The Content Matrix: Tracking Subscription-Based Online Content, 2004 Ed.

The Content Matrix:
Tracking subscription-based
online content
The Intermarket Group L.P.

www.intermarketgroup.com
The Content Matrix – April 2004 Ed.
This document is intended for electronic delivery
Copyright  2004 by The Intermarket Group, L.P.

All rights reserved.
The entire contents of this publication are copyrighted by The Intermarket Group, L.P. and may not be translated, reproduced, stored in another
retrieval system, posted on a website, or transmitted in any form or by any means, beyond that permitted by your Customer License Agreement where
applicable, and by Sections 107 and 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without prior written consent from the copyright owner. Requests
for further information or for reprint permissions should be addressed to: The Intermarket Group, L.P., P.O. Box 500126, San Diego, California
92150-0126, USA.
The following uses of this document are strictly prohibited unless otherwise provided for in your Customer License Agreement:
• Transmittal via the Internet or any other network
• Reproduction for sale or for further distribution
• Posting on a website or intranet
All information contained in this publication is believed to be obtained from reliable sources. The publication is designed to provide accurate and
authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that neither the authors nor the publisher is
engaged in offering legal, accounting or other professional service. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent
professional should be sought
Published April 2004

ISBN No. 1-882113-06-3
Copyright © 2004 by The Intermarket Group L.P. 1

Table of Contents
How big are selected subscription services and how have
they grown since mid-year 2003?....................................................................................3
How do subscriber numbers compare to registered/opt-in users?...................................4
What types of content do they publish?...........................................................................5
How is online subscription content delivered? .................................................................6
How frequently is subscription content updated?.............................................................7
What formats are used to deliver subscription content? ..................................................8
How many publishers bundle archives or databases with subscriptions? ........................9
How many publishers employ personalization? .............................................................10
What options are offered for term of subscription?........................................................11
How many publishers offer free trial subscriptions?.......................................................12
What is the length of free trials?....................................................................................13
What is the average subscription price by target audience?..........................................14
What is the median subscription price by target audience?...........................................14
What is the average subscription price by publication frequency?.................................15
What is the median subscription price by publication frequency?..................................15
What is the average subscription price by content format? ...........................................16
What is the median subscription price by content format? ............................................16
How do subscription prices differ between monthly and annual terms?.........................17
What is the average subscription price by content category?........................................18
What is the median subscription price by content category? .........................................19
How have subscription prices changed in the last six months? .....................................20
How many publishers by target audience employ auto-billing?......................................21
How many publishers by content category employ auto-billing?....................................22
What are the Tier 1 revenue sources (digital content) employed by publishers? ...........23
What are the Tier 2 revenue sources (advertising) employed by publishers?................24
How many publishers include advertising in their subscription properties/services?......25
What are the Tier 3 revenue sources (product sales) employed by publishers?............26
How many publishers offer free content? ......................................................................27
How many publishers require registration to access free content?................................28
What types of content do publishers provide free?........................................................29
How many free opt-in email newsletters do publishers offer?........................................30
What is the failure rate of subscription properties/services?..........................................31
About The Content Matrix..............................................................................................32

How Big Are Selected Subscription Services And How Have They
Grown Since Mid-year 2003?
Premium Service Subscribers Pct.

Property December 2003 June 2003 Change
AmericanGreetings.com (1) 2,100,000 2,100,000 N/M
Ancestry.com/Genealogy.com 1,500,000 1,200,000 25%
ConsumerReports.org 1,350,000 1,100,000 23%
RealOne.com (2) 1,300,000 1,000,000 30%
getAbstract (3) 1,250,000 850,000 47%
CBS Sportsline.com (4) 1,100,000 240,000 358%
Match.com (5) 939,000 857,500 10%
WSJ.com 696,000 671,000 4%
Audible.com 311,000 254,000 22%
Economist.com 260,000 240,000 8%
MusicNet @ AOL (6) 250,000 75,000 233%
ESPN.com Insider 230,000 130,000 77%
NASCAR.com Track Pass 224,000 162,000 38%
eDiets.com 189,000 190,000 N/M
MusicMATCH MX 170,000 150,000 13%
Britannica.com (6) 168,000 150,000 9%
Playboy.com (7) 163,000 160,300 2%
WeatherBug Pro 140,000 115,000 22%
Morningstar.com 116,000 104,000 12%
VersionTracker.com (8) 101,000 32,000 216%
Rivals.com 90,000 78,000 15%
IGNinsider (9) 82,000 80,000 3%
Salon.com/Table Talk/TheWell.com 78,000 62,400 25%
FT.com 75,000 57,000 32%
TheStreet.com 68,400 63,000 9%
South China Morning Post (SCMP.com) 20,000 18,300 9%
Notes: N/M = Not meaningful; (1) Company reports subscriber numbers have “not changed materially;” includes
BlueMountain.com and eGreetings.com; (2) Includes RealArcade subscribers plus 350,000 music subscribers from
RealRhapsody and RadioPass; (3) Includes individual subscribers plus enterprise/site license seats; (4) Reflects number
of individual paid fantasy sports teams created year-to-date at mid-year – principally MLB-related activity – and for all of
2003 – including NFL-, NBA- and NHL-related activity in Q3 and Q4; (5) Includes uDate.com and Kiss.com; (6) Total
subscribers as of March/April 2004 and June 2003; (7) Includes CyberClub, Playboy TV Club and PlayboyNet services;
(8) Includes 34,500 individual subscribers at year-end 2003 plus 66,500 site license seats; (9) IGNinsider service only;
reports 197,000 subscribers across all IGN/GameSpy premium services combined at year-end 2003

