Corey Gil 

Katie Hall 

Yen-Ching Liu 

Yi-Jen Wang 

 

 

Project Proposal: MSN Entertainment Podcast 

 

Situation Analysis 

 

The MSN Entertainment website is currently a business of over $41 million in revenue for FY08 (July-June).  As video and audio become a more popular means of online content consumption, we propose adding podcasting as an additional media option for the MSN Entertainment audience.  This new media vehicle can be monetized by offering sponsorship opportunities to advertising clients.  Additionally, podcasting provides another media channel MSN can utilize to sustain its marketing efforts around the current "No One Wants To Look Dumb" consumer ad campaign. 

Podcast Advertising Industry Data

·    eMarketer predicts that podcast advertising spending will reach $400 million by 2011.[1]  

·    The Association for Downloadable Media just released the first draft of advertising standards for Podcasting.  They suggest the ad format would be pre, mid and post rolls varying from 10 to 60 seconds in length.[2]

·    Forrester lists podcasting as one of the seven major categories of Enterprise Web 2.0 technologies.[3]  Additionally, the research includes podcasting as one of the social media channels that will be part of the 43% growth in enterprise expenditures by 2013.      

Audience Assumptions 

 

According to @Plan Winter 2007/2008 data: 

·         The MSN Entertainment audience is 55% more likely to download podcasts and 63% more likely to download vodcasts to their computer than the  

           average online population.      

·         Podcasting demographics skew 63% male. 

·         Bulk of podcasting age (27%) is 35-54 years old.  This age and percent is the exact same demographic data found for the MSN Entertainment site. 

·         The MSN Entertainment audience is 58.6% female and 41.4% male.  

The MSN Entertainment audience is web-savvy.  Between the months of March and April, 85% used the web for news or information and 36% downloaded new software, an application or toolbar.[4]  In general, Internet users who had been online for six or more years were twice as likely to have downloaded a podcast as someone online for three years or less (13% vs. 6%, respectively).[5]      

An Arbitron/Edison Media Research study returned positive results on the increase in the podcast audience:[6] 

·         Audio podcast audience increase 38% this past year 

·         Podcasts downloaded by 30% of regular Internet users 

·         37% (4 in 10) own an iPod or other portable MP3 player, which is remarkable growth 

We think an MSN Entertainment podcast may also attract younger listeners.  Forrester found that “nearly two-thirds of youth listen to one or two podcasts regularly.”[7]  The report also indicated: 

• Three in four youth podcast users use a social networking site at least weekly and read blogs. 
• More than one-third are interested in receiving podcasts from marketers and social network site profiles also spark curiosity. 
• Youth podcast users are older, male and are influenced by trends. 

 

Competitive Analysis 

 

MSN Entertainment’s main competitors for entertainment information and news are AOL Networks: Entertainment, E! Online, EW.com (Entertainment Weekly), Excite, Ticketmaster, Yahoo! Entertainment and TMZ.com.  The only two that have podcasts are TMZ.com and E! Online .  

TMZ has two podcasts:  

·    The TMZ.com podcast is an additional way for their readers to have access to the celebrity news they are looking for.  It is a 24/7 on-demand entertainment news network  providing up-to the minute, exclusive breaking news on today’s hottest celebrities, movies, music, television shows, video games and more. TMZ creates an interactive experience where consumers connect with the ultimate entertainment industry insiders by participating in and giving feedback on the entertainment they experience.     

·    TMZ Chatter Zone offers daily video gossip about celebrities the content creators see with their own eyes.  

 

The E! Online podcasts take audiences inside celebrity life, fresh gossip, entertainment news and very hot parties every week.  Available in audio and video, the audience can catch red carpet highlights, newscasts, outtakes and interviews.  The different podcasts and the descriptions from the E! website [8]  are listed below:  

·         Hollywood Party Girl (audio):  Our bash babe jumps velvet ropes to gather scoop on the hottest A-list do's and rub shoulders with the likes of Lindsay

           and Paris 

·         The Soup (video):  Get a snack-size sample of The Soup's take on celebrity news, pop culture, wacky reality TV moments and more. 

·         Chelsea Lately (video):  Funnychick Chelsea Handler takes a uniquely irreverent look at hot stories, celebrity tales and more. 

·         The Daily 10 (video):  The funkiest entertainment newscast delivers all you need to know about today's stars, stories & scandals in one delicious

           musical package.  

·         Ask the Answer B!tch (audio):  The feisty insider fields questions from readers about how Hollywood works. She gets to the bottom of what the

           glossies, well, gloss over. 

·         Live from the Red Carpet (video):  Your ticket to Hollywood's hottest events, with celeb footage from everywhere the stars go all dressed up and

           ready to party. 

·         YO on E! (audio):  Hear the hottest celebrity interviews from the Yo's satellite radio show. 

Objective 

 

There are three main objectives for developing a podcast program within the MSN Entertainment channel: 

 

1.      To provide an additional option for media consumption to the audience 

2.      To create a new revenue generating product through sponsorship advertising opportunities 

3.      To support the message currently being communicated to consumers by MSN’s No One Wants To Look Dumb ad campaign 

 

Proposed Project & Production Plan 

 

Name:          MSN Entertainment Sound-off Podcast: Week in Review 

About:          The podcast will quickly review all of the news, gossip and other entertainment happenings that occurred in the previous week (Monday-Sunday).  The two hosts will also provide predictions about what will happen in entertainment news for the current week.  The audience for this podcast will be those who did not have time to get their daily or weekly dose of gossip and want a quick catch-up session or for those who are interested in refreshing their minds about what happened in entertainment news during the past week.  

Content:        The podcast content will be pulled from information that is already available through the online MSN Entertainment site.  Thus, the company will need to invest in equipment (minimal costs) and hire a team to create and produce the shows. 

Frequency:    1x/week (Monday) 

Tone:            Conversational and fun  

Tempo:         Upbeat and fast-paced 

Length:          5 minutes 

 

Promotion & Distribution Plan 

 

1.   Educate the public - Since podcasting is a new technology to many people, it’s very important to educate users if they are not familiar to podcasting.  As a result, we will offer instructions on our site so our users can familiarize themselves with listening and subscribing to podcasts. 

 

2.   Graphic - We will use graphics to alert listeners that podcasts and RSS feeds are available. RSS graphic tool: http://www.feedforall.com/public/rss-graphic-tool.htm 

 

3.   Press Release - Send a press release about the podcast.  This can bring more exposure, link popularity and boost search engine rankings.  Submit Press Release: http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/pressreleases.html 

 

4.   Podcast Directories - Submit podcasts to the podcast directories.  They are free to submit and can bring traffic to our podcasts.  Podcasting Directories: http://www.podcasting-tools.com/submit-podcasts.htm 

 

5.   In order to maximize search engine optimization, we will create our own webpage for the podcasts, and publish episode notes and transcripts for each week.  The textual content could be found by the potential listeners on search engines. The episode notes and transcripts help them to get an idea about what our podcast is about before they download or subscribe to it.  We will use the main keyword once in the title, once in the main headline, and then again in the body content.  Getting inbound links with the primary keyword in the anchor text helps to get the podcasting pages at the first page of the search engine result page. 

 

6.   Create a community/discussion board - Build a bridge to communicate with listeners.  We can get direct suggestions and feedbacks from listeners.

 

7.   Display advertising on the MSN network - Especially in the Entertainment pages.