Couch Potatoes, Seniors and Senior Execs:
Untapped markets for online services
We’ve heard about early adopters for years and how they help launch and place high
tech applications into the mainstream. But the early adopters don’t determine the
staying power of any technology. It’s the regular people out there who create
critical mass. MWT found two stories this month that show this migration from the
techno-savvy niche to the not-so-tech-savvy has already taken place. Senior Execs have
been well known to be keyboard phobic having come up in an era with secretaries and live
dictation. But now it seems in an age of downsizing and job insecurity, more top level
execs are going online for key information: job information. Seniors want to stay in touch
with grandchildren away at college and couch potatoes can never get enough TV programming
information. Astute marketers have sharpened their content offerings to hook these market
niches to their sites:
Netshare, Inc., a 7-year-old publisher of senior executive job listings, says it has
been taken completely by surprise by how quickly its target audience has made the
change-over from receiving their job listings in printed format to using the Internet to
get the daily updates. A new online version of the jobs listings was set up late last
year, called Netshare Online.
The service has either sent lists out by postal mail, or e-mailed copies to some 1400
subscribers every two weeks. Now the service has expanded to enable subscribers to
download lists from its World Wide Web site.
The company says 91 percent of new subscribers and 54 percent of existing subscribers
want to access job information online, which provides daily updates, rather than the
bi-weekly versions previously offered.
Netshare President Dave Theobald said: "When we set up our online service, we
thought maybe 30-40 percent would go online by the end of March." He said that 54
percent of the existing subscribers have converted to the online version.
"This is a mind-boggling figure. One year ago only 11 percent of our subscribers
received their listings by e-mail. Since many of our subscribers are senior level, this
illustrates the tremendous growth of Internet use by senior management."
These senior executives are the last bastion to become computer literate, said
Theobald, adding: "I’m in that group. It’s dramatic how many senior-level
executives have become computer literate in the past 12 months."
Expanding on current trends of higher level executive use of computers, Theobald said:
"When we started talking about the online service, we had projected that it might be
three years before we could do away with the hard copy reports entirely. Now it looks like
we may be able to discontinue our mailed version by the end of this year."
Theobald added, "This is an explosion, and beyond our wildest dreams."
Netshare, Inc. is an executive networking service that offers information on jobs and
their location, requirements, duties and responsibilities, salary and to whom the position
reports.
Netshare Online is on the World Wide Web site at http://www.netshare.com.
(Contact: David Theobald, Netshare, Inc., 415-883-1700)
Couch potatoes and older adults are the latest target audiences in Yahoo’s
[NASDAQ:YHOO] "sights," as the company announced new World Wide Web sites
specifically aimed at those groups of people.
First, Yahoo’s new "Yahoo TV Coverage" site is described as an up-to-the
minute resource for television viewers that will also feature listings personalized to a
user’s geographic location and interests.
Yahoo teamed with Gist Communications, which produces an independent TV entertainment
guide, to include Gist’s personalized TV listings. Gist-developed technology lets Web
surfers enter their Zip codes to receive customized broadcast and cable listings for over
11,000 cable systems, covering over 34,000 Zip codes throughout the US, as well as
listings for major satellite systems.
Yahoo officials pointed out that the new TV Web site can be used with set-top boxes
that provide Web browsing via television, like Microsoft’s WebTV.
Gist will also contribute editorial content, including "Today’s Top TV
Picks" with recommended TV viewing fare. Gist will daily provide new show
recommendations within specific categories including Sci-Fi, Comedy, Drama, TV Movies and
Docu News. Links to relevant Yahoo content are also provided, Yahoo officials said.
A link with Yahoo Chat is also available for people who share interests with other Web
surfers about TV shows and the medium itself.
Yahoo’s Seniors’ Guide is described as a destination site to serve the needs
of seniors, an audience Yahoo describes as "vibrant" and growing in numbers.
Yahoo quoted Intelli-Quest numbers that showed an estimated 7.4 million Internet users are
aged 50 and over, and of these surfers, 4.4 million use Yahoo.
Yahoo Seniors’ Guide contains 13 popular interest areas including Entertainment
& Arts, Finance & Investment, Gardening, Genealogy, Health, Recreation &
Sports, and Travel. The guide also offers headlines, comprehensive coverage, and relevant
stories tailored to seniors from the Third Age News Service, a news wire for and about
active older adults. Message boards and chat contribute to the interactivity of the site,
officials also said.
Other features will include cross-links to popular Yahoo content like weather
forecasts, phone number and e-mail searches, classifieds and stock quotes.
Both the television and seniors sites are now available. The TV site is at
http://tv.yahoo.com, while the senior site is at
http://seniors.yahoo.com.
Yahoo’s main site is at http://www.yahoo.com.
(Contacts: Lindsay Walsh, NRG PR, 650-827-7026; Dana Young, Yahoo, 408-616-3631;
Evan Goetz, PR 21 for Gist, 212-704-4526)
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