Comments on: So yeah … how is thepunch.com.au going?

By: Patrick

Patrick — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 08:01:14 +0000

If you have not already done so it would be interesting to have an update on how the Punch is going. In July the return rate was low and if this has continued then the views of the site should be steadily going down.

By: The Punch in July « talking digital – Ben Shepherd

The Punch in July « talking digital – Ben Shepherd — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 00:25:21 +0000

[...] Full post – http://talkingdigital.wordpress.com/2009/06/29/so-yeah-how-is-thepunch-com-au-going/ [...]

By: Do I possess John Edward type powers … The Punch, Crikey and the who gives a f*ck factor « talking digital – Ben Shepherd

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 07:56:44 +0000

[...] So yeah … how is thepunch.com.au going? [...]

By: Ash Simmonds

Ash Simmonds — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 05:08:15 +0000

Where do you get 30k pageviews in a day = $500-800?

I run a silly little website about cars that gets 2-3 times that (pageviews, bupkis $) – I just do it for shits and giggles though as a hobby. Would love to hear more…

By: Hartigan on old and new media - Pure Poison

Hartigan on old and new media - Pure Poison — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 07:25:30 +0000

[...] of the first month’s stats by mUmBRELLA and Ben Shepherd don’t seem to support Hartigan’s enthusiasm about The Punch’s [...]

By: Tim Bennett

Tim Bennett — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 03:42:53 +0000

I think The Punch needs a bit of a chance to find its audience. Crikey’s had a number of years to build its audience. If The Punch can build its user engagement, attract a more dedicated audience, and (like Crikey) initiate a few heavy-hitting news stories, then I think the site will do fine.

By: Jye Smith

Jye Smith — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:25:12 +0000

Some great analysis, Ben. Always well researched.

Any stats on their comments per post etc? or anything in that vain?

By: chris

chris — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 23:12:54 +0000

The low engagement figures highlight that The Punch is not attracting its own direct audience.

news.com.au readers are clicking on one of that site’s top stories, being “pushed” to The Punch (an environment they’re not particularly interested in) and then returning to news.com.au.

You can see similarly low engagement levels on most major publisher niche content areas. They have high UB levels, driven by punters clicking through from their parent publication, but very low pages/user and session durations.

By: So yeah … how is thepunch.com.au going? // Talking Digital | importance of ideas...

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 08:32:33 +0000

[...] So yeah … how is thepunch.com.au going? // Talking Digital [...]

By: Jason Whittaker

Jason Whittaker — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 01:54:33 +0000

I think you may have hit on the main problem in an earlier post, Ben. Perhaps we’ve overestimated the appetite for opinion online.

Yes, blogging is probably at its heights but the vast majority of the audience has always been for breaking news.

Perhaps this is good news for journalism – News Ltd may realise it needs to offer richer editorial content, not just cheap opinion, to keep eyeballs on their sites (and eventually get people to pay for them).

Early days, obviously. But as you say, given the hype of the launch surely they’re disappointing numbers given the resources they have put into it.