Articles by: "Rande Price, Research VP – DCN"

DCN Direct Audience Revenue Case Studies Report

February 6, 2019 Rande Price, Research VP – DCN

DCN recently released insights from the DCN Direct Audience Revenue Case Studies Report conducted in partnership with The Lenfest Institute. This media strategy research, exclusively for DCN members, offers actual publisher lessons and case studies in building subscriptions and memberships for digital publishers.

A few key strategies include (the full report only available to DCN members* and contains additional strategies):

Build a digital marketing team whose primary focus is to increase digital subscribers.
Test price increases on tenured subscribers, balancing the risk of some increased churn with the greater revenue yield that comes with a higher subscription price.
Create bonus content and experiences (such as behind-the-scenes, extended interviews, etc.) that offer your readers extra value and bring them into the process and culture of your organization.
Measure, test, and experiment to understand what kind of content deeply engages your members — and segment your audience based on engagement levels.

DCN is uniquely positioned to provide insights into how publishers are building diversified revenue strategies. *If you are interested in learning more about this report and other DCN research, please contact Rande Price, DCN’s Director of Research.

Audiences | Industry-Research

Analyzing consumers’ appetite for video services

February 6, 2019 Rande Price, Research VP – DCN

Americans are spending more time than ever viewing content, be it paid or free, from linear TV to streaming video devices. According to the new TIVO Video Report, based on Q4 2018, the average household now uses 2.75 services, a 26% increase in service usage compared to the same time last year. The TIVO Video Report interviewed close to 4,500 adults 18+ in the U.S. and Canada.

TV viewers subscribe to multiple services in order to watch the content they want, when they want it. Top consumer bundles include subscriptions to Netflix, Prime Video and Pay-TV (10%), Facebook, YouTube and Pay-TV and YouTube, Netflix and Pay-TV (both 8% each). With marketplace fragmentation continuing, the question remains, how long will consumers maintain subscriptions to multiple services?

Essential viewing

More than half of the respondents (53%) report Netflix as an essential entertainment source, followed by free YouTube (46%), and cable-TV (40%). Interestingly, just over 40% of consumers also report cable-TV as supplemental to their entertainment sources, suggesting consumers are equally as committed to cable TV as they are non-committed. The distinction consumers make between essential entertainment services and supplemental is an important one. It will eventually determine the services consumers keep and which they cancel.

While Netflix may hold the largest audience share as an essential entertainment source, Live TV dominates total viewing time (self-reported). Close to two-thirds of respondents’ report (65%) watching one hour or more of Live-TV per day, 52% watch one hour or more of OTT/Subscriptions services per day, 51% watch recorded content (e.g. DVR) and 46% watch one hour or more of live sporting events (which may factor into the 65% Live-TV viewing).

Live TV remains popular

Free video content is also popular with nearly one-third of respondents (31%) reporting use of a free video service. Top free video services include YouTube (58%), Facebook (44%), Twitch and Pluto TV, each rounding to 18%. Interestingly, network TV mobile apps show limited appeal. Nearly 60% of respondents do not use any TV network apps. Of those using a TV network app on mobile, the top downloaded include: ABC (10%), A&E (9%), CNN (8%), Cartoon Network (8%), and CBC (7%).

In addition, more than one-fifth of respondents (22%) access Pay-TV via a streaming device. In fact, 26% report replacing their set-top-box (STB) with a streaming device. The top five streaming devices include a smart TV (27%), gaming console (19%), Roku (18%), Amazon Fire Stick (16%), and Apple TV (13%).

Consumer fatigue

Breaking up cable TV packages and going a la carte is an option for consumers. However, with so many programming and device choices today, the a la carte option is losing favor with only 71% of respondents stating interest compared to 81% in 2017. Further a full 29% of respondents are no longer interested in the a la carte option at all.

The TIVO Report clearly shows that consumers have numerous choices when it comes to content, services and devices. Too many options can leave consumers overwhelmed, while too few options can lead to low levels of satisfaction. Industry players need to help consumers discover valued-content and a positive user experience to continue building consumer satisfaction and engagement.

