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CNN and ABC News...A Marriage?
A look at the potential impact on the online news sector

Report by comScore Media Metrix
November 2002

NOTE: Data are based on U.S. Internet users from Home and Work.

1. Rumors of a Combined News Operation:

Rumors continue that executives from ABC and AOL Time-Warner's CNN are pondering a merger of their news networks. While the move would be significant to the journalism and television worlds, the move would be equally significant to the online sector. This Special Feature analysis focuses on these two high-profile news sites - one best known for its broadcast network and big-name celebrity journalists, the other for its 24/7 programming and international reach.

2. CNN and ABC News, Already Industry Leaders:

How significant are CNN and ABC's online news operations? Of the 67.2 million U.S. Home/Work Internet users who visited General News sites in September this year, 20.5 million visited CNN.com and 8.5 million visited ABC News sites, placing the sites in first and seventh place according to audience reach. CNN.com also brings a strong international audience, with 9.2 million non-U.S. visitors. ABS's primary news site ABCNEWS.GO.com drew 985,000 non-U.S. visitors.

3. CNN-ABC News, The Potential Audience:

Without question, a combined CNN-ABC News online news network would make it the leader in its category - particularly in the U.S. Collectively, these online news networks reached (an unduplicated) 24.7 million unique visitors in September 2002, putting the combined entity ahead of AOL News (a CNN sister company) by 5.1 million visitors. Below are the top ten General News sites at Home and Work.

General News Sites Ranked According to U.S. Home/Work Visitors September 2002
	Home/Work	Home	Work
GENERAL NEWS CATEGORY	67,237,000	54,115,000	25,517,000
Hypothetical: CNN-ABC News (unduplicated)	24,694,000	17,694,000	9,905,000
CNN.COM	20,467,000	13,645,000	9,070,000
AOL News	19,604,000	17,007,000	3,407,000
Yahoo! News	15,450,000	10,115,000	6,822,000
MSNBC	14,621,000	8,875,000	6,639,000
NYTIMES.COM	8,954,000	6,193,000	3,801,000
Time.com Sites	8,710,000	5,386,000	3,899,000
ABC News Digital	8,504,000	6,496,000	3,197,000
USATODAY Sites	7,507,000	4,663,000	3,159,000
Tribune Interactive	7,314,000	4,961,000	3,279,000
Knight Ridder Digital	5,287,000	3,583,000	2,598,000

4. Both CNN and ABC News Attract More Men:

While the General News category has a percentage of male visitors that is comparable to the Total Internet population, CNN and ABC News have noteworthy skews toward male visitors. Moreover, compared to the Total Internet population, both CNN and ABC News have a particularly high percentage of males age 25-34 (10 percent versus 16 percent). The female audiences of CNN and ABC do not show a pronounced skew to any single age group; however, younger women (age 2-24) are collectively most underrepresented on the sites, while the percentage of older women roughly equals that of the Total Internet.

CNN, ABC News Demographic Composition - Sex-Age U.S. Home/Work Combined September 2002
Audience Target	Total Internet	General News	CNN	ABC News
Males: 2+	50%	52%	59%	57%
Males: 2-11	2%	1%	1%	0%
Males: 12-17	3%	2%	3%	2%
Males: 18-24	5%	5%	7%	8%
Males: 25-34	10%	12%	16%	16%
Males: 35-44	12%	14%	14%	14%
Males: 45-54	9%	10%	11%	9%
Males: 55+	7%	7%	8%	8%

Females: 2+	50%	48%	41%	43%
Females: 2-11	2%	2%	1%	0%
Females: 12-17	3%	2%	1%	1%
Females: 18-24	5%	4%	3%	4%
Females: 25-34	10%	10%	10%	9%
Females: 35-44	11%	11%	11%	12%
Females: 45-54	11%	11%	10%	11%
Females: 55+	7%	6%	5%	6%

5. CNN, ABC Lure Smaller Household Sizes:

Compared to the Total U.S. Internet population, CNN and ABC News audiences skew toward two-member households (34 percent and 36 percent, respectively). Conversely, both news sites had significantly lower percentages (34 percent and 31 percent, respectively) of visitors with a household size of four or more.

CNN, ABC News Demographic Composition -Household Size U.S. Home/Work Combined September 2002
Audience Target	Total Internet	General News	CNN	ABC News
HH Size: 1	10%	10%	11%	10%
HH Size: 2	29%	30%	34%	36%
HH Size: 3	21%	22%	21%	23%
HH Size: 4+	40%	38%	34%	31%

6. West Coast More Likely to Visit ABC, CNN:

Finally, a breakdown of traffic to CNN and ABC News based on U.S. Census region reveals that visitors from the Pacific region were 18 percent and 53 percent more likely to visit these sites, respectively, in September 2002. While the Pacific region contributed only 17 percent of Total Internet and General News traffic, this region contributed 20 percent and 26 percent of traffic, respectively, to CNN and ABC News. Most other regions were within one or two percentage points of the total U.S. norm. Over past months, ABC News has typically skewed toward the Pacific region.

CNN, ABC News Demographic Composition - U.S. Census Region U.S. Home/Work Combined September 2002
Audience Target	Total Internet	General News	CNN	ABC News
Regions: W.N. Central	9%	9%	8%	7%
Regions: Mountain	7%	7%	5%	4%
Regions: Pacific	17%