How Do Subscriber Numbers Compare To Registered/Opt-in Users?
Premium Registered
Property Service Subs. Users/Opt-Ins Audience Sector
RealOne.com 1,300,000 345,000,000 Mixed (1)
Yahoo.com 4,900,000 133,000,000 Mixed (2)
MusicMATCH MX 170,000 45,000,000 B-to-C Music/Videos (3)
Ancestry.com 1,500,000 33,000,000 B-to-C Reference (4)
WeatherBug Pro 140,000 30,000,000 B-to-C Weather
IGN/GameSpy 197,000 26,000,000 B-to-C Games (5)
Match.com 939,000 20,000,000 B-to-C Entertainment (6)
Sony Station.com 758,000 13,000,000 B-to-C Games (7)
eDiets.com 189,000 13,000,000 B-to-C Health
MatchNet 170,514 12,300,000 B-to-C Entertainment (8)
NYTimes.com 70,000 11,000,000 Mixed News; Games (9)
CBS Sportsline.com 1,100,000 10,000,000 B-to-C Sports (10)
PlanetOut.com 97,700 3,300,000 B-to-C Entertainment (11)
Morningstar.com 116,000 2,700,000 Mixed Financial
Economist.com 260,000 1,850,000 Mixed Business
EA Games.com 620,000 1,800,000 B-to-C Games (12)
MovieFlix 10,000 1,300,000 B-to-C Music/Videos
Rivals.com 90,000 1,000,000 B-to-C Sports
So. China Morning Post 20,000 733,383 Mixed News
MyComicsPage.com 40,000 700,000 B-to-C Entertainment (13)
ConsumerReports.org 1,350,000 400,000 B-to-C Reference
VersionTracker.com 101,000 285,000 Mixed Computers (14)
StockCharts.com 12,843 52,431 Mixed Financial (15)
Variety.com 36,389 50,000 B-to-B Business (16)
Notes: (1) Total unique registered users for free RealPlayer software; estimated 50 million active users; (2) Active
registered users for Yahoo.com and total subscribers across all premium services, including non-content services; (3)
Total unique registered users of free MusicMATCH Jukebox software; (4) Includes Genealogy.com; (5) Total subscribers
and registered users across all IGN.com and GameSpy.com properties combined; (6) Total subscribers and member
profiles for Match.com, uDate.com and Kiss.com combined; (7) Total subscribers for Station Pass, Everquest, Star Wars
Galaxies and PlanetSide combined; 13+ million station.sony.com registered users; (8) Total subscribers and member
profiles for AmericanSingles.com, CollegeLuv, Glimpse.com and JDate.com combined; (9) Total subscribers for News
Tracker and Premium Crosswords services combined; (10) Subscriber count based on individual paid fantasy sports
teams created during 2003; (11) Total subscribers and active registered users for PlanetOut.com and Gay.com
combined; 1.8+ million member profiles across both properties; (12) Total subscribers for Club Pogo, Sims Online and
Ultima Online combined; 1.8+ million registered users for EA Games and EA Sports combined; (13) Total subscribers for
MyComicsPage.com and Puzzle Society combined; (14) Total subscribers include 34,500 individuals and 66,500 site
license seats; (15) Total subscribers for StockCharts.com and MurphyMorris.com combined; (16) Includes 17,900 print
edition subscribers with access to variety.com premium website

What Types Of Content Do They Publish?

Percent of all properties/services tracked
Sports 19%
Financial 16%
Entertainment 15%
Political / Current Events / News 11%
Games 8%
Reference 8%
Music / Video 7%
Business 7%
Computers / Technology 4%
Health 2%
Weather 2%
Other 1%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%

Source: Intermarket Group, Content Matrix Service, April 2004
• Sports and financial content remain the most popular categories among publishers;
although the number of properties/services in each category has declined in relative
terms by 15% since year-end 2002, they still account for more than one-third of all
properties/services tracked
• The content categories which have expanded the most include entertainment, which
now accounts for 15% of properties/services tracked (vs. 10% at year-end 2002),
political/current events/news content which has increased to 11% from 9% and
online games/game-related content which has increased to 8% from 4%

How Is Online Subscription Content Delivered?

