NONE: ONLINE-ADS>> AdTech Coverage: Mark Hardie, Forrester Research / Rpt #10
ONLINE-ADS>> AdTech Coverage: Mark Hardie, Forrester Research / Rpt #10
rhoy_at_o-a.com
Fri, 30 Jan 1998 11:03:25 -0600 (CST)
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Mark Hardie, Forrester Research / Rpt #10
"Sports and the Web"
January 30, 1998
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This is the final in a series of 10 reports from Richard Hoy, who
covered the AdTech: West conference in Los Angeles. You will receive
these reports in addition to your normal Online Ads posts/digests.
These reports are archived at: http://www.o-a.com/adtech-archive.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------
This conference coverage is generously underwritten by:
Match.com
Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match. Advertise on Match.Com and
we'll play matchmaker with your product and a half-million affluent
singles. Our subscribers are people that are open to new adventures
(like your site, for instance). They are people who are comfortable
with an online commerce environment. In fact 50,000 of them log on to
meet each other every day. That means better targetability for you. We
target your banner based on demographic data supplied to us by each of
our subscribers. That's how we deliver your ad to the individuals you
want to reach. That's how we can offer you exceptional reporting as
well. This Valentine's Day, Match.Com will be a leading online
destination for thousands of singles. We can make that true for your
site, too.
Try Match.Com now and we'll give you three months for the price of
two. To find out more, visit us at:
http://www.match.com/advertising/
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<MODERATOR's NOTE>
Conferences are a great place to meet industry folks and learn about what is going on, even if those folks are not on the speaking schedule. We were fortunate to meet-up with several great people at Ad Tech: West and, as a result, have a handful of other stories to write up. (10 reports just wasn't enough to cover everything!) However, we need to close this up so we can start our next round of coverage this coming week.
So, I promise more reports from a variety of sources in mid-February. But for now, we have to close this Ad Tech series.
best,
richard
</MODERATOR's NOTE>
Mark Hardie, Forrester Research
"Sports and the Web"
[Reported by Cliff Kurtzman]
As I have been running a specialty sports publication on the
web for the past four years, I was interested to hear what
Forrester Research had to say about the online sports
industry. Forrester Research is a group that publishes
studies and reports on lots of Internet topics, and in the
talk Mark Hardie reviewed the results of their report on
Sports on the Web.
Mark reviewed the top sporting and non-sporting events on
the web for 1997, using data on hits provided by to him by
each event. Unfortunately, these events did not provide Mark
with more meaningful data on site visits or sessions, so
Mark was forced to extrapolate from hits to sessions using
an estimation formula that I found to be rather likely to
overestimate the true number of visits. Nonetheless, this
is what he estimated:
1997 Web sports events:
Wimbledon had an estimated 2.4 million site visits over 14
days The Ryder Cup had an estimated 1.2 million site visits
over 3 days The PGA Championships had an estimated 0.8
million site visits over 4 days The Super Bowl had an
estimated 0.4 million visits over 3 days
Other 1997 events:
Deep Blue Chess Match had an estimated 4 million site visits
over 7 days. The '96 election had an estimated 2 million site
visits over 1 day. ER Live had an estimated .06 million site
visits over 1 day. Mars Pathfinder had an estimated .033
million site visits over 5 days at just one of the mirror
sites.
Mark noted three major trends of online sports sites:
The first trend Mark found is that Web sports audiences are
increasingly heterogeneous:
The Forrester study found that 80% of the visitors to online
sports sites are those with a "casual" sports interest.
This category of visitor is neither male nor female
dominated. Casuals tend to bookmark several news and sports
specific sites and often surf in search of human interest
stories.
15% of web site visitors are an "impassioned" group of
ex-athletes and weekend warriors who often subscribe to one
or more sports magazines. People in this group often surf
multiple sports sites daily. Impassioned sports fans often
love niche specialty sports sites (e.g., golf.com,
runnersworld.com).
5% of web site visitors are "gamblers," who are a rabid,
betting fan sub-population. To this group, the web is a
statistical godsend. Gamblers tend to be characterized as
predominantly male and in their 20s to 30s. Gamblers often
use elaborate bookmarks and those into fantasy sports will
pay for content.
