Online Audience - 2006 Annual Report

Following extraordinary growth in 2004, perhaps fueled by a highly partisan presidential election, it appears blog readership slowed in 2005. Although blogs are often seen as a symbol of the new, democratized citizen media that Dan Gillmor and others have championed, there is some evidence that the heaviest readers of blogs are members of the Washington establishment.

Meanwhile, bloggers wrestled with ethical questions about the impact advertising could have on their content, and a debate emerged on Capital Hill and in the courts on whether bloggers had the same legal rights as traditional journalists.

Blog Readership

After extraordinary growth in 2004, the data suggest blog readership slowed in 2005.41 From February 2004 to January 2005, the number of online Americans who said they had ever read a blog increased nearly 60% — from 17% to 27%, according to the Pew Internet project. Since then, the percentage of blog readers has remained stable.42

But in aggregate numbers, that means blog readership grew from 32 million to 37 million. With overall growth of the Internet population, that still means 16% more people were blog readers by the end of 2005, compared to the end of 2004.43 But the explosion in blog consumption, for now, appears over.

Regular blog readership, as distinct from occasional or one-time, has not grown much, either. According to the Pew Internet Project, the proportion of Internet users who were regularly reading blogs year to year remained at 7%.44

With only about a quarter of the population having ever read one, blogs remain a relatively unfamiliar platform for much of the public. In February 2005, only 26% of Internet users said they were “very familiar” or “somewhat familiar” with blogs, according to a Gallup/CNN/USA Today poll.45

And who makes up this minority of Americans who consume blogs? Research suggests they are more likely to be younger and male. And ironically, the most fervid blog readers are journalists — the group perhaps that feels most threatened by them.46

Indeed, there is some evidence that blogs have become a fundamental part of journalists’ news diet. A 2005 University of Connecticut study found that 41% of journalists access blogs at least once a week and 55% say they read blogs as part of their work duties.4748

Blog Creators

The growth in number of Americans who produce blogs also appears to have slowed. In 2004, the number of blog creators doubled, which meant that 10% of Internet users had written a blog at some point, according to data from the Pew Internet and American Life Project.49 In 2005, the growth was much more modest, up just 5% from the year before. That translated into roughly 9 million American adults who had created blogs by the end of 2005.50

There is some contradictory evidence if one looks not at the number of bloggers but the number of blogs — different sites on different subjects. As of January 2006, Technorati had indexed nearly 27 million blogs spanning about 1.9 billion links, and estimated earlier that 70,000 new blogs were being created every day.51 Other research shows an even larger blogosphere. Perseus Research, a Massachusetts-based developer of Web survey systems, estimated that the number of blogs could exceed 53 million by the end of 2005.52

Why the discrepancy? How could the growth in bloggers be slowing while more blogs are being identified? It could be because Technorati’s index includes blogs worldwide while survey research is generally conducted exclusively among Americans. It also could be that the software identifying blogs is improving. Or it could be that some individual blog creators are creating more than one blog.

Whatever it is, the growth in the blogosphere appears more robust than the growth in the audience for it.

Blogging Economics

The next big question is whether blogging can make money by becoming a substantial ad platform. While bloggers have so far been reluctant to say publicly how much revenue their sites generate, it seems that most still need day jobs to pay the bills. In an interview with the New York Observer, Nick Denton, the host and publisher of Gawker Media (described by Arianna Huffington as the “Rupert Murdoch of the blogosphere”) said he charged $4 for every 1,000 appearances, or page views, of an ad. If the blog got, say, 5.5 million page views a month, that would be $22,000 in monthly revenue.

But then again, how many bloggers actually generate 5.5 million page views a month? As David Hauslaib, founder of Jossip and Queerty, told Wired magazine, “At the bare minimum, a lone blogger will likely need to attract high four-to-five-figure daily visitor figures to even attempt a blog-based livable wage.”56 The number of blogs getting thousands or tens of thousands of unique visitors is small indeed.57

There is growing evidence, however, that blogs have the potential to become a more attractive investment for advertisers by becoming more integrated into corporate media. That presents a dilemma for the bloggers, many of whom wish to continue practicing an exclusively citizen-based form of journalism, which is their essence.

In October, AOL announced it had acquired Weblogs Inc., the publisher of nearly 90 blogs, for roughly $15 million and possibly as high as $25 million if Weblogs meets certain performance targets. The acquisition was seen as a move for AOL to increase its overall audience numbers and provide marketers with the opportunity to reach online niche markets.58 Other blog “collectives” have sprung up over the last few years, most notably Gawker Media, Weblogs, Inc. and B5 Media.59

And advertisers are curious. In early 2005, a Forrester Research survey found that 64% of national marketers said they were interested in placing ads on blogs.60

As suggested above, not every blogger is so eager to cash in. AOL’s acquisition, as well as the decision by Andrew Sullivan to take his blog to Time.com, created a stir within the blogging community. 61 Denton fears that the big media companies will destroy the independent, grass-roots spirit that bloggers believe separates them from the mainstream media, which they deride as the MSM: “The whole point about blogs is that they’re not part of big media,” Denton told the Washington Post. “Consolidation defeats that purpose. It’s way too early. Like a decade too early.”62 In November, Yahoo announced it was adding feeds from some of Gawker’s blogging team, though Denton emphasized that the blog content would only be licensed, not sold.63

Others, however, think most blogs will inevitably be forced into finding a business model. In the words of Edward Wasserman, Knight professor of journalism ethics at Washington and Lee University: “Everywhere the Internet is turning into the most skillfully calibrated marketing instrument since people first made money that folds. The whole logic of commercialization ensures a privileged platform for whatever moves products. That logic creates both noise and silences, loud benefits and quiet costs. It’s why none of this is free."64