Steve Bornstein's Speech
Steve Bornstein, Chairman, GO.com
Despite all of the competition and the challenges that we face in the new world of the Internet, I strongly believe that our Internet strategy at GO is a phenomenal business opportunity for The Walt Disney Company.
And I say this because we have three distinct and mutually reinforcing legs to our Internet strategy, each of which generates tremendous competitive advantages for our company. First, our strategy is to maximize the reach and the impact of our vertical sites -- Disney.com, ABC.com, ESPN.com and the rest of our branded sites, sites that already hold the most powerful positions in their categories.
Second is to fully develop the potential for the GO portal, a significant resource which we have just begun to mine.
And third, the most powerful tool we have in our arsenal and our largest competitive advantage, to push the envelope on what we already do better than anyone else and that is television-Internet convergence.
Let me give you a few highlights about the first leg of our strategy -- our vertical sites. We have a lot to be excited about with these branded sites, most of which are number one in their respective categories.
We are number one in the kids and family categories with Disney and Family.com. Disney.com has also consistently been ranked the number one entertainment site on the Internet for the past two years, and our online service for kids, Disney's Club Blast, is a leader in subscription sites.
The ESPN.com network, which includes ESPN, ABC Sports, NFL, NBA, WNBA and NASCAR Online, is number one in sports, with more users than the next two online sports sites combined. Earlier this month at the Winter X Games, we launched EXPN.com, a site dedicated to the extreme sports lifestyle.
ABCNEWS.com is the number three news site, but we are quickly closing that gap. In just the last six months, ABCNEWS's unique user growth rate has been double that of MSNBC. We've recently introduced a number of initiatives that maximize the tremendous assets of ABC News, such as a Web-exclusive interview program with Sam Donaldson and another Web-only program called "Political Points" that we're doing in partnership with the New York Times.
ABC.com is the number one broadcast network Web site. In fact, the online version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" has been downloaded more than 43 million times with more than 2.5 million people reaching the virtual "Millionaire Winner's Page."
Unlike our competitors, The Walt Disney Company already has a relationship with nearly everyone in America. We create 70 million consumer impressions every day through our network of products.
Now, with the creation of GO, all we have to do is to leverage the power of these individual sites around the entire portal to create the kind of network of community and interactivity that other companies can only dream of.
In order to leverage that power, we are creating a strategy for the GO portal that will emphasize the broad areas of entertainment, recreation, leisure and lifestyle, generating an identity for the portal that will differentiate it from all other Internet services. We will lead people to and create a best of the Web experience in this space, whether that means sports or travel or movies.
Our recent agreement with eBay is an exciting example of what we can do within this entertainment and leisure category.
If you want to bid on an evening gown worn by Susan Lucci, or an autographed baseball from a game telecast on ESPN, or even a retired Dumbo car from one of our theme parks, all authenticated by Disney, you will soon be able to do so.
We believe our consumers will really enjoy this experience because auctions are truly entertaining and we believe there is pent-up demand for authenticated Disney treasures, both big and small. This is a one-of-a-kind relationship for eBay, and a first for our company as well.
In addition to the eBay deal, we have done several others and have more to follow. During the first quarter, we signed deals with Netzero and Earthlink to be news and sports providers to their subscribers. In addition, we have done an equity and distribution deal with Netpliance in which our sites will be the exclusive content providers for several key areas of their product. These deals are in line with our goal to gain the broadest and deepest distribution possible for all of our content.
And when broadband transforms the Web and it becomes a true entertainment medium, that is when GO's positioning will really pay off. However, our strategy is to be successful in the narrowband space before we win in the broadband space, and we're on track to do that. Once this ability to stream video is commonplace, we will not only have an unmatched library to utilize, but also the creative ability to bring new programming designed expressly for this new medium.
And this is where our third strategic component -- TV-Internet convergence -- comes in. Just as radio and television were transformed in their early days by the advent of new content and programming, I believe the Internet will make its next quantum leap when content from Disney redefines the world of online entertainment for consumers.
In anticipation of this transformation, we are leading the way in TV-Internet convergence with an application we call Enhanced TV. Enhanced TV allows the television and the computer to work together in a powerful new way.
Research shows that 50 percent of all Web users have a computer and TV in the same room. In fact, just three weeks ago, we set a new milestone for this service, as 650,000 people logged on to Enhanced TV during the Super Bowl, staying for an average of 42 minutes each, which, in case you didn't know, is an incredible amount of time -- almost eight minutes longer than our nearest sports competitor is able to generate in the average month. As the game progressed, fans were treated to a wealth of statistics, graphics and interactive quizzes that were synchronized, to the second, with the broadcast.
Most encouraging of all was that 96% of the users said that they would use Enhanced TV again. I have no doubt that this kind of convergence of the television with the computer is the future. We are currently working on a new application that will allow viewers to watch sporting events on television while listening to what's being said on the bench or on the ice or on the field during the game. This is the next best thing to being there, courtside or ringside. Next month, Enhanced TV will make further progress as an entertainment medium when it is incorporated into the Oscar telecast on ABC, as well as regular broadcasts of "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire."
Today, the Internet is mostly about function and utility, but when we decided to create GO.com, we did so on the premise that the future of the Internet involves much more. We knew that we had fantastic individual brands on the Net and we knew that giving them all a common home would create a very strong and reinforcing community. But where I get really excited is when I see the power of our third strategic advantage, TV-Internet convergence. I see a time, in the next few years, or even sooner, where nobody will talk about television or the Internet separately. They will become one synergistic, fused medium.
With our Enhanced TV constantly pushing this convergence envelope, our amazing content libraries and the number-one-rated television network at our disposal there is little doubt that it will be The Walt Disney Company, the company that put magic in entertainment over 75 years ago, that will lead the way and create a whole new level of magic in this very exciting new world of the Internet.