ABC defends its use of paid Google search after criticism it damages commercial rivals
Public broadcaster the ABC has defended its use of paid Google search to boost its news website traffic after an article in the Australian today accused it of “spending tens of thousands of dollars to damage its commercial media rivals”.
In an opinion piece for Mumbrella, Leisa Bacon director of audience and marketing at the ABC argued the broadcaster was simply taking advantage of a new form of marketing, adding it had an obligation to make sure its content was seen by as wide an audience as possible.
The article in the News Corp Australia title this morning criticised the ABC claiming this week it had “outbid its commercial rivals to buy the term ‘Gough Whitlam’ to ensure stories on its website ranked ahead of those by outlets such as News Corp, Fairfax Media and the television networks”.“All media outlets market their content,” wrote Bacon. “The digital space is no different. This is simply the newest marketing arena. At the ABC we invest in creating strong, distinctive, Australian content and we want that content to be found by our audience.”
The Australian’s article also said the ABC outspent all but one other news service on search engine marketing in August, helping it to rank as the nation’s fourth most popular news website.
Bacon argued search was “critical” to navigating the ABC’s content, and said The Australian’s estimate of $10,000 being paid by the ABC was incorrect, with the true figure being around $1,000.
“The ABC has a rich archive of content built over many years, across all our platforms. It is of great benefit to the public to be able to access this material. In a digital environment, search is critical to help navigate this,” wrote Bacon.
Nic Christensen
damned if they do, and damned if they don’t.
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Lol how happy is Google in these situations
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Sour grapes from news, much?
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I thought News Corp and particularly the Australian was all about old school paper products anyway
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Wow, every article Sharri Markson writes is an attempt to expose some supposed ‘outrage’ in hopes it will lead to legislative or other action to improve the operating environment for News Corp and thereby improve its declining commercial performance. Boring!
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“the ABC argued the broadcaster was simply taking advantage of a new form of marketing”. Huh? You mean a marketing team can now buy ppc advertising on Google to drive users to their site, for competitive advantage, at a cost effective rate? Lunacy. When did that start? One really has to wonder what a NewsCorp Media section editorial meeting actually looks like.
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Reporting on digital news (and everything else) in The Australian Media section has gone downhill [Edited under Mumbrella’s content moderation policy]. The focus is almost exclusively on the old-boys’ club of newspapers and television – Mumbrella now publishes more decent original stories on digital.
Most of what The Australian writes explicitly pushes an agenda that fiercely advances News’ own business interests. The current persecution of the ABC is hysterical, as was the ridiculous war with the Daily Mail. It didn’t used to be like this! At least for me, the section is rapidly losing its hard-won credibility.
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If you were any good in the digital space, you just wouldn’t work at News. They are suffering to attract great talent. Surely their (certainly perceived) right wing, greedy agenda wards off good people?
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