Percent of all active properties/services tracked within each target audience grouping
Website or App. Software Email Wireless Device or PDA

100%
98%
93% 91%
80% 72%
60% 54%
46%
40%
20% 16%
13%
8%
0%
B-to-C B-to-B Mixed Audience
• The Web remains, not surprisingly, the most widely-used means of delivering
subscription-based online content, especially to consumers
• Email continues to increase in popularity among consumer-oriented properties /
services with 46% now delivering at least some premium content via email, up from
37% at year-end 2002; B-to-B properties/services, however, appear to have pulled
back from email somewhat as 72% currently use that delivery method compared to
82% the previous year
• Support for mobile content has changed little since year-end 2002, with only slightly
more than one-in-ten properties/services now offering premium content formatted
specifically for PDAs and other mobile or wireless devices; during 2002 the
proportion of properties/services offering such content had expanded by more than
60%

How Frequently Is Subscription Content Updated?


60%
50%
50%
38%
34%
40%
32%
28%
25%
30%
21%
16%
20%
10%
9%
6%
6%
10%
5%
5%
4%
4%
4%
3%
0%
Intraday Daily Weekly Periodically Event- Other
Driven
• User expectations concerning the immediacy of the Internet generally requires that
premium services be updated frequently; the majority of properties/services tracked
continue to be updated at least daily
• The proportion of consumer-oriented properties/services that update their content on
an intraday basis has increased steadily since we began our tracking in mid-2002;
thirty-two percent now add or update content more than once daily compared to
24% at mid-year 2003 and 15% at year-end 2002
• The most-frequently updated properties/services continue to be among those that
target a mixed audience of both consumers and businesses, due primarily to the
large number of news and financial/investment-oriented offerings among that target
audience grouping

What Formats Are Used To Deliver Subscription Content?

Text Audio Video

100%
100%
96%
93%
80%
60%
40% 32%
27%
20% 12%
8%
5%
2%
0%
• Text remains overwhelmingly the principal delivery format for premium content
targeted toward each of the individual audience groupings
• The proportion of properties/services that deliver either audio or video content has
declined for the first time since our tracking began in mid-2002; among B-to-C
properties/services, 14% fewer offer streaming/downloadable audio and 13% fewer
offer video or animated 3D content compared to mid-year 2003; similar declines
have occurred among mixed-audience properties/services and for video content
targeted towards B-to-B audiences
• The relative decline in audio/video content results primarily from the increased
number of text-only offerings rather than the failure of previously-tracked multimedia
properties/services

How Many Publishers Bundle Archives Or Databases With Subscriptions?

100%
86%
80%
72%
60%
60%
40%
20%
0%
• The majority of all properties/services overall include access to either an archive or

library of previously-published content or to a collection of relevant data
• Bundling of an archive or one or more databases with premium content offerings
continues to increase; among consumer-oriented properties/services the proportion
that do so has increased to 72% (versus 66% at year-end 2002) and to 60% from
50% among properties/services targeting a mixed audience
• B-to-B properties/services remain the most likely to include an archive or database
with 86% doing so now compared to 82% at year-end 2002

How Many Publishers Employ Personalization?

80%
60%
52%
40% 34%
28%
20%
0%
• Among all of the properties/services tracked, the proportion that provide at least
some level of personalization in delivering their premium content continues to
increase steadily with 45% doing so now compared to 37% at year-end 2002
• Personalization technology is most common among properties/services that target
consumers, either exclusively (52% employ personalization) or as part of a mixed
audience that also includes businesses (34% employ personalization)
• Although B-to-B properties/services lag behind their consumer-oriented counterparts
in offering personalization features, the proportion that employ these technologies
has increased significantly to 28% compared to 18% at year-end 2002

What Options Are Offered For Term Of Subscription?

74%
12 Months 71%
62%
7%
6 Months 16%
13%
11%
3 Months 7%
23%
68%
1 Month 59%
56%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

• The most common subscription terms are, predictably, one month and 12 months
• The most notable change in subscription terms since year-end 2002 is a 20%
increase in the proportion of consumer-oriented properties/services that offer a 12-
month term and a 15% increase among properties/services that target a mixed
audience
• The proportion of B-to-B properties/services that offer six month subscription terms
has doubled to16% from 8% during the same period
• Among sports content properties/services, 61% offer alternative subscription terms
keyed to a season or a specific event (e.g., NCAA “March Madness” tournament,
Wimbledon tennis tournament, etc.)

