台灣網路獨立媒體的品牌化之路－以《關鍵評論網》和《報導者》為例

Abstract

網路與數位平台發達促成獨立媒體透過網路興起。這些網路獨立媒體試圖提供主流媒體所忽視或未能提供的報導與內容。然而，線上環境同時也對網路獨立媒體形成挑戰，多方競爭使其存續不易、組織能見度降低。因此，本研究著眼於網路獨立媒體的存續議題，從品牌化的角度檢驗網路獨立媒體的差異化策略。本研究選擇營運性質迥異的兩家網路獨立媒體—《關鍵評論網》與《報導者》進行多重個案研究，探討其品牌建構和品牌個性如何形成差異化，最後找出品牌建構與品牌個性的關聯性，試圖為過去較缺乏的網路獨立媒體品牌化研究缺口，提供實證證據。 本研究之品牌建構結果指出《關鍵評論網》與《報導者》在品牌相關、定價策略、品牌定位、品牌組合、品牌推廣、品牌意義和線上品牌，共七個構面，具有差異化特質。但《關鍵評論網》在探測品牌權益方面和《報導者》在行使定價策略上，較不具內部共識。至於品牌個性結果顯示《報導者》在信賴性、動態性、吸引力、創新性和積極性，共5個變項皆優於《關鍵評論網》。最後，本研究發現《關鍵評論網》與《報導者》擁有的4項共同品牌建構構面－定價策略、品牌定位、品牌意義和線上品牌，能反映5種品牌個性，分別為信賴性、動態性、有用性、創新性和積極性。本研究因此歸納出適用於中小型網路獨立媒體的品牌建構與品牌個性的關聯架構。

The developed Internet and digital platforms help to bring about the emergence of abundant independent media. These online independent media attempt to provide news reports and contents ignored by mainstream media. Meanwhile, online environment causes challenges for these independent media. Severe competition in the environment makes their life difficult and urges them to find ways to increase their visibilities. Therefore, this study focuses on the issue of sustainability of online independent media, examining the differentiation strategies from the perspective of “branding”. The study selects two online independent media, The News Lens and The Reporter, with different business models as multiple case study, exploring how their brand building and brand personality form differentiation. Lastly, the author would like to examine the relationship between brand building and brand personality, seeking to provide empirical evidences for filling the research gap of the independent media branding in the past. Results of brand building show The News Lens and The Reporter achieve differentiation on 7 dimensions, which respectively are brand relevance, pricing strategy, brand position, brand portfolio, brand marketing, brand meaning, and online branding. However, The News Lens may not achieve internal consistency of brand equity and The Reporter still disagrees on pricing strategy. As for the outcomes of brand personality indicate that The Reporter are superior to The News Lens on trustworthiness, dynamism, attraction, innovation, and aggressiveness. Also, the study finds that 4 common brand building activities, pricing strategy, brand position, brand meaning, and online branding, are related to the 5 brand personalities, trustworthiness, dynamism, usefulness, innovation, and aggressiveness, posessed by The News Lens and The Reporter. At the end, the author depicts a relation chart between brand building and brand personality for small-and-medium sized online independent media.