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Innovation | Perspectives

Multiplatform playbook: delivering for today’s sports fans

With restaurants, bars and clubs closed, you might assume that Covid has created a surge in live TV viewing, but it has not. If you compared U.S. TV audiences in September 2020 with the previous year, all television watching was actually down 10% during prime time. This may seem counter intuitive considering that the average time spent interacting with media has shot up 17% to a whopping 12 hours, 21 minutes a day according to Nielsen’s Total Audience Report for August. However, digging into the reasons why reveals important opportunities to re-engage audiences.

There has long been a simplistic narrative that live sports viewership is declining. Yet the reality is that huge amounts of sports content is still being consumed. And that number is growing, especially in international markets.  The change is predominantly around two axes. The first is that sport is no longer “the only game in town.” It must co-exist within a much wider array of activities. The second shift is that fans are redefining what “sport” content means to them – along with how they want to consume it.

Feeding frenzy

This diversity of content is highlighted by 2020 offering up another landmark. As the year when time spent using an app and/or web via a smartphone or tablet finally overtook live and time-shifted TV. This cross-over has undoubtedly accelerated due to Covid, given increased home working, less travel, and more screen time. However, the data has been moving that way for a few years. Nielsen also points out that 25% of total TV consumption is via streaming. This includes the rise of highlights and “instant” sports news services that are the equivalent of fast food compared to the three-hour banquet of a typical NFL game. 

Highlights packages are not new but what has changed is the way in which they are delivered. The big networks have jumped onboard. Fox, ESPN, and others have now added more content available via the web. Yet the mindset for many is still around the “big game” and reporting that fits into a traditional schedule.

In a generation, Netflix transitioned from renting a million DVDs through the mail to touching 200 million monthly global subscribers. However, sports media still trails behind the curve when it comes to the model of instant access.

Bleacher gets it right

However, sports publications like Bleacher Report highlight one possible direction. The Turner owned brand has always delivered exquisite reportage but its rapid diversification into video and social has been striking.

Its “House of Highlights,” an Instagram feed offering highlight clips across several sports, now reaches over 20 million subscribers. Their viewership that has grown 150% in just two years. Highlights describes itself as “Everything you need to see in sports and youth culture.” It offers huge amounts of user generated content. And, while this content is still sports themed, it has much broader in its appeal – especially to younger audiences.

Bleacher is joined by a growing cohort of app and clip-based ways to consume sports content including CBS Sports and Fotmob – with the latter particularly good at notifications. If done well, personalized mobile app notifications, can drive customers into full game viewing as well as scores and highlights.

These brands and others recognize that it’s not all about the game. They help people get their highlights and sports fix from following athletes, teams, leagues, and media companies via social on the go. They also feed the growing sports engagement around fantasy and sports betting. However, these data points do not necessarily translate into full game viewing.

Breaking bread

The fear of cannibalizing traditional TV audiences through online offerings is still deeply ingrained in the psyche of TV executives. But instant gratification culture means that failure to offer a wider buffet of visual sport experiences will make decline inevitable.

And it’s not just creating a like-for-like facsimile. The audience expectation of TV watching versus engaging with on-demand via smartphone, embedded highlights on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, or the cacophony of social-led platforms requires producers to rethink program formats.

This raises several challenges. It starts with nurturing a new generation of creatives that are digital natives, with the ability to engage with fans of today. There’s also a need for technical retooling to simplify the production and distribution process. This enables content to be disseminated easily across multiple platforms. It needs to be done efficiently and with the controls in place to ensure that rights obligations are enforced as demanded by contract terms. Last, but no means least, is the ability to monetize multiple platforms by spreading CPM across a wider reach and unlocking far more targeted advertising models.

Innovation zone

A great example of innovation in action is NFL RedZone, an all-in-one channel that when a team reaches the 20-yard line, (i.e. the “red zone”) cuts to the local broadcast of that game. The channel also offers the option to watch any turnovers, game-changing plays and scoring plays outside of the designated area. RedZone also has an “octabox” mode with simultaneous 8 game highlights designed for fantasy football fans.

This ability to deliver “highlight packages on the fly” uses dynamic playlists. It is is part of a surge in Cloud based technologies that are leading the charge to build streaming platforms that can pivot output to match the increasingly diverse audience profile.

The long-term issue is more cultural than technical. Live sport is still a huge deal in terms of direct and ad-related revenue. Messing with a successful formula is certainly a hard call to make. However, the Bleacher report and its siblings illustrate ways to respond to a shift in audience demand. Ignoring the opportunity makes the prospect of an empty dinner table much more likely.

Industry-Research

Learning from past events to prepare for election day coverage

As the U.S. presidential election nears, it’s logical that global publishers want to understand the strategies that can encourage stronger reader engagement. Pivotal, high traffic events that truly showcase their content only come along so often.

With that in mind, we looked back at our analysis of reader engagement trends during major events — including the 2016 U.S. presidential election and Brexit vote — to see how audiences tend to interact with this type of unique content. More on our research, along with its implications for publishers, below.