How Many Publishers Offer Free Trial Subscriptions?

Free Trial w/ CC Details Req'd. Free Trial w/o CC Details No Free Trial Offered
80%
70%
64%
58%
60%
38%
40%
24%
19% 17%
20%
6% 5%
0%
• Few changes have occurred since mid-year 2003 with regard to properties/services
offering free trial subscriptions
• Among all of the properties/services tracked, approximately one-third offer free
trials, which represents a slight decline compared to mid-year 2003
• Publishers that target a mixed audience remain the most likely to offer free trial
subscriptions (43%)
• Among publishers that offer free trials, the proportion that do not request credit card
details from these new subscribers has declined slowly (but steadily) with less than
7% of properties/services employing this approach now compared to 11% at mid-
year 2003 and 12% at year-end 2002

What Is The Length Of Free Trials?

Percent of all active properties/services which offer free trials within each target audience grouping

80%
57%
52%
60%
40%
28%
25%
24%
23%
22%
20%
18%
20%
11%
8%
5%
5%
2%
0%
0%
7 Days 14/15 Days 10 Days 30 Days Other
• Shorter trial periods are the most common among the properties/services tracked,
with more than one-half offering free trials of two weeks or less
• Two weeks remains the most common length for free trials offered by publishers,
regardless of target audience
• Among B-to-B and mixed audience properties/services 5% and 11% respectively
now offer 7-day free trials while none did so at mid-year 2003; the proportion of
publishers offering three-day trials has also increased, to 5% among consumer-
oriented properties/services and to 2% among those that target a mixed audience
• Some B-to-B publishers are migrating back towards longer trial periods, with 20%
now offering 30 days free compared to only 6% at mid-year 2003 (which was down
from 29% at year-end 2002)

What is the Average Subscription Price By Target Audience?

Average price among all active properties/services tracked for each term within each target audience grouping
1-month Subscription 12-month Subscription
• The pricing differential between B-to-B $400

and consumer-oriented properties/ $350 $334.78
services has narrowed somewhat
since mid-year 2003, driven by an $300
increase of approximately 10% in the $250 $223.28
overall mean price of B-to-C
properties/services and a 12% decline $200
in the overall mean price of properties/ $150
services targeting businesses
• The overall mean price of B-to-B $100 $68.50
properties/services drops to $243 per $50
$41.03 $29.58
year from $325 when two $12.21
disproportionately costly offerings are $0
factored out: Delphion Unlimited B-to-C B-to-B Mixed Audience
($2,040.00) and Street Insight Source: Intermarket Group, Content Matrix Service, April 2004
($2,200.00)
• The relatively high cost of properties/ What is the Median Subscription Price By Target Audience?
services that target a mixed audience Median price among all active properties/services tracked for each term within each target audience grouping
is driven primarily by several offerings 1-month Subscription 12-month Subscription
in the financial content category
• Almost one-in-five (17%) properties/ $200
services have made adjustments to $188.00
their pricing since mid-year 2003, with $160
prices increasing at 12% and
decreasing at 5% $120
$109.00
$80
$40 $54.95
$24.95
$9.95 $14.95
$0

What is the Average Subscription Price By Publication Frequency?

Average price among all active properties/services tracked for each term for each publication frequency
• There generally appears to be little $350
correlation between frequency of $300

publication and price; the pricing $263.76
differential across the various $250
publication/update cycles has,
however, narrowed somewhat since $200
$169.35
mid-year 2003 $138.91
$150
• As a group, properties/services which
are updated weekly are also the most $100 $72.52
expensive, followed by those updated
$41.33
on an intraday and then daily basis $50 $24.46 $21.29
$11.07
• The higher prices of weekly properties/
$0
services generally reflects their
Intraday Daily Weekly Periodically
tendency to focus on higher value-
added information and analysis Source: Intermarket Group, Content Matrix Service, April 2004
compared to many intraday offerings

which focus more on increasingly What is the Median Subscription Price By Publication Frequency?
Median price among all active properties/services tracked for each term for each publication frequency
commoditized (and competitive) news
and raw financial markets data 1-month Subscription 12-month Subscription
• The high cost of several financial $150
properties/services and the Delphion
patent/IP offerings once again make a $125
disproportionate impact on mean price $99.95 $99.00
levels, particularly for the intraday and $100
weekly categories
$75
$59.68
$55.00
$50
$24.95
$25 $15.00
$8.95 $9.95
$0
Intraday Daily Weekly Periodically

What is the Average Subscription Price By Content Format?

