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

Building an ethical framework for decentralized social technologies

March 28, 2023 Rande Price, Research VP – DCN

To date, only a few publications have offered an ethical framework for decentralized social technologies (DSTs) ‒ blockchain, Web3, and Fediverse. The collapse of FTX, a cryptocurrency futures exchange using blockchain methodology, alarmed many. Its absence of records, accounting controls, and transparent decision-making processes highlights the need for new governance guidelines across new technologies.

As a result, the Justice, Health, and Democracy Impact Initiative, a collaboration between Brown University School of Public Health and the Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University, has offered up a foundation for ethical and social experimentation with DSTs. Their new report, Ethics Of Decentralized Social Technologies, unpacks the transformation of DSTs, their impact, built-in mechanics, and downstream consequences. Importantly, it offers lessons learned and insights into how decentralized social technologies can be developed and implemented ethically and responsibly.

Ethical framework

The Justice, Health, and Democracy Impact Initiative examines AI ethics and bioethics frameworks to identify DTS best practices. Employing AI ethics includes asking fundamental questions like how to use the data to generate predictions and how institutions will use the predictions. AI ethics also includes basic questions about who makes these decisions, sets the timeline, and establishes the criteria.

In addition, bioethics looks to find the middle ground between identifying risks and modifying them while continuing the work unless deemed unsafe. Importantly, bioethics technologists structure their practice in four stages. A safety net is also essential to the process, with each layer providing safety guarantees to support safe experimentation.

Be precise about goals and offering validations;
Have governance structures to oversee the design and evaluation of experiments;
Publicly report what happens, what works, what doesn’t, and any unintended results; and
Have precise mechanisms for democratic oversight developed in collaboration with public democratic organizations.

Constitutional moments

The report also examines whether the DST ecosystem exemplifies a constitutional moment ‒ a pivotal point of transformation. The U.S. Constitution, written in the late eighteen century, reflects the U.S. economic, demographic, technological, and social structure of its time. However, new technologies (i.e., Industrial Revolution, air travel, and the biomedical revolution) emerge and cause transformation in the structure of society.

Constitutional moments do not mean we need to write a new Constitution but a framework to navigate and experiment with new technologies and social platforms. While blockchain technology is often celebrated for decentralized networks (because they are less likely to marginalize one community over another), they can also create divisions. These divisions can include social bias in their datasets. And training on them will replicate and intensify these patterns. Therefore, we must carefully examine the ethical practice of new technology to ensure that decentralized technologies also bridge communities and build a connected society.

The Justice, Health, and Democracy Impact Initiative acknowledges that this is just the start of the ethical DTS landscape. The report highlights the importance of ensuring user privacy and data protection and the need for transparency and accountability in developing decentralized social technologies. It also emphasizes the importance of fostering a diverse and inclusive community and ensuring that decentralized systems are accessible to all and beneficial to society.

Industry-Research

Younger audiences pay for news—when they think it’s valuable

March 21, 2023 Rande Price, Research VP – DCN

Connecting with younger audiences is essential for digital news organizations. And, like each generation, their habits and preferences differ from the ones before. The good news is that today’s young people both consume and pay for content. The trick is engaging them and demonstrating value worth paying for.

New research, The Media Insight Project, a collaboration of The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the American Press Institute, shows a positive connection between younger cohorts and paying for news content. Their findings state that while news consumption among younger audiences is rooted in social media, more than half (51%) of Gen Z (ages 16-24) pay for or donate to the news. Paying/donating for news content is even higher among younger Millennials (ages 25-31) and older Millennials (ages 32-40), 63% and 67%, respectively.

Notably, more Gen Z and Millennials, regardless of race or ethnicity, pay/donate for some news than not: 68% of Black Americans, 63% of Hispanic Americans, 60% of Asian Americans, and 57% of white Americans.

Online behavior

Those who pay/donate for news content have distinct usage behaviors compared to those who do not.

1. Time online

Twenty-seven percent of Gen Z and Millennials who pay/donate for news reports spending 9 hours or more online. In contrast, only 19% of those who do not pay/donate to any news source report spending 9 hours or more online.

2. Activities online

Gen Z and Millennials do numerous online activities. However, Gen Z and Millennials who pay/donate for news content are more likely to keep up with what’s happening worldwide, do more research online, listen to podcasts, and watch videos.

3. Seeking out the news

Gen Z and Millennials who pay/donate for news are more likely to seek out news (45%) than those who do not (27%). Yet, Gen Z and Millennials who pay/donate are also likely to bump into the news (54%), given their time and activities online.

4. News consumption

Gen Z and Millennials who pay/donate for the news are more likely to get news and information at least daily from traditional media sources than those who do not pay/donate for news content (56% vs. 28%). In contrast, when getting news daily on social media platforms, there is less distinction between those who pay/donate for the news and those who don’t (77% vs. 62%).

Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram are the most-used platforms for those who pay/donate for the news and those who don’t. Interestingly, Twitter registers the most significant difference between those who pay/donate for the news and those who don’t (30% vs. 13%, respectively).

Topics of interest

Not surprisingly, the research finds that Gen Z and Millennials who pay/donate to the news tend to consume more across all content categories.

Topics most often followed by those who pay/donate for the news:

Information about Covid-19
News about celebrities, music, or TV
Sports
News about national politics or government
Information on traffic, transportation, or weather

Topics most often followed by those who don’t pay/donate for the news:

Information on traffic, transportation, or weather
News about celebrities, music, or TV
Sports
News about social issues such as abortion, gun policy, and LGBTQ issues
Information related to health or mental health

Content worth paying for

Younger audiences are likelier to pay/donate to independent news content creators than digital or print newspapers. Gen Z and Millennials also find newer and independent sources relevant, especially among those more racially and ethnically diverse.

The Media Insight Project research shows strong potential for digital news companies to develop younger and more diverse audiences. If news organizations create content valuable to Gen Z and Millennials, these audiences will pay/donate for access. Importantly, news businesses must meet younger audiences where they are, which means developing relationships with younger cohorts on different platforms.

Industry-Research

Understanding the dimensions of trust in the news media

March 7, 2023 Rande Price, Research VP – DCN

Accuracy and transparency are vital elements of quality journalism that both play into another critical component: trust. Therefore, understanding consumer trust (or lack of it) is essential in today’s news media business. A new report, American Views 2022: Part 2, from Gallup and the Knight Foundation, examines the emotional dimensions of trust and how they relate to how people feel about news organizations. Further, the research provides insight into emotional triggers in today’s media environment providing a deeper understanding of consumer sentiment.

Using six questions designed by Gallup and Knight, the research measures five dimensions of consumer trust ‒ competency, reliability, benevolence (societal and individual), and integrity. Analytics then determine respondent segments from low to high levels of emotional trust. The spectrum of emotional trust offers important subtext to topline findings. For example, 61% of respondents find it harder to be well-informed because of the overwhelming number of information sources. Among consumers with low emotional trust in national news, this percentage jumps to 76%.

In contrast, the percentage remains at 60% among those with high emotional trust. The sharp increase among those with low emotional trust shows that this setting triggers low confidence and frustration in navigating a complex media news ecosystem. Notably, the emotional trigger is external and not related to the news organizations’ reporting competency.

Trust in the news media

Gallup and Knight’s research finds consumer dissatisfaction with the news media at a record low of 26%. Older segments, Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation appear more favorable toward the news media (33% and 34% very or somewhat favorable, respectively) in comparison to less favorable younger cohorts ‒ Gen Z (58%), millennials (56%), and Gen X (55%).

The perception of political bias in news coverage is also driving low favorability. More than half of Americans (55%) say there is “a great deal” of political bias in news reporting compared to surveys results in 2019-early 2020 and 2017 (46%, and 45%, respectively).

However, despite the level of dissatisfaction, 72% of Americans agree (strongly agree/agree) that national news organizations have the resources and opportunity to report news accurately and fairly to the public.

News favorability

Unfavorable opinions of the news media correlate with low emotional trust in national news organizations. Slightly more than two-thirds (67%) of consumers with unfavorable opinions of the news media have low emotional trust. Among those with a favorable or very favorable view of the media, 56% have high emotional trust in national news organizations.

Interestingly, 44% of consumers report high emotional trust in local news organizations, compared to 21% who have high emotional trust in national news organizations. These findings are consistent across political parties; 31% of Republicans and 58% of Democrats trust local news organizations among those with high emotional trust in local news.

Trust motivates consumers to pay for news

Slightly more than one-quarter of consumers (26%) report paying to access news or donating to a news organization. Applying the dimensions of emotional trust shows that those with higher emotional trust in the news are likelier to pay for it (35%) compared to 23% with low emotional trust.

Gallup and Knight’s research includes a nuanced approach to understanding and correlating consumer trust of the news media. Adding an understanding of the dimensions of trust provides richer context. It offers links to drivers of low emotional trust and favorability, such as information overload or fear of navigating the information ecosystem. National and local news organizations should identify these external triggers and discuss the issues and potential solutions with their audience.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion | Industry-Research | Innovation

What’s behind digital media’s confidence – and priorities?

February 28, 2023 Rande Price, Research VP – DCN

The Association of Online Publishers’ (AOP) new report, Digital Publishing: Outlook and Priorities 2023, offers insight into this year’s top priorities for media companies – which unsurprisingly featured revenue growth. Publishers are also focused on talent and building a diverse and inclusive workplace.

As digital media companies look to grow their businesses, they assess internal strategies and external macroeconomic and legislative influences. Both publishers and solutions providers report being well-positioned for the year ahead and rate their confidence level a 7.2 based on a 10-point rating scale.

