Jim Bernard, SVP of Digital at StarTribune, presented strategies for data transformation. He discussed segmenting users into categories like "Grazers", "Test Drivers", and "Intenders" based on visit frequency. This allowed targeting users with the goals of converting Grazers to Test Drivers, Test Drivers to Intenders, and eventually Intenders to subscribers. By understanding user behaviors, the company could optimize ad revenue, gain new logins and subscribers, and increase user engagement and retention. Data-driven insights provided opportunities for advertising, circulation, and experience improvements.

1. Data Transformation
StarTribune 2016
Jim Bernard, SVP Digital
@bernardjim

2. Transforming StarTribune
Establish global baseline for performance
Measure changes in performance based on ideas
Ask big (but simple) questions of big data and get
scientific (but simple) answers
Case study: digital segmentation work

3. Granular Projection

4. 2016 Global Traffic Forecast
2|
Execu&ve Summary
In 2016, StarTribune will reach the following goals Y/Y across
combined startribune.com and m.startribune.com:
• Page views flat
• Visits and Uniques +5%
Startribune.com
• Page views -8%
• Page views will be posi&ve Y/Y by December
• Visits -6%
• Uniques -8%
m.startribune.com
• Page views +31%
• Visits +28%
• Uniques +28%
14|
2016 m.StarTribune.com Visits
m.StarTribune.com visits will maintain a +28% growth rate
throughout 2016
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
-
1,000,000
2,000,000
3,000,000
4,000,000
5,000,000
6,000,000
7,000,000
8,000,000
9,000,000
January February March April May June July August September October November December
m.StarTribune.com Visits
2016 Visits 2015 Visits 2016 Y/Y % 2015 Y/Y %

