INQ7 Interactive Inc. Money and online media: The INQ7 experience

INQ7 Interactive Inc. Profile Joint venture between top newspaper (Inquirer) and top television network (GMA-7) million pageviews per month; 21 million unique visitors per month; 90,000 SMS alert subscribers 70% of audience is overseas, mostly from the US Top sections are homepage, entertainment, breaking news, and national headlines--in that order usually

INQ7 Interactive Inc. INQ7 news desk 7 reporters 5 full-time editors 12 technical personnel Full number of employees: 43 Wire agency style operation Daily volume: Around 150 stories, 12 video clips Breaking news frequency is generally twice per hour. Near real-time during coups and other emergencies when running account is used. Wire feeds: AP, AFP, XFN-Asia, Reuters, Inquirer, GMA-7

INQ7 Interactive Inc. What pays for all this? 50% RP-based advertisers 35% US-based advertisers 15% Syndication, SMS, and other revenue Advertising revenue has grown an average of 100% each year for the past three years. Main driver for revenue growth

INQ7 Interactive Inc. Implications on editorial Pressure to run press releases of advertisers Pressure to create content that “sells” Homepage and inner pages become battleground between sales and editorial in terms of ad space Newness of medium means less awareness of church-state division Projects without a clear upside for advertisers receive less priority The short of it: The more things change, the more they stay the same. No threat of an ad boycott…so far

INQ7 Interactive Inc. Responses Salespeople told that they cannot promise press releases as part of ad packages and that the site’s editorial credibility is the key to high readership Express and mobile editions of site that have fewer ads. These are the editions used in high- traffic situations. Exploring paid subscription model as option for readers who want no ads at all Editorial OK required for certain types of rich media ad campaigns

INQ7 Interactive Inc. Summary Advertising appears to be the most promising business model online to date for news sites. Such a business model results in online media outfits facing the same problems as traditional media counterparts that also depend heavily on advertising. Editorial’s best defense is to educate sales on good editorial practices and explain to them that keeping to these practices will result in long-term viability.