Industry-Research

2019 brings renewed consumer engagement with trust of the media climbing sharply

January 22, 2019 Rande Price, Research VP – DCN

Consumer trust is a vital and a key differentiator for publishers in a competitive environment. Fostering trust, prioritizing consumer rights and offering transparency of data practices is more important than ever before for premium publishers.

Significantly, according to the 19^th Annual Edelman Trust Barometer 2019, consumer trust in traditional media (64%) and search (66%) are at highest ever historical levels. In contrast, trust in social media remains low, at 44%. Contributing to social media’s low trust scores is data showing that close to three-quarters (73%) of all respondents worry about false information or fake news being used as a weapon.

Specific findings in the US and Canada and Europe include:

The US and Canada and European markets also registered significant trust in traditional media and search compared to social media. Trust in traditional media is at its highest-ever historical level at 65% in US and Canada and 60% in Europe, trust in search at 61% and 59%, respectively. However, rust in social media in both markets is at 34%.
The percentage gap between trust in traditional and social media is now at an all-time high of 31-points in US and Canada and a 26-point gap in Europe.
In terms of political differences, consumers who identify as Republican voters show only 33% trust in media compared to 69% of Democrats voters.

An Informed Public

The Edelman research, which is based on an online survey in 27 markets with over 33,000 respondents, also shows a considerably large trust gap (16 points) between the “informed public” (65%) and the “mass population” (49%). The “informed public” is defined as respondents self-reporting significant media consumption and engagement in public policy and business news compared to the wider public. These two groups present two different consumer realities. The “informed public” is seeking news, investigating and building trust. The “mass population” is more fearful and feels marginalized. Stephen Kehoe, Edelman’s global chair of reputation points out that: “… renewed engagement especially among the informed public has sparked a desire for change and factual information prompting an unprecedented increase in media consumption and the sharing of news and information, up 22 points to 72%.”

Further, more women, think that the #metoo movement, (plus 23 percentage points year-over-year) than men (plus 18 percentage points) shift from the “mass population” to the “informed public” segment.

People are also looking to leaders to take charge and initiate change. More than three-quarters (76%) of respondents report that CEOs should take the lead on change rather than waiting for government to impose it. Specific needs for positive change include: equal pay (65%), prejudice and discrimination (64%), training for jobs of tomorrow (64%), environment (56%), personal data (55%), sexual harassment (47%) and fake news (37%).

In all, this year’s findings speak to a new sense of consumer engagement compared to last year’s Trust Barometer. This year, people seek new opportunities to find news and information to take better control of their lives.

Industry-Research

Publishers focus on subscriptions as they diversify revenue

January 15, 2019 Rande Price, Research VP – DCN

Publishers are challenged by the dominance of platform intermediaries in content distribution and advertising revenue. Those facing these challenges are looking to offset losses by broadening their revenue diversification through subscriptions and new product offerings. In fact, according to Reuters Institute’s Digital News Report: Journalism, Media, and Technology Trends and Predictions 2019, subscription and membership offerings are a priority this year.

The report, based on responses from 200 editors, CEOs, and digital leaders from 29 countries, states that more than half (52%) of digital leaders expect subscriptions to be a main revenue focus this year. This compares to just over a quarter (27%) who cite display advertising as a main revenue source, and only 8% who state native advertising and 7% who report donations. Still, advertising is an important focus. A strong majority see display advertising (81%), subscriptions (78%) and native advertising (75%) as “important or very important” for company revenue.

Additional findings include:

