Huffington Post and Politico Lead Wave of Explosive Growth at Independent Political Blogs and News Sites this Election Season (ComScore)

PRESS RELEASE
Political Blog Visitors Skew Older, Wealthier, More Male than Overall U.S. Internet Population

RESTON, VA, October 22, 2008 – comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released a study of visitation to political blogs and news sites during the 2008 presidential election season, which showed strong gains at most sites compared to year ago. HuffingtonPost.com led among a group of selected stand-alone political blogs and news sites with 4.5 million visitors in September, up 472 percent versus year ago, while Politico.com attracted 2.4 million visitors (up 344 percent) and DrudgeReport.com saw 2.1 million visitors (up 70 percent).

“With each new election cycle, the Internet is playing a more significant role in shaping the stories of the day that are so crucial in formulating public opinion on issues and candidates,” said Andrew Lipsman, senior analyst at comScore. “That most mainstream news outlets now have their own political blogs is a testament to their increasing reach and influence. However, several independent blogs unaffiliated with larger media outlets paved the way in this space and are really beginning to enter the mainstream public consciousness with this current election cycle.”

Selected Stand-Alone* Political Blogs & News Sites
September 2008 vs. September 2007
Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations
Source: comScore Media Metrix

Total Unique Visitors (000)
Sep-2007
Sep-2008
% Change

Total Internet : Total Audience
181,858
189,468
4

HUFFINGTONPOST.COM
792
4,545
474
POLITICO.COM
532
2,362
344
DRUDGEREPORT.COM
1,215
2,059
70
REALCLEARPOLITICS.COM
192
1,129
489
FREEREPUBLIC.COM
1,022
987
-3
Capitol Advantage
794
959
21
DAILYKOS.COM
192
923
381
TOWNHALL.COM
407
884
117
NEWSBUSTERS.ORG
113
732
547
WORLDNETDAILY.COM
411
636
55
TALKINGPOINTSMEMO.COM
32
458
1,321
MICHELLEMALKIN.COM
103
247
140
REDSTATE.COM
38
235
514
CROOKSANDLIARS.COM
122
218
79
RAWSTORY.COM
219
212
-3
POLLSTER.COM
N/A
194
N/A
MEDIAMATTERS.ORG
145
178
23
FIVETHIRTYEIGHT.COM
N/A
169
N/A
CQPOLITICS.COM
N/A
139
N/A
AMERICABLOG.COM
N/A
104
N/A
*Stand-alone refers to blogs unaffiliated with larger news properties, such as the New York Times Caucus Blog or Time’s“The Page”.

Some additional findings include:
· September represented the single biggest month on record for both HuffingtonPost.com and Politico.com since their respective launches.
· Several sites dedicated to political poll-watching achieved notable gains. RealClearPolitics.com, which tracks composites of polls by state, attracted 1.1 million visitors in September, up 489 percent versus year ago. Two other polling-oriented sites, Pollster.com with 194,000 visitors and FiveThirtyEight.com with 169,000 visitors, also saw notable traffic in September.
· The top conservative leaning blog, FreeRepublic.com, actually saw marginal declines versus year ago, though it still attracted nearly 1 million visitors in September. Other conservative blogs, such as Newsbusters.org (up 547 percent to 732,000 visitors), WorldNetDaily.com (up 55 percent to 636,000 visitors) and MichelleMalkin.com (up 140 percent to 247,000 visitors) saw strong gains.

Political Blog Visitors Skew Older and Wealthier Than Average Americans
Looking at the demographic profiles for the top three sites, HuffingtonPost.com, Politico.com and DrudgeReport.com, one can conclude that visitors to these sites tend to be older, wealthier, and more likely to be male than the average U.S. Internet user.

Of the three sites, Politico.com skewed the oldest with 23 percent of its visitors age 55 and older, while DrudgeReport.com skewed wealthiest, with 40 percent of its visitors earning at least $100,000 a year, and had the highest concentration of males at 57 percent. HuffingtonPost.com, the site with the largest audience, was the most similar of the three when compared to the overall U.S. Internet audience.

