TALKING BIZ NEWS EXCLUSIVE

Chris Peacock is vice president and executive editor at CNNMoney.com, where he oversees the site’s content strategy.

Since Peacock joined CNNMoney.com in 2004, traffic has more than doubled, increasing from 180 million page views a month to 450 million.

Peacock also oversees the launch of video on the site. CNNMoney.com’s hugely successful programming represents 42 percent of total streams within the business/finance news category. In addition, CNNMoney.com attracts the largest mobile audience in the category, with an average of 3 million unique visitors per month.

Peacock has also expanded the site’s business coverage of companies and technology, and continues to launch new forms of storytelling, including on-demand business video. Most recently, Peacock has overseen the launch of eight new business shows, an upgraded video experience, and the debut of a new technology destination.

Previously, Peacock was the executive editor and vice president of Fortune Group Online (Fortune.com, FSB.com and Business2.com), where he oversaw all online editorial content. Prior to joining Fortune Group Online in 2001, Peacock worked at Inside.com from 2000 to 2001, where he served first as managing editor and then editor. He has also worked at Time Inc. New Media, Mobile Office, United Feature Syndicate, World Press Review and The Nation.

Peacock talked with Talking Biz News via e-mail about CNNMoney.com’s overall strategy for covering business and finance. What follows is an edited transcript.

What is the strategy behind CNNMoney.com?

CNNMoney’s mission is to cover the money news that matters most. We do that by focusing on key verticals: markets, economy, technology, personal finance and small business. In addition to covering business news, our strategy includes “voice” and what we call “productization.” First, it’s not enough simply to cover the news. Audiences demand a diversity of viewpoints. We’ve been weaving thought-leaders into our coverage which gives the site distinctive voices. By productization, I mean packaging the right applications and tools to support coverage. A year ago we launched an ongoing effort to overhaul our all our markets products. We’ll do that with each of our coverage verticals, too.

What other Web sites do you see as competition, and why?

That’s a good question. We consider competition from the usual suspects across all media: TV, digital and print. It’s the competition for business audience, after all. We’re watching closely the growing competitiveness of new organizations, especially those untethered to legacy media. When you see the kind of changes Politico and TMZ have wrought on the velocity and volume of political and entertainment coverage, it means everyone in all spaces needs to amp their game.

The page views for the site have tripled under your watch. How has that been accomplished?

Audience engagement on CNNMoney.com increased because we’ve broadened coverage into new areas, added new platforms with video and mobile and emphasize high-impact editorial packaging. CNNMoney.com began as business news and personal finance site. We’ve expanded into markets, economy, technology and small business.

Even better, working closely with Fortune and Money magazines creates a richer consumer offering. Packaging is vital to our growth, too. It’s imperative for all our editorial, design and technology staff to improve the product experience with highly relevant and related content, applications or tools. Last week’s record-breaking launch of Best Places to Live is prime example. At its traffic peak, each visitor to Best Places was consuming as many as 27 pages each.

The site has added a number of Web-only video shows. What do they add?

CNNMoney’s broad offering of video shows aims to give our overall coverage a platform for distinctive story-telling and, as I described in our mission, a venue for voices. “Tech Talk” is a show in which viewers get to see what it’s like to use new and fun applications like “Bump” for the iPhone. Other shows, like “Best Advice” or “Connected,” allow viewers to experience directly the best minds in business.

The site is also home to content from Fortune and Money magazines. Why not have them as their own sites?

CNNMoney, Fortune and Money work hip-to-hip every hour of every day to provide the best business and finance site on the web. Judging from the numbers, consumers agree. Fortune.com has its own outstanding editorial team and leadership in Dan Roth, who’s driving a quickly evolving digital identity and user experience. Money’s DNA and editorial is deeply woven into CNNMoney. What matters most to the CNNMoney audience is distinctive coverage, regardless of its origin. Whether a particular story is on CNNMoney or Fortune.com matters less.

How much of the content on the site comes from the CNNMoney.com staff, and what are they focused on covering?

