Digg and the Wall Street Journal - both building a new audience base

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The opinions expressed on this site are my own and do not necessarily represent those of my past, future or present employer.

This week i was pleasantly surprised to see the Digg and WSJ.com announcement. As of this week, 'DIGG THIS' buttons are available on WSJ articles whether they are free access or premium access articles. The coolest part -i think- is that if a premium WSJ.com subscriber Diggs a premium article Digg readers will then have free access to the article which is a nice start to getting the WSJ brand out there outside of their current user base).

Sure- it is a short term feature because soon the WSJ.com will have free access to all thanks to Murdoch but none the less a move in the right direction. Many a times when i tell Bloggers i work for Dow Jones- the "i would link to WSJ.com more often if there was no pay walls" comment shortly follows so i guess this could be a nice short term back channel. (note: although i work for DJ i am not in the Consumer Media Group that the WSJ falls under)

So why build a new audience- because the old boys network is retiring to Boise and the new boys network is key to future media success (unfortunately i am not joking about the boys part!)

According to Federated Media the Digg Audience is :

• 94% male
• 88% 18-39 years
  
• 64% HHI above $75k
• 52% IT professionals, developers or engineers
• 26% managers or above
• 39% publish their own blog

The WSJ.com online readership is:

• Average age: 48 years
• 63% male

Senior Executives

• 54% of Online Journal subscribers are in Top Management positions at their companies
• 24% of Online Journal subscribers function as CEOs or COOs at their companies

Financial Elite

• The average household net worth of Online Journal subscribers is $1,596,000 (print $2,489,200)
• 41% of Online Journal subscribers have financial responsibilities at their companies

Opinion Leaders

• 45% of Online Journal subscribers have contacted a public official on an issue
• 77% of Online Journal readers read commentary or opinion online Media and Marketing Professionals

Affluent Consumers

• The average household income of Online Journal subscribers is $215,600 (print 253K)
• 96% of Online Journal subscribers use the Internet to purchase products or services. Of those, 67% have spent $1,000 or more in the last year

Residential Property Buyers

• 88% of Online Journal subscribers own their home. The average value of each home is $471,000
• 36% of RealEstateJournal readers are planning or in the process of remodeling or conducting a home-improvement project. The average cost of current projects is $29,276

With this Digg partnership, WSJ is reaching out to a very engaged media consuming audience, many who will become the affluent demographic that the current WSJ caters to and the WSJ advertisers covet- something i have been saying for a while that the Brand needed to do.

Anyway, i just signed up for a Digg account, something i have been meaning to do for a LONG while- #1 so that female demographic starts going up :-) and #2 so if i want to make a blog reference to a premium article in the WSJ i now have a way.

While 'digging' an article i found the 'Appropriate topics' to tag articles a bit limiting (like for example an interesting article about "participatory media" that i freed up and there is no 'media' topic under entertainment) but i realize that Digg can't be everything for everyone (yet)!