Demographic Profile of Visitors to Top 3 Political Blogs & News Sites
September 2008
Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations
Source: comScore Media Metrix

% Composition of Unique Visitors
Total U.S. Internet
Huffington Post
Politico
Drudge Report
Total Audience
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0

Persons - Age


Persons: 12-17
10.5
5.4
3.6
2.9
Persons: 18-24
12.0
9.0
6.5
7.1
Persons: 25-34
15.4
15.6
14.9
15.1
Persons: 35-44
18.6
25.3
26.5
24.7
Persons: 45-54
17.5
20.7
19.7
23.3
Persons: 55-64
10.7
11.5
13.8
11.5
Persons: 65+
5.9
7.1
9.5
9.5

Gender


Male
49.8
54.3
54.4
56.7
Female
50.2
45.7
45.6
43.3

Household Income (US)

Under $25K
10.0
5.4
3.6
2.2
$25,000 - 39,999
9.6
8.2
6.7
5.1
$40,000 - 59,999
24.8
20.2
19.4
19.2
$60,000 - 74,999
12.4
13.1
10.7
8.3
$75,000 - 99,999
17.4
19.8
26.9
25.0
$100,000 or more
25.7
33.4
32.6
40.2

About comScore

comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital marketing intelligence. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/boilerplate.

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Wires, wires, wires: too expensive? Paid digital content?

I've been blogging a fair bit about the relative strengths and weaknesses of the wires versus the original news content generated by the NYT/IHT. There is a lot of MSM resentment to their fellow MSM providers - insults over quality and maturity of their writers and now of course, to add to this, we have the sin that they - guess what - CHARGE FOR DIGITAL CONTENT.

That is of course a pretty revolutionary concept for newspapers and one they find impossible to do with the exception of a handful - South China Morning Post, WSJ, the Japanese business newspaper whose name completely escapes me (this is a blog, sorrry) for example.

LexisNexis® is a leading global provider of business information solutions to professionals in law firms, corporations, government, law enforcement, tax, accounting, academic institutions and risk and compliance assessment.

Yet paid content is out there in big numbers: the wires for one, LexisNexis for newspapers and companies, investment banks - whoops, scratch that last term - big financial institutions, law firms etc; your Mum's voice over your mobile phone (yes, that's digital content which you pay for, sorry) and CNN on your cable package. In some cases it's very clear you're paying for content, in others, like your cable package, you probably have a sense its free, but it's not.

So seeing newspapers in a tizz about paying for something they can't monetize themselves is kind of ironic and mildly amusing.

But I'd like to tip my hat to Star Tribune Editor Nancy Barnes, whose remarks are in bold below, and seems to be one of very few newspaper people who kind of get this paid content thing.

Newspapers Weigh Alternatives to AP: But Do They Add Up?By Joe StruppPublished: October 11, 2008 10:21 AM ET
NEW YORK Since the Associated Press announced its controversial rate change last year, many newspapers have started considering other content options. And things are not likely to calm down any time soon.

A handful of dailies — including several who admit their AP rates actually fell — have given notice to drop the service, editors in several states are forging content-sharing alliances, and Politico and PA SportsTicker are quickly positioning themselves to help replace the 160-year-old news cooperative in daily news pages.

But is the latest dispute over AP rates and services a real sign that its relationship with newspapers will be forever changed? Can a mid-sized or major daily really exist without the news cooperative? Or is this just a bluff?

"AP is going to lose newspapers, it is a question of how many," says Editor Dean Miller of the Post Register in Idaho Falls, which several months ago gave its required two years' notice that it plans to drop the news service. "My guess is most of their losses will be in medium and small markets." Since the beginning of the year, when the backlash began against AP's rate change, more than a half-dozen dailies have given notice, including The Bakersfield Californian, the Star Tribune of Minneapolis, and Washington's Yakima Herald-Republic and The Wenatchee World.

"I think the AP regional report has fallen off in quantity, and in some ways, quality," claims Paul Emerson, managing editor at the Lewiston (Idaho) Tribune, which gave notice to AP in September — even though its rates would drop about 17% under the new system. "It is mostly a concern about content." At least one paper, the Spokesman-Review of Spokane, Wash., is challenging AP's two-year-notice requirement and plans to stop using and paying for the wire service by the end of the year. "The legal point here is that we are not canceling a contract, we are declining to sign a new contract," says Editor Steve Smith, who admits a $30,000 expected savings in 2009, but says the remaining $375,000 AP bill is too high.

"More editors are feeling disenfranchised and disregarded by AP."

AP officials declined to comment for this story. But AP Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll, addressing the rate issue during the Associated Press Managing Editors conference in Las Vegas last month, told a group of newspaper editors there, "we certainly hope that the basic fundamentals of the economy and the marketplace will firm up enough so that the pressure is off some of the people who own the AP."

But even with promised AP cuts, editors have been dissatisfied, saying they cannot afford it. Others have claimed the news content is not what they need, particularly with regard to regional and state coverage. "We are exploring our options to see what our outs are," says Ben Marrison, editor of The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch and one of eight Ohio editors who wrote jointly to AP in late 2007 to complain.

"All of our department heads are exploring what it would mean if we had AP or did not have AP."

