KIFI And KIDK Handily Beat Out The Post Register In Online News
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The world is turning more and more to the internet for delivery of news media - and Radio, newspapers, and print media are feeling the crunch. So much so that many of them have started to deliver their content online via the internet.
We have several local news providers in the area who compete for customers and just about all of them now have websites set up to compliment their primary news delivery source. Some have done a better job of migrating and keeping up with technology than others.
Ever wondered who the #1 news source is in southeast Idaho is? I decided to look up who the #1 provider for online news was amongst our top news outlets here in Idaho Falls, and the results were a little surprising.
Here’s what I found: CLICK HERE to see the month-by-month visitor results
Surprisingly KIFI TV8 and KIDK TV3 both beat out the Post Register newspaper in monthly unique visitors over the past 8 months. I decided to look into each of the news websites to see why this might be and put together a personal review of the sites below. Please feel free to agree, disagree, or bring out any new points you would like to add in the comments section.
- KIFI TV8 - LocalNews8.com
- KIDK TV3 - KIDK.com
- PostRegister.com
-
Brief Review of the news websites:
LAYOUT:
Amongst the three news sources, KIFI TV8 wins on layout and design. Their design is clean, easy to navigate, and there is quick access to the most recent news stories. I gave KIDK TV3 second place with a clean site, but not quite as nice to look at. And Post Register comes in last. Their site is just too cluttered, and getting to recent articles is an absolute pain. In what some consider the most important aspect of a website, they fail miserably.
CONTENT:
For content, I have to give it to KIDK TV8 again. They have a wealth of articles all easily accessible featuring both print and video. The Post Register takes 2nd here, as they have a lot of information (even though the layout makes it hard to get to). And KIDK comes in last due to the lack of articles readily available on their site.
KIFI TV8 and KIDK TV3 both offer video news supplement to printed stories, while the Post Register reproduces their print articles from the newspaper, but does have a few off-topic custom videos that are entertaining if not informative.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
All three news sources feature advertisements, while KIFI TV8 seems to be the least intrusive, KIDK TV3 taking second, and the Post Register “winning” for the most annoying advertising website – those ads are just about everywhere you look.
SEARCH FEATURES:
All three websites allow you to search for articles, but the quality of search differs greatly from site to site.
I searched for the term “Jared Fuhriman” (without the quotes) on each of the sites.
KIDK TV3 returned a total of 25 results, the earliest dated November of 2006. It appears as though KIDK may have a limit of 25 results per search, but even when searching the year 2005 (the year Jared Fuhriman was elected mayor) their site returned me no results.
KIFI TV8 indicates right on the search results that the search is limited to 50 results, and sure enough it had 50 results and said the search had more than 50 results available (though with the restriction only 50 were available). Search results went back as far as 2007, and there’s no way to indicate a year to filter the results, so I am unsure how far back their archive goes.
Search is where the Post Register finally has a win. Though their basic search appears to only cover the previous 7 days, their advanced search will allow you to search articles clear back to 1999 (and they say you can search a “partial archive”(?) as far back as 1991). Their search results give you no information about your search except for the title, section, and date – no content summary – so you have to guess how relevant an article is and go through them one by one. But even with it’s limitations, the Post Register definitely wins in the search area.
COST:
KIDK TV3 and KIFI TV8 both offer content and news free on their website. The Post Register, on the other hand, still holds to the “old school” thinking of requiring a paid subscription for news. You almost can’t blame them, however. Print newspaper is “old school” technology and those running the paper likely grew up with the “old school” mentality of “how many subscriptions do we have today?!” as the #1 most important factor of a successful print media organization.
But wait! They may finally be recognizing that times have changed… Today when visiting the PostRegister.com I got the following popup ad.
- Post Regiser Pop-up Ad
Annoying as heck, yes! (I hate popup ads, and they don’t seem to have learned that it will torque off the majority of their visitors) But, with their addition of countless advertisements and now a free trial for their online media, could they be testing the waters of migrating to free content? Only time will tell.