The AOP surveyed 92 digital publishers and 16 solution providers; 26% of respondents are at the board level in their organization, and 51% are heads of departments.

Internal business priorities

Revenue remains a top priority for publishers. Subscriptions (17%), sponsorships (15%), and lead generation (13%) rank as top revenue sources for growth among consumer-based publishers. B2B publishers see stronger growth opportunities in lead generation (28%), events (22%), and sponsorship (20%). Digital publishers targeting business and consumer audiences rank developing new revenue streams through product innovation as their highest priority (3.9).

Developing new audiences is important for revenue growth. To that end, consumer publishers work across multiple platforms to drive content discovery while B2B publishers are more reliant on LinkedIn (44%).

For advertising, publishers targeting consumer audiences report they depend more on advertising deals in the open marketplace. In contrast, B2B publishers divide more evenly across open and private marketplaces and non-programmatic. Further, 44% of all publishers expect revenue growth from private marketplaces and 42% from non-programmatic revenues.

Publisher respondents appear to be highly focused on their employees. Asked to rate how important different organizational priorities are [where 0 is not a focus at all and 5 is a very strong focus], B2B publishers ranked recruiting and retaining new talent as the most important priority, with a score of 4.1. Consumer publishers ranked ensuring a diverse and inclusive workplace as the most important priority, at 3.9.

External factors

With new legislation a key focus, digital media companies are mildly confident of their knowledge of the UK’s Online Safety Bill. This legislation establishes a new regulatory framework to ensure tech companies protect users from illegal content and activity, specifically social platforms, and other user-generated content-based sites. Publishers rate their confidence in understanding the Online Safety Bill’s impact on their organization at 5.6 on a 10-point scale and solution providers at 5.3.

Some publishers report that their companies are preparing for this new law by consulting with their legal teams, providing a comprehensive editorial policy, and relying on browser options. However, many also reply that no actions are needed because quality content publishers do not target children.

Further, publishers’ confidence rating is 6.5 regarding their readiness for the end of third-party cookies, while solutions providers report lower confidence in readiness (4.8). Publishers prioritize their investment in first-party data and user experience in preparing for the end of cookies:

Enhancing the engagement funnel to build better first-party data (23%);
Implementing tech solutions to provide a 360-degree view of audiences (15%); and
Investing in solutions to deliver a more personalized user experience (15%).

With a strong focus on first-party data, 58% of publishers are working to ensure their audience informs their business decisions and their investment in a data-led organization. Another 21% highlight the importance of internally managing and communicating audience insights throughout their organizations.

The AOP provides a snapshot of important focus areas for the year. A strong confidence level among media companies reflects positive internal alignment on essential strategies to develop and grow their businesses further. They are focused on building a diverse and strong talent pool. In terms of strategy, they are taking an audience-focused strategy and look to diversify revenue growth beyond advertising sales and subscriptions and increase sponsorships, lead generation, and event revenues.

Industry-Research

How two publications are attracting new, younger audiences

February 20, 2023 Rande Price, Research VP – DCN

Successful digital publishers produce content that connects with audience expectations. These publishers are committed to engaging audiences more deeply with an audience-first approach. To assist digital publishers in attracting new audiences, the World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), in partnership with Google News Initiative, created Table Stakes Europe (TSE). Their latest report, Building and engaging specific audiences, outlines case studies in which publishers tackle core challenges to connect to new and distinct audience segments based on targeted demographics or psychographics.

The TSE identifies seven core strategies for news publishers to employ in developing new audiences. Notably, the process is relatively the same, regardless of the target audience — whether they be younger, sports-minded or niche, religious, and cultural segments.

Serve targeted audiences with content and experiences they want.
Publish on the platforms your targeted audience uses.
Produce and publish constantly to match your audiences’ lives.
Funnel occasional users into regular and paying loyalists.
Diversify and grow the ways you earn revenue from the audiences you build.
Partner to expand your capacity and capabilities at lower and more flexible costs.
Drive audience growth and profitability from a “mini publisher” perspective.

Finding younger paying readers

Using the TSE framework, FWT, a regional and local news publisher in the region of Värmland, Sweden, sought to appeal to a younger audience. Their case study deals with the publications’ concerns around their aging audience and the need to attract readers under 45.

NWT’s business model is subscription based, with a hard paywall. They offer articles free only for the first hour after their publication. Their current reader revenue contributes 70% of their total revenue, with advertising the remaining 30%. NWT’s first step is to learn about the interests of a younger audience. Focus groups and research studies immediately provided needed intelligence. They found that adults 18-29 like to read about entertainment, relationships, careers of other young people or celebrities, and breaking news. While adults 30-45 are interested in society and investigative journalism, real estate, new stores and restaurants, and topics about kids and family life.

NWT identified five goals to measure their effectiveness in attracting a younger audience:

20% of subscribers will be under 45
65% of all new digital subscribers will be under 45
30% increase in subscriptions on e-paper
20% of page views from logged-in users under 45
37% percent increase in digital subscriptions

Notably, NWT increased its digital reach among the 18-39 segment from 24.4% to 35.1%, and digital reader revenue increased too. NWT identified six steps attributing to these achievements.