Most of the daily news and video coverage is produced by CNNMoney editors, producers and reporters. They’re focused on business news, markets, technology, economy, personal finance and small business.

When I was in your office last week, there were live shots from the newsroom for CNN’s use. What is the content that your staff is providing to CNN?

That’s right. We work a lot with CNN, HLN and CNN International. All CNNMoney reporting, including stories and video, is made available to each CNN network. As CNN’s resident experts in business and finance, CNNMoney.com editors, producers and reporters collaborate closely in television news gathering and programming. Although we create content primarily for digital audiences, those stories can work well for broadcast too. In other instances, our stories might spark interest for additional television reporting. And it goes both ways. Business reporting done first for on-air is featured constantly on CNNMoney.

With more business news outlets putting content online, how do you differentiate CNNMoney.com?

CNNMoney’s mission to cover ‘money news that matters most’ instantly makes us different. Some sites cover too much. Other sites are overly specialized. Then there are the aggregation sites that traffic largely in repackaged commodity news. That leaves a giant white space for CNNMoney with its own distinctive reporting and storytelling to say boldly to the business audience, “Here’s what you really need to know.”

Does your staff try to cover all breaking business news, or do you pick up basic business news stories from the wires?

Funny you should ask. CNNMoney is one of the few business sites that doesn’t use wires for its editorial coverage. Although the site began with using a wide variety of wires, we determined a few years ago that we could do better adopting a “content-ownership strategy.” That meant swapping out the wires and those fees to hire incremental editors, producers and reporters. As we’ve since learned, having wires made us good, but not having wires gives us a shot at being great.

One of the site’s specialities is tech coverage. Are there other industries you’d like to expand coverage of?

There are several areas in which I’d like CNNMoney to deepen its coverage. Traffic to our tech coverage is up 150 percent in a year. That was achieved by hewing to our mission and adopting the content ownership strategy. Same with personal finance – the site dominates its competition. CNNMoney could do the same in other areas. We’ll be sure you’re the first to know! Plus, keep an eye on Fortune.com. There’s a lot cooking there.

Chris Peacock is vice president and executive editor at CNNMoney.com, where he oversees the site’s content strategy.

Since Peacock joined CNNMoney.com in 2004, traffic has more than doubled, increasing from 180 million page views a month to 450 million.

Peacock also oversees the launch of video on the site. CNNMoney.com’s hugely successful programming represents 42 percent of total streams within the business/finance news category. In addition, CNNMoney.com attracts the largest mobile audience in the category, with an average of 3 million unique visitors per month.

Peacock has also expanded the site’s business coverage of companies and technology, and continues to launch new forms of storytelling, including on-demand business video. Most recently, Peacock has overseen the launch of eight new business shows, an upgraded video experience, and the debut of a new technology destination.

Previously, Peacock was the executive editor and vice president of Fortune Group Online (Fortune.com, FSB.com and Business2.com), where he oversaw all online editorial content. Prior to joining Fortune Group Online in 2001, Peacock worked at Inside.com from 2000 to 2001, where he served first as managing editor and then editor. He has also worked at Time Inc. New Media, Mobile Office, United Feature Syndicate, World Press Review and The Nation.

Peacock talked with Talking Biz News via e-mail about CNNMoney.com’s overall strategy for covering business and finance. What follows is an edited transcript.

What is the strategy behind CNNMoney.com?

CNNMoney’s mission is to cover the money news that matters most. We do that by focusing on key verticals: markets, economy, technology, personal finance and small business. In addition to covering business news, our strategy includes “voice” and what we call “productization.” First, it’s not enough simply to cover the news. Audiences demand a diversity of viewpoints. We’ve been weaving thought-leaders into our coverage which gives the site distinctive voices. By productization, I mean packaging the right applications and tools to support coverage. A year ago we launched an ongoing effort to overhaul our all our markets products. We’ll do that with each of our coverage verticals, too.

What other Web sites do you see as competition, and why?

