Wendy Hogan is Managing Director for CBS Interactive Austraila. Wendy told Digital Media about her resistance to Apple and the state of the industry. Like and true digital evangelist, managed to plug a few of her own websites in the process.
First Web Memory?
Getting an “instant message” on my DOS screen at university from someone else in the same room. Then later, reserving time on a central pc in the office to access the world wide web and / or logging in to check “the” office email (as in one email account for the whole office)
Worst web faux pas?
There must have been many, probably drunk emailing in the old days (such a no no!) or trying to update something on one of the sites and breaking it instead…shouldn’t really be allowed near live code bases!
Secret site that nobody knows about but should?
CNET.com.au – amazed by how many people still say “there’s an Australian version of CNET?”
Or BNET.com for the best advice on the web about managing people
PC or Mac?
I’m such a Mac gumby, just not cool enough to drive one – 20+ years of windows training is hard to override
Google or Bing?
Just started with Bing, I like the sound of a viable alternative
Mobile handset?
Currently a HTC Touch HD, I’ve tried pretty much everything but the iPhone since it launched – I’m passionate about resisting it for as long as possible (long story). I played with a Palm Pre in the US last week – that looks sexy, I wish Palm would hurry up and announce a release date for Australia!
Are you an instant messaging fan? If so what networks?
Of course, isn’t everybody? Download.com hosted the Yahoo! IM file in the late nineties so that was the default across the company for many years. These days it’s anything that works with everything.
Do you use social networks like Facebook MySpace, Twitter and Linkedin? Which one is your favourite and why?
Everything except MySpace, never did get into that. Use Facebook for personal and cbsi internal, Twitter for the world and LinkedIn for professional. I find them all fairly essential, although Facebook is getting much less time than it used to. Find me @wendy_hogan. Triiibes is also interesting, although I don’t have enough time to spend in there (what a great business Seth Godin has built – talk about easy way to sell books!)
Best digital integration you have seen (could be marketing, events, news etc)?
The ABC and SBS do tons of stuff really well – their current affairs programs which integrate twitter into the live on-air Q and A’s, followed by directing the audience to their forums to talk to the presenters and continue the debate are fantastic.
The E3 event coverage on GameSpot was superb – streaming the publisher keynotes, virtual booths for each of the big exhibitors, live twitter stream from both the editors and the world that were watching it all, editors blogs on what was going on the show floor, grabs being screened across the US on CBSNews and loads more – record traffic everywhere which has continued to deliver well after the show ended.
Biggest challenge for online publishers that you see in the next five years?
Offering audiences the maximum amount of choice in the most cost effective fashion. Publishing for all screen sizes, from the very big to the very small in all content formats – text, audio and video.
CBS interactive sites have always been quick to implement new technologies like Facebook Connect - How important is social media for CBS interactive?
Conversing with the audience, monitoring sentiment and aggregating collective opinion around products and shows alongside our editors opinions is invaluable to our brands.
A lot of CBS Interactive sites were actually pioneers in early forms of social media. At one or stage or another, most of our websites have had community functionality, the option to post user reviews and ratings, the ability to post talkback on stories, upload videos / photos, post user blogs, and in some cases, contact peers or establish groups around particular topics of interest.
As the social web evolves we continue to evolve our product development strategies with it. From incorporating twitter streams into event coverage, to utilizing it to gather story ideas, to building groups and fan pages within social networking environments, or building out apps to make sure our readers can access our content from wherever it suits their needs. There are so many great tools out there, the challenge is keeping up with them and picking the ones that are going to remain relevant.
Are there any big differences you see between the Australian and International markets for online publishers?
Although Australia is a relatively mature media environment, the market and audience size dictate it will continue to be a niche opportunity in global terms. It’s a fantastic environment to experiment without attracting to much attention from “the street” should the experiment go wrong. The concentration of main media to a few dominant players also makes it challenging – there are lots of exciting digital ventures in Australia, however it’s not always in the interests of mainstream and industry media to acknowledge that, especially while protecting their own portfolios.
News Digital Media has recently banned self starting audio from it's advertising, with bigger ad units becoming more common across the web. How does CBS Interactive decide on what kind of advertising is allowed on their sites?
Self starting audio has always been banned on our sites. Typically we prefer our creative executions to be user initiated, especially if they impact the user experience with the site content.
In terms of ad innovation – many people across CBSi sit on various industry councils at the IAB, OPA, OAP in the UK and the OPA Europe. Neil Ashe, our CEO has just been announced as Vice Chairman of the IAB in the USA and CNET (now CBS Interactive) has been instrumental in introducing a lot of today’s standard ad formats to the industry (medium rectangle for example). We consult with our audience and our client base to continually strive to deliver value on both sides of the equation.
What's next for CBS in Australia?
I cannot speak for CBS Inc, but at CBS Interactive our plan is to continue to deliver content rich and informative websites to more and more Australian’s on whatever platform and in whatever format they choose to view it from. Currently across the network we reach more than 3 million Australian’s and I’d like to see that grow. By early 2010 I also expect we’ll be able to offer targeted advertising to Australian’s across all CBSi properties within the network (we already can to about 50%). We will continue to develop our offerings to advertisers and partners with marketing solutions which encompass the best of digital – using data, engagements, rich media and more to deliver value for money and results.
