At Newsroom Network, I like to keep the operation as open as possible. However, starting today, we’ve decided to block access to our viewership data, which is measured independently by Quantcast.
I wanted to take a moment to explain why we did this, and why it’s good for Newsroom Network and for you.
First, competition is an important factor. Often, we go a different direction than a lot of our competition. But, here, we didn’t have much of a choice. Other competitors were leveraging ad anonymity by blocking their public access to score ad deals that we feel we were less competitive with by showcasing our viewership. In short, we think we have more readers than other sites blocking their stats. This makes the playing field more level… prospective advertisers can now ask for data from both, and get each site’s manifest.
This allows us to compile data from multiple sources to show advertisers. We can, for example, compile data from beyond Quantcast, where an advertiser might make a snap judgement about us by “quantcasting us”. If other sites get to tout third-party specs in their pitches, we feel we deserve that same flexibility.
Another factor is the Google sandbox. Two of our sites, DealNewsroom.com and TechNews.biz have new domain names. Google doesn’t like new domain names, unless you have a multi-million dollar ad campaign running. So, while those sites sit through 90 days of mediocrity, we felt it would be best to duck the pot shots.
Finally, the start of March is going to kick off some changes for Newsroom Network. We’ll have our first-ever quarterly hiring sweep, where we hope to secure many positions with real, live, human beings working on them all at once. That includes new director-level positions in affiliate and advertising management. So, we’re going to be consolidating this data and making it more presentable for advertisers as we progress this year. We’re making 2010 a real drivers-seat year for the ad market, we feel the time is right for that.
So, to bottom line it, Newsroom Network profits will grow, which means more content for you. That’s why we made this change, and we appreciate the understanding as we navigate this 21st century balancing act.