The dispute dates back more than a year to mid-2007, when AP announced the rate restructuring (and some new services), which will not even take effect until 2009. When the new approach was announced in 2007, AP promised a combined savings of $5.6 million across newspaper member budgets, which increased to $14 million, and, finally, $21 million just days before the AP's annual meeting in April 2008.

Aside from price, there is growing criticism that AP offers content to newspaper competitors at television and radio stations that directly compete online. Star Tribune Editor Nancy Barnes says that is the key reason she gave notice to dump AP: "We want more control of our content and how it is distributed. It is very difficult for us to do that under the current AP contract."

At least one major daily, The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J., tested that theory, publishing an entire newspaper on Sept. 10 without AP, using a combination of local staff, non-AP news services, and PA SportsTicker, a growing sports outlet that has already signed on with New York's Daily News to provide sports coverage. "They are in an evaluation period to evaluate all of our content," Jay Imus, PA SportsTicker's director of sales, says of the Star-Ledger. Editor Jim Willse and Publisher George Arwady did not respond to requests for comment.

Imus says that at least five other U.S. dailies are reviewing PA SportsTicker and have indicated interest in signing up. "I think we will be successful in serving hundreds of clients because there are many willing to give it a try," he says. "They are fed up with how intolerable AP has been.

"Another recent newspaper option is Politico, the political Web site nearing its second anniversary. It recently launched a content-sharing arrangement with numerous newspapers in which Politico provides content in exchange for the right to sell ads that are placed with that content. Politico and the paper split the ad revenues.

"There is no doubt that the trend of papers pulling back on Washington coverage is growing, and it will put more of the burden on places like Politico because people want coverage," says Jim VandeHei, Politico's executive editor. "Washington coverage is still absolutely necessary." Newspapers that have signed on include The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Denver Post, and The Plain Dealer in Cleveland.

If enough papers seek to drop AP altogether, Politico could serve as an even more viable alternative, at least in part. VandeHei says, "We think we have a pretty distinctive voice."

Editors say using Politico copy with that of traditional news services such as McClatchy-Tribune, Hearst, or The New York Times News Service could fill the AP void. "I would be interested in cobbling something together," says Rex Rhoades, executive editor of the Sun Journal in Lewiston, Maine. Rhoades says even with what he terms a "small decrease" under the new AP rate structure next year, his annual cost will be about $157,000 for AP, while McClatchy-Tribune charges him $10,000 per year.

There's also the approach of newspapers sharing content among themselves. Statewide sharing has already increased significantly between some papers in Idaho, Washington, Ohio, and Florida. The Ohio group recently decided to co-sponsor campaign polls and publish the results on the same day. Rhoades of the Sun Journal also says he could see the day when newspapers nationwide share content.

Adds Miller in Idaho Falls: "Remember, AP was created by newspapers."
Joe Strupp (letters@editorandpublisher.com) is a senior editor at E&P.

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Politico as a model for newspapers? (Fishbowl)

Four Questions for Politico's Jim VandeHei

Politico, the Washington-based paper/website that has become a major player in this election season since launching in January of 2007, announced this morning that come November 4 it was actually planning on (gasp!) expanding.

FBNY caught up with Politico co-founder Jim VandeHei to find out, among other things, how in this age of print journalism demise his paper is thriving; whether he thinks other newspapers could use Politico as a model in terms of how to make a profit; and whether Politico hopes to become a sort of collective Washington bureau for newspapers nation-wide.

At least once a day FBNY pens a story about layoffs and closures at newspapers nationwide, how is it that the print version of Politico is not only surviving but expanding?

Our print version is not heavily reliant on retail and classified advertising, two categories getting creamed by the economic turmoil. Our advertisers are predominantly companies and groups trying to shape elite opinion or influence a pending legislative debate. We see this as a strong growth area, even in unnerving economic times. There are countless interests who not only want but need to have their voices heard in Washington — and we are among the most efficient and effective ways of reaching those key decision-makers here and around the country. It is no secret that lawmakers, staffers and policy-shapers are inundated with information like the rest of us. With limited time, they turn to the publications and reporters they trust most. That is why we went out two years ago and hired the best reporters in town, with well-earned reputations and followings among political insiders. Because we are essential to these readers, we are essential to our advertising base.

According to today's story in the NYT Politico.com clocks 3 million unique visitors a month. The website has become a real go-to place for online political coverage (not to mention breaking stories), are you concerned about a significant drop in traffic post Nov 4? And how will the upcoming changes affect Politico online?

