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When Oxygen Media hit the scene in 1999, it was already floating on inflated expectations. If anyone had a recipe for reaching out to women through the Web and TV, it had to be Oxygen's all-star lineup. First, you get cofounder Oprah Winfrey, whose feel-good touch has spawned a media empire. Mix in the trio behind Carsey-Werner-Mandabach Co., which has produced such female-friendly TV hits as Roseanne and Grace Under Fire. Then put Nickelodeon founder Geraldine Laybourne at the helm as CEO. Add to that a healthy $450 million in startup funds to cover the operation's first five years.
The result? So far, an outfit that has clearly been dragged back to earth after its initial blastoff. Only 11.7 million of the nearly 100 million American homes with cable TV can now receive the 24-hour channel, which airs 11 original shows. That's 1.7 million more than when it launched eight months ago.
But even with commitments to be in 32 million homes by the end of 2002, such numbers are hardly the stuff of which blockbusters are made. Oxygen also lacks a presence in several major markets, including a slot on Time Warner Cable in Manhattan, which would give it some play in the country's media capital.
Meanwhile, the Oxygen Web site still lags well behind its competitors, drawing 1.9 million visitors in September, who on average spent roughly six minutes on the site, according to Nielsen//NetRatings. That compares with almost 3 million visitors to iVillage.com, where visits lasted on average more than 12 minutes, and 3.7 million visitors to Women.com, who spent on average 7.5 minutes at the site.
HIGH-PROFILE EXITS. But is it too early to buy media reports that Oxygen's running out of air? Laybourne is quick to point out that the fledgling network is still drawing new advertisers and testing several TV pilots to bolster its original content. And despite such recent high-profile departures as Editor-in-Chief Sarah Bartlett and Vice-President of Editorial Ellyn Spragins (both former Business Week editors), a spokeswoman argues, total turnover among the 680 staffers remains below the industry average. What's more, the network plans to make some big announcements of new content for its TV and Net operations in coming weeks.
Still, Laybourne and company face some high hurdles. The most daunting challenge is Oxygen's basic mission to "super-serve modern women" by integrating the Internet with cable television. As a number of other operators have discovered, women aren't a terrific niche market. There are too many of us, with too many different tastes, to race toward a portal or network based on gender alone. Ethnic sites or age-oriented portals are facing similar challenges. They're too broad to sell targeted ads but not narrow enough to appeal to a distinct market.
Oxygen's biggest problem is that it simply tries to take on too much. Witness the litany of offerings on the Oxygen.com home page. Among the lead features in the Oct. 12 edition are a poll on the election debate, news about recalls on home products, and advice for communicating online. Other highlights include stories on "finger food with attitude," a woman who works with victims of violence, and the Barenaked Ladies (an all-male Canadian band), plus another poll inviting readers to find out whether eating or exercise is the more popular way to cope with stress.
ANATOMICAL BOND. Also featured are links to 17 other sites aimed at everyone from moms and sports nuts to angst-ridden teenagers and literary types. The mix is similarly eclectic on the TV side, with sports, yoga, a rap show for teens, animation, shopping, and "Oprah Goes Online" listed as some of the subject offerings. The main bond between targeted visitors is their anatomy and little else.
Yet Oxygen approaches its audience as if it's dealing with an intimate club of close friends. In the biography section about the founders, we're told to admire "boss lady" Laybourne for being fearless, funny, and recognizing that "the center of women's lives isn't expensive cars and designer clothes." (There are a few females in midtown Manhattan who would take issue with that.) Winfrey, one of the nation's richest entertainers, is dubbed an "everywoman" because she still struggles with "being able to say no and not feel guilty."
Cofounder Tom Werner is "the perfect man [because] he loves women and knows they're smarter than men." Partner Marcy Carsey is called practical because she says, "Of course, you can have it all, but it won't be perfect," and Caryn Mandabach is "famously wacky" and "a great dresser." And so on. It's cute and silly, but you have to wonder if that's what will sell with Oxygen's audience.
CORE PARTS. The real issue is that Oxygen, as it now stands, simply can't project a cohesive image to users. The best way to pump up the site might be to abandon the uniform pitch to women and focus on the core parts that could make it great. After all, sites like Yahoo! and America Online already have a lock on the one-site-serves-all concept. Oxygen would do better to select specialized sites and brand them separately for each audience. As Ekaterina Walsh, a senior analyst at Forrester Research, argues: "Users don't have to see the word Oxygen at all."
Web surfers simply seek out the best shopping or content sites for their needs. One reason iVillage ranks among the top-50 sites for men is that it has established a strong niche in parenting information, which plays to a select audience across genders.
Laybourne's consistent argument that cable operators don't offer much to women also seems off base. After all, women are among the most avid consumers of TV, lapping up everything from Frasier to VH1's Where Are They Now? Some of us are even known to watch Moneyline and the World Wrestling Federation's Smackdown! from time to time. The Oxygen network is trying to add more comedy and game shows to its offerings this fall. It also has won accolades for an animation show called X-Chromosome, which serves up such juicy features as "Bitchy Bits" and "Avenue Amy."
As with other networks, audiences and cable operators will judge the channel one show at a time. If the content is gripping enough, women and men may well tune in to the fledgling network and Web site. But Oxygen can't count on bringing half the population on board simply by making its focus "women." As Laybourne herself has said, we're all too busy these days to make time for a media site that doesn't speak specifically to our needs. Amen.
Corporation Editor Brady frequently covers the media business for Business Week in New York Edited by Thane Peterson
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Copyright 2000, Bloomberg L.P.
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