Web 3.0 & Time Warner (Part 2)

Vertical Strategy

Time Warner operates a host of online properties, which are extremely popular in the US. We will take a look at the Company’s various online verticals below.

News
CNN.com is among the world’s leaders in online news and information delivery. CNN.com delivers the latest breaking news and top stories on US and World news, politics, entertainment, health and technology. The site is updated continuously throughout the day. CNN.com also provides up-to-the-minute news stories with color photos, live, streaming video or video-on-demand clips and CNN Breaking News text alerts to consumers through CNN mobile services. According to Nielsen//NetRatings, CNN.com attracted 28.4 million average monthly unique users during April – June 2007.

Time.com provides information, news, stories and coverage of various political, business and global events. The Smoking Gun publishes exclusive documents, mug shots and videos that can’t be found elsewhere on the Web. Using material obtained from government and law enforcement officials, via Freedom of Information requests, and from sources nationwide, The Smoking Gun breaks news in the worlds of entertainment, politics, sports, and crime.

Business & Finance
Time Warner operates CNNMoney.com, the #1 Business and Finance site on the internet. CNNMoney.com offers insightful and comprehensive business and finance content including news and information on personal financial issues. According to Nielsen//NetRatings CNNMoney.com attracted 8.4 million average monthly unique users during July – September 2007. Time Warner has rolled in the sites of its popular business and finance magazines Fortune, Money, Fortune Small Business and Business 2.0 into CNNMoney.com. In fact, Business 2.0 was recently shut down as a print magazine. There is some ambiguity about how Time Warner’s Business & Finance properties are accounted for, because while CNNMoney is under the CNN Brand of Turner, its content is being produced by Fortune, Money, and other Time, Inc. magazines. Nonetheless, the site is a huge success.

Sports
SI.com is the leading sports site, which provides consumers with the latest news, information, updates, scores, videos, etc. on various sports. The site also operates SIKids.com, a site dedicated to kids. SI.com in collaboration with CNN Network also operates Golf.com, a site re-launched on March 19, 2007 as the #1 online destination for golf enthusiasts with over 3 million average unique visitors per month. Pga.com and pgatour.com are two of the other popular golf sites of the group.

FanNation.com, is a web destination that aggregates, filters, and customizes all the relevant player and team content available at any time on the Internet.

NASCAR.com is the number one destination for NASCAR fans. It provides news, features, stats, and video about NASCAR and fans can get up to the minute information on their favorite drivers, check out tracks and schedules or even order merchandise in the NASCAR.COM Superstore.

Entertainment & Lifestyle
CartoonNetwork.com features more than 170 different free online games, dedicated show pages, broadband video applications, Cartoon Network Videos and much more. It is among the top ten destinations for children.

Time Warner operates a host of other sites in the entertainment and lifestyle sites. TMZ.com is its most popular offering in this space. TMZ is a joint venture between Telepictures Productions and AOL- has enjoyed a meteoric rise to prominence by breaking the biggest stories in entertainment.

Superdeluxe.com is an entertainment site with original comedy programming in an Internet video universe filled with junk shots and Mentos explosions. It is also available on mobile. VeryFunnyAds.com is a website about–you guessed it–very funny ads.

Adultswim.com is an entertainment site that provides highly popular television shows and videogames for adults in a format that is almost perfect for viewing on a computer. Adultswim.com has been voted “Best Site to Visit While You’re Supposed to Be Working” for eight consecutive years.

TCM.com presents the greatest motion pictures of all time from one of the largest film libraries in the world. Consumers can research their favorite movie in the TCM database, which provides publicity materials, production notes, movie scripts, in-depth articles and rare archival materials. It also includes video, photos, forums, blogs, trivia games and shop for some of the best movies ever made.

TBS.com is the home for laughs online. TBS.com provides original series like My Boys and Tyler Perry’s House of Payne along with exclusive stand-up and hundreds of video clips from many of the greatest comedies on television. Visitors to TBS.com can take very funny personality tests, play dozens of free games, and find everything from quotes to downloads based on their favorite shows and hit movies.

People.com is a leading entertainment site in the U.S. It provides celebrity news and gossip. As of March 31, 2007, the site was #1 in page views in the entertainment news category and #2 in unique visitors.

TNT.tv is the online destination for drama. Visitors to the site can watch full episodes of critically acclaimed original series such as The Closer and Saving Grace, along with exclusive behind-the-scenes interviews and extras. In2TV provides full-length TV shows and movies for free.

Launched in 2005, GameTap delivers more than 900 authentic versions of the greatest console, computer and arcade games, including original and exclusive episodic titles such as Myst Online: Uru Live, Sam & Max: Season 1, Galactic Command – Echo Squad, and American McGee’s Grimm. Visitors to GameTap.com can play free games on its ad-supported website, purchase top PC and catalog titles from its digital retail storefront.

Women
InStyle is one of the top destinations for fashionistas with 1.7 Million monthly unique visitors. [When I went to the site recently, I was surprised to find that the top advertiser there is Crest toothpaste, and not one of the flamboyant fashion brands such as Louis Vuitton.]

AOL
MapQuest.com, part of the AOL unit, helps people find places, get there, and find places nearby. MapQuest, for example, is one of the leading U.S. providers of online maps and directions. AOL’s instant messenger AIM is the #1 messaging service in the U.S. AOL is also present in the following verticals: Autos, Food, Health, Jobs, Music, Movies, Personals, Photo, Real Estate, Shopping, Travel, Videos, etc. There is a lot of speculation about AOL being spun out of Time Warner, and sold off.

Gaps in Time Warner’s portfolio
Time Warner is a leader in the news, business & finance, lifestyle and entertainment spaces. AOL has presence in Jobs, Auto, Travel, Shopping, etc. AOL recently introduced Real Estate. Some of AOL’s offerings are through partnerships with CareerBuilder for jobs, AutoTrader for autos, Match.com and Chemistry.com for Personals, and so on. If AOL is indeed divested out of Time Warner, then the latter’s presence in these verticals will become limited. However, Time Warner can easily maintain equity positions on specific vertical ventures in important categories.

Future acquisitions by Time Warner will preferably be to consolidate its leadership positions in the News, Business & Finance, and Entertainment. For example, despite CNNMoney’s strength in the business and finance area, the site does not have a stock market focused offering like TheStreet.com or Dow Jones’ Barron’s.

(To Be Continued)

[Part 1]

This segment is part 2 in the series : Web 3.0 & Time Warner
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