What surprised me in this breakout is that there was no
mention of what we have found to be a non-negligable fourth
category of sports site visitors: Shoppers. When a shopper
visits a sports site, they are looking for information and
deals on clothing and equipment, and may not have any
particular interest in sports news or content. More
comments related to this later.
The second trend that Forrester noted is that an all out
sports content war rages on-line. The major players are
fiercely competitive in trying to grab audience share. You
can get sports information when you turn on the TV, read the
paper, or tune in to the radio. But online, more choices
converge in one medium and the timing is up to the browser.
The third trend Forrester noted is that commerce has been a
no show to date in the online sports world. While licensed
merchandise litters the web, product marketing and retailing
is absent is absent from the sports sites. In the few places
it exists, Forrester found that poor product selection
prevails, and channel conflict cited. A deficient
infrastructure and channel conficts are often often blamed,
yet these problems have been effectively overcome in other
industries.
Mark related how major retail brands like NIKE or Footlocker
are virtually invisible on other sports sites. He explained
how he was unable to purchase a new pair of shoes on the
web.
Frankly, I found this conclusion to be completely at odds
with my experiences. I have an extremely narrow width foot,
and finding tennis shoes in a store is very difficult for
me, but I easily bought my last pair of tennis shoes online
over 6 months ago. The incredible online publishing
industry that has sprung up over the past couple of years
around the sport of golf has been met with a parallel trend
in online golf retailing. In the tennis world, we've seen a
sports outlet like Tennis Warehouse establish its business
and build widespread brand identity virtually entirely
through its web site and online advertising on other tennis
sites over the past two and a half years.
So why do Forrester and I reach different conclusions? I
think this is because, as I have often found with Forrester
studies, they looked at a handful of the biggest
multi-sports sites (such as ESPN SportsZone, CNN/SI, and
SportsLine) in the industry and then generalized what they
have found to the entire industry. This is a dangerous
practice.
The largest sports sites do an incredible job of providing
sports news services that most of the niche sites cannot
compete with. On the other hand, the niche sites have
learned how to communicate and build relationships with the
online audience far better than most of the larger
multi-sports online publishers. My feeling is that
retailers are going to tend to congregate where the
relationships are being built. This is why, if you
concentrate on looking at the biggest multi-sports sites,
you will miss the big picture of what is going on.
Mark went on to say that Forrester believes that online
audiences have reached critical mass and that the web
delivers the flexibility fans want. Online events leverage
established properties and allow the life of a sporting
event to be extended well beyond the duration of the actual
event. Online merchandising and retailing opportunities
await those that are able to use the medium effectively.
The four key elements that Forrester believes are necessary
to the success of retailing on a sports web site are:
1) Content. Without content, manufacturers and retailers
sites wither in web eddies. Media franchises enjoy an
advantage. Broadening demographics create opportunities for
new content players and partnerships.
2) Consumer brand. Weak web brands are at a serious
disadvantage.
3) Web technology. Major sporting events require technology
sophistication. Process management proficiency, traffic
control skills, and a discerning sense for product
positioning are essential. Content providers need to use
technology to extend the off-line experience.
4) eCommerce capability. Forrester believes that this will
become the key differentiater among sports sites. It
requires a back-end fulfillment partner. It is more than
just tickets and licensed merchandise. Mark recommended
that sports publishers study the leaders in other industries
such as Dell and J.Crew.
In conclusion, Mark stated that no single player has it all,
and that new relationships will drive success. Consumers are
ready for online sports retailing, the marquee events are
already online, new relationships are emerging, and
transactive content in the "fourth channel" will usher in an
active sports marketplace.
This ends our reports of AdTech: West. Thanks for reading!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
This conference coverage is generously underwritten by:
Match.com
Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match. Advertise on Match.Com and
we'll play matchmaker with your product and a half-million affluent
singles. Our subscribers are people that are open to new adventures
(like your site, for instance). They are people who are comfortable
with an online commerce environment. In fact 50,000 of them log on to
meet each other every day. That means better targetability for you. We
target your banner based on demographic data supplied to us by each of
our subscribers. That's how we deliver your ad to the individuals you
want to reach. That's how we can offer you exceptional reporting as
well. This Valentine's Day, Match.Com will be a leading online
destination for thousands of singles. We can make that true for your
site, too.
Try Match.Com now and we'll give you three months for the price of
two. To find out more, visit us at:
http://www.match.com/advertising/
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