1|www.simplify360.

com

Prepared By
Abhishek Mukherjee
IIM Raipur Intern at Simplify360

Edited By:
Rajashree Das
Social Media Analyst at Simplify360

2|www.simplify360.com

Table of Contents
US Media Industry- An Overview 4
The Wall Street Journal.. 8
USA Today. 11
The New York Times 15
TIME .... 17
Fox News 21
CNN... 24
CNBC. 27
CBS News.. 29
ABC News. 31
The Huffington Post ... 33

3|www.simplify360.com

US Media Industry: An Overview

The US has one of the most highly-developed mass media in the world. TV is
America's most popular medium, with 99% of US households having at least one
television, and the majority of households have more than one.
The four major broadcasters in the U.S. are the National Broadcasting Company
(NBC), Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), the American Broadcasting Company
(ABC) and Fox.
Newspapers too have been an integral part of US culture, and have been published
there since the 18th century.
Apart from some exceptions like USA Today, most newspapers are published for city
and regional markets. However, brands like The New York Times and The Wall Street
Journal are available in most of the US cities.
Apart from that, there is a vibrant ecosystem of internet websites and blogs which
offer a wide variety of news content.
In 2012, online news aggregator and blog, The Huffington Post made history by
being the first commercially run digital media enterprise to win the Pulitzer Prize.

4|www.simplify360.com

BRANDS COVERED
This report covers top 10 US media outlets, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The
New York Times, Time, Fox News, CNN, CNBC, CBS News, ABC News and Huffington
Post based on the audience base and social media presence.

SOCIAL STATS
FACEBOOK

TWITTER

LINKEDIN

YOUTUBE

GOOGLE+

3.1 million
likes

4.89
million
followers

2.89 Million
followers

2.58 million
subscribers

47 million
views

2.5 million
likes

2.5 million
followers

1,35,477
followers

12,729
subscribers

51 million
views

8 million
likes

12.8
million
followers

1,92,392
followers

376,590
subscribers

2,576,633
followers

6 million
likes

6.11
million
followers

215,454
followers

70,934
subscribers

5,627,337
followers

8 million
likes

4.18
million
followers

27,500
followers

NA

1,243,742
followers

14 million
likes

13.7
million
followers

76,762
followers

553,773
subscribers

613,080
subscribers

779K likes

1.58
million
followers

62,794
followers

6860
subscribers

2,334,365
followers

2.2 million
likes

3.26
million
likes

14,336
followers

NA

45,454
followers

7.3 million
likes

3.46
million
followers

45,755
followers

838,081
subscribers

1,504,167
followers

3 million
likes

4.5 million
followers

83,645
followers

25,025
subscribers

2,419,806
followers

5|www.simplify360.com

SOCIAL MEDIA USAGE

Social media has brought about a fundamental shift in
the landscape of US media industry. This is the first time
in the history where a newspaper or a TV channel has
more online readers than subscribers.
The primary advantage which various social media
platforms offer media companies is a dedicated
audience base and opportunities to initiate a
dialogue.
But unlike other industries, where customer service and
sales promotion form a key component of their online
strategy, media companies' main focus is on content
dissemination.
To achieve this effectively, most media outlets have
diversified their online presence into a wide variety of
content and region specific sub-channels.
For example, The Wall Street Journal, apart from
having a main Facebook page and Twitter handle,
also has sub-channels like WSJ Opinion, WSJ
Magazine, WSJ Korea, WSJ India etc.
Also, most media companies use Twitter more
prolifically than other platforms like Facebook and
YouTube.
Broadly speaking, Twitter is the preferred platform for
breaking news or developing events, while Facebook
and other sites are used for publishing stories with a
longer shelf life.
Another feature is the emphasis on visuals.
Images and infographics form the majority of online
content for news outlets.
Even for news channels, there are more
images/infographics posted on social networking sites
than videos.
Images have
companies.

dual

advantage

6|www.simplify360.com

for

content

"Content is where I
expect much of the real
money will be made on
the Internet, just as it
was in broadcasting.
The television revolution
that began half a
century ago spawned a
number of industries,
including the
manufacturing of TV
sets, but the long-term
winners were those who
used the medium to
deliver information and
entertainment.
The Internet also allows
information to be
distributed worldwide at
basically zero marginal
cost to the publisher.
Opportunities are
remarkable, and many
companies are laying
plans to create content
for the Internet."
- Bill Gates, 'Content is
King'

