Home, Home on the ’Net
March 2007
Increasingly, Scripps’ success is suspended more by Web than by cable
As the E. W. Scripps Co. media giant contemplates getting out of newspapers, its television and Internet business is taking up the slack and breaking out as Scripps’ main revenue generator. It’s no secret that Knoxville-based Scripps Networks has fueled Wall Street’s praise of its Cincinnati-based parent by leading the runaway success of cable’s home/food category. The combined cable networks and its companion Web sites accounted for 64% of total earnings last year, a 17% increase in five years.
That’s quite a shift from 12 years ago when former chairman and CEO Kenneth Lowe brought Scripps Networks to Knoxville hinged on its flagship network, Home and Garden Television. HGTV wasn’t much more than a punch line—offering shows about watching grass grow and paint dry.
It wouldn’t be surprising to find some of those early naysayers now part of the loyal fan base that drives the revenue boost—online communities who care less about revenue than they do about learning how to sew, install a sink or cook a meal.
Scripps developed its Web sites early in the dot-com age, first introducing HGTV.com in 1996 about 18 months after the network launched. “In the very beginning, we started with viewer services, which wasn’t much more than a call center. Now, we keep up with demographic changes. We can test and learn,” says Ron Feinbaum, head of Scripps Networks Interactive, which also hosts FoodNetwork.com, DIYNetwork.com, FineLiving.com, and recently acquired, GACTV.com.
These sites have evolved into much more than online brochures. The interactive division is now the third largest revenue generator behind the on-air HGTV and Food Network versions. More than 13 million Web browsers were visiting any one of its dot-coms in October 2006 alone.
These online communities precipitate one of the most sought-after forms of marketing—word-of-mouth. And, to these groups, Scripps Interactive can launch new show concepts, with narrow but deep content, at a minimal cost through broadband video and without the pressure of television ratings.
“If you can build a community around your brand, it’s really the Holy Grail,” says Scott Spaid, owner of Knoxville-based online marketing firm, MediaPulse. “Anytime you can create valued content with a sense of exclusivity, you get that cult following. And that is really any Web site owner’s dream.”
Offering on-demand video content and other interactive features is almost expected these days, he adds. Scripps Interactive has proven to be just as innovative online as it has on-air.
