303 Introduction to Web Publishing

The Success/Credibility Factors of Automobilemag.com

An In-Depth Analysis

Aaron “Tex” Carrara9-16-2014

WEB SITE OVERVIEW

General site/company information

The purpose of automobilemag.com, according to its own “About” page is very broad. The site contributors hope to offer enough editorials and opinion pieces based on the automobile industry to keep car lovers visiting the site. The purpose of the site also focuses on automotive news, detailing trends in the industry.

The “About” page for automobilemag.com also describes the history of the magazine which predates the website. According to the page, the magazine started in 1986 and was headed by automotive journalist David E. Davis, Jr. who was later succeeded by Jean Jennings.

Former racecar driver David E. Davis, Jr. is credited with improving automotive journalism at large. During his run in the 1960s on a smaller magazine known as the Chevrolet Corvette, Davis decided critiquing tested cars should be a top priority even if it meant losing money in advertising. The magazine also became notable for its various writers like Jean Jennings (formerly Lindamood) who kept fans coming back for various editorials. In the mid-1980s, Davis would go on to create Automobile Magazine. The goals of the magazine would be to focus on the adventures and thrills of test driving cars, not just the mechanical aspects of the cars. Another change in the norm for the magazine would be the use of vibrant colors on the cover and throughout the publication, combined with Davis’s motto, “No boring cars.” In 2000, editor Jean Jennings took over leadership of Automobile Magazine while Davis remained on as a columnist for a few years.1

This year, Automobile Magazine has gone through significant changes in infrastructure due to its acquisition by Source Interlink Media in 2007. The changes occurred in May of 2014, where the new publisher ordered Automobile Magazine offices be moved from Ann Arbor, Michigan to be near its new sister publication Motor Trend in Los Angeles, California. During the move, a reported 50% of the Automobile Magazine staff were fired, along with each female employee including Editor-in-Chief Jean Jennings. Even their entire Tampa Bay, Florida office staff let go by the new publisher.2 Shortly after the drastic changes to Automobile Magazine and complete cease of numerous other automotive titles, its publisher Source Interlink Media’s name was rebranded as The Enthusiast Network. 3

It is possible the decision by The Enthusiast Network (formerly Source Interlink Media) to cease various automotive publications and fire much of Automobile Magazine’s staff is tied to the company’s financial debt with Time Inc. During the days that decisions were made to relocate Automobile Magazine’s offices, the public was brought to light on the matter in which Time Inc. dropped Source Interlink Media as its second largest wholesaler. Source Interlink Media had garnered $7 Million in debt to Time Inc. The new company handling Source Interlink Media’s distribution business is The News Group. The new contract with The News Group details a decrease by $12 million in operating cash flow for Source Interlink Media. That coupled with being hit with an Anti-Trust Lawsuit from Time Inc. most

1 Grimes, William (2011-03-28). "David Davis Jr. Dies at 80". The New York Times (The New York Times Company). Retrieved 2014-09-16.2 Hardigree, Matt (2014-05-29). “Automobile Magazine Cuts Staff and Fires Editor”. Jalopnik (Gawker Media). Retrieved 2014-09-16.3 Bradstree, Kailee (2014-05-29). “Source Interlink Media Rebrands As TEN: The Enthusiast Network”. Transworld Business (Transworld Skateboarding). Retrieved 2014-09-16.

likely influenced Source Interlink Media’s recent decisions to rebrand itself and cut down on automotive publications like Automobile Magazine.4

Competing Site

Due to Automobile Magazine’s acquisition by (TEN) The Enthusiast Network (formerly Source Interlink Media), the publication is in direct competition with TEN’s main publication: Motor Trend. After all, TEN moved Automobile Magazine’s offices to be next to Motor Trend’s offices in L.A. and fired 50% of the staff. Any publications being published under TEN besides Automobile Magazine is definitely competing with Motor Trend to stay in publication.

DESIGN & LAYOUT ANALYSIS

Browser Type

For the purposes of this report I will be using the Google Chrome browser. The latest browser statistics according to w3schools.com show that the three most used browsers (as of August 2014) are Google Chrome 60.1%, Internet Explorer 8.3%, and Mozilla Firefox 24.7%. For this portion of the report I will be comparing the website’s layout in Google Chrome to Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox.

w3schools.com Browser Statistics

4 Mickey, Bill (2014-05-28). “Time Inc. Drops Source Interlink's Wholesaler Services”. Foliomag.com. Retrieved 2014-09-16.

