messenger applications, partnership advertising, promotions and email campaigns. AdRelevance currently does not report estimated spending for paid search advertising. Above data does not include any house advertising activity. Also, Nielsen Online, AdRelevance reporting data reflects advertising activity served on pages accessible via the World Wide Web and not within AOL's proprietary service. |
|
Average use
Through Feb. 17 |
|
|
Current Week
|
Last Week
|
% Change
|
|
Sessions/Visits per Person
|
17
|
17
|
0
|
|
Domains Visited per Person
|
40
|
41
|
-2.44
|
|
PC Time per Person
|
18:25:59
|
18:24:11
|
0.16
|
|
Active Digital Media Universe
|
140,711,537
|
138,098,855
|
1.89
|
|
Current Digital Media Universe Estimate
|
220,656,084
|
220,618,467
|
0.02
|
|
Source: Nielsen Online |
© 2010 Media Life
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