Challenges ahead for Herald Online

Wilson and Horton announces...

As news broke around the world that Fiji was facing a political crisis, the reaction from thousands of New Zealanders was swift - they turned to the Internet.

At the height of the crisis, 60 people a second were keying into the Herald Online to find out what was going on.

Launched 18 months ago, the site is now one of the most popular in the country, and the number of hits is growing by 20 per cent a month.

However, its owner, New Zealand Herald publisher Wilson & Horton, is grappling with the same issue that faces media groups around the world - how to make websites profitable.

Working out how to make money from the net will be one of the main tasks facing Mark Ottaway, a former university lecturer who takes over this week as general manager of Wilson & Horton Digital, the company set up by the media group to manage its interactive and e-commerce business.

Mr Ottaway began his career as a lecturer in computer services. He ran the northern region of Eagle Technology before joining McDonnell Douglas as marketing manager for Asia. He also worked for Firestone before taking over as group general manager for Warkworth-based printer and publisher Times Media Group.

His appointment comes as Wilson & Horton's main rival, Wellington-based Independent Newspapers, is poised to launch its own website.

Mr Ottaway believes the Herald has a big advantage by launching first.

"We're certainly in a good position. I wouldn't want to be starting up 18 months late."

Wilson & Horton's group executive officer, Craig Marsh, agrees the business has reached a crucial stage of its development.

"The approach has been, `If you build it, they will come'. We've built it and they have come. Now we've got to start finding a way to sell some hot dogs ...

"There are lots of revenue models out there but everyone is really struggling to try and make it work. One of the key advantages we've got is our newspapers and magazines.

"We'll see some pretty exciting developments coming up in the next six months or so."

Mr Ottaway remains unconcerned by the other main fear of publishers - that the Internet will erode sales of their printed publications.

"That fear and scaremongering was very prevalent five years ago, but I think that's largely disappeared now. The two are not in competition with each other. They're complementary, not competitive."

One of his mandates is to form strategic alliances with other businesses.

"There is not one business that can do the whole job well. There's also an element of insularity if you try and do too much yourself."

He expects big changes to the website over the next few years, as technology such as video streaming moves ahead.

"It's daunting but it's also positive - sorting out the wheat from the chaff and working out what's good and where we really want it to be going."