Learn about the younger audience’s needs, interests, passions, and problems.
Produce relevant content for the right people on the right channels at the right time.
Educate and recruit both current and new staff.
Make changes to the current digital product to serve a younger audience.
Constantly test and evaluate product(s) against set goals.
Develop and implement a social media strategy.

Identify tactics to target new audiences

Another case study using the TSE framework to help attract a younger audience focused on Le Parisien in Paris.

The French publisher used vertical videos on TikTok to appeal to new and younger subscribers.

The plan for TikTok was to focus on “explainer” videos, offering essential details and insight during the French presidential elections. They hired a dedicated TikTok journalist, introduced an experiment-to-learn attitude, and included segments of hard news in addition to their explainer series.

Le Parisien’s TikTok following grew from zero to more than 400,000. While Le Parisien is not monetizing on TikTok, the vertical videos are essential to building brand awareness among a younger audience – their future paying subscribers.

TSE offers an important framework for digital news businesses to identify and attract new audiences. While the two case studies offered here focus on attracting younger audiences specifically, the report includes additional target audiences. Importantly, the transformational process includes a similar process regardless of the target audience. Connecting newsrooms to audiences and personally resonating with each is essential for publishers’ success.

Industry-Research

2023 strategies for subscription growth

February 7, 2023 Rande Price, Research VP – DCN

Amid market inflation, media companies prioritize the subscription segment of their businesses as they question the longevity of economic uncertainty. Early headlines this year illustrate financial concerns with layoffs, hiring freezes, and other cost-cutting efforts. In this year’s Journalism, Media, and Technology Trends and Predictions 2023, Nic Neuman analyzes business plans and identifies next steps for growth and sustainability. One of the trends he explores is strategies that publishers are employing to support the subscription economy.

Reuters’ findings include survey responses from 303 participants across 53 countries and territories. Participants are in senior editorial, commercial, or product positions in traditional or digital-born publishing companies involved in digital or media strategy.

Doubling down on subscription growth

Given elevated revenue concerns, publishers see subscription growth as a top priority. Eighty percent of publishers report that subscriptions are one of the most important revenue priorities, ahead of display and native advertising. Many publishers are using price cuts and special introductory offers, reducing their revenue short term while looking to increase it in the longer term.

Digital publishers are also engaging subscribers through bundling efforts. Neuman cites The New York Times as a prime example. The Times identified strong consumer brands (i.e., Wirecutter and The Athletic) to combine with its core news product. NY Times. CEO Meredith Kopit Levien notes that “bundled subscriber” pay more over time and are less likely to cancel.

Publishers also highlight an audience-first approach as an essential strategy to attract and retain subscribers. As subscription growth continues, more publishers are collecting first-party data to advance their direct sales efforts. Further, many publishers see the programmatic marketplace as a leading contributor to poor user experience.

Countering avoidance

Unfortunately, traffic reports appear to be very mixed among publishers. Approximately 42% say website traffic is up year-over-year, while 58% report that traffic is flat or falling. Compounding these traffic reports, 72% of publishers report concerns that users are avoiding the news.

To combat avoidance, many publishers mention their efforts to explain the news better and offer insight and solutions, not just to identify the problem. Publishers look to new and different formats to showcase news stories and offer more context, like explanatory journalism (94%), Q&A formats (87%), and solutions and constructive journalism (73%).

Notably, three publishers in Germany, Deutsche Welle, RTL News, and Rheinische Post, created the Bonn Institute for Journalism and Constructive Dialogue. The organization’s mission is to support more positive debates and generate awareness of journalism’s social responsibility. There is a renewed focus on ethics and providing accurate and reliable information. The report also notes that publishers like the BBC and Guardian share inspiring and feel-good news stories to help counter news avoidance.

Attracting younger audiences

More publishers are using video platforms like TikTok (+63 net score/more effort than last year), Instagram (+50), and YouTube (+47) to engage younger audiences. In contrast, they report putting less effort into Facebook (-30) and Twitter (-28) compared to a year ago.

Most publishers also say that they will focus on podcasts and other digital audio (72%), email newsletters (69%), and digital video (67%) to build a deeper connection with audiences. In contrast, only 5% report interest in developing applications for the metaverse or voice assistants.

Subscription businesses with diversified product offerings strongly position publishers in this marketplace. Focusing on an audience-first approach with a positive consumer experience combats news avoidance, builds engagement, and fuels retention. Pivoting to new platforms and product offerings like newsletters and podcasts offer opportunities to attract younger and different audience segments.