Average price among all active properties/services tracked for each term for each content format
• Subscription properties/services that $200

include audio or video content do not
generally command higher prices than $160 $147.86
their purely text-based counterparts
• The pricing gap, however, has steadily
narrowed since year-end 2002 with a $120
further decline in the overall mean
$80.47
price of text-based properties/services $80 $68.04
as a group since mid-year 2003 and a
comparable increase in price among
audio/video content offerings $40
$21.41
$13.01
• The price differential between $10.86
properties/services that include audio $0
or video and those that don’t remains Text / Graphics Audio Video
attributable to the overwhelming Source: Intermarket Group, Content Matrix Service, April 2004
consumer orientation of existing
audio/video content What is the Median Subscription Price By Content Format?
Median price among all active properties/services tracked for each term for each content format

$100
$79.95
$80
$64.97
$59.95
$60
$40
$20 $12.48 $9.95 $9.95
$0
Text / Graphics Audio Video
How Do Subscription Prices Differ Between Monthly And Annual Terms?

Average multiple of monthly cost for annual cost of active properties/services within each target audience
grouping
11.00
10.00 9.61
9.00
8.00 7.76
7.00
6.43
6.00
5.00
• The average differential between annual subscription prices and annualized monthly
prices has declined significantly since mid-year 2003, which means that the cost of
monthly subscriptions have moved closer to the cost of their annual counterparts;
this differential had previously increased steadily since our tracking began in 2002
• Among properties/services that target consumers, the average annual subscription
price is now 6.43 times the single-month rate, down from 7.22 at mid-year 2003 and
6.71 at mid-year 2002
• Properties/services that target businesses generally offer the lowest discount for
annual subscriptions, charging an average 9.61 times their single-month rate –
down from 9.06 at mid-year 2003 and 8.92 at mid-year 2002

What Is The Average Subscription Price By Content Category?

Average price among all active properties/services in each category for each subscription term
1-Month Subscription 12-month Subscription
• The most costly properties/services on Financial

$340.68
average continue to publish financial- $42.77
and business-oriented content $63.72
• The overall mean 12-month Sports
$8.15
subscription prices for sports and for
online games and game-related $154.11
Reference
properties/services declined by more $23.51
than 10% since mid-year 2003; $89.30
weather-related properties/services Music / Video
$11.23
declined by 8% during the same period
• Music/video, entertainment and Political / Current $71.06
computers/technology properties/ Events / News $7.73
services each increased by more than $190.50
10% in their overall mean prices since Business
$21.83
mid-year 2003
• The least expensive content $80.57
Entertainment
categories are sports, weather news/ $16.93
information, political/current events/ Computers / $114.77
news and games/game-related Technology $34.32
content
$85.63
Health
$17.21
$61.24
Games
$10.83
$55.67
Weather
$8.63
$0 $100 $200 $300 $400

What Is The Median Subscription Price By Content Category?

Median price among all active properties/services in each category for each subscription term
1-Month Subscription 12-month Subscription
$198.23
• A comparison of mean and median Financial
$24.95
prices demonstrates the
disproportionate impact that higher- $49.95
Sports
priced properties/services have on $6.95
several content categories
$75.00
• The overall median 12-month Reference
$12.95
subscription prices in the
computers/technology and reference $49.95
Music / Video
content categories are less than one- $9.95
half of their respective mean prices
Political / Current $54.95
and several other categories are 40-
Events / News $6.25
50% lower
• As with mean prices, the overall $150.00
Business
median prices for sports, weather, $17.98
games and game-related properties/
$69.99
services have declined since mid-year Entertainment
$17.92
2003; similarly, the overall median
prices for music/video and Computers / $49.95
entertainment content have both Technology $22.50
increased as have their respective
mean prices $94.48
Health
$14.95
• The overall median prices for both
reference and financial properties/ $45.90
services have increased since mid- Games
$9.95
year 2003 despite a decline in the
overall mean price for each content $39.99
Weather
category $8.47
$0 $50 $100 $150 $200 $250


How Have Subscription Prices Changed In The Last Six Months?

Percent of all active properties/services tracked in mid-year 2003 Content Matrix
Increased
No Change In Pricing
Pricing (12%)
(83%)
Decreased
Pricing
(5%)
Source: Intermarket Group. Content Matrix Service, April 2004
• Among 417 active properties/services tracked in the previous Content Matrix (July
2003 ed.), 83% of those still available today continue to charge the same prices as
they did at mid-year 2003
• Twelve percent of those same 417 properties/services have increased their prices
by an average of 43% since mid-year 2003; this translates in dollar-terms to about
$7.30 per month
• Five percent – including several sports-related properties/services – reduced their
prices by an average of 22%, or the equivalent of approximately $3.32 per month;
pricing for sports-related content remains under pressure more so than most other
sectors

How Many Publishers By Target Audience Employ Auto-billing?