A portion to the right side of the Homepage if you scroll down. There is a section of the layout called Featured Video which displays a video which the site editors are showcasing. While Google Chrome and Internet Explorer auto-run the video on mute, Mozilla Firefox will have a problem even starting the video without Adobe Flash Player.

Google Chrome After Featured Video Has Finished Playing

Internet Explorer After Featured Video Has Finished Playing

Mozilla Firefox Refusing to Play Video

The Trending Now section lying just below the Featured Video. Trending Now displays the top 5 articles being viewed currently. The list differs according to browser allowing the automobilemag.com editors to take into account what visitors are currently viewing depending on the browser.

Everything else on the homepage is virtually the exact same between the three browsers.

Google Chrome’s Trending Now

Internet Explorer’s Trending Now

Mozilla Firefox’s Trending Now

Monitor Resolution

The Monitor Resolution I will be using for this report is 1366x768. However for this section of the report, I will compare automobilemag.com’s view between the aforementioned resolution and resolutions 1024x768 and 800x600.

From 1366x768 to 1024x768, only the background which consists of white space is lost. This shows the page designers want the homepage to compliment 1024x768 and higher. However, at 800x600, much of the Side Bar, Navigation (including Search Bar), and Ads must be scrolled over in order to be fully viewed.

1366x768 Above the Fold

1024x768 Above the Fold

800x600 Above the Fold

1366x768 Full Homepage

1366x768 Full Homepage (continued)

1366x768 Full Homepage (continued)

Layout

Page Elements: Automobile magazine follows the same layout referred to by the textbook Above The Fold on page 26. The only real difference is that Automobile Magazine uses a perpetual scroll, allowing more content to appear as the user scrolls down. The site also remains consistent with the textbook’s Header information on pages 35-37. The “Automobile” brand is established in big, bold letters, and presents a definitive “call to action” by establishing a “GET THE MAGAZINE” link right next to the brand, followed by a “Login or Signup” to the far right.

Above The Fold: Automobile Magazine puts everything that users would expect to be above the fold, including the Header, Navigation, Feature, and Sidebar. The Header contains the brand name: Automobile, magazine subscription link, and login/signup link. Underneath the Header is the Navigation bar which contains links to Car Reviews, Buyer’s Guide, News and Rumors, Opinion, Subscriptions, as well as a Search Engine within the site. The Feature lies underneath the Navigation and contains a slideshow of different feature stories. Next to the Feature is the Sidebar containing a Research A Vehicle link and an Advertisement.

Upper Left: In the Upper Left of the page lies Header content that according to page 27 of the textbook is what Western culture users would be viewing first. For Automobile Magazine, this means that their Brand Name would be the very first thing they want people to see, which is appropriate. Because the site stems from a magazine, it also makes sense that “GET THE MAGAZINE” is the second thing the editors want users to see. In the Navigation lies what I assume to be what editors have come to expect users to visit the site the most for; which is Car Reviews, followed by Buyer’s Guide, News and Rumors, Opinion, and lastly Subscriptions.

Ads: There are 11 total ads within the Homepage after the perpetual scroll has finished loading. There are only 6 ads before you start the perpetual scroll, with the 6 th ad remaining as you scroll down. Half of the ads repeat on the page, therefore the page only contains 6 different ads. Only a single ad appears above the fold and even then, only its top half appears.

TRAFFIC ANALYSIS

Traffic Source: Quantcast.com

Automobilemag.com Unique Visitors: 91.6K Average in July 2014

Analysis: According to the data on Quantcast.com, Automobilemag.com had a huge decrease in user visits between April and May (266k to 100k).