Nielsen had us at 3.6 million unique visitors last month — our internal data shows a much higher number. I do anticipate traffic will level off or drop a bit after the election. But I do not think it will drop precipitously because there is a huge audience out there for news on the president, Congress and special interests. I can not imagine public interest will fall given the historic nature of the outcome (either the first African-American president or first female VP.) We will continue to break news on the big stories of the day and provide smart and timely analysis — it's in the DNA of the place now. We anticipate we will continue to draw an elite audience (our numbers show our readers are very well educated and pretty wealthy), which is attractive to higher-end national brand advertisers, as well as the issue advocacy community. The public focus will shift to the White House and Congress — and so will we in a pretty big way. We will have among the largest WH and congressional teams in the country. The day after the election, we will launch Politico 44 — a new and we think quite innovative way of covering the most powerful person in the world. This is a long way of saying I don't think things will slow down — in fact, we are bracing (and staffing up) for even more action post-election.

There is a story in The American Prospect right now about the demise of the Washington News Bureau. One of the goals of your expansion is to share content and ad sales with newspapers, something we saw early evidence of at both the conventions. Do you foresee Politico becoming a sort of AP-like Washington bureau for newspapers that no longer have the budget to afford their own?

We could never compete with the Associated Press. It is a massive wire service that covers countless topics. We cover politics and Washington governance. Can you imagine getting your sports news from a place called Politico? Our ambitions are pretty clear and focused: We want it to be emphatically clear to our readers that we provide the fastest, smartest, most essential coverage of Congress, the White House, politics and those who try to influence all three. It is sad and true that many newspapers are being forced to pull back or eliminate their Washington coverage. John Harris and I spend a lot of time thinking about the future of journalism and talking with newspaper editors about ways we can work together to provide coverage in our core areas. We partnered with the Denver Post and St. Paul Pioneer-Press for the conventions — and both efforts were a huge success, in our eyes. We recently launched a new experiment called the Politico Network that allows newspapers to use some of our content. In exchange, we get the rights to sell some of their web advertising inventory. It successful, this would allow Politico to spread its content around the country and make some money for the newspaper partners and Politico.

Politico is unique in that its print version is aimed at a very local audience while its online reach is national. Do you think this might be a format that other print newspapers might be able to follow, or is it only something that could exist and be profitable in Washington?

I don't think our model can be easily replicated, at least on the print side (unless the federal government moves to another city). John and I do think there is a very robust future for niche sites online. The new media formula is pretty simple: If you can build a desirable audience that a class of advertisers wants to reach, you have a darn good chance at success. Advertisers want efficient ways of reaching their target audience, and niche sites offer it (if you can build a big enough audience). We have some thoughts on variations of POLITICO that might work elsewhere — and we might have more on that next year.

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McCain aide: NYT not legit news source

One of the problems newspapers face is that they are regarded by many within their target demographic as being partisan.

If we compare the NYT with an Ipod for a second, both products have brand stature. However owning an Ipod - although it says lots of things about you - doesn't carry any political baggage.

If a large segment of the target demographic of Ipods wouldn't buy them because it thought owning an Ipod would signal them either as believers in and clone followers of elitist, establishment MSM or as liberal, anti-Republican people, then Apple would eliminate a sizable part of its target audience.

This wouldn't be smart.

However, whether you agree with either of those characterisations of the NYT or not, the fact is that many people do, and therefore don't buy it.


Witness this article below from Politico:

