Media in Focus - RaceNet

Your Name & Position: Gerry Little  Promotional & Advertising Sales Manager
Name of your media brand:  Racenet.com.au
Target Markets: Horse Racing enthusiasts & Horse Racing Gamblers
Launched:  1998    
Staff:  10

See Racenet's listing on MediaScope

Please provide a brief overview of your brand, your market position and forward plans?
Racenet is the No. 1 provider of horse racing news, free horse racing form guides, and racing statistics in Australia.  Our aim is to always be the No. 1. Site in this arena and are continually adding more applications to Racenet to keep our audience engaged.  E.g.  Tipping competitions,  Fantasy Horse Racing game,  relevant industry surveys, quiz’s, Racenet TV channel and ability to post comments at the end of all our horse racing stories.

Can you give us an overview of your background and experience?
The experience of the company is enormous with 3 fulltime horse racing journalists working for Racenet and two part time journalists.   2 of our Journalists have been in the field for over 20 years and 1 for over 10 years and they are looked to as well respected journalists throughout the Horse Racing Industry.  Our journalists give regular radio and TV interviews in reference to current horse racing matters and tips.

Tell us how & why your site was launched?
Racenet.com.au was launched in 1998 on the back of print media publications, and it seemed a logical step to create a website that would be a one stop shop for those that are interested in the latest news and free form guides or racing statistics. Racenet was started by two long term journalists in the industry who still own Racenet now.

What benefits does your site offer advertising buyers and marketers?
Racenet offers a huge traffic base of returning visitors who are very engaged with our site,  they are very responsive whether commenting on news stories,  filling out surveys,  replying to email offers,  spending on average more than 7 minutes per visit,  and do purchase via the site.

What is the best & worst thing about being an independent media publisher?
Many advertisers feel that because they pay for Banners, EDMs, Advertorials and campaigns that they should have full editorial right to have their stories (whether newsworthy or not) fully published by our journalists.  The reason why Racenet is so successful is that our journalists always maintain their integrity in supplying information to their followers and are not prepared to simply provide information in stories purely about companies that are advertising on Racenet at the time.   This is good for our site visitors,  however bad as advertisers feel that they should have more ownership over the stories.

Tell us about your advertising sales structure?
I handle most advertising sales - particularly direct sales.   We have had many advertisers who have used us consistently over the last 12 years and will continue so into the future as we continually strive to bring in more unique visitors to our site and also extend the time spent at Racenet by continually keeping them engaged withsStories,  free form guides, tipping competitions and fantasy style games.

Postclick manages our online agency and display advertising sales.

What tips can you offer other media owners when dealing with advertising buyers?
Do not sacrifice site integrity to make more advertising dollars.   Make sure that you maintain information for visitors that is across the board rather than totally driven by a couple of advertisers so that you appeal to a larger audience and can keep them coming back,  this in turn will give your advertisers better opportunity to convert your visitors as they have trust for the site and in turn this trust will be passed on to the advertisers.

Can you offer any advice to someone starting a new commercial media business? Its not easy. Lots and lots of communication will be the key.

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