Limited funding for quality news. Less than one-third (29%) of digital leaders expect funding from foundations and non-profits. Eighteen percent expect contributions from tech platforms and 11% think governments will provide more support. A full 29% of publishers do not expect any assistance in funding.
Google is very important; Facebook and YouTube less so. Google remains a key priority for most with most publishers (87%). They report it as “very or extremely important” compared to Facebook (43%), Apple (43%) or YouTube (42%) as they look to reach new audiences. Fewer publishers see Instagram (31%), Twitter (29%), WhatsApp (16%), Amazon (16%) or Snapchat (8%) as important to their news organizations.
Social media presents options for marketing and acquisitions. Publishers that are focusin on subscriptions use social media more as a marketing and acquisition channel. Still, social media usage and results differ by publisher. Magazine brands are more likely to use Instagram and Snapchat for marketing, while local news publishers use broad reach platforms for referrals.
Publishers use visual storytelling to attract a younger audience. Stories has become a highly popular storytelling format. It is used daily by 150 million people on Facebook, 190 million on Snapchat, and 300 million on Instagram. Publishers are utilizing visual storytelling because it works well on mobile and helps attract a younger audience.
Podcasts and voice assistant devices become part of publishers’ strategies. Three-quarters of publishers (75%) think that audio devices like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant will become an important part of their content and commercial strategies. Seventy-eight percent also report that voice assisted devices will impact how audiences access content in the next few years. The New York Times now offers a short news briefing for Alexa devices and consumers can ask for the Times’ Flash News Briefing.
Publisher paywalls may lead to consumer frustration. The strategy to put whole-publisher sites behind a paywall may meet with consumer backlash. If this occurs, publishers will likely see an increase in the adoption of subscription blockers, an easy downloadable software or browser extension with a workaround for metered paywalls.
Increasing bundled offerings and payment aggregation. To prevent churn and increase engagement, publishers will announce bundled packages including more product and cross-media packages. For example, The Times of London offers a one-year Wall Street Journal subscription. Publishers, Telcom, and over-the-top services (OTT) are also packaging their services in subscription offerings.

It’s essential for publishers to continue strengthening their relationship with consumers. Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, director the Reuter’s Institutes, comments in the Nieman Lab Predictions for 2019, “The shift thus has to be about better and more distinct journalism in an incredibly competitive battle for attention, about a greater focus on what readers actually value, about organizations and technologies built around serving them efficiently, and perhaps most importantly about a commitment to the long haul — to making the changes necessary to winning paying readers one at a time, keeping them, accumulating them.” Nielsen believes that in order to ensure journalism is valued, publishers must identify the needs of the reader. Importantly, there are new strategies and technologies available to build consumer value, heighten product attraction and increase engage with paying consumers.

Industry-Research

Consumer electronics sector approaches $400 billion in annual revenues

January 9, 2019 Rande Price, Research VP – DCN

The Consumer Electronic Show (CES), hosted by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), kicked off this week. The tech extravaganza, which showcases the newest innovation in artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality, smart homes, smart gadgets and other futuristic devices, kicked off with confidence in the sector. According to the CTA’s new report, the U.S. consumer technology industry is expected to reach $398 billion in retail revenues this year, registering a modest 3.9% growth year-over-year or about $15 billion. Still, CTA recognizes that revenues may be hurt by trade friction between the U.S. and China.

The CTA’s bi-annual report provides a benchmark for the U.S. consumer tech industry. Overall, the key drivers for revenue growth include Smartphones, laptops, and televisions. Smartphone revenue is expected to reach $80 billion (2% growth year-over-year). Importantly, by 2022, three-quarters (76 percent) of all smartphones sold will be 5G-enabled. Laptop revenue is projected to reach $28.4 billion (flat compared to 2018) and television revenues should increase 2% year-over-year, reaching $22.6 billion. Further, factory install in-vehicle technology is expected to reach $17 billion (9% increase year-over-year). Top consumer requests include driver-assist features such as active collision avoidance and lane keep assist.

New Technologies

In addition, important are the new technologies also contribute significantly to tech revenue growth:

Smart speakers including Amazon Echo and Google Home are projected to earn $3.2 billion in revenue (7% increase year-over-year).
Smart home monitoring and security is expected to reach $4.6 billion (17% increase year-over-year). This includes smart thermostats, smart smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, IP/Wi-Fi cameras, smart locks and doorbells, smart home systems with smart switches and dimmers and outlets.
Wireless earbuds continue to show double-digit growth and are projected to see $2 billion in revenue this year (46% increase year-over-year).
Smartwatches, now with a strong focus of fitness, are forecast to reach $4.7 billion (19% increase year-over-year).
Drone sales are expected to reach just over $1 billion in revenue (4% increase year-over-year). Increased usage for aerial photography and drone racing is a main factor of increased revenue.Consumer streaming services will also see continued growth in 2019. Total spending on music and video streaming services is forecast to reach $26 billion in revenue, a 25% increase year-over-year. Further, consumer spending on subscription video streaming services is expected to increase to $18 billion in 2019, up 27% year-over year.