McCain aide: NYT not legit news source
By MIKE ALLEN 9/22/08 12:25 PM EDT
Steve Schmidt, a McCain campaign senior adviser, declared on a conference call with reporters Monday that The New York Times is "not ... a journalistic organization.”
His lengthy broadside, prompted by an article Monday documenting ties between the campaign and lobbying for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, was the latest in a series of grievances with the Gray Lady that that aides to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) have aired publicly.
“Whatever The New York Times once was, it is today not by any standard a journalistic organization,” Schmidt said. “It is a pro-Obama advocacy organization that every day impugns the McCain campaign, attacks Sen. McCain, attacks Gov. [Sarah] Palin. It excuse Sen. Obama. …
“Everything that is read in The New York Times that attacks this campaign should be evaluated by the American people from that perspective — that it is an organization that has made a decision to cast aside its journalistic integrity and tradition, to advocate for the defeat of one candidate — in this case, John McCain — and to advocate for the election of the other candidate, Barack Obama.”
Bill Keller, the newspaper's executive editor, said in a statement of response: "The New York Times is committed to covering the candidates fully, fairly and aggressively. It's our job to ask hard questions, fact-check their statements and their advertising, examine their programs, positions, biographies and advisors. Candidates and their campaign operatives are not always comfortable with that level of scrutiny, but it's what our readers expect and deserve."
Bill Burton, the Obama campaign's national press secretary, called Schmidt's accusation laughable, and said the Times had published more than 40 "probing stories ... over the course of the campaign about Barack Obama, his life, his religion, his childhood, his politics, his time in the state Senate, his time in the U.S. Senate, his family, his religion, his friends, his fundraising and all other manner of associations."
Burton attached a list of 42 citations, pasted below.
On Monday, the paper published an article on page A18 tying a McCain campaign manager, Rick Davis, to lobbying group set up by troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
When CNN’s Dana Bash asked about the article, Schmidt unloaded.
“Let me first say: We are First Amendment absolutists on this campaign,” Schmidt said. “The press, and anybody who wishes to cover this race from the blogosphere perspective or from a media perspective, … of course is constitutionally protected with regard to writing … whatever they want to write. But let’s be clear and be honest with each other about something fundamental to this race.”
Schmidt said that the Obama campaign has been “abetted” by a compliant media that gives more scrutiny to the Republican than to the Democrat.
Then, naming the Times, he said: “There is no level of public vetting with Sen. Obama’s record, his background, his past statements. There’s no level of outrage directed at his deceitful ads. This is an organization that is completely, totally, 150 percent in tank for the Democratic candidate, which is their prerogative to be. But let’s not be dishonest and call it something other than what it is.”
Burton's list of Times articles probing Obama:
1. In Law School, Obama Found Political Voice [New York Times, 1/28/07] 2. So Far, Obama Can’t Take Black Vote For Granted [New York Times, 2/2/07] 3. Obama Had Slaveowning Kin [New York Times, 3/3/07] 4. Disinvitation by Obama Is Criticized [New York Times, 3/6/07] 5. Obama, in Brief Investing Foray In '05, Took Same Path as Donors [New York Times, 3/7/07] 6. Obama Says His Investments Presented No Conflicts of Interest [New York Times, 3/8/07] 7. Charisma and a Search for Self In Obama's Hawaii Childhood [New York Times, 3/17/07] 8. Clinton Camp Challenges Obama on Iraq. [New York Times, 3/22/07] 9. After 2000 Loss, Obama Built Donor Network From Roots Up [New York Times, 4/3/07] 10. A Candidate, His Minister and the Search for Faith [New York Times, 4/30/07] 11. An Obama Patron and Friend Until an Indictment in Illinois [New York Times, 6/14/07] 12. In Illinois, Obama Proved Pragmatic and Shrewd. [New York Times, 7/30/07] 13. In 2000, a Streetwise Veteran Schooled a Bold Young Obama. [New York Times, 9/9/07] 14. Loyal Network Backs Obama After His Help. [New York Times, 10/1/07] 15. Obama’s Account of New York Years Often Differs From What Others Say. [New York Times, 10/30/07] 16. It’s Not Just ‘Ayes’ and ‘Nays’: Obama’s Votes in Illinois Echo. [New York Times, 12/20/07] 17. Nuclear Leaks and Response Tested Obama in Senate [New York Times, 2/3/08] 18. Daschle Uses Senate Ties To Blaze Path for Obama [New York Times, 2/5/08] 19. Old Friends Say Drugs Played Bit Part in Obama’s Young Life [New York Times, 2/9/08] 20. Seeking Unity, Obama Feels Pull of Racial Divide [New York Times, 2/12/08] 21. Obama Walks a Difficult Path as He Courts Jewish Voters [New York Times, 3/1/08] Obama in Senate: Star Power, Minor Role [New York Times, 3/9/08] 22. A Free-Spirited Wanderer Who Set Obama’s Path [New York Times, 3/14/08] 23.cPastor Defends His Predecessor at Obama’s Chicago Church [New York Times, 3/17/08] 24. Obama’s Narrator [New York Times, 4/1/07] 25. Wright Remains a Concern for Some Democrats [New York Times, 5/1/08] 26. A Strained Wright-Obama Bond Finally Snaps [New York Times, 5/1/08] 27. A Pulpit-and-Pews Gulf on Obama’s Ex-Pastor [New York Times, 5/2/08] 28. A Fiery Theology Under Fire [New York Times, 5/4/08] 29. Obama Secret Service Agent Tied To Sex Joke [New York Times, 5/15/08] 30. The Story of Obama, Written by Obama [New York Times, 5/18/08] 31. Following Months of Criticism, Obama Quits His Church [New York Times, 6/1/08] 32. Many Blacks Find Joy in Unexpected Breakthrough [New York Times, 6/5/08] 33. Where Whites Draw The Line [New York Times, 6/8/08]
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/13733.html



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