In Raleigh, Role Reversal For TV, Paper Sites

In most cities, the dominant newspaper has the dominant local Web site. But that’s not been the case in “the Triangle,” the Raleigh-Durham, N.C., market.

WRAL.com, the site for Capital Broadcasting Co.-owned CBS affiliate WRAL-TV, is a strong No. 1 in Raleigh, in terms of traffic. It is followed by another powerful player, NewsObserver.com, the site for The News & Observer newspaper, which is part of the McClatchy Co. chain.

“It is definitely different in this market than in most other markets,” said Abby Sineni, customer relations and research manager for Borrell Associates, the research and consulting company.

WRAL.com benefits in terms of traffic because its TV counterpart is the No. 1 station in Raleigh, according to the station’s general manager Steven Hammel.

"All of our newscasts are No. 1," Hammel said. "For instance we have a 21.3 share for our 6 p.m. newscast."

In addition, Capital Broadcasting’s management has been an aggressive pioneer in new media, according to Sineni.

“WRAL moves quicker with making decisions than most media companies,” she said. “James Goodmon Jr. has been an advocate for innovation and keeping up with technology and getting things implemented quickly for WRAL. That has given them an advantage as they've been on the cutting edge for a long time.”

John Clark, general manager of WRAL.com, said there is no one ingredient to the site’s success.

“There are a lot of things, I believe, that make the difference,” he said. “I can’t just point to one -- or even 10 for that matter. Certainly the strength of the station contributes a great deal, but there are a lot of strong stations around the country.”

Sineni credited WRAL.com and NewsObserver.com with being early to the game in terms of educating local advertisers about using the Web.

This year local online ad spending for Raleigh, the No. 25 TV market, is expected to hit $137.3 million, an increase of about 20% from last year’s $114.4 million, according to Borrell data.

And from 2010 to 2015, Borrell is projecting that Raleigh’s local online ad revenue will increase 73.8%, to $198.8 million.

That 70%-plus gain is not a huge increase for a smaller or medium-sized market, according to Sineni.

“It’s average, but the reason it’s average is because they already had a good start,” she said.

With three major universities in the region, the Triangle is alive with young, Internet-dependent students. It’s no surprise then that college sports and entertainment are big drivers of local Web traffic and online advertising. Media outlets there are simply catering to the interests of area residents.

And these students -- as well as area alumni of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University and Duke University -- are loyal fans schools’ basketball and football teams.

“Those three college teams are huge,” Clark said.

Raleigh, the state capital, is also known for being a haven for pharmaceutical and high-tech companies, which have flocked to Research Triangle Park.

“The cost of living is fairly reasonable, and there are a lot of younger people, especially with the colleges,” Sineni said.

It’s no wonder that not only WRAL.com but NewsObserver.com, have strategies to target these varied constituencies. That includes not only breaking out hyperlocal sections, but also launching niche sites on high school sports, local entertainment and tips for mothers.

And the sites are on the cutting edge as far as offering local sponsors targeted marketing, she added.

“They both have consultative sales approaches,” Sineni said.

During the next five years targeted display ads in Raleigh will soar, climbing 869% to $87.9 million, while run-of-site display ads will decline from $41.7 million to $21 million, dropping 49.5%, according to Borrell.

“Advertisers are becoming more savvy,” Sineni said. “Display run-of-site is really good for branding, but it typically doesn’t drive people through your door that week, month.”

In terms of traffic, WRAL.com leads the pack. It averages 80 million to 85 million page-views a month, according to Clark, and 3 million to 4 million unique visitors a month.

“Last year we hit over 1 billion page views,” he said.

And 75% to 80% of those unique users are from within the Raleigh area, he added. “Our penetration in the market is extremely high,” Clark said. “Traffic continues to grow.”

The News & Observer is McClatchy’s metro flagship in the market. But it also owns nine community newspapers, which each have their own Web site. It also owns entertainment site Triangle.com, as well as two vertical niche sites, Trianglemom2mom.com and Trianglejobs.com, according to News & Observer vice president of classified and interactive media Gary Smith.

The Triangle Online Network, The News & Observer’s suite of more than a dozen Web sites, including its community papers, averages 13.6 million page views a month and 2 million unique viewers a month, according to Omniture.