As consumers continue to bring connectivity and artificial intelligence (AI) into their everyday lives, personal data becomes an important commodity. It’s essential that the data collection and its protection are transparent processes in the tech ecosystem.

Industry-Research

Advertising in quality environments is more cost effective

December 19, 2018 Rande Price, Research VP – DCN

Comscore’s Halo Effect Research was one of the first industry studies to demonstrates that ads appearing on premium content sites deliver significantly higher branding effectiveness than the same ads in non-premium content. Now new research from Group M UK in partnership with Newsworks, the marketing firm for premium newspapers, finds that exposure to advertising on premium sites drives greater engagement, better brand response, and is also more cost effective than the same advertising on the run of the internet. The findings are based on over 28,000 survey responses across 84 campaigns in the UK and 398 million impressions.

Additional findings include advertising with premium publishers means that the message is:

14% more likely to be measurable
42% more likely to be 100% in view
58% more likely to be 100% in view for at least 5 seconds
83% more likely to be 80% in view for at least 30 seconds
98% more likely to be placed fully above the fold
165% more likely to be scrolled fully into view if placed below the fold
273% more likely to elicit a user hover

The study also shows that 48% of measurable ads on open exchange are never actually seen. This brings to question the cost per impression calculation. What is the value of an average impression? Perhaps a better calculation for advertisers is one based on the cost per quality impression. This measure is more accurate in identifying effective inventory. In fact, the research shows that advertising in a quality environment is 42% more cost effective than on the run of the internet

Importantly, the positive perception of quality content extends to the ads on the page. The more that readers engage with trustworthy information, the more trusting they are of the ads they see on the premium sites. This research should encourage marketers to think about the cost per quality impression and not just the purchase of low-cost impression.

Industry-Research

Research reveals that ad tech is reducing reader trust

December 13, 2018 Rande Price, Research VP – DCN

Advertising is a fundamental part of news publishers’ revenue model. Within the digital advertising marketplace, programmatic and advertising technology are a large part of ecosystem. According to eMarketer, more than four of every five US digital display ad dollars is a programmatic transaction. Simply defined, programmatic is the automation of the buying and selling of desktop display advertising using real-time-bidding. Included in the programmatic is the usage of ad tech to collect and aggregate user data. A new research report, Guide to Advertising Technology from the Tow Center for Digital Journalism, looks into programmatic advertising and the influence of ad tech on the practice, distribution, and perception of journalism.

User experience

The Tow report suggests that news publishers’ reliance on ad tech for user data is threatening both a positive user experience and trust in a news brand. News sites. like other sites, collect user data and tracking codes to offer advertisers targeting campaigns. The data is collected by the ads’ tracking cookies (i.e., Javascript and HTML code) and embedded inside ads. Digital ads also send data to and receive instructions from thousands of servers. The data embedded within these ads creates a heavy load on web browsers, often slowing down the site and negatively impacting the user experience.

Further, even though publishers require that ads on their sites contain no malware, the current ad tech setup can serve malicious codes to reader often compromising user security and privacy.

Social media fallout

The report also examines the impact of the plethora of user data collected by social media platforms on the advertising ecosystem. Unfortunately, publishers cannot compete with the unprecedented ability of Google and Facebook to collect data and in order to provide the same level of targeting opportunities and offerings. And, as stated above, publishers’ drive to collect more consumer data may have the undesired effect of negatively impacting their experience.

The exploit of fake news on social media has also had a significant impact on impacts news publishers. Of specific consequence is Facebook’s change to its News Feed algorithm, which de-prioritizing news articles and content from media brands in favor of content shared by friends and families. Unfortunately, as consumers are exposed to less trustworthy content, their overall sentiment around content being trustworthy declines.

Digital filter bubbles are also a concern as search engines and social media algorithmically tailor content recommendations according to a user’s consumption histories. The research found that this can get to the point that the users are only shown information that conforms with their preexisting biases. Thus, data collection – in the name of better targeting information – may actually lead to less-informed readers.