CONCLUSION:
It becomes easy to see why KIFI TV8 and KIDK TV3 beat out the Post Register with online news. We didn’t talk about quality of articles – but without the right delivery system, it doesn’t matter how good your content is, people won’t read it. Provide what the customers want in a clear format, and don’t annoy your users with too many obnoxious ads and “they will come”. This is by no means a scientific analysis, but I think if the Post Register wants to stay competitive with the local news arena, they’ve got some improvements to make. At the same time, KIFI TV8 and KIDK TV3 could take a lesson from the Post Register’s search tool.
One thing is for sure – as the internet continues to gain momentum in the media and news-delivery arena, the competition will get tougher. Who will survive and who will fail will be interesting to see. And there may be even be some new up and comers that aren’t even on the radar yet.
Please share your thoughts!
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Comments
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0 
1 I disagree in all cases. The Post Register (short of the annoying pop up that you mentioned) is the one I visit most. I think they fail in hits primarily because most of us coupon snippers want the newspaper, not for any other reason. In order to view the ads, you go to a whole new section. I’ve never found their advertising online to be annoying. I just skip that page and hook up to it in the paper. Any other advertising never interferes with my reading. I find it quick and easy if I don’t have time to read the newspaper, I can just go directly to links that interest me.
Localnews8, would come in second. The top, blue portion where it has the top stories never ceases to irritate me. If you don’t click the link soon enough, it skips to the next link and then I wind up backtracking. Those links are not always mentioned below either. And, while they update it daily, I often find repeat stories for days on end, right at the top of the column.
KIDK, third. The site is just to hard to navigate. I rarely visit that site.
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1 0 Aren’t KIFI TV8 and the Post Register owned by the same parent company?
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0 1 One other thing about localnews8.com that I didn’t mention, is that when you do click a link, you have to again, backtrack to the homepage in order to view other links. That needs to be corrected. The Post Register has links available for the entire section when you click on a section link, and up at the top of the page to go to other sections. The only time you have to backtrack to the homepage is when you view obituaries. Hence, making the PR’s site easier to navigate as well.
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1 1 Wendyjo, the Post Company sold KIFI several years back to a company out of Missouri, I believe.
I don’t enjoy the local news stations’ websites, I prefer more substance to my news and thus the PR is my choice.
Even when I’m on websites, I don’t click on the video things (thus YouTube is not one of my favorite sites) as I prefer to read.
I think that the PR is attempting to move into the realm of online news with their video stories, etc.
And don’t I read the paper in its digital format (I think that is what they call a true screen shot of the printed paper itself) so I don’t get the ads Joe E mentioned.
I’m sure all three businesses will appreciate the user feedback about their sites…
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0 3 Great article Joe. I frequent Ch. 8 & Ch 6’s website most often and occasionally 3’s. The way I see it is why pay for the PR when you get get your news for free online from one of the local networks?
Not to mention the PR is usually a day or two behind with local & national news stories. And with the PR cutting ties with the Associated Press soon, I personally don’t see the PR lasting very long. But that’s just my opinioin.
They really need to get with the times and make their online site free. Although I think the paper itself is pretty decent, I just don’t bother to purchase it because I don’t have time to sit down and read it. Then there’s the recycling aspect of it all. Like I stated earlier, why purchase a hard copy when you can get a digital copy for free and not worry about the needless waste or recycling? (and with video clips!)
I do a fair amount of travelling in my business and I don’t know too many newspapers across the country anymore that charge for their online content. Sure there are still a few that charge, but that’s quickly becoming a thing of the past and it seems like the PR has always been a step or two behind the rest of the country.
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2 2 I don’t have a newspaper subscription, so I can’t tell you what I think of the post register, but I’ve worked at both KIDK and KIFI.
KIDK didn’t put together an actual news site until late 2006, and didn’t regularly add news content until early - mid 2007. KIFI got going with the news site in early 2006, added video features around May.