One, it is mobile friendly, which just about the tops the

'To Do' list of every digital marketer.
And secondly, Facebook and Twitter algorithms prefer
images over plain text.
Audience engagement is not just limited to comments
on posts. Many companies invite user-generated
content in the form of pictures, videos, photo captions
etc.
Another evolution of the way social media is used is
the shift in emphasis from just getting 'likes' and
'followers' to ensuring there is active engagement.
In other words, sharing is the new liking. Many
commentators have termed this Social Media 2.0.
Media companies have also been quick to leverage
the popularity of their star journalists.
Many famous journalists and commentators have a
formidable online audience of their own. Their social
media accounts serve as online pin boards for news
outlets.
And last but not the least; companies have begun to
realize the value of human touch in online
communication.
For example, it is important to respond to readers'
queries and comments across multiple platforms.
But it is also important that this is done by an editor or
journalist, and not by a computer.
Companies which try to automate this process - by
posting generic replies to readers' comments - have
been the subject of much online ridicule.

7|www.simplify360.com

"The thought that so

many people get their
news from social media
really is scary."
-- Rush Limbaugh

"From the streets of

Cairo and the Arab
Spring, to Occupy Wall
Street, from the busy
political calendar to the
aftermath of the
tsunami in Japan, social
media was not only
sharing the news but
driving it."
-- Dan Rather

"I have a choice - I can

either watch all the
dailies, or I can follow
the social media. I can't
do both."
-- Steven Spielberg

Owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.

It is the largest newspaper in the United States by circulation - 2.4 million
copies, this figure includes nearly 900,000 digital subscriptions (as of March
2013)

SOCIAL STATS
Facebook 3.1 million likes, 102.5K talking about this
Twitter - 4.89 million followers
LinkedIn 2.89 million followers
Foursquare - 301,748 follows
Google+ - 47 million views
YouTube - 12 channels, 15,692 videos, 223,171,120 views, 258,716 subscribers
Blogs - Law (http://blogs.wsj.com/law/),Photo Journal
(http://blogs.wsj.com/photojournal/), Real Time Economics
(http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/)
App - 1 million+ downloads (Android)
On FB and Twitter, there are two sub-groups:
Country-specific pages like WSJ Korea, WSJ Deutschland, WSJ Europe etc.
Content-specific pages like WSJ Opinion, WSJ Real Estate, WSJ Magazine etc.

8|www.simplify360.com

SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT STRATEGY

The Facebook main page has an eclectic mix of stories, from technology,
international news to personal finance. The posts link to the Wall Street Journal
website. There is a focus on infographics on various topics.

9|www.simplify360.com

More focus on Twitter than Facebook.

journalists.

Twitter feed includes retweets by WSJ

On LinkedIn, the content chiefly revolves around career trends, boardroom battles
etc. Also, more blog links are posted here than website links.
On Foursquare, WSJ gives tips on notable local restaurants, bars, museums, shops
and other interesting spots. The stories are featurish in nature.
On Google+, there is an average of 3-4 posts per day, with liberal use of hashtags.
The content is more about international politics and technology.
YouTube content strategy is about promoting 'light' content. For the month of April,
some of the most-watched videos were - 'Cellphone Video from South Korea ferry
disaster' (44,164 views),
Dude, Where's My Hearing? (About a Senator who accidentally sits in the wrong
Senate hearing) (28,659 views)
'Lion King' Cast Serenades Australian Airplane (17,489 views)
'Obama and Pope Francis Meet for the First Time' (18,683 views)
'Prince George's Royal Outing' (22,379 views), 'Hundreds Missing after South Korean
Ferry Sinks' (18,727 views), and 'Penguin dance sweeps Saudi Arabia' (19,362 views)
Blood Moon: Lunar Eclipse turns Moon Bright red' (11,734 views). Other videos
generally hover around the 1,000 views.

10 | w w w . s i m p l i f y 3 6 0 . c o m

Owned by Gannett Company.

It vies with WSJ for crown of widest circulated newspaper in US.
Current circulation of 1.8 million copies (print only).

SOCIAL STATS

Facebook 2.5 million likes, 135.4K talking about this

Twitter - 1.22 million followers
LinkedIn - 135,477 followers
Tumblr - http://usatoday.tumblr.com/
Google+ - 51 million views
YouTube - 3 channels, 1730 videos, 22,093,503 views, 12,729 subscribers
Instagram - 731 posts, 51,088 followers, 134 following
Pinterest 12,631 followers, 687 following
App - 1 million+ downloads (Android)

SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT STRATEGY

USA Today follows the widely-followed practice of having content-specific
Facebook pages. Apart from its main USA Today pages, there are also pages like
USA Today Travel, USA Today Life, and USA Today Sports etc.
On the main Facebook page, it posts a mix of stories on politics, crime, sports etc.
One notable feature is that it replies to user queries. For example, on a story about
meteor showers, here were the responses:

11 | w w w . s i m p l i f y 3 6 0 . c o m

It also asks users to post their pictures on various topics:

12 | w w w . s i m p l i f y 3 6 0 . c o m

On Twitter, it offers a 'sneak peek' of the front page of the next day's edition.