Advertising still fuels the media economy. That’s why it’s important for media professionals to understand the advertising infrastructural and the role ad technology plays in digital media today. We must keep a close watch on advertising technologies, data collection, digital delivery and continue to weigh their impact on the reader experience and our ability to deliver the news they need.

Advertising | Industry-Research | Perspectives

Navigating the social media advertising paradox

December 5, 2018 Rande Price, Research VP – DCN

There are two opposing views on social media that are impacting digital marketing decisions:

Audience attention on social platforms offers a strong advertising environment (good for marketers).
Consumer distrust of social platforms’ data and privacy practices detracts from their effectiveness (bad for advertisers).

Marketers and media executives discuss the social media advertising paradox ad nauseum in meetings, forums, and conference panels. Still, a whole lot of advertising dollars are being invested on Facebook regardless of its lack of transparency, data sharing, and stories of the company’s mismanagement and mishandling of data. In fact, Facebook’s Q3 2018 earnings cited a 33% year-over-year increase in advertising revenue while user growth remains stagnant in its larger markets.

Streetbees’ new research report, Re-positioning, reflects on this dichotomy. A full 86% of respondents follow brands on social media and 73% agree that a social media presence is necessary for brands to be successful. This research ranks Facebook as number one among consumers 25 and older for following brands (86%). Thus, the findings showcase Facebook as a positive environment for advertising placement.

Yet the research also finds that one-third of consumers in the US and India, Facebook’s two largest markets, do not trust the social network to keep their data safe. Further, nearly all users surveyed (98%) state that they continue to use Facebook even though they do not trust the service to protect their personal data. Yes, the paradox, a platform of users that do not trust its environment.

Facebook: friend or foe?

Streetbees’ consumer findings are analogous to advertising practices on the platform. Both consumers and marketers alike continue to use Facebook regardless of the mounting distrust of the platform. In October, Fortune exposed that Facebook inflated its video metrics for how long users were watching video content by up to 900%. Despite a steady stream of Facebook mea culpas, advertisers continue to purchase advertising on the platform.

The research also suggests that Facebook needs to focus on user retention. Younger audiences show limited interest in Facebook and older users’ attention appears to be waning. Only one in five of those under the age of 25 think Facebook is the “coolest” social platform. And when it comes to consumers reasons for quitting social media, the top two responses include “boredom” (51%) and “my friends stopped using” (22%). Eight percent also quit due to data concerns. As Facebook confronts user fatigue, growth in daily active user is significantly slow.

As social media challenges continue to emerge, advertisers need to hold platforms accountable. Short-term media strategies will not lead to marketplace sustainability. Audience attention is a critical commodity in the advertising paradigm and continued reliance on distrusted environments will undoubtedly harm the long-term success of the digital advertising model.

Audiences | Industry-Research | Revenue

How to build a “habit loop” to form a lasting and lucrative reader relationship

November 28, 2018 Rande Price, Research VP – DCN

Consumer engagement is a critical component of news publishers’ direct to consumer revenue strategies. According to the International News Media Association’s (INMA) new report, Unpacking the Reader-Subscriber Lifetime Customer Journey, every publisher component from content to membership programs and e-newsletters, must reflect a strong and unified value proposition to consumers in order to be habit-forming.

The report includes highlights of Charles Duhigg, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of Power of Habit, explanation of the science behind a habit formation. Scientists refer to this as “the habit loop” and it can easily apply to reader engagement. Every habit has a cue, routine, and reward. Duhigg explains that people stop “thinking” when they perform habitual activities. In fact, about 40 to 45% of what people do every day are routine based decisions (habits) rather than conscious decisions. Publishers should aspire to their content being habit forming.

Rewarding behavior

However, to create a new habit, there needs to be a clear and distinct reward. It’s even better if the reward is immediate. Interestingly, Duhigg believes educating people about the “habit loop” helps to change their behavior. If the reward is clear, consumers understand the payback of their actions and accept them more easily. Rewards don’t just need to be monetary or transactional; they can also be emotional.