100%
85%
80% 74%
66%
60%
40%
20%
0%
• Approximately three-quarters (76%) of all properties/services tracked employ auto-

billing, which means they renew expiring subscriptions and charge the subscriber’s
credit card automatically; this is up slightly compared to mid-year 2003 and up from
approximately two-thirds at year-end 2002
• Among the properties/services that employ auto-billing, 5% do so for monthly
subscriptions only…the overwhelming majority that auto-bill expiring subscriptions
do so across all subscription terms
• Three percent of these auto-billing properties/services allow subscribers to opt-out
and renew their subscriptions manually
• Properties/services that target consumers -- either exclusively or together with
businesses -- are still more likely to use auto-billing than B-to-B properties/services

How Many Publishers By Content Category Employ Auto-billing?

Percent of all active properties/services tracked within each content category
Weather 100%
Entertainment 98%
Music / Video 93%
Health 92%
Games 90%
Financial 85%
Political / Current Events / News 83%
Reference 78%
Computers / Technology 75%
Business 68%
Sports 38%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

• Among seven out of the 11 principal content categories tracked, more than 80% of
properties/services employ auto-billing, the same as at mid-year 2003
• The specific categories, however, have shifted somewhat with the proportion of
computers/technology and sports properties/services that auto-bill decreasing while
websites in most other categories have increased their use of auto-billing
• Sports content properties/service remain the least-likely to employ auto-billing,
primarily because of auto-billing’s incompatibility with subscription offerings
designed around sports seasons where play takes place only part of the year

What Are The Tier 1 Revenue Sources (Digital Content) Employed By Publishers?
• In addition to subscription sales, we 27%

have defined “Tier 1” revenue sources Single Purchase
43%
as those relating to the sale of digital Content
content 34%
• Licensing and syndication remain the
most common content-related revenue 11%
source after subscription sales Archives 12%
• The proportion of consumer-oriented 4%
properties/services that offer one-off
sales of digital content is slightly 2%
higher now compared to year-end
PPU Video 0%
2002, but has declined since mid-year
2003 to 34% from 44%; A similar 5%
decline has occurred among
properties/services that target a mixed 1%
audience, to 27% from 34% at mid- PPU Audio 0%
year 2003 2%
• Revenue from pay-per-use audio and
video has changed little since year-end 59%
2002 and continues to barely register Licensing /
among many publishers; PPU 47%
Syndication
offerings remain most common on 50%
music/video and sports properties/
services 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

What Are The Tier 2 Revenue Sources (Advertising) Employed By Publishers?

82%
Website Advertising 79%
67%
60%
Email Newsletter
60%
Advertising
43%
13%
Classified
31%
Advertising
6%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

• “Tier 2” revenue sources are those related to the sale of online advertising
• Website advertising is, not surprisingly, the most widely embraced Tier 2 revenue
source, with more than three-quarters (77%) of properties/services deriving at least
some income from it
• Properties/services in the financial, sports, news, computers/technology, business
and online game/game-related content categories are the most likely to generate
advertising-related revenue (more than 75% of the properties/services in each
category do so)
• The proportion of properties/services that generate revenue from the sale of
advertising in their email newsletters has declined since mid-year 2003 to 43% from
48% among B-to-B sites and among sites targeting a mixed audience to 60% from
69%

How Many Publishers Include Advertising In Their Subscription

Properties/Services?
Site-wide (Including Subscriber Areas) Free Content Areas Only
No Advertising
80%
77%
60% 66%
57%
40%
33%
21%
16% 18%
20%
10%
2%
0%
• Properties/services that target consumers are the most likely to carry no advertising,
with one-third of them ad-free
• Advertising is found most frequently on properties/services targeting a mixed
audience, where more than four-in-five (82%) carry advertising in either free areas
or in both free and subscriber-only areas; the proportion that limit advertising
exclusively to their free content areas has tripled to 16% now from 5% at mid-year
2003
• Ad-free subscriber areas continue to have limited popularity among publishers
overall, with only 10% of consumer-oriented properties/services inserting ads
exclusively in free areas – compared to 6% one year ago – and 2% of B-to-B
properties/services doing so now versus 3% at year-end 2002

What Are The Tier 3 Revenue Sources (Product Sales) Employed By Publishers?
34%
Merchandise Sales 22%
55%
42%
Books / Videos /
40%
DVDs
46%
14%
Online/Offline
22%
Events
15%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

• “Tier 3” revenue sources are those related to the sale of physical products/services
in addition to online events -- such as “webinars” and online courses – or offline
events
• The sale of books and other types of hardcopy content such as DVDs and video
tapes are the most common source of Tier 3 revenues
• Sales of merchandise is most common among properties/services in the sports,
weather, health, reference and online game/game-related content categories (more
than one-half of the properties/services in each category)
• Publishers in the sports, entertainment, computers/technology, business and
financial content categories are the most likely to derive revenue from online and/or
offline events (more than 10% of the properties/services in each category)

How Many Publishers Offer Free Content?

