Good Example Of Research Paper On Kpis And Insights For NBC Digital Channels

Introduction

National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is a broadcasting company founded in 1926 by Radio Corporation of America. The network is a commercial television broadcast and radio network that is owned by NBCUniversal, which is a division of Comcast. The broadcasting company has its headquarters in Comcast Building in New York City. The building is located at the Rockefeller Center, but the network has additional offices in Los Angeles and Chicago. The NBC logo, which was adopted officially in 1979, gives the network the name ‘Peacock Network’. This is because the emblem has many colors, which are shaped like a Peacock.
The slogan of the network is ‘More Colorful’ which can be interpreted as the will of the company to inform on every aspect of life. NBC is the oldest broadcast network in the United States among the largest companies that have a broadcast network. The radio and television broadcast networks are aimed at informing the viewer on the daily happening through News and entertaining them through numerous programming.
NBC firm has a total of eleven owned-and-operated stations with an addition of 200 affiliate networks throughout the United States and its territories. The NBC network has managed to expand its operations to cover other jurisdictions like Canada in a pay television provider, Australia, Asia Pacific, Europe and Middle East and Latin America and Caribbean. The network has been able to expand to these areas due to trade agreements with network providers. The firm has managed to maintain its license agreement for its international channels in Germany and Korea.
Operation in other countries and regions has enabled the network to earn more value and preference especially from the marketers hence increases its revenue.
MSNBC is a cable and satellite network that provides news and a platform for its customers to express views concerning the political happenings in the United States and other regions of interest. The network is owned by NBC Universal News Group with its name originating from the Microsoft and National Broadcasting Company abbreviations. In 1906, Microsoft and NBC Universal formed a partnership that resulted in the emergence of MSNBC and msnbc.com.
The online platform of msnbc.com ended in 2012 which resulted to the rename of the site to NBCNews.com. The cable and satellite network share a logo with its sister channels making it part of the large team that informs viewers of daily events. The driving force of this network is based on its slogans that are: Lean forward and the place for politics. The services offered by MSNBC can be accessed through cable, terrestrial, satellite, IPTV and satellite radio.
The network has undergone immense changes since it was launched, and the current change took place in 2014 where it launched its official website. The website was launched under the tagline ‘what progressives have been waiting for’. This tagline was based on the marketing strategy of political progressivism.
MSNBC network is only available in the United States, South Africa, Canada, Kenya, Parts of North Africa and parts of Latin America. According to a recent statistical report, MSNBC can be received by approximately 82.2% of households that own a television. The figure is quite high considering the platforms that the network uses to distribute its services to the customers and clients. Controversies can never lack in any media and despite their presence, the network has managed to pull through the waves that would otherwise have swept the firm to the ditches.