The report also identifies the importance in shifting focus from top of the funnel acquisition metrics to the consumer lifecycle and conversion metrics. The Wall Street Journal did just this and now trains its journalists to think about three key metrics:

Reach: How many consumers are reached by WSJ content at any given moment? Consumers are identified in two distinct groups a) subscribers and b) potential subscribers.
Quality: Are the consumers reached the ones who will return to consume more content? Will they promote WSJ content to friends and family?
Habit: Is the routine habit forming? When you build a reading habit, the consumption cycle continues.

Engaging strategies

The INMA report also features Matt Skibinski, from The Lenfest Institute, and cites his definition of engagement: “when readers find your content, products, and brands valuable enough that they are willing to pay for it.” Skibiniki believes publishers should look at the occasional reader, the regular reader and the one-time reader to classes of readers will help identify the different signals of engagement.

The INMA report finds consumer engagement to be the most important outcome of direct to consumer revenue strategies. It’s when habits and emotions create a pattern of repetition. It’s also when retention trumps acquisition in a publisher’s relationship with its audience. And INMA concludes that the greater the engagement, the greater the consumer revenue.

Industry-Research

Media companies seek to innovate through acquisition

November 19, 2018 Rande Price, Research VP – DCN

The media M&A market is booming. PwC’s new report, US Media and Telecommunications Insights Q3 2018, finds that deal volumes have reached a two-year high in Q3, registering a 9% increase compared to the same time period one year ago. Beyond sheer volume, the strategic rationale underlying the deal activity highlights the continued importance players are putting on M&A to further their position in this competitive and ever-changing landscape.

This year, many companies put innovation and consumer engagement at the forefront of their acquisition strategy. Beyond the usual motivations, companies are also looking to make acquisitions that include offerings that help them attract, engage and retain customers.

Additional trends this quarter:

New deals do not surpass $5 billion dollars, resulting in a 43% decrease in deal value compared to Q3 2017.
F five deals this quarter are over $1 billion dollars, accounting to $12.4 billion dollars or 69% of total deal value.
The largest deal in Q3 is Adobe’s $4.8 billion-dollar acquisition of Marketo Inc., a cloud-based marketing platform for B2B customers.
The Advertising & Marketing and Internet & Information sub-sectors continue to outnumber other categories in terms of deal volume with 82 and 71 deals, respectively, in Q3 2018.
Private equity deal volumes are growing strongly this quarter, representing 26% of all deals. However, the value of private equity deals shows a 21% decline this quarter.

Deeper Motivations

Significantly, many of the deals in subcategories such as Internet & Information and Advertising & Marketing show that investors are looking to acquire new platforms rather than building them. This is especially true of companies that can easily add a new service to an already existing platform in order to grow their user base. Many companies are also competing for advertising dollars and consumer engagement so they looking to invest in new platforms and new technologies to deliver personal and immersive experiences.

Importantly, new acquisitions this quarter show that companies are responding to changing consumer viewing and listening habits and shifting revenue streams. A new and notable area of growth includes podcasts. The podcast industry is growing substantially. In just five years the audience grew to grew over 325% to 98 million listeners so, or roughly 30% of the US population. In this quarter alone, there are nine podcast deals, four of which involved podcast production companies.

Additional areas for further acquisition exploration include virtual and augmented reality platforms, as well as egames (multiplayer video-game competition platform and alternative content formats created purposefully for smaller screens and shorter attention spans). As these areas continue to grow, the M&A scene is likely to keep growing and be reflective of organizations’ nee to continue to innovate and grow.

Industry-Research

How do Facebook’s News Feed algorithms impact non-profit publishers?

November 7, 2018 Rande Price, Research VP – DCN

The Facebook’s News Feed, introduced in 2006, was once a strong source of traffic for many publishers. News organization utilized the intermediary platform to grow their audiences. The social sharing of news also altered the direct-to-consumer paradigm.

Earlier this year, Facebook announced that their News Feed would prioritize posts from friends and family over news content. While some news publishers faced modest declines, others reported significant ones. Chartbeat, a content analytics platform, provided data showing Facebook traffic to publishers declined 6% since the beginning of January. However, LittleThings, a publication focused on feel good stories and other content for women, claimed they lost 75% of their referral traffic due to changes in Facebook’s New Feed and subsequently shut down.