The problem with both sites is that they’re working on a budget. There is no position dedicated to news updates. The reporters/producers/anchors/tape editors from both stations are responsible for different aspects of the process, and sometimes they don’t have time to proof read or polish stories for posting.
With that understanding, we go on to what this article is really about — presentation and functionality. A company that is unwilling to budget in a full time (or part time) position for adding content to the website is most definitely unwilling to put out the money for a primo website template that functions like a dream…it just isn’t going to happen. Ads supplement the cost to host the content, though that doesn’t generate as much revenue as you may think (other than the video ads at the front of stories).
It seems to me that since we live in a community that is home to quite a few business that half-ass it in the marketing/presentation department (internet, print, radio, television), not to mention the service department, and the TV stations have decided to follow suit. We need to let them all know that we’re sick of dealing with a bunch of half-asses, and if this article is any indication I think it shows that we’re working on it =).
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1 2 Oh, left something out. NPG (News Press Gazette) bought the station out in 2005 for those that were wondering, but they still keep pretty good ties with the folks over at TPR. Too bad the new company kept the same view as the Bradys held as far as news/operation staff goes though — Reduce employment costs by hiring part time positions (no benefits) and stifling inter-office advancement to full time positions. Monkeys can do these jobs.
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1 0 Hi, Joe…
I agree with all your assessments. I’m still on dial-up, and the PR site is horribly slow to load, on top of everything else.
I think they would do much better with a fast loading stripped-down home page, as is found on the Washington and New York paper’s websites. The Post has a wealth of news, but they should use links much more and get rid of the clutter. They’re also way too glitzy in the web design… it looks more like a kid geek’s impression of cool than purposeful and useful.
Web advertising works very well, but best when short and to the point, and a bare-bones link to the real advertising, which should be on the bussiness’ own website. Everyone HATES pop-ups, and the PR should drop them immediately as a first step.
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2 0 I also agree with Marcus’ comments. The major papers have found national advertising pays off just as well on the net as in the papers, and the majors are busy selling ads to national advertisers instead of charging for website access.
Local advertisers aren’t the internet backbone, for sure, especially in most areas. Realites have found that spending on the net ads pays off, though- the net is the first place folks look when considering moving to Idaho Falls, and the need for housing, and the price of the market, is a major concern.
Ads from other types of business may or may not be all that hot on the net. Since Idaho Falls pulls in from a big area, I think there are local businesses that could profit, but until the Post’s website’s problems are fixed, it is a mutual no win for them or the paper.
I also agree that they need full-time web specialists if they want to go digital. This is no sandbox for beginners.
Vote:
2 2 The Post Register needs to be less bias in their reporting, then they might start to compete better with the other news outlets.
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1 3 No more bias on news and give actual reporting. We must focus and make sure that we don’t do this. The truth shall be told and not be sold. That said I am signing off like e-mail.
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0 1 Here’s a question for Roger Plothow, if he’ll answer it.
The posters above have commented on how it takes the Post Register a bit longer to report the news. This is likely because much of the news happens during the day, giving the television news an edge on getting the news to the people quicker, as the PR is a morning edition. (I’ve been around long enough to remember when it came out in the afternoon)
When television reports at 6 and 10, they give an item like 30 seconds, maybe 60. Obviously for many stories, print media is better as it has the ability to be more thorough in the details. Television and radio are more guilty of the drive-by media mentality.
Given that you have more time to get the content of the story, what is the paper’s policy on printing a correction from the time when you learn you’ve made a mistake in what you report? A day? 3? A week? Never?
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Vote:
The Post Register does have some of the best writers, and creates some great news topics. That’s something else I think the local tv stations could do better.
If they can get up to speed with the times - and cut out some of the over-advertising they have on their site - they’d have a much better set-up.
Does anyone know how the Post Register stock price is doing recently? (I think the employees get to own shares of stock)