The Magazine Has Morphed into a Muti-media Operation

Between March and May, the print-originated Forbes launched its own online social network AnswerNetwork on Forbes.com; its Lingospot technology to enable readers to access more relevant content on all Forbes.com multimedia channels and affiliated Web sites; plus an ad-funded Business and Finance Blog Network. Forbes.com’s Jim Spanfeller explains how technology has morphed the printed magazine into a slick multi-media operation.

But clearly, the media and advertising research industry:

“Technology allows us to reach more people more quickly than ever before. The (fortnightly) magazine, 93 years old, reaches 5 million individuals. But because of the Web’s international penetration, we reach close to 29 million (business executives) monthly.

“We hope to be reaching between 50 million and 60 million in the near future and technology will play a significant role in helping us reach that goal.

“We publish more than 4,000 stories a day on the site, which is much more immediate than the magazine. It informs you of what’s going on during the last half hour and of what might happen in the next half hour.

“The Web has huge opportunities to take what used to be a crudely targeted advertising vehicle and turn it into a micro-targeted one. We can target by job title, by company size. “And we have a great deal of video advertising and experimented with several types. We publish 20 video segments a day, and all these segments are available with one click to play on iTunes or on your MP3 player so that you can take it with you.

“We are, therefore, able to offer interesting guarantees. If advertisers do not see a statistically significant increase in one of the four measured brand metrics in 60 days, Forbes.com will return their money.

“The metrics break down into four components: Brand awareness, Message association, Brand favorability and Purchase intent. Prior to Forbes.com, we couldn't do that. “Examples of our advertisers that have worked with us to get more targeted advertising are Accenture, Toshiba (which has advertised across the magazine, mobile WAP site and online), and IBM.”

Contact: jspanfeller@forbes.net

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