Honing in on audience behaviors before, during, and after events

For the sake of this research, we wanted to put ourselves in the position of publishers for this upcoming election. More specifically, we analyzed data around three major timeframes: before, during, and after the event. These tend to offer the opportunity to reach and engage more readers.

Thinking about pre-election content strategies 

There’s no doubt that direct, search, and social traffic have a significant role to play in audience development efforts during major events. However, it’s just as important to understand when they can be most effective.

Our data suggests that the majority of referral traffic in the days leading up to an event will be coming from search, as we show below. This aligns with reader behaviors we saw during the 2016 election. Search traffic was highest leading up to and during the election. In contrast, social traffic didn’t increase until hours later, when reactions (emotions, hot takes, opinions) to the news are more likely to dominate those channels. As such, we see this as a critical opportunity to reevaluate SEO and referral linking strategies in order to maximize traffic during the event. 

How audiences seek and interact with content during events

We’ve also seen that loyal readers will likely come directly to publishers once a story breaks or more details emerge. Meanwhile, the majority of newer visitors will find coverage amid a search results page. This is where pre-election SEO efforts should pay off. It could be the difference between content being seen first or buried among other outlets’ coverage.

This is also where publishers can start to get promotional channels such as social media involved. It’s critical that all visitors, new or loyal, are made aware of a publisher’s stated differentiators during major news events. That could be a “dedication to the facts” or a local angle on the event. Publishers have the ability to gain new visitors without alienating their direct, loyal readers. 

Building trust with new and returning readers is important any time. However, now you have a chance during periods of higher-than-usual traffic. Loyal readers consume more than double the content of non-loyal readers. So, the experience you provide today will increase the likelihood they come back again.

Prioritize experimentation with different article formats. When we recently conducted research across COVID-19 related content, we found that the up-to-the-minute appeal of live blogs garnered significant reader attention. We also saw that pattern reflected in our 2019 Most Engaging Stories, where live blogs during major events such as Brexit were among the top articles.

Social media as a means of engaging readers post-event

The two previous sections highlighted search optimizations as a point of emphasis before and during the election. When it comes to post-event engagement tactics, our analysis suggests that social media offers a strong opportunity as traffic picks up again in the event aftermath.

Let’s use Brexit as an example. We analyzed multiple articles and angles that covered the same topic across Google search and Facebook. We found that the coverage and subsequent audience behaviors aligned with the reader behaviors we’ve outlined thus far.

For instance, we see that the most successful stories on Facebook tend to have an emotional, rather than informative, lens. Only a few highly emotional topics, like “Regrets and anger about results,” received significant engagement via Facebook. More factual topics such as “What happens if UK votes to leave” received much more significant engagement via Google search.

Therefore, we’ve seen the benefits of experimenting around sentiment on social media versus a singular “news you can use” strategy that works well in search. This approach can help attract new audiences in the post-event phase of election coverage.

Key takeaways: Planning for election coverage traffic increases

As publishers determine their election engagement strategy, here’s some key takeaways based on our research:

1. Optimize for search sooner rather than later

Consider posting search-friendly content before the election. This way, there’s no doubt that it will be indexed by Google or any other search engine of choice. Meanwhile, review linking strategies to ensure that content is being updated or iterated upon for the best reader journey possible.

2. Lean into coverage strengths

The election will have multiple angles. Even though our research suggests that audiences tend to gravitate towards factual pieces, it shouldn’t limit publishers to a single angle on any piece of content. Give readers the unique storytelling angles and formats they can’t get anywhere else. 

3. Get social when it counts 

Our data suggests that social media traffic will begin to gain traction as long as 12-24 hours after the event. Consider the timing and messaging of content and invest accordingly to have the greatest differentiation and impact on that referral traffic.

When preparing for the election, or any major event for that matter, we see a clear advantage to getting ahead on pre-coverage search and post-coverage social tactics based on the reader interactions we’ve seen before and after the fact. This should also give teams time and flexibility to iterate and experiment during the event, as reader behaviors can rapidly change when it comes to the diverse audiences landing on publishers’ sites.

Industry-Research

Climate change news coverage has declined. The audience for it has not.

It’s 2020, and things have gotten to the point that we may not have the bandwidth to pay attention to all the existential threats we’re facing at once.

In March, the coronavirus pandemic reached a global scale. News organizations around the world focused their coverage on the deadly outbreak and readership reached record levels. But while all this was going on, the climate change crisis continued its steady march. 

News coverage is inherently limited given the resources media organizations have to allocate. And audience attention is a finite resource. So, it’s natural to worry that focus on one crisis may reduce much-needed focus on another. 

However, the data show a more complicated story.

On a high level, U.S. media coverage of climate change has declined since March. Fewer new articles have been published and fewer articles are being read overall. Readership has not followed, however. In fact, the number of readers and amount of page views has not dropped off.

These patterns indicate that there is an opportunity. News publishers can expect higher-than-normal traffic for continued investment in climate change coverage.