5. Daily Traffic - News
Yesterday vs. Fcst vs. LY MTD vs. Fcst vs. LY
Total 741,899 41% 51% 11,404,351 3% 8%
Startribune.com 286,476 4% -3% 6,334,869 1% -6%
m.startribune.com 455,423 82% 133% 5,069,482 5% 34%
Total 1,644,979 8% 12% 32,491,053 -1% 0%
Startribune.com 981,915 2% -6% 24,254,894 4% -4%
m.startribune.com 663,064 20% 57% 8,236,159 -12% 15%
Total 624,165 50% 61% 5,365,332 -5%
Startribune.com 227,503 5% -2% 2,579,361 -14%
m.startribune.com 396,662 100% 155% 2,785,971 5%
ST.com % Total vs. LY m.ST % Total vs. LY
Homepage 116,216 41% -13% 77,359 17% 17%
Story/Blog 141,251 49% 59% 360,411 79% 226%
Other 29,009 10% -60% 17,653 4% -4%
Direct 139,205 49% -6% 174,946 38% 122%
Search 55,614 19% 1% 84,332 19% 219%
Facebook 18,109 6% -51% 136,415 30% 981%
Twitter 2,918 1% 36% 16,669 4% 464%
Other 71,802 25% 37% 43,061 9% -43%
Subscribers 41,060 14% -13% 19,428 4% 13%
MN 144,304 50% -6% 187,030 41% 80%
Yesterday PV vs. Fcst vs. LY HP Articles
1 Sports 192,809 -29% -31% ST.com 19% 7%
2 Local 368,783 56% 130% m.ST 26% 7%
3 Variety 355,320 142% 65%
4 Business 42,828 -19% -5% Yesterday MTD
5 Opinion 21,293 -18% -11% Total 31 492
6 Obituaries 83,123 42% 69% ST.com Limit 7 190
7 Politics 13,540 -63% -21% m.ST Limit 7 66
8 Twins 17,317 -49% -61% Sign-up 17 213
9 Nation 8,842 -61% -58% Other Circ - 17
10 World 15,104 10% 98%
Combined Articles & Blogs Page Views Visits Entries
1 Fentanyl pills seized from Paisley Park were mislabeled 158,333 141,624 132,331
2 5-year-old girl reported missing found dead; man under arrest 117,075 105,056 89,765
3 Kidnap, murder charges await man accused of killing girl 60,315 53,484 35,508
4 Metallica turns it up to 11 in sold-out U.S. Bank Stadium show 50,142 39,293 23,681
5 Pills seized from Paisley Park were fentanyl, same drug that killed Prince 34,889 31,093 26,090
Page Views Visits Entries
1 Fentanyl pills seized from Paisley Park were mislabeled 59,964 48,089 42,568
2 5-year-old girl reported missing found dead; man under arrest 31,013 24,706 16,804
3 Metallica turns it up to 11 in sold-out U.S. Bank Stadium show 21,875 14,083 5,145
4 Kidnap, murder charges await man accused of killing girl 17,527 14,071 4,863
5 Raging motorist in Alexandria rams other driver twice, is unruly upon arrest 9,579 7,821 605
m.startribune.com Articles & Blogs Page Views Visits Entries
1 Fentanyl pills seized from Paisley Park were mislabeled 98,369 93,568 89,803
2 5-year-old girl reported missing found dead; man under arrest 86,062 80,368 72,999
3 Kidnap, murder charges await man accused of killing girl 42,788 39,428 30,659
4 Metallica turns it up to 11 in sold-out U.S. Bank Stadium show 28,267 25,234 18,561
5 Pills seized from Paisley Park were fentanyl, same drug that killed Prince 28,216 26,115 23,229
Sunday, August 21, 2016VisitsPVEntrySourcesUsers
CTR%DigitalSubs
UniquesContentSections
Startribune.com Articles & Blogs
-
2,000,000
4,000,000
6,000,000
8,000,000
10,000,000
12,000,000
14,000,000
16,000,000
18,000,000
8/1/2016 8/8/2016 8/15/2016 8/22/2016 8/29/2016
MTD Visits vs. Forecast
Cumulative Visits Forecasted Cumulative Visits
0.0%
1.0%
2.0%
3.0%
4.0%
5.0%
6.0%
7.0%
12:00:00
AM
1:00:00
AM
2:00:00
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3:00:00
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4:00:00
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5:00:00
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6:00:00
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7:00:00
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8:00:00
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9:00:00
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10:00:00
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11:00:00
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12:00:00
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1:00:00
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2:00:00
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3:00:00
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6:00:00
PM
7:00:00
PM
8:00:00
PM
9:00:00
PM
10:00:00
PM
11:00:00
PM
Yesterday % Visits by Hour
Startribune.com Visits m.startribune.com Visits
300000
350000
400000
450000
500000
550000
600000
650000
700000
750000
800000
Visits vs. Forecast by Day
(combined ST.com and m.ST)
Visits Forecasted Visits LY Visits

7. Impact
Understanding the value of 10,000 or 1,000,000 page views is
now across the organization.
Competing priorities have a baseline metric to help make
decisions.
Accountability is broadly dispersed, especially across the
newsroom.
Projects that were supposed to “help” can now be recognized for
doing well or adjusted if not doing well.
Newsroom is starting to understand and utilize their power to
move the needle.

8. Newsroom Wins
Quick strike teams
10,000 takes
Talkers email
Adjusting publishing cycle (digital forward)
Knight Foundation project

9. “I’ve got an idea…”

10. Your idea has results!

11. Impact
Increases speed of innovation by reducing risk,
anxiety and personal bias.
Allows for unexpected and counter-intuitive results to
arise and be supported and even be loved.
Provides real data to help evaluate complicated
business decisions.
Builds data confidence and analysis experience for
broader group of staff.