In its latest research, The Shorenstein Center on Media Studies explores the impact on non-profit news brands. Non-profit news organizations rely heavily on social interaction to help encourage donations. A traffic decline could negatively impact donation revenue. Shorenstein’s new report, Facebook Friends? The Impact of Facebook’s News Feed Algorithm, offers a custom analysis of eight non-profit news publishers.

The research divides the publishers into two categories: investigative and single-subject. The investigative group focuses on producing investigative journalism on a wide range of topics. The single-subject group produces investigative journalism in the context of a single subject. The three investigative organizations include The Center for Public Integrity, ProPublica, and Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting. The five single-subject organizations include Chalkbeat, The Hechinger Report, The Marshall Project, The Trace, and The War Horse. The analysis focuses on two key metrics – total users and total sessions – looking at the three months prior to and after the News Feed change.

In the three months after the News Feed changes, in terms of overall traffic, the investigative organizations saw small changes in both the number of users and the number of sessions. In contrast, the entire single-subject cohort registered growth for these two metrics.

The analysis also looks at the composition of traffic, where the traffic is coming from, by using the Google Analytics channels Direct, Email, Organic Search, Other, Referral, and/or Social. Referral traffic was most consistent; increasing both in users visits and sessions. Only two of the eight non-profit publishers show social referral increases. Not surprisingly, Facebook referrals closely follow in line to social.

Given some of the non-profit news publishers registered small to moderate traffic increases, the Shorenstein research hints to Facebook’s potential growth path for non-profit news publishers, even with the algorithm changes. The difference between larger commercial news publishers and non-profit may be due to how non-profit new organizations’ stories are shared on Facebook. More research on this is needed to understand the consumer experience sharing content from commercial news publishers compared to non-profit news publishers.

Industry-Research

How publishers align business models with strategies for social media distribution

October 24, 2018 Rande Price, Research VP – DCN

Publishers use social distribution to keep up with consumers’ news consumption habits. And despite the annoyance and uncertainty of platform policy changes (e.g. Facebook news-feed changes), publishers continue to align their business strategies and social practices.

To better understand this alignment, the Reuters Institute explores distribution strategies across 12 news publishers in six European countries in their new report, Digital News Project.

Strategic objectives

While distribution strategies may vary in approach, they center on one of three core objectives:

driving on-site traffic through referrals
driving off-site reach through native formats, and
driving digital subscription sales.

Based on this sample, social platforms offer limited opportunities for publisher monetization. Nevertheless, news organizations can receive indirect benefits in terms of traffic, off-site reach, and/or subscriptions.

Platform differentiation

Understanding and differentiating between platforms is important for social diversification:

Facebook accounts for the largest share of publishers’ social media traffic. It also delivers higher levels of audience engagement and is considered more cost-effective at driving digital subscription sales.
Twitter offers the most value for generating off-site reach and greater visibility with breaking news. It’s the go-to platform to reach journalists, opinion leaders, trendsetters, and influencers.
Instagram has the potential to deliver high audience engagement and promote news brands, especially to younger audiences. It’s a great fit for light content like entertainment news. Publishers view Instagram as experimental.

Publisher practices

The Digital News Project also examines publisher practices on Facebook after the January 2018 policy change to deprioritize news publishers’ content in favor of family and friends’ posts. Analyzing these practices provides a performance review of news sites’ social platform strategies.

For example, Iltalehti, the Finnish tabloid, continues to publish as often on Facebook after the policy change. However, Facebook’s new policy resulted in a 28% decline in Iltalehti’s average daily interactions. Unfortunately, Iltalehti’s bottom line is severely impacted since the publication relies heavily on social traffic referrals for monetization.

In contrast, the French publication, Le Monde, decreased the frequency (13%) of their Facebook posts after the policy change. The decline in Le Monde posts resulted in a 29% decline in average user interactions. Le Monde is deliberating on their long–term Facebook social strategy since they too use traffic referrals as a significant part of their overall monetization strategy. Insert le monde chart

It’s important for news publishers to identify their objectives before implementing social distribution strategies. The social approach should allow publishers to experiment with new opportunities to drive on-site traffic, or to build awareness and brand recognition or to engage users to subscribe to paid service.