That’s a good question. We consider competition from the usual suspects across all media: TV, digital and print. It’s the competition for business audience, after all. We’re watching closely the growing competitiveness of new organizations, especially those untethered to legacy media. When you see the kind of changes Politico and TMZ have wrought on the velocity and volume of political and entertainment coverage, it means everyone in all spaces needs to amp their game.

The page views for the site have tripled under your watch. How has that been accomplished?

Audience engagement on CNNMoney.com increased because we’ve broadened coverage into new areas, added new platforms with video and mobile and emphasize high-impact editorial packaging. CNNMoney.com began as business news and personal finance site. We’ve expanded into markets, economy, technology and small business.

Even better, working closely with Fortune and Money magazines creates a richer consumer offering. Packaging is vital to our growth, too. It’s imperative for all our editorial, design and technology staff to improve the product experience with highly relevant and related content, applications or tools. Last week’s record-breaking launch of Best Places to Live is prime example. At its traffic peak, each visitor to Best Places was consuming as many as 27 pages each.

The site has added a number of Web-only video shows. What do they add?

CNNMoney’s broad offering of video shows aims to give our overall coverage a platform for distinctive story-telling and, as I described in our mission, a venue for voices. “Tech Talk” is a show in which viewers get to see what it’s like to use new and fun applications like “Bump” for the iPhone. Other shows, like “Best Advice” or “Connected,” allow viewers to experience directly the best minds in business.

The site is also home to content from Fortune and Money magazines. Why not have them as their own sites?

CNNMoney, Fortune and Money work hip-to-hip every hour of every day to provide the best business and finance site on the web. Judging from the numbers, consumers agree. Fortune.com has its own outstanding editorial team and leadership in Dan Roth, who’s driving a quickly evolving digital identity and user experience. Money’s DNA and editorial is deeply woven into CNNMoney. What matters most to the CNNMoney audience is distinctive coverage, regardless of its origin. Whether a particular story is on CNNMoney or Fortune.com matters less.

How much of the content on the site comes from the CNNMoney.com staff, and what are they focused on covering?

Most of the daily news and video coverage is produced by CNNMoney editors, producers and reporters. They’re focused on business news, markets, technology, economy, personal finance and small business.

When I was in your office last week, there were live shots from the newsroom for CNN’s use. What is the content that your staff is providing to CNN?

That’s right. We work a lot with CNN, HLN and CNN International. All CNNMoney reporting, including stories and video, is made available to each CNN network. As CNN’s resident experts in business and finance, CNNMoney.com editors, producers and reporters collaborate closely in television news gathering and programming. Although we create content primarily for digital audiences, those stories can work well for broadcast too. In other instances, our stories might spark interest for additional television reporting. And it goes both ways. Business reporting done first for on-air is featured constantly on CNNMoney.

With more business news outlets putting content online, how do you differentiate CNNMoney.com?

CNNMoney’s mission to cover ‘money news that matters most’ instantly makes us different. Some sites cover too much. Other sites are overly specialized. Then there are the aggregation sites that traffic largely in repackaged commodity news. That leaves a giant white space for CNNMoney with its own distinctive reporting and storytelling to say boldly to the business audience, “Here’s what you really need to know.”

Does your staff try to cover all breaking business news, or do you pick up basic business news stories from the wires?

Funny you should ask. CNNMoney is one of the few business sites that doesn’t use wires for its editorial coverage. Although the site began with using a wide variety of wires, we determined a few years ago that we could do better adopting a “content-ownership strategy.” That meant swapping out the wires and those fees to hire incremental editors, producers and reporters. As we’ve since learned, having wires made us good, but not having wires gives us a shot at being great.

One of the site’s specialities is tech coverage. Are there other industries you’d like to expand coverage of?

There are several areas in which I’d like CNNMoney to deepen its coverage. Traffic to our tech coverage is up 150 percent in a year. That was achieved by hewing to our mission and adopting the content ownership strategy. Same with personal finance – the site dominates its competition. CNNMoney could do the same in other areas. We’ll be sure you’re the first to know! Plus, keep an eye on Fortune.com. There’s a lot cooking there.