A different online strategy: Lag behind deliberately

Sunday, 25 March 2007, 10:52

The Independent on Sunday today contains an article that seeks to justify its editor-in-chief’s famous scepticism about new media.

Looking at the Telegraph’s multimedia newsroom, Tim Luckhurst says it’s working well, but wonders whether the Telegraph’s readership really cares. Despite its Hitwise claims, the Telegraph lags behind the Times and Guardian in online readership among the quality newspapers. Moreover, he notes, nobody seems to commenting on the Telegraph blogs. And the bloggers themselves don’t seem to be very enthusiastic, having failed, in some cases, to post for weeks on end.

Then come the quotes from various unnamed sources, including a “leading web site editor” and a Telegraph correspondent, who appear to share the Indy scepticism about newspapers blogging, podcasting and video.

And then, in the final paragraph, comes the Independent view:

It is already clear that Telegraph readers appreciate web coverage that emulates the content of a traditional newspaper. That is excellent news for newspapers in general, but it does not prove that rushing to embrace each new item of technology makes editorial or commercial sense. Waiting and watching has often been the astute response to revolutionary technology. Those who pioneer multimedia may not be the ones to do it best.

Judging by various interviews with editor-in-chief Simon Kelner and chief executive Ivan Fallon over the past few years, this seems to reflect the Indy’s position. Fallon has predicted problems for the Telegraph’s integration efforts. The Independent’s strategy seems to be that it will deliberately lag behind the other quality papers online, leave innovation to others, and then pick and chose which new media approaches to emulate. In his interview with the Guardian, Kelner said:

We’re happy not being pioneers, because it means we won’t get shot in the back. Our approach has been – and will be for the near future – that we’ll go about things more steadily, we’re not going to rush headlong into massive investment.

The Indy, of course, sees its online foot-dragging as a hard-headed businesses decision. Newspapers-printed-on-newsprint, they like to stress, are still booming globally (a valid point for a newspaper group with major interests in growing economies like South Africa and India), and they have sat backed and watched as their traditional rivals have invested millions into their web sites. The Times this year spent £10m on a web relaunch, and the Guardian will spend another £15m on its site over the next 18 months. Kelner, by contrast, can boast that his more humble web site is at least profitable — and increasing the revenue it generates significantly.

But if the Independent’s short-lived experiment with blogging is anything to go by, there is, of course no guarantee that this approach will be successful. The innovators will be way ahead, having learned what doesn’t work as well as what does. Those who follow the pioneers will have to reinvent the wheel every time.

Perhaps it’s most telling that the corner of Independent News & Media’s UK empire that makes all the money — the Belfast Telegraph — is not as reluctant about multimedia integration as the flagship in London.

Entry Filed under: Blogs, Guardian Unlimited, Independent, Independent News & Media, Independent on Sunday, Telegraph.co.uk, Times Online, podcasting

11 Comments Add some more of your own

1. /public relations /media &hellip | 2 April 2007 at 1554

Read this How Do launches in the North WestThe inevitable Twitter postA different online strategy: Lag behind deliberatelyGuardian future ‘probably in video’Channel 4 Radio ‘won’t just be TV lite’Civil war on Trinity editors? blogsBare-faced cheekJenkins levels “sleaze” charge at Guardian over sponsored supplementCarbon Trust launches labelling scheme
2. Techmeme&hellip | 27 March 2007 at 0129

+ Discussion: Martin Stabe, Telegraph Blogs, Wordblog, Greenslade, bojo and mathewingram.com/work
3. David Black&hellip | 26 March 2007 at 0221

Martin Stabe » A different online strategy: Lag behind deliberately
4. Appunti di Pandemia&hellip | 25 March 2007 at 1516

— A different online strategy: Lag behind deliberately
5. Kevin Anderson | 25 March 2007 at 1113

Martin, there is a strategy and then there is the appearance of a strategy. That is to say most often digital immigrants confuse tools with behaviours. The question isn’t whether newspapers should blog but what makes blogging compelling. I’ve heard that a major UK newspaper’s stategy when it comes to blogging is ‘to attract a younger demographic’. That’s not strategic thinking, and it will fail.

Everyone is chasing video because of YouTube without really understanding why YouTube is compelling. It’s not because it’s video, I can tell you that. Now, newspapers also seem to like video because advertisers like video. Well, that makes some economic sense. Are advertisers digging video because of YouTube? I don’t know. But neither the advertisers nor newspapers will succeed if they think that YouTube’s popularity is about video (or about piracy).
6. Tools or behaviour? : And&hellip | 26 March 2007 at 0938

[...] great post over at Martin Stabe’s blog that consolidates some of the thinking about Simon Kelner’s ‘wait and see’ attitude to the [...]
7. bojo » “Wait &hellip | 26 March 2007 at 1035

[...] Martin points to the final paragraph, which runs what is basically the Indy’s leader line with regards to online innovation: Readers appreciate web coverage that emulates the content of a traditional newspaper. That is excellent news for newspapers in general, but it does not prove that rushing to embrace each new item of technology makes editorial or commercial sense. Waiting and watching has often been the astute response to revolutionary technology. Those who pioneer multimedia may not be the ones to do it best. [...]
8. Independent: just another&hellip | 26 March 2007 at 1756

[...] It’s probably not surprising that Shane Richmond, the online editor for The Telegraph, might take issue with Mr. Luckhurst’s view on things, but I think he makes some worthwhile points anyway in his response. Among other things, he notes that comments on blogs are a fairly poor indicator of whether an online strategy is working on not (Bobbie Johnson of the Guardian has some thoughts about Luckhurst’s piece as well, as does Martin Stabe). [...]
9. Independent: just another&hellip | 26 March 2007 at 2006

[...] It’s probably not surprising that Shane Richmond, the online editor for The Telegraph, might take issue with Mr. Luckhurst’s view on things, but I think he makes some worthwhile points anyway in his response. Among other things, he notes that comments on blogs are a fairly poor indicator of whether an online strategy is working on not (Bobbie Johnson of the Guardian has some thoughts about Luckhurst’s piece as well, as does Martin Stabe). [...]
10. Vblogs, Podcasts, Blogs a&hellip | 27 March 2007 at 1939

[...] point that I think many people miss. He cited Kevin Anderson from the Guardian, who argues that YouTube is not popular because of the video, but there’s something else intriguing about it. Do I [...]
11. How the Independent uses &hellip | 2 August 2008 at 1010

[...] was never a fan of former editor Simon Kelner’s wait and see approach and, when it comes to video, the Indy might have waited too long. This really is a standing start. [...]

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