Problem Description

Evaluation of the performance of a firm is crucial to its long-term survival in the market of choice. The media field is the most competitive industry and that is why close monitoring is essential for the success of any player. The customers' feedback is crucial in determining the choice of changes to be done in any field or programming.
The NBC provision of Digital Channels has led to increased feedback from the clients it serves. The performance indicators of two of the services offered by NBC network is the primary concern of this project. The newsletter regression and video experience will be analyzed in this project with the aim of identifying the fault lines that will help in the provision of satisfactory services.
The concentration on these two services is due to the introduction of a new platform for videos from the network, and yet the customers are responding with negative feedbacks. The audience engagement is one objective that the analysis will help in achieving.
The problem that NBC is facing is how to develop an effective strategy that will ensure that the customers of the network enjoy the services offered. The new online platform introduced by NBC network has not been received positively by the target customers, and this has created concern of the best way to go about it.
The competitors of NBC are doing well on when it comes to online videos and Newsletters, and this is a problem for the firm. The identification of the necessary Key Performance Indicators from the competitors will help in deciding the best strategies to use in ensuring that the network attracts customers to its platforms.
The challenge that the network has is the determination of the best strategy needed to ensure that the new platform for their videos achieves a positive response from the clients. The negative response means that the firm has to do adjustments on the platform to meet the customers' expectations and value of the program and videos that firm provides to its clients through the videos.
Engaging with the audience on any platform is a strategy that assures a firm of loyal ‘customers through meeting their individual needs. The gain of competitive edge is also determined by how a firm relates to its clients or customers in the provision of goods and services. Audience engagement is, therefore, vital for NBC network since the firm will be able to respond to all the needs of its clients hence expanding its market share in the industry.
NBC improvement of audience engagement will ensure that the services, videos, and programs it offers to them meet their expectations, and they see the value of spending their time on the platforms. Improving the audience engagement is a strategy in customer development and growth of the firm.
The renamed of MSNBC to shift with the aim of targeting young audience and focus on more politics is an indication that the performance of the network has been considerably low. The re-strategizing efforts undertaken by the company has been on the increase with more consumers and viewers shifting their loyalty from the channel. The latest decision by the NBC management to suspend Brian William has immensely affected the network with more audience proclaiming that they will not watch NBC unless Brian is brought back to the channel. The nightly news by NBC is the most affected section of the network due to the suspension of William. The ABC World News has gained a total of 347,000 viewers more than NBC from the last news statistics done.
The newsletter open rate and video performance has increased due to the presence of accessible technology. The technology has increased the rate at which the customers can access information due to the presence of Smartphone that help in access to emails and news. According to statistics released by E-consultancy on 2014 Email Marketing Industry Census, the email was ranked as the best platform in terms of returns on investment. Of the total people who were surveyed, 68% consider email as good is not excellent.
Each year, revenue of 28% is available for the email service, which is an indication that the service is performing well. The video performance is increasing gaining popularity due to the generational change of customers' preference since most of them prefer watching the video than reading. The videos are all used in making sure that the customers can grasp all a summary of exactly what is happening rather than looking for a television to watch the live events.
The performance of NBC compared to ABC has been significantly low due to the various challenges the network is facing currently. The suspension of anchors and host is the main challenge that the network is facing. For example, the suspension of Brian led to ABC News gaining more than 347,000viewers than NBC due to the loyalty the audiences have on the host. Earlier before the suspension of William, the ABC News had trailed NBC News with over 600,000 viewers. From this statistics, it is evident that the NBC News is much better than ABC News but only if William is in the team.

Importance of the project

The project will help NBC in establishing the weakness it has in the provision of news to the audience. The realization of the problem facing a firm is the crucial since it helps in determining the action to be taken by the strategic managers. The management of NBC has had a lot of problems with the hosts of the programs aired on the channels, and this has brought out the issues that are affecting the network as a whole.
The MSNBC platform launched by the company would have been successful if prior strategies of how to integrate it with the needs of the customers could have been established. The project aims at highlighting all the loopholes that affect NBC network in the newsletter and video performance on the newly introduced platform. The project will further analyze the two methods of audience engagement and determine the problem that may be present in each.
The benefit that the network will get from this project is the presence well-established recommendations based on the best practices in audience engagement by use of videos sites and newsletters. The standards requirements stipulated in the recommendations will guide the concerned authority to take the necessary steps to ensure the success of the network. The online platform especially the newly introduced shift platform will gain from this project. The target customers who are young and those who like politics will be assessed to know what they exactly prefer from the platform hence its success.
The primary aim of the project is to bring out the aspects and reasons to why the network is not performing well as expected. When this is brought out, the management will get the chance to act on the presented issues.