Advertising | Industry-Research

The programmatic ad market benefits from standardization and transparency

January 30, 2023 Rande Price, Research VP – DCN

Two years ago, the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (ISBA) examined buy-side data to map the programmatic advertising supply chain from advertiser to publisher. Unfortunately, there were significant data quality and transparency issues, specifically the inability to identify 15% of ad spend to delivered impressions. Given these results and marketplace concerns, industry organizations created a task force and toolkit to help improve transparency in the programmatic process. Results from the second report, ISBA Programmatic supply chain transparency study 2022, show supply chain improvements.

The 2022 study examined industry progress using the toolkit developed to improve data access in the programmatic supply chain. The toolkit defines five important questions to lead the impression match rate audit process:

Does the Audit Permission Letter (APL) accelerate data access?
Does the Data Fields List (DFL) improve the data quality?
Does improved data quality lead to improved impression match rates?
Is the unknown delta reduced?
Are there clear, actionable next steps?

The research is based on 1.3 billion impressions from September 1, 2022, to October 31, 2022, with the complete analysis taking place over nine months. Participants included 11 advertisers, 10 publishers, seven agencies, and six DSPs and SSPs, each.

Findings

The research identified a total of 104 million impressions served from ad tech vendors to publishers. Of the 104 million impressions, they matched 61 million impressions (58%) from the buy-side (DSP) to the sell-side (SSP). The match rate is nearly five times greater than the 12% in 2020. The latest report also track 65% of advertiser spending reaches publishers compared to 51% in 2020.

The higher-quality log-level data and data fields allow for a deterministic rule-based approach to matching the data sets with predetermined algorithms and calculations. Also contributing to higher match rates were private marketplaces, with an above 70% match rate (approximately 20% of matchable impressions). Notably, the 2022 study finds a distinct difference in the delta between open marketplaces (3%) and private marketplaces (<1%), showcasing the benefit of advertising with select auditable private marketplaces. Like 2020, the 2022 study focused on premium advertisers, agencies, tech vendors, and publishers which do not necessarily represent the broader programmatic ecosystem.

Improvements

The toolkit was a prime contributor to data access improvements in 2022. The Audit Permission Letter (APL) allowed for more efficiency, cutting the study time from 18 months to 9 months. However, the full adoption of the APL letter varied among the participants.

Participants who provided log-level data for each impression showed significant improvement in data quality in the audit process. The Data Fields List (DFL) also improved the data quality. However, while ad tech suppliers offered approximately 80% of the data fields, there was a remaining 20% of data fields that needed to be shared. In addition, inconsistencies in some data formats, like names, currency, device type, etc., still prevail and need to be addressed.

Recommendations

Overall, the study recommends for advertisers, ad tech vendors and publishers to work with well-curated private marketplaces (PMPs), given their higher impression match rates.

Advertisers and agencies:

agree to separate display side platform seats for each advertiser,
appoint centralized contact for Audit Permission Letter approvals and extraction and reporting of buy-side log-level data, and
consider private supply chain audits chain every one to three years.

Ad tech vendors:

invest in the ability to filter, retain, and share log-level data, covering all of the Data Fields List,
agree on consistent taxonomies and naming conventions for ads.txt, and
drive adoption and use of ads.txt and sellers.json.

Publishers:

agree on consistent taxonomies and naming conventions for ads.txt, and
drive adoption and use of ads.txt and sellers.json,
consider working with fewer SSPs, and
consider private audits of them every 1 to 3 years.

The 2022 study demonstrates the improvement of data quality with the Toolkit usage. Developing data standards and protocols offers insight into supply path optimization. Further enhancements in data access and retention with the additional collaboration of data practices will make financial audits more common and successful.

Industry-Research

Focus on the customer journey to retain subscribers

January 24, 2023 Rande Price, Research VP – DCN

Inflation often triggers consumers to assess their budgets and rethink essential spending and lifestyle changes. Included in this evaluation are subscription choices. New research, Subscription Economy: a Transformed World, from FT Strategies, Savanta, and Minna Technologies’ identifies the impact of current marketplace conditions on consumer attitudes toward subscriptions.

This research surveyed over 1,000 consumers in the U.S. and the UK, 20 financial services, fintech, and media leaders, and 50 subscription business executives across different content verticals.

Subscription market

The report shows that 25 to 34-year-olds have the most subscriptions, with only 12% reporting no subscription services. The research also indicates that approximately one-third of consumers in the 25 to 54 years old bracket have six or more subscriptions. While 73% of consumers pay for the services they use, 23% pay for some of their services while also using password sharing of accounts paid for by family and friends.

Notably, nine in 10 respondents (93%) report greater awareness of subscription spending than 12 months ago. Nearly half of the consumers state that they know their exact spending on subscriptions and said they are spending more than they did a year ago.

Discretionary spending decisions

Consumers also report that non-discretionary spending (including broadband, utilities, and financial services) on entertainment-based services ‒ TV and film streaming services are the most common subscription-based spending across all age groups. However, entertainment-based subscription offerings are the most likely to be canceled.