Here too it invites user-generated content.

Also, not all tweets are story links.

13 | w w w . s i m p l i f y 3 6 0 . c o m

On LinkedIn, there's a focus on infographics.

On Tumblr, it drives engagement through creative pictures/infographics. Some of

them are standalone, i.e. they don't link to any story on its website.

14 | w w w . s i m p l i f y 3 6 0 . c o m

It is owned by The New York Times Company.

They have won the most number of Pulitzer Prizes (112).
It is the third-most circulated daily in US.

SOCIAL STATS

Facebook - 8 million likes, 306,554 talking about this

Twitter - 12.8 million followers
LinkedIn - 192,392 followers
Google+ - 2,576,633 followers, 17,065,830 views
YouTube - 376,590 subscribers, 168,707,131 views
Blogs -(http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/blogs/directory.html?action=click&mod
ule=SiteIndex&contentCollection=Blogs&region=SiteIndex&pgtype=Homepag
e&t=qry551)
App - 5 million+ downloads

SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT STRATEGY

Like most media outlets, NYT focuses more on Twitter than any other social media
platform. On both Twitter and Facebook, there's a wide variety of news stories. NYT
is able to leverage social media to keep its core audience engaged.

Additionally, it has a wide variety of blogs, each with its dedicated twitter handle.

15 | w w w . s i m p l i f y 3 6 0 . c o m

16 | w w w . s i m p l i f y 3 6 0 . c o m

American weekly news magazine, published from New York City.

US readership base of 20 million.

SOCIAL STATS

Facebook - 6 million likes, 783.5K talking about this

Twitter 6.11 million
LinkedIn 215,454 followers
Google+ - 5,627,337 followers, 104,625,531 views
YouTube 70,934 subscribers, 43,524,498 views
Instagram - 1117 posts, 756,219 followers, 93 following
App - 500K+ downloads (Android)

SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT STRATEGY

Time uses social media extensively for many of its popular content packages. For
example, it asks readers to vote for its annual list of the most influential people in the
world.

17 | w w w . s i m p l i f y 3 6 0 . c o m

However, some of its 'light' news receives angry responses from readers who expect
more meaningful content.

18 | w w w . s i m p l i f y 3 6 0 . c o m

There's not much engagement on LinkedIn. One possible reason could be that it
posts the same links on LinkedIn as it does on Facebook, Twitter etc. The content
posted on LinkedIn by most US media companies relate to career, jobs etc.
On Google+, the effort is to generate user-posted content.

19 | w w w . s i m p l i f y 3 6 0 . c o m

There's not much use of YouTube. Till the third week of April, only one video was
posted. In March, 20 videos were posted.
Across all platforms, Time posts pictures of its iconic red border cover.

20 | w w w . s i m p l i f y 3 6 0 . c o m

Owned by Rupert Murdochs 21st Century Fox

Most watched news channel in US
1.1 million primetime viewers
1.7 million day viewers

(Source - http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/01/02/cable-newsratings-2013/4296411/)

SOCIAL STATS

Facebook - 8 million likes, 1,819,172 talking about this

Twitter 4.18 million
LinkedIn 27,500 followers
Google+ - 1,243,742 followers, 29,809,170 views
YouTube - No official account
Instagram - 477 posts, 28,881 followers, 39 following
Blogs: http://blogs.foxnews.com/ and http://foxnewsinsider.com/
App - 5 million+ downloads (Android)

SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT STRATEGY

While Fox News' usage of Facebook and Twitter is similar to its peers, it uses Instagram
well to drive engagement. For example:

21 | w w w . s i m p l i f y 3 6 0 . c o m

Fox News does not have an official YouTube channel, which is surprising because of
the many videos on the site which are critical of the channel's conservative stance.
Similarly, on its blog page foxnewsinsider.com, show timings are prominently
displayed on the main page.

22 | w w w . s i m p l i f y 3 6 0 . c o m

23 | w w w . s i m p l i f y 3 6 0 . c o m

Owned by Time Warner

Second-most watched news channel
- 568K primetime viewers
- 413K day viewers

(Source - http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/01/02/cable-newsratings-2013/4296411/)

SOCIAL STATS

Facebook - 14 million likes, 772,765 talking about this

Twitter - 13.7 million
LinkedIn - 76,762 followers
Google+ - 613,080 followers
YouTube 553,773 subscribers
Instagram - 206 posts, 304,163 followers, 227 following
Blogs - http://edition.cnn.com/exchange/blogs/index.html
App - 5 million+ downloads (Android)

SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT STRATEGY

CNN tries to drive engagement on Facebook by regularly replying to readers'
questions. In fact, it has a separate department, named CNN Viewer
Communications.

