The disappointing results of the first FTSE 250 webcasting survey by Simplywebcast and Investor Relations magazine
FTSE 250 companies in the UK: you ought to be ashamed of yourselves. In this era of equal disclosure for all, fewer than one in three of you are webcasting. That compares rather unfavorably to nine out of ten companies in the US.
Following our annual survey of streaming media among FTSE 100 companies versus the Fortune 100 (June 2002), Investor Relations magazine and Simplywebcast have delved deeper into web IR with a survey of the mid-cap FTSE 250. The 32-point scoring system is the same as in last month's survey, quantitatively measuring types of streaming media, uses, formats and features, while qualitatively assessing accessibility, quality, design and brand experience.
The bad news is that while 83 FTSE 100 companies are webcasting, the number of FTSE 250 companies using the technology is only 74. That is a dismal showing, even compared to the smaller-cap US companies surveyed by the National Investor Relations Institute in late 2001. That survey found that 98 percent of companies with a market cap between $500 mn and $1.5 bn are webcasting, while the proportion of webcasting companies of any size has grown from 66 to 92 percent since 2000. The only hope for the UK is similar growth in the near future.
'There are a lot more companies that should be webcasting,' confirms Simplywebcast's managing director, Stephen Watson. 'Still, webcasting companies like ours have to accept responsibility for the shortfall. Our efforts have in the past been directed at the large caps. Now we have to focus on the next tier, and I'll eat my hat if the number of FTSE 250 webcasts doesn't jump dramatically during the next year.'
Richard Coope, who conducted the survey, predicts FTSE 250 companies doing webcasts will double over the next year. He points out that the number of FTSE 100 companies with webcasts grew from 47 to 83 over the past year.
Good news
The good news is that by just about any measure, those few FTSE 250 companies that are now webcasting stand up well against their larger-cap FTSE 100 brethren. Going into the study, Simplywebcast expected to find a lower standard of streaming media in the FTSE 250 - more audio webcasts, for example. Instead they found that 64 percent of FTSE 250 webcasts have video, compared to 77 percent of FTSE 100 ones. As for special features like Q&A, separate CEO interviews and broadband connections, FTSE 250 companies meet and even exceed the standards of larger-cap companies (see chart, Special features, next page). For example, Coope highlights the many companies that use Cantos to webcast CEO interviews, usually in tandem with their quarterly results announcement. 'CEOs are starting to see the value of getting their face onto the web,' he remarks.
One area that needs improvement is feedback mechanisms. Just over a third of FTSE 250 webcasts have a means of gathering online feedback, while just less than a third require registration. Only 5 percent have speaker bios - a simple feature that can be very useful for webcast viewers.
In a more qualitative light, Coope says webcasts should be easier to find. He would also like to see more customization instead of the standard pop-up window that is the usual low-cost option. Just one in five webcasts reflect the company's brand values, Coope believes.
The results show that, counter to intuition, the best webcasts don't come from the largest companies. Telewest ranks at the top of our survey but near the bottom of the FTSE 250 - and this when the company has had lots of bad news to communicate. 'As soon as they have an announcement, they go straight onto the web,' Coope remarks of Telewest's mix of senior management interviews and results announcements, with the last four quarters archived. Indeed, on the day the company recently announced layoffs, Coope realized webcasting isn't just a carrier of good news. 'They really embrace transparency. One day I saw the CEO walking down Tottenham Court Road and I felt like I had an established relationship with him from watching their webcasts.'
At the other end of the scale Coope finds Colt Telecom, which tries to promote its own webcasting format by posting amateurish student videos. Coope says that like many other companies webcasting outside the area of IR, Colt is saying, 'Look what we can do.' But it actually makes the site more gimmicky without adding to it.
Indeed, a telecoms company is not by definition a good webcaster, and the best webcasts are spread across different industry sectors. That contrasts with the FTSE 100, whose top webcasters are financial services companies such as Barclays. Skyepharma, for example, is also at the head of the FTSE 250 pack, with a large video picture, clear slides and clever navigation via drop-down menus. Amey has top quality, well-lighted video that is fully indexed. And it has a link directly from the home page. Aegis has a simple audiocast, but with a still picture of each speaker. 'That's just clear thinking,' Coope says.
For real quality Coope looks beyond traditional IR webcasts. Edinburgh Investment Trust, for example, puts fund managers across a table from an interviewer in a video with very high production quality: 'It's intimate and the key messages come across clearly. It shows the way webcasting is going.' Another top webcast that Coope found by accident comes from Tomra, a Norwegian recycling company which takes live questions via e-mail. It also has a video of the founders chatting in a casual setting about Tomra's origins.
Tomra, like some FTSE 250 companies, belies its size with the quality of its webcasting. Indeed, it may be that smaller caps simply have to try harder to get noticed. Concludes Watson, 'They may be smaller companies, but those that are webcasting are going for the full monty.'
For more on the survey, contact Stephen Watson at +44 (0)20 7430 4500 or e-mail survey@simplywebcast.com
Best & worst
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Company | FTSE 250 rank* | Score |
Telewest Communications | 239 | 81 |
SkyePharma | 184 | 81 |
Amey | 133 | 75 |
Aegis | 48 | 71 |
Edinburgh Investment Trust | 69 | 69 |
Merrill Lynch Euro Investment Trust | 166 | 66 |
RMC Group | 21 | 66 |
Trinity Mirror | 40 | 66 |
United Business Media | 16 | 66 |
Lonmin | 24 | 66 |
Debenhams | 32 | 63 |
Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group | 43 | 63 |
My Travel Group | 61 | 63 |
Chubb | 36 | 38 |
Cordiant Communications | 201 | 38 |
Signet Group | 12 | 38 |
Colt Telecom | 155 | 34 |
Galen | 67 | 34 |
Marconi | 226 | 34 |
Celltech Group | 28 | 31 |
Hit Entertainment | 163 | 31 |
Filtronic | 248 | 28 |
Capital Radio | 119 | 25 |
*FTSE 250 rank as of April 25, 2002 |