Literature Review

The engagement of the audience in the media industry is vital to the success of any network or broadcast firm. Audience engagement involves the provision of a platform to respond to news and broadcasted content that a network provides to the general public. The access to the platform is mostly open, but a chance is provided by the network to register in order to access more content. The primary role of the media is to provide content that informs and entertains the audience.
The value of the information provided and the originality is vital to the success of any broadcast network. The validity of the information is also crucial since the audience expects information and news that can be relied upon to make a decision. The involvement of audience can be done through various platforms, but the main platforms that will be considered in this project are videos and newsletters.
The two have direct contact with the viewers, and any media house should consider the opinions provided in each platform. The use of these fields in audience engagement means that the network will have to take actions on any feedbacks from the viewers. The videos and newsletters are mostly used by customers and viewers who are loyal to that media house, and this is why they should never be ignored.
According to Holt (2011), newsletters include all the published sources of information that a network may use to provide information to the clients and the audience. The publication may be hard-copy or available for an online platform like the website or publication extensions. The clients or customers who would like to have newsletters are required to register with a media house so that the provider can provide the newsletters to them. This is because publications provide information on a particular topic of interest to the subscribers. The primary objective of the newsletters is to inform the viewers and in return provide a source of revenue to the media house.
The use of email seems to be losing value, but the fact is that the email use is the most reliable source of information for the public. The use of email has only reduced through access by use of computers, but gadgets like Smartphone are used to access information from the online platform. The presence of phones has enabled the users to get information on their figure tips every time they require to access information. The use of newsletter by the media house should not be just an issue of revenue focus, but it can be a marketing strategy that a network can use to attract more prospective customers and retain more clients.
According to Sharma (2011), in establishing newsletter to cater for the needs of the customers in the current generation requires the use of high technology. Associating the firm with the people requires a research on the various platforms that the target customers are using and tapping the content to the platform for easy access.
The newsletters availed by the media house in this generation should be compatible with the various devices and gadgets used by the clients or viewers. The use of publications that are provided to the customers should be provided to those who require them despite the inability to registers. In the planning and crafting of a successful newsletter, the media houses should consider the target customer and the needs of the clients in determining the content to use in the newsletters. Setting the goals and knowing the readers will help in determining the boundaries to be used. The media house should establish the objectives of the newsletter to ensure that implementers work in line with the set aims of the newsletters. The established goals help a lot in creating, selecting and prioritizing the content to be provided to the clients or viewers.
McGurren (2014) states that maintaining a content calendar will help in ensuring the flow of content. Consistency in the provision of a newsletter is essential since it will ensure that the customers are in the position of following up on topics that are of interest to them.
The other most important aspect in the development of newsletters is the drafting of the contents. The use of a website as a partner in the production of a newsletter will help a lot in the attracting more customers to the newsletter hence the benefit of registering with the platform. Creation of the subject line of the newsletter should be a step that should ensure that viewers are appealed to open a newsletter.
The open rate of a newsletter is mostly determined by the subject line and hence an increase in the rating of the newsletter. Of all the viewers or subscribers who may open the newsletter, a significant percentage will read the content to the benefit of the media house. The photos and images in the newsletter should be appealing to the subscribers and convey the information in the newsletters.
The call-to-action should be crafted depending on the objective of a newsletter. The use of links may be an efficient way to guide the viewer to a set objective. The methods of evaluating the consistency and the performance of the newsletter should be set so as to determine the course of action to be taken to ensure that the objectives that were predetermined are achieved.
Video performance is the primary concern of audience interaction in the current generation since most of the target groups are mostly young and people who are conversant with the technology. The use of video is used in content marketing, and it is the responsibility of any media house to ensure that the videos are used in the communication of the desired content to the public. Video has taken content marketing by storm and can do much more if the full potential is utilized in a positive way.
In this century, firms that ignore video do so at their peril since this form of interaction and communication is gaining popularity in all sectors of the economy. The use of the video has provided content that is easy to digest since videos are for listening and do not require reading. A video is more detailed that a picture or writing since the target customer will be able to get the information as it is and interpret it for himself. For a media house to be able to utilize videos as a source of information, it has to be able to understand the audience and the content they would mostly consider important to them. The relevance of the videos is vital since meeting customer’s expectations is essential to the success of any videos.
The videos will achieve its full potential if the video is readily available and easy to access. Social media can be used to provide a link to watching any video. Social media is the most achieve platform that is accessed by most people. Developing videos that can be shared and can be accessed by use of a mobile phone will lead to high rating of the video. Consideration of the mobile phone is essential since they have a share of 41% when it comes to finding and sharing of videos. Creativity in the production of a video is essential since it will determine the length of the video and also the content to be transmitted to the end user or target customers. According to Holt (2011), the performance of a video on any online platform depends on content, how it relates to the target customers and quality in terms of length, aspect ratio and the audio. Media industries have potential for increasing loyalty and market share by use of videos. This is because tapping their videos into the online platform and provision of links in social media will ensure that the customer can access and share the videos with ease.

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