12. Wins
Bill me: no negative volume impact and retention
increased from 30% to 87%.
Subscription offer layout (grid): increased click
through by 75%
Most read (+) on mobile story page: 26% lift in
recirculation
New ad units (w/ pic): increase $50k annual

13. Big Questions Big Data

14. Table Stakes
An in-house expert in data science
Some data science scale analysis tools
Access to data around the company

15. Questions
Which readers are likely to cancel?
—> Likelihood to cancel list of subs
What article should we suggest next?
—-> T-REX recommendation engine
What makes a person likely to subscribe?
—-> Unified Segmentation Theory

16. Impact
Improved business results gained by making
changes driven by bigger data sets.
Confidence to ask and expect real answers for
complicated problems based on good statistics.
Bandwidth to address the bigger global issues of
business challenges.
Evolution of sophistication across the team around
data issues (capture, technology, management, etc)

17. Segmentation Case Study

18. Out of all the data
Visit day count — rolling 30 days. Best predictor of
likelihood to return. Measures habit-behavior.
Entry page type — front v. story entry
Subscription status — subscribers v. non-subs
NOT: Facebook, Google, geography, page views,
content type.

19. 0%&
10%&
20%&
30%&
40%&
50%&
60%&
70%&
80%&
90%&
100%&
1& 2& 3& 4& 5& 6& 7& 8& 9& 10& 11& 12& 13& 14& 15& 16& 17& 18& 19& 20& 21& 22& 23& 24& 25& 26& 27& 28& 29& 30&
NonPSubscriber'Likelihood'of'Return'Visit'
Grazers& Test&Drivers& Intenders& Average&
Grazers,&Test&Drivers,&and&Intenders&have&dis6nct&characteris6cs&around&likelihood&to&
return.&

20. 3|
User'Engagement'Funnel'Drivers'
Engagement:''Engagement&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&Visit&Frequency&
'
'
Return'Visits:''Visit&frequency& &&&&&&&&&&&&Loyalty&
'
'
Loyalty:'Loyalty&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&Subscrip6ons&
&
&
Subscrip-on:'Maximize&value&percep6on&and&reinforce&
funnel&drivers&

21. Segment' Profile'
Monthly'Unique'
Visitors*'
Grazers'
• 1st&visit&in&last&30&days&
• 90%&do&not&return&
• Low&engagement&
• Story&page&entry&
• 2.7PV/mo&and&1&visit/mo&
2,000,000&
Test'Drivers'
• 2U4&visits&in&last&30&days&
• Early&indicators&of&engagement&and&brand&
preference&
• 8&PV/mo&and&2.5&visits/mo&
1,500,000&
Intenders'
• 5+&visits&in&last&30&days&
• Highly&engaged&
• Strong&brand&preference&
• NonUsubscribers&
• 30&PV/mo&and&10&visits/mo&
150,000&
Subscribers' • 80&PV/mo&and&14&visits/mo& 130,000&

22. Segment' Segment'Goals' Poten-al'Benefits'
Grazers'
• Op6mize&ad&revenue&
• Convert&5%&to&Test&drivers&
• Increased&ad&revenue&
• Increased&visits/page&views&
Test'Drivers'
• Convert&5%&to&create&a&login,&newsle[er&
signup,&or&social&follow&
• Convert&5%&to&Intenders&
• 80k&new&login,&newsle[er,&or&social&sign&
ups&
• Increased&visits/page&views&
Intenders'
• Convert&20%&to&create&a&login,&newsle[er&
signup,&and/or&social&follow&(30k)&
• Convert&5%&to&Subscribers&(8k)&
• 30k&new&login,&newsle[er,&or&social&sign&
ups&
• 8k&new&subscribers&
Subscribers'
• Increase&engaged&6me&
• Increase&value&percep6on&
• Convert&5%&to&addi6onal&subscriber&benefits&
• Increased&reten6on&
• 6k&new&newsle[er&subscrip6ons,&social&
signups,&etc.&

23. Impact
A single lens for looking at digital user engagement
that is shared across the organization.
Ad opportunity: more high density with less
organizational resistance, performance mgmt
Circulation opportunity: identification of a real target
audience, meter revisions, aggressive marketing
Product opportunity: shape the experience to the
consumer for best advantage.

24. Questions
jim.bernard@startribune.com
@bernardjim