100%
92%
80% 88% 87%
60%
40%
20%
0%
• A substantial majority of the properties/services tracked offer at least some free

content, either on their websites or via opt-in email newsletters
• The overall proportion of properties/services that offer free content has increased
somewhat since mid-year 2003, most notably among B-to-B properties/services
where 88% now provide at least some content at no cost, up from 76%
• Consumer-oriented properties/services are the most likely to offer free content, 92%
do so now compared to 84% at mid-year 2003

How Many Publishers Require Registration To Access Free Content?

Percent of all active properties/services offering free content within each target audience grouping

100%
80%
63%
55% 57%
60%
35% 37%
40%
22%
20% 15%
10%
6%
0%
Required For All Free Required For Select No Registration
Content/Services Free Content/Services Required
• The majority of properties/services that offer free content also require visitors to
register before they can access at least some portion of that content
• Properties/services that target consumers remain the most likely to employ at least
limited registration requirements; among B-to-C properties/services, only 22%
require no registration compared to 19% at mid-year 2003 and 28% at year-end
2002
• Opt-in email newsletters are the website service that requires registration most
frequently among those properties/services that wall-off only select content and
services; registration, in this instance, is defined as requiring any details beyond an
email address
• The overall proportion of properties/services that place a registration wall around all
of their free content has changed little since year-end 2002

What Types Of Content Do Publishers Provide Free?

Percent of all active properties/services offering free content within each target audience grouping

100%
98% 86%
92% 79%
80% 88%
61%
60%
40% 33%
24%
21%
20%
0%
Website Content Email Newsletter(s) Wireless/PDA Content
• Among the properties/services that offer free content, more than 90% provide at
least some website content at no cost; those targeting consumers are more likely to
do so than those targeting businesses (98% vs. 92%)
• Free opt-in email newsletters are widely available among the properties/services
tracked, with approximately three-in-four producing at least one such publication,
however, the proportion of B-to-C properties/services who do so has declined to
61% from 72% at mid-year 2003 and 70% at year-end 2002
• Content formatted specifically for PDAs and other mobile or wireless devices has
declined across all target audience groupings, but most noticeably among B-to-B
properties/services where support has dropped to 24% from 31% at mid-year 2003
and 33% at year-end 2002

How Many Free Opt-in Email Newsletters Do Publishers Offer?

• Among properties/services that target 25%

consumers – either exclusively or 4+ Newsletters 26%
along with businesses – the proportion 20%
that offer at least one free opt-in email
newsletter has declined for the first 4%
time since our tracking began in mid- 3 Newsletters 3%
2002; forty-five percent of B-to-C and 3%
32% of mixed audience properties/
services offer no email newsletter, up 13%
from 38% and 29% respectively at 2 Newsletters 9%
mid-year 2003 6%
• Approximately 76% of the B-to-B
properties/services tracked now offer 26%
one or more opt-in email newsletters 1 Newsletter 38%
compared to 64% at year-end 2002; 26%
the proportion that offer four or more
different email newsletters has also 32%
increased slightly since mid-year 2003, No Newsletter 24%
but is still significantly lower than the 45%
31% who did so at year-end 2002
• Among the 61% of all properties/
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
services tracked that produce opt-in
email newsletters and alerts, the Source: Intermarket Group, Content Matrix Service, April 2004
average number offered is five; one-
half of those properties/services,
however, offer just one or two different
email newsletters

What Is The Failure Rate Of Subscription Properties/Services?

Percent of all properties/services tracked in year-end 2002 Content Matrix
Merged /
Superceded /
Restructured
(9%)
Discontinued or
Substantially Shut Down
Unchanged (11%)
(79%)
• Seventy-nine percent of the properties/services tracked since the year-end 2002

Content Matrix are still available in a substantially unchanged configuration
• The failure rate among properties/services since the mid-year 2003 track has
increased to 20%, with almost one-in-ten (9%) either replaced by a new – but similar
– offering from the same publisher or merged with one of its publisher’s other
existing properties/services; five properties have actually been converted back to ad-
supported free sites (compared to three in the previous track)
• Eleven percent of the 351 properties/services tracked since the year-end 2002
Content Matrix have been discontinued entirely or their publishers have shut down,
which is almost twice the level of 6% in the previous track at mid-year 2003