24 | w w w . s i m p l i f y 3 6 0 . c o m

However, there seems to be a computer generated response for the queries,

something which the readers too have discovered.

25 | w w w . s i m p l i f y 3 6 0 . c o m

On Twitter, it retweets posts by individual twitter handles of CNN journalists/popular

shows/content themes.

His highest engagement rate on Instagram, even though it posts only once a day, or
less.
For the month of April (till 3rd week), only 7 links were posted on Instagram, but each
post received an average of 3,294 likes.

26 | w w w . s i m p l i f y 3 6 0 . c o m

Owned by NBCUniversal
Focus on financial markets, economy and politics.

SOCIAL STATS

Facebook - 779K likes, 53,487 talking about this

Twitter - 1.58 million followers
LinkedIn 62,794 followers
Google+ - 2,334,365 followers
YouTube - 6,860 subscribers, 9,768,418 views
Instagram - 840 posts, 16,045 followers, 238 following
Live blogs
App - 500K+ downloads (Android)

SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT STRATEGY

Instead of just focusing on news about stock markers, economics etc., CNBC has a
mix of stories on technology, popular culture etc. across social media platforms.
Of course, this strategy has its fair share of critics.

But for its core audience, it tweets earnings announcements of companies, along
with a link to the live stock prices.

27 | w w w . s i m p l i f y 3 6 0 . c o m

Additionally, on its website, it live blogs important events, like company result
announcements, IPO filings etc.

However, this is done by most media companies for various events.

28 | w w w . s i m p l i f y 3 6 0 . c o m

Owned by American TV and radio network CBS.

SOCIAL STATS

Facebook 2.2 million likes, 108,923 talking about this

Twitter - 3.26 million followers
LinkedIn 14,336 followers (CBS Corporation)
Google+ - 45,454 followers
YouTube (Channel not available in India)
Instagram 163 posts, 6,209 followers, 104 following

SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT STRATEGY

Like many news channels, CBS tries to drive viewership through various social media
platforms.

29 | w w w . s i m p l i f y 3 6 0 . c o m

Additionally, the main twitter handle retweets posts by other CBS handles.

30 | w w w . s i m p l i f y 3 6 0 . c o m

Owned by The Walt Disney Company

SOCIAL STATS

Facebook 7.3 million fans, 437,550 talking about this

Twitter - 3.46 million followers
LinkedIn -45,755 followers
Google+ - 1,504,167 followers
YouTube 838,081 subscribers
Instagram - 157posts, 25,246 followers, 52 following
Blogs - http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/
App - 1 million+ downloads (Android)

SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT STRATEGY

ABC News follows most strategies adopted by its peers - focus on wittier, retweeting
posts by its affiliated handles etc.
However, the distinctive strategy by ABC News is its website, which has a separate
section on the homepage for stories which are trending on social media.

31 | w w w . s i m p l i f y 3 6 0 . c o m

32 | w w w . s i m p l i f y 3 6 0 . c o m

Online news aggregator and blog, founded by Arianna Huffington.

In 2012, The Huffington Post became the first commercially run United States
digital media enterprise to win a Pulitzer Prize.

SOCIAL STATS

Facebook - 3 million likes

Twitter - 4.5 million followers
LinkedIn - 83,645 followers
Google+ - 2,419,806 followers|80,076,264 views
YouTube - 25,025 subscribers, 13,139,923 views
Instagram - 718 posts, 188,139 followers, 185 following
Blog - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-blog/
App - 1 million+ downloads (Android)

SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT STRATEGY

Huffington Post has the most varied mix of content among major US media outlets ranging from politics, technology, and personal finance to beauty tips, cat videos
and viral stories.
It has a distinct, engaging style of content presentation to drive traffic to its website.

33 | w w w . s i m p l i f y 3 6 0 . c o m

34 | w w w . s i m p l i f y 3 6 0 . c o m

35 | w w w . s i m p l i f y 3 6 0 . c o m

For More Information:

Contact: contact@simplify360.com
Website: www.simplify360.com

Social Network:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Simplify360
Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/company/simplify360
Tumblr: http://simplify360.tumblr.com/
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/simplify360
Google+: google.com/+Simplify360
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/simplify360
Blog: http://simplify360.com/blog/
Scribd: http://www.scribd.com/Simplify360
Instagram: http://instagram.com/simplify360

If you want to know more about product and service:

Please contact us at contact@simplify360.com or fill in our online form LINK.

36 | w w w . s i m p l i f y 3 6 0 . c o m