My first assumption would be attribute this sudden decrease to what I learned while researching Automobile Magazine’s recent letting go of staff and CEO by The Enthusiast Network. However, the articles I found mentioning the bad news all released on May 30th. Unfortunately the drop in User Visits occur before the articles were released. I then assumed that announcements of the impending rebranding of Source Interlink Media would have been made by either Automobile Magazine, The Enthusiast Network or anyone talking about it on the internet but I have come up empty on locating any such announcements. In the press release archives of The Enthusiast Network’s website, the month of April (where the drop in User Visits occurs) is missing and the month of May makes no mention of their rebranding. Automobilemag.com itself only talks about news involving car companies. It is possible that the firing of Automobile Magazine’s staff and CEO occurred because of the drop in User Visits and not the other way around like I initially assumed.

Motortrend.com Unique Visitors: 1.4M Average in July 2014

Analysis: According to Quantcast.com, Motortrend.com was having a decline in user rate from January to February but recovered since then.

Traffic Source: Alexa.com

Automobilemag.com Bounce Rate: 54.2% Page Views Per Visitor: 2.71 Daily Time on Site: 2:21 (mm:ss)

Analysis: The decrease in traffic correlates with the decrease in User Visits from the Quantcast.com chart. They differ however in that Quantcast.com shows that User Visits are currently declining while Alexa.com is showing Bounce Rate decreasing, Page Views increasing, and Daily Time spent increasing. In other words User Visits are in decline, but the Users that do visit are staying longer.

Motortrend.com Bounce Rate: 47.4% Page Views Per Visitor: 3.11 Daily Time on Site: 2:26 (mm:ss)

Analysis: Although Page Views and Daily Time on site are on decline for Motortrend.com, its traffic is still substantially higher than Automobilemag.com.

Media Kit / Advertiser Info Analysis

Automobilemag.com Unique Visitors: 1.9MM

Analysis: The Unique Visitors mentioned in Automobilemag.com’s Media Kit says 1.9MM, but Quantcast.com shows only 91.6K.

Traffic Conclusions

User Visits to Automobilemag.com is on the decline and substantially lower than what the site’s media kit states. The traffic information contained within Automobilemag.com’s media kit more resembles Motortrend.com’s actual figures than its own.

POPULARITY ANALYSIS

Link Popularity Source: Majestic SEO.com

Automobilemag.com No. of Referring Domains/Backlinks: 14,297

Analysis: Nearly 200 of the Backlinks are Educational and almost 100 are Governmental. The most popular Backlink come from autoblog.com’s About Us page where it reveals several editors had previously worked for Automobilemag.com. The other four most popular backlinks come from Cadillac.com referring to a 2011 award issued by Automobilemag.com to Cadillac for their quality priced engines.

Motortrend.com No. of Referring Domains/Backlinks: 26,877

Analysis: Nearly 700 of the Backlinks are Educational and about 1,200 are Governmental. All of the top 5 most popular backlinks again come from Cadillac.com in which Motortrend.com had given Cadillac’s CTS Sedan their 2014 Car of the Year Award.

Social Media Analysis

Brand-based success

Automobilemag.com Motortrend.comFacebook Page Likes 459,338 2,549,548Twitter Followers 48.4K 186KGoogle Plus +1s 0 2,361,668

Analysis: Motortrend is dominating Automobilemag in social media presence. The most significant difference is when it comes to their Google Plus presence. Although Automobilemag has views, it has no followers.

Site-based Success

Automobilemag.com Motortrend.comFacebook Page-Specific Likes 971 796Twitter Page Shares 14.1K 23.1KPinterest Likes 118 1

Analysis: Automobilemag.com’s effort to use social media is not as impressive as Motortrend.com’s. The only Social Media I could find that Automobile.com is winning is Pinterest. I believe it Automobile.com’s lack of social media success is because they do not have an easy way of access via their homepage like Motortrend does. Motortrend has a “Connect With Us” section in their lower Sidebar, whereas

Automobilemag requires the user to reach the footer despite having a perpetual scroll in order to find their Social Media pages.

Popularity Conclusions

Motortrend.com is more popular than Automobilemag.com. Motortrend generates more traffic and has a better social media presence (with the exception of Pinterest).

Success Conclusions

From the data and research I have gathered, I believe Automobilemag.com’s success and credibility is in a steady decline compared to Motortrend.com. Automobilemag has been in decline ever since The Enthusiast Network fired Automobilemag’s CEO and half of the publication’s staff in May 2014. With their traffic in steady decline and social media presence lacking in comparison to Motortrend, I do not see a stable future for Automobilemag.com.