About The Content Matrix

This edition of The Content Matrix covers 635 different properties/services -- including
81 that have been discontinued, superceded or changed significantly since 2002 --
produced by 267 publishers. Where a property/service is offered by the publisher in
Pure-Play vs. Hardcopy different configurations, each version is most often covered individually.
Online-only A majority of the properties/services (73%) are available exclusively via the Internet, 8%
19%
Supplement are designed to supplement a hardcopy publication or other offline property and 19%
Alternative can serve as an alternative to an offline counterpart. Publishers that provide online
counterparts for their hardcopy publications, but do not produce exclusive online content
– such as many B-to-B newsletter publishers – are not covered.
8%
73% Sixty-four percent of the properties/services tracked are targeted to consumers, 10% to
business users and 26% are designed for both consumers and business users.
All data presented in The Content Matrix is based on surveys of each publisher’s
website(s) and on data gathered directly from many of the publishers during January
through early April 2004. Data on the number of subscribers and registered users,
Target Audiences when available, is obtained directly from each publisher. Subscriber numbers are
Both generally based on individual paid subscriptions plus specific seats licensed under site
26% licensing programs; licensing arrangements that do not specifically identify the number
of seats covered are each counted as one subscriber.
B2C
64% In compiling The Content Matrix, we’ve generally defined “content” as any one of the
B2B following: (i) news and analysis; (ii) entertainment, such as music, video, games and e-
10% greeting cards; (iii) information-based services, such as online dating or personal credit
file monitoring services; and (iv) reference material, such as directories, encyclopedias,
or historical databases.
The Content Matrix is published semi-annually, at the new year and at mid-year. For
additional information, visit http://matrix.intermarketgroup.com.

The Content Matrix: Tracking Subscription-Based Online Content, 2004 Ed.

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

The Content Matrix: Tracking Subscription-Based Online Content, 2004 Ed.

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

The Content Matrix:

The Intermarket Group L.P.

This document is intended for electronic delivery

Copyright  2004 by The Intermarket Group, L.P.

Published April 2004

Copyright © 2004 by The Intermarket Group L.P. 1

Copyright © 2004 by The Intermarket Group L.P. 2

Premium Service Subscribers Pct.

Copyright © 2004 by The Intermarket Group L.P. 3

How Do Subscriber Numbers Compare To Registered/Opt-in Users?

Copyright © 2004 by The Intermarket Group L.P. 4

What Types Of Content Do They Publish?

Political / Current Events / News 11%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%

Copyright © 2004 by The Intermarket Group L.P. 5

How Is Online Subscription Content Delivered?

Website or App. Software Email Wireless Device or PDA

Copyright © 2004 by The Intermarket Group L.P. 6

How Frequently Is Subscription Content Updated?

B-to-C B-to-B Mixed Audience

Copyright © 2004 by The Intermarket Group L.P. 7

What Formats Are Used To Deliver Subscription Content?

Text Audio Video

Copyright © 2004 by The Intermarket Group L.P. 8

How Many Publishers Bundle Archives Or Databases With Subscriptions?

Source: Intermarket Group, Content Matrix Service, April 2004

• The majority of all properties/services overall include access to either an archive or

Copyright © 2004 by The Intermarket Group L.P. 9

How Many Publishers Employ Personalization?

Source: Intermarket Group, Content Matrix Service, April 2004

Copyright © 2004 by The Intermarket Group L.P. 10

What Options Are Offered For Term Of Subscription?

B-to-C B-to-B Mixed Audience

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Copyright © 2004 by The Intermarket Group L.P. 11

How Many Publishers Offer Free Trial Subscriptions?

Copyright © 2004 by The Intermarket Group L.P. 12

What Is The Length Of Free Trials?

B-to-C B-to-B Mixed Audience

Copyright © 2004 by The Intermarket Group L.P. 13

What is the Average Subscription Price By Target Audience?

1-month Subscription 12-month Subscription

• The pricing differential between B-to-B $400

Source: Intermarket Group, Content Matrix Service, April 2004

What is the Average Subscription Price By Publication Frequency?

1-month Subscription 12-month Subscription

• There generally appears to be little $350

correlation between frequency of $300

compared to many intraday offerings

Source: Intermarket Group, Content Matrix Service, April 2004

Copyright © 2004 by The Intermarket Group L.P. 15

What is the Average Subscription Price By Content Format?

• Subscription properties/services that $200

1-month Subscription 12-month Subscription

$20 $12.48 $9.95 $9.95

How Do Subscription Prices Differ Between Monthly And Annual Terms?

Source: Intermarket Group, Content Matrix Service, April 2004

Copyright © 2004 by The Intermarket Group L.P. 17

What Is The Average Subscription Price By Content Category?

1-Month Subscription 12-month Subscription

• The most costly properties/services on Financial

$0 $100 $200 $300 $400

Source: Intermarket Group, Content Matrix Service, April 2004