WDIV’s website, ClickOnDetroit.com, continues its winning streak in January. (WDIV is Graham Media’s NBC affiliate in Detroit.) According to the latest comScore data, ClickOnDetroit is the top news and information site in metro Detroit. “One reason ClickOnDetroit did so well,” said Dustin Block, WDIV’s digital executive producer. “is because of our comprehensive coverage of President […]
WDIV’s website, ClickOnDetroit.com, continues its winning streak in January. (WDIV is Graham Media’s NBC affiliate in Detroit.)
According to the latest comScore data, ClickOnDetroit is the top news and information site in metro Detroit.
“One reason ClickOnDetroit did so well,” said Dustin Block, WDIV’s digital executive producer. “is because of our comprehensive coverage of President Trump. That really helped increase traffic in January, particularly live streams and video. More than 100,000 people watched inauguration-related live streams.”
Block said in addition to its live streams of the inauguration, WDIV sent a reporter to the Women’s march on Washington and to Trump’s meeting in Washington with the Big 3 automakers.
In local news, Block said the station’s coverage of a massive sinkhole in a Detroit suburb also drew major interest.
Bock said while WDIV’s Facebook page referral rate isn’t as high as some stations around the country are reporting, “there’s no doubt it’s a critical source of traffic for ClickOnDetroit.
“Facebook offers unique tools — like FB Live — and a universal platform most people understand. Our job is to use those strengths to bring them back to our platform, and turn them into loyal users. It’s the loyal users that create real value for news, sales and the station.”
So when you have the top news and information website in town, how does that help the station’s bottom line?
“It’s imperative because advertisers are drawn to us,” said Justin Pontz, WDIV’s digital and new business sales manager.
“They seek us out and want to sponsor the site before we reach out to them. Being No. 1 in comScore makes us more desirable for closed auction programmatic buys.”
In addition to having the leading website in Detroit in January, WDIV was also the top-rated news choice for local news on television at 4, 5, 6 and 11 p.m. in household ratings.
Can a station’s top-performing website influence its broadcast news ratings?
“We explore this connection every day,” said Pontz, who added that WDIV tests ideas online to see if they “resonate with our digital audience. If we get a strong reaction online, it’s a good sign the story is worth pursuing on-air.”
Block said ClickOnDetroit has become “a major source of news tips that often convert into great TV, and then come back to the website as traffic.”
Block cited an example, a 10 year-old high-profile murder case in Detroit. where the website led to a news story that did well in the ratings.
“We weren’t sure if revisiting the story after a decade would be interesting to folks, so News Director Kim Voet had a quick story noting the anniversary posted on our website and social media. We got an immediate, large response from people reflecting on the case and asking questions. Buoyed by the online response, our special projects team turned a package on the case, which did well in the ratings and drove more traffic to the website. Working together, we confirmed wide spread interest in the topic and converted it into audience. That’s a really dry way of saying we used digital and on-air to tell a great story.”
NOTE: WDIV was recognized as Station of the Year for the third year in a row by the Michigan Association of Broadcasters. The station also won for broadcasting excellence in 15 categories. The awards were announced on March 8.
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