(Image via Taboola Newsroom)

This chart shows data from the network of Taboola’s news publisher partners. These include thousands of news websites in the U.S. They range from those belonging to large TV networks to local newspaper chains to digitally native publications and many more. Essentially, it’s a uniquely broad representation of what U.S. news consumers are reading about on the internet.

There’s a lot happening so let’s look at the lines one-by-one.

Articles read and written

The yellow line represents the number of articles consumed by U.S. readers that week which mention “climate change.” There’s a clear drop beginning several weeks before U.S. readers fully turned their attention to coronavirus, which is the green highlighted portion of the graph beginning the week of March 9.

The likely reason articles began dropping a few weeks prior is because news organizations had already begun shifting resources to coronavirus coverage. The number of articles consumed about climate change eventually drops to around 2,000 per week. That is a level below anything we saw in the previous year.

One thing to be very clear about is that our data shows the number of articles being consumed, not the amount of new articles. The drop indicates that there are fewer new articles because news consumers tend to focus on recent updates.

We can confirm this with data from a tool built by MIT and Harvard researchers called Media Cloud. It shows the percentage of new articles per week about topics on a large selection of major U.S. news sites. Media Cloud also shows the production of articles about climate change dropped from the 1.5% – 2% range to consistently under 1% as of early March.

Coverage concerns

Before moving on, it’s worth noting that even 2% to 3% of articles likely isn’t a suitable level of coverage for something dire as climate change. Remember, this topic impacts a wide range of news topics such as public race, health, housing, income inequality, transportation, animal preservation, and much more.

(Image via Media Cloud)

In fact, hundreds of news organizations tried to address this very issue late last year when they joined together in a coordinated effort to increase climate coverage. You can see a spike in both the Taboola and Media Cloud charts in late September 2019, when the Covering Climate Now launched.

For comparison’s sake, the chart below shows what it looks like when the news media rallies its full resources to cover a topic. Significantly, more than half of the articles published—nearly 70% some weeks—mentioned coronavirus from late March until June.

Weekly readers

Returning to our original topic, let’s dig into how coronavirus affected the number of people reading about climate change.

Unlike with articles, the number of weekly readers remains relatively consistent with what we saw in the months ahead of the U.S. outbreaks.

The weekly reader count remains in the 14 million to 20 million range. It hasn’t quite reached 20 million in the past few months. But that could be seasonal as we can see the same was the case during the summer 2019 months.

These numbers align with the findings of a report published in May by researchers at Yale University and George Mason University entitled “Climate Change in the American Mind.” In the survey of Americans taken in April, the researchers found record-tying levels of acceptance that global warming is a serious problem. They also report extremely high levels of concern and interest.

As noted in a New York Times report about the research, author John Schwartz notes that this survey defies a psychological phenomenon called the “finite pool of worry.” This suggests that concern about climate change may wane amid coronavirus because people only have so much attention and energy to dedicate to crises.

Schwartz also found the research defied the expectations of other academics. University of Rhode Island environmental communications professor Sunshine Menezes commented:

“I’m excited by these findings. Taken together, the report’s findings indicate that Americans are reaching, or maybe even have reached, a turning point. They see climate change in their backyards, they recognize the unequal impacts, they increasingly recognize the urgency of adaptation measures, and they want news coverage that tackles consequences and solutions.”

Page views per week

The story for weekly page views was similar to the one for readers. The weekly totals remained relatively similar after coronavirus took over the news. We saw a range of 30 million to 50 million page views per week about climate change remain steady. If you’re an audience growth strategist for a news website, your ears should be perking up right now.

(Image via Taboola Newsroom)

With fewer articles in circulation about climate change and a consistent audience with a consistent appetite for coverage, supply and demand suggests there’s an opportunity to take advantage of the dearth of new articles.

This chart shows how the amount of page views per article mentioning climate change has increased significantly in the coronavirus era.

The founders of Covering Climate Now picked up on this trend anecdotally in a report they published in June entitled “The Climate Emergency Won’t Wait for the Press to Play Catch-up.”

“The public sees the urgency and actually wants more climate news. Even during the peak of coronavirus coverage in April, some of the world’s biggest news organizations told us that their audiences had little appetite for stories that weren’t about the virus, with one exception: climate change, which continued to generate significant traffic.”

Industry-Research

The news topics driving today’s U.S. audience attention in six categories

The news topics driving audience attention look different today than they did in March. Covid-19 affected people in just about every part of their lives. Therefore, it affected the news cycle in almost every ad category.

The initial declaration of the global pandemic sparked a dramatic increase in traffic to publisher sites across the board. That traffic boom has since waned and we’re left with different audience interests.

We wanted to know exactly what those new interests look like. To do this, we dove into readership on the Taboola network of U.S. news publishers.

Taboola’s data includes audiences at more than 1,300 U.S. news websites including national, local, and digital-native organizations. The scope of the network offers a broad view of what’s capturing people’s attention. Here’s what we found:

Coronavirus continues to dominate news in almost every news category

Across all news categories, news about the global pandemic has declined. However, it still eclipses audience attention over any other topic.

Even as traffic levels out, news about the virus is still driving more traffic than other topics by almost a billion pageviews a day. And it’s likely