In terms of churn, 20% of consumers say they would first cancel TV and film services, followed by music-related consumer services (11%), TV channels (8%), and magazines (7%). Interestingly, younger consumers, ages 18-34, are the least likely to cancel TV and film services first.

Media business leaders identify the ‘watch and go’ mentality of consumers as a critical problem for video streaming services. Half of the executives note that their churn rate is higher this year than last year and are worried about a global rise in subscription cancellations.

Customer focus and retention

Consumers believe subscription services should deliver exceptional user experience, choice, and customer support. Business leaders interviewed by FT Strategies agree and think that subscription businesses must understand their customers’ functional and emotional needs to deliver a first-class customer journey. Further, as consumers understand that their data is part of the value exchange for services, they expect this information to inform a better user experience and advanced personalization.

Managing spending and managing subscriptions is a delicate balance. Consumers desire both “flexibility and control.” Nearly three-quarters of consumers (74%) say they are interested in a single app to manage all subscriptions in one place.

Subscription market forecast

Consumer interest in bundled offerings where several providers make their services available within a single, shared platform will grow. Consumers want to make their money go further, and bundling services may help, i.e., Disney’s exploring how to bundle its theme park benefits alongside its Disney+ content subscription service.
Consumers are also looking for trusted sources of information and thought leadership. This will lead to more subscription offerings incorporating experiential-like events and one-to-one interaction with specific influencers.
Subscriptions and personalization will expand into new business verticals, especially among financial products that offer more control and convenience over consumer financial needs.

The report concludes with retention strategies to create a meaningful and ongoing customer relationship. Subscription businesses must invest in personalization and deliver a positive user experience to meet consumer expectations. If they do not, consumers will easily switch to other services. The customer experience should include pricing sensitivity and choices – i.e., offering a subscription pause option instead of only canceling. Subscription businesses need to identify the right mix of choices and provide a positive value exchange to drive subscriber loyalty and retention.

Industry-Research | Video

Using content analyses to guide streaming business strategy

January 10, 2023 Rande Price, Research VP – DCN

There are over 300 streaming video services in the U.S. – and that number doesn’t include FAST channels. Consumers have a plethora of OTT services and access points across connected devices. So, how do media companies attract and retain viewers in such a large and fragmented marketplace? Parks Associates partnered with SymphonyAI Media to identify core analytics to help guide market strategies in the OTT ecosystem. Their new report, Optimizing Video: Enhancing Content Performance for OTT Success, looks at data solutions to best optimize content investment and performance.

Marketplace snapshot

According to Parks Associates, 87% of U.S. internet households now subscribe to one or more streaming video service, and 20% subscribe to eight or more OTT services. Consumers are adding new hybrid-model and FAST channels to their viewership mix. Netflix and Disney+ are two examples of media businesses launching ad-supported business models to attract new viewers to monetize content.

New niche streaming services are also popular among select audience segments. While appealing to a smaller audience, they offer unique and often obscure content. Sixty-one percent of consumers added other subscriptions in addition to the big three – Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu. Interestingly, very few consumers have an exclusive single-service subscription.

Content continues to be a key driver of subscriptions, with 48% of consumers referencing content availability as the primary reason for subscribing to an additional service. However, while churn appeared to stabilize last year, nearly half of streaming subscribers leave one service for another multiple times within a year.

Content performance

Media companies continually invest in content to attract, engage, and retain viewers. Content analyses offer a direct link to profitability. They are essential to understand viewership and forecast the revenue generated by a specific property, series, or partnership. They also help assess workflow efficiencies and revenue opportunities across SVOD, AVOD, and FAST.

Internal data necessary:

Content data – genre, series, season, episode, asset I.D.
Distributor data – terms, avails, distributor I.D., distributor type
Revenue data – subscribers, transactions, units sold, forecast
Advertising data – impressions, CPM, fill rate, minutes streamed

Measuring content performance helps quantify consumer engagement. Each of the essential analyzes offer important metrics and insights to assess performance across business operations.

Content performance provides a foundation to assess spending on content. It allows objectivity when looking at program performance.
Assessing workflow metrics, from managing content libraries and editing ad breaks to costs associated with programming FAST channel schedules, offers insight into revenue optimization and deal terms.
Predictive content analytics are important to understanding what to charge or pay across the customer lifecycle. These analyzes assess the consumer value of the content investment and provides insight into pricing strategies.
Content ROI assesses content value across different business models ‒ subscription, ad-supported, and even transactional. It allows media organizations to understand and optimize the impact of business decisions on financial metrics.

Analytics are essential to evaluate content performance and optimize operations across revenue models ‒ ad-supported and subscription businesses. Investing in automating, standardizing, and normalizing data structures in an organization are important next steps to streamline the analytic processes.

Industry-Research

News organizations try TikTok to engage younger audiences

December 28, 2022 Rande Price, Research VP – DCN

Many media brands are now active on TikTok, the world’s fastest-growing social media platform. News brands see the platform as an opportunity to attract and engage younger audiences who are less likely to go directly to their websites or apps.

However, many media brands are holding off due to concerns with the platform’s Chinese ownership, as well as reservations about the platform’s environment for news. Reuters Institute’s new report, How Publishers are Learning to Create and Distribute News on TikTok, examines news media concerns and identifies how they can deliver professional content with influencer-type authenticity.

Methodology

Reuters Institute interviewed 20 news organizations and individuals from companies among the top news brands in 44 countries. Interviews included large, digital-only, socially native brands and some individual creators and activists. Reuters also tracked publisher usage activity across more than 40 countries.

Embracing TikTok

Many news brands are using TikTok to engage younger cohorts. Reuters’ Digital News Report 2022 shows that half of all global news organizations (49%) produce content for TikTok. Indonesian (90%), Australian (89%), Spanish (86%), French (86%), U.K. (81%), and U.S. (77%) publishers have the highest TikTok adoption. Overall, 40% of 18-24s and 28% of 25-34s use TikTok for any purpose, and 15% of 18-24s and 10% of 25-34s use it for news.

Regardless of concerns, news publishers use TikTok to build relationships with younger audiences and experiment with new vertical video formats. Others, like the Czech website HlídacíPes.org, use TikTok to help improve news literacy by identifying disinformation and explaining how to use open sources of information. Further, the Washington Post sees fact-checking and verification as their social strategy. They encourage users on TikTok to tag them to help to verify false footage.

Approaches to news content on TikTok

Reuters identifies two main approaches to news content on TikTok: a creator-first strategy and a newsroom-led approach.

The creator approach looks to a core team for content coverage. At the Washington Post, Dave Jorgenson leads the creative team trying to create light and fun videos that match the brand values of their news organization. While they try to keep a light and comedic tone in their videos, part of the TikTok DNA, they also create more serious stories. The French, Le Monde, also uses a creator approach on TikTok. Their mission is to explain the news by deploying different creative techniques using metaphors, drawings, fake video games, and acting.

The newsroom-led approach uses the whole newsroom and looks at TikTok as another distribution channel. For example, The Economist uses high-quality video to tell the story. Their mission, to explain geopolitics and economics, appeals to younger audiences. Liv Moloney, Head of Social Media, describes their strategy, “We’ll never be the first to tell you something’s happened, but we might be the first to explain it to you or explain it the best.”

Vice World News also uses a newsroom approach and focuses its TikTok content on short explanatory videos about international news. Vice’s content strategy blends news explainers, on-the-ground reporting, and listicle formats – adapting the content to the shorter attention span of TikTok users.

TikTok presents its problems with content distribution:

Transparency about the removal or blocking of news content especially given Chinese ownership and the potential for censorship.
Better monetization of content and compensation for the content value. While short videos are not the best advertising vehicle, publishers would like the ability to put links to their websites or apps, which currently is limited.
More detailed and timely demographic information is needed about who has viewed posts, with more data about how particular posts perform.

News organizations use TikTok to engage and build relationships with younger audiences. While many are concerned with its ownership and that short-form videos can marginalize important news stories, they are testing the waters. Importantly, news brands need to look to new technologies and platforms to reach new audiences, and while challenging, experimentation is key for growth.

Industry-Research | Video

Personalized content comes to FAST streaming

December 13, 2022 Rande Price, Research VP – DCN

With a highly competitive streaming landscape, many content brands are adopting hybrid business models. Disney+ and Netflix now offer lower-priced ad-supported tiers, and Paramount+ and Peacock offer FAST services to deliver real-time streaming of channel-based linear content. Notably, AVOD and FAST channels serve as growth strategies for many content providers in that they offer low-cost options that attract viewers.

A select number of top services—such as Pluto, Tubi, Peacock, and The Roku Channel—currently dominate the market. However, given that there are now more than 300 OTT channels, how can streaming channels differentiate to appeal to viewers and make inroads into the growing market? Quickplay, an OTT cloud business that enables personalization for sports, media, and entertainment, partnered with the research firm Park Associates to explore this question. Their report, Personalized Virtual Channels: Maximizing FAST Engagement, examines new ways for media companies to maximize the monetization of consumer viewership, particularly through the promise of personalization.

Hybrid streaming marketplace

As cord-cutting continues, and internet-connected device penetration of Smart TVs and media devices grows, OTT usage is the new norm for consumers. Eight in ten (80%) U.S. internet households subscribe to an OTT video service, 49% subscribe to four or more, and 33% use an ad-supported OTT service in the last 30 days.

As reported in DCN’s The Rise of and Best Practices for AVOD and FAST, the adoption of AVOD and FAST grew faster (55%) compared to SVOD (28%). Park Associates identifies “free cost” as the top reason consumers use AVOD (49%), followed by “content consumers like” (31%).

Consumers are attracted to the free offering of AVOD and FAST, with 38% stating that they do not mind viewing advertising on a free service. However, 41% of ad-supported customers do say that they dislike viewing video content with commercials, and 40% are dissatisfied with the frequency of ads.

Personalized virtual channels

First-party data collection is already in place with many content services requiring users to opt-in for data collection in exchange for a more personalized user experience. While other providers may not require an account, they often ask consumers to register to offer personalized favorite channels and recommendations. Content preferences and location (i.e., zip code) feed content recommendations – think local news, weather, and sports.

The report recommends combining cloud-based technology and programmatic operations to allow owned and operated brands to offer ad-supported personalized virtual channels. FAST platforms are cloud-based. They do not have channel or format restrictions and are easily adaptable for personalized virtual channels.

For the content provider, personalized virtual channels maximize the lifetime value of content libraries by extending content shelf life. Further, reusing existing libraries and programming rights can also help offset content acquisition and encoding expenses. For the consumer, personalized virtual channels deliver a lean-back experience while enhancing individual content preferences in a stress-free navigation environment.

Importantly, the data containing information on viewer preferences and habits allows virtual FAST services to deliver progressively smarter and more relevant content. The more engaged the viewer, the higher retention and, ultimately, the more effective advertising. It’s a win-win for all involved in the value exchange.

Personalized virtual channels’ delivery of personally relevant content yields higher content engagement and lower viewer turnover. They offer a better viewing experience for consumers while delivering new opportunities to monetize viewership.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion | Industry-Research

Newsroom social media policies need input from diverse voices

December 6, 2022 Rande Price, Research VP – DCN

Social media platforms offer journalists a path to audiences and sources. They also give them a way to build their personal brands. However, social media also includes risks such as “dark participation.” We’ve all witnessed forms of dark participation, from hateful comments, manipulation of forums, and copious misinformation.

Journalists are often the target of online harassment. In many cases, these attacks specifically target African American, Latino, LGBTQ, Arab-American, Muslim, and Jewish reporters. As journalists face more online harassment, newsrooms are setting social policies to support and protect journalists from increasingly intense online abuse. But many journalists report concerns about social media’s policy development process in the newsroom.

Kaitlyn Miller and Jacob Nelson’s research, ”Dark Participation” Without Representation: A Structural Approach to Journalism’s Social Media Crisis, looks at how newsrooms can adjust their values and practices regarding social media. The authors focused on women and journalists of color because these two cohorts experience the most hostility online.

And, while both groups face the highest risks, they have little control in setting social policies. Newsroom managers developing social media policies tend to be predominantly older, white men who are less active on social platforms.

Methodology and findings

Miller and Nelson interviewed 37 U.S. journalists. The interviews included 22 women and 18 journalists of color. By exploring the relationship between newsroom management and the journalists’ own experiences on social media, three key themes emerged:

Problems with newsroom social media policies.
Adjust policies through better representation within newsroom leadership.
Positive impact with better representation.

Newsroom demographics

Journalism lags behind the national averages regarding the representation of diverse employees. A 2018 Pew Research Center noted that 77% of newsroom employees and reporters (editors, photographers, and videographers, in broadcasting and internet publishing industries) are non-Hispanic whites, compared with 65% of the U.S. Population. Further, among newsroom employees 30 and older, two-thirds are male, compared to slightly more than half of all U.S. workers.

Disconnect

Given the demographic composition of the newsroom, there is a disconnect between journalists who are active on social media and those setting social policy. Many social media policies often limit journalists’ comments because of concerns of bias.

Interviewees explain that anti-bias social media policies set by management often have a narrower lens and view social practices of demographically diverse journalists as biased. For example, some newsroom managers view the statement “black lives matter” as political and biased. Among younger and more diverse journalists, this statement mostly asserts equality.

Interviewees report feeling isolated when targeted with hateful comments because of their racial background. While some claim management is sympathetic, they report that those in leadership roles have limited empathy to understand the situation. Social media policies are also criticized because the policies for lacking depth in terms of protecting both the organization and the individual journalists.

Recommendation and positive change

Most interviewees suggest that younger and more demographically diverse journalists, especially those active on social media, should be included in developing newsroom social media policies. This starts with hiring more demographically diverse journalists in roles across the newsroom, especially in leadership positions.

Journalists with different roles and backgrounds working together allow for new conversations and offer more applicable social media policies, including to:

protect both organizations and journalists,
identify how to respond to social media harassment against their journalists; and
offer a more equitable response plan to accusations of bias against journalists on social media.

Miller and Nelsen conclude that “better representation in newsroom leadership hinges on a larger structural shift in newsroom culture that values representation, equity, and inclusion not just as a journalistic value, but as an organizational value.”

Increasing the diversity of newsroom journalists can reshape newsroom culture and allow organizations to better address mistreatment on social media. It also offers a stronger and more empathetic support system. it sends a message to journalists that they are not only important enough to be included in the decision-making, but a priority and asset worth protecting.