The emergence of the ‘multichannel consumer’ – an evolutionary descendant of the online consumer – is leaving media companies with the costs of providing integrated cross-channel content with virtually no associated upswing in revenues.
Forrester Research has identified this new consumer profile after tracking the changing behaviour and demographic of the online consumer that was born with the widespread adoption of the internet, beginning in around 1998.
Between 1998 and 2003 the online consumer demographic has broadened to represent – in the case of Forrester’s study – the profile of the ‘average’ US citizen. This means that Net users have become, on average, older, less wealthy, less interested in technology and less ‘male’. In addition, the percentage connecting to the internet via broadband has grown from 1% in 1998 to 23% in 2003.
As home computers have become cheaper, and so more widely installed, the typical use of the internet has altered to match the new online demographic. Activities tend to be more ‘mundane’ and less technology-related than in the web’s earlier days, says Forrester. Typical usage will now relate to product research, music downloads and financial activities.
In addition, users now access more media sites than ever before: Forrester’s US survey shows that the number of ‘media behaviours’ engaged online has grown from an average of 0.9 in 1998 to 2.9 in 2003. However, for media owners, the achievement of getting users online and to their content is currently looking like a Pyrrhic victory. As Forrester puts it:
“Before the internet, a newspaper was a newspaper and a magazine was a magazine. Never again, as those and other media now have to prepare their content twice for overlapping audiences – their online readers, offline readers, and the millions who jump back and forth.
“In a world where fewer than one in five consumers has ever paid for online content, this amounts to supporting twice the production staff and resources with nearly the same revenue.”
Currently, to meet the demands of the multichannel consumer, media owners must support the cost of providing users with an ‘integrated experience’ – the same or complimentary content both online and offline, with clear links between the two.
Forrester says that media sites will now have to shift their emphasis toward commerce and premium services in order to claw back some revenue from the online platform. However, the introduction of these pay-systems is also likely to include an additional staff and resource cost.
In the UK, FT.com already charges subscription for a selection of its content and archive and the Guardian Unlimited network of websites is also introducing charges for certain areas of its editorial, including digital versions of the Guardian and Observer newspapers.
