Comments on: WKRN blog views now out-traffic its main site

By: MOJO

MOJO — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 13:30:21 +0000

Wow, thanks for the excellent information!

By: Mitch

Mitch — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 17:52:37 +0000

I could out-pageview WKRN in six blogs.

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 17:14:47 +0000

Regarding news and the discussion of current topics, what do you all think of Plastic.com? Is their model something that could be adopted by local TV sites?

By: thedetroitchannel

thedetroitchannel — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 14:01:52 +0000

man, can you give some credit where it is due?

we are talking about nashville. nothing against the fine folks in nashville, mike or terry, but had someone done this in ny or la it would be playing in peoria right now.

and please don’t call me a wkrn cheerleader… i too asked not long ago “they have tv in nashville???”

By: Hussman

Hussman — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 13:45:49 +0000

Not that hard when you look at it from a viewer’s perspective. Not knowing their market, but I’d wager a guess that if you gave a voyueristic viewer the chance to look into the head of a local celebrity, they will take it and take it and take it. Who wants to read the actual news story when you can read the local anchor’s perspective on it?

By: Z

Fri, 03 Nov 2006 13:22:56 +0000

Not to trivialize this, but how hard is it really for 19 blogs to exceed the traffic of one Web site?

By: db

db — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 08:01:51 +0000

I’m not surprised; it isn’t hard to beat your regular traffic when your regular traffic is relatively small to begin with. Take a look at their Alexa rating; it isn’t scientific, but it is obvious that they aren’t lighting the web on fire with their wkrn.com site.

Instead of focusing their energies on the latest buzz-words, they should start improving on what should be their core business: web-based news.

Or perhaps they should invest in a better software platform first; I can’t even see wkrn.com right now due to a “Fatal error” in their software. That’s a sure way to drive down traffic.

By: Steve Safran

Steve Safran — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 23:54:54 +0000

I’m sure Mike would take issue with the characterization of the ratings as “horrible.” But let’s take KRN out of the equation for a moment:

The web is not in service of broadcast ratings.

The web is in service of news. It is taking over distribution and aggregation. It is its own business. Look no further than the huge success that is MSNBC.com and the disappointment that is MNSBC TV. The web is not a servant to the television master any longer.

By: Allen

Allen — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 23:30:50 +0000

Yet their ratings are still horrible. Why is that and does it matter?

By: tdc

tdc — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 22:11:21 +0000

i’m amazed how civil the discourse is on mike’s site. he doesn’t moderate the comments, and rarely is there anything posted to make someone’s grandma blush.

tv news sites that feel if they let their guard down and don’t monitor each and every comment would do well to take note.

mike has invited his community in and they rarely trash the place.

the lone exception i recall was when he announced they were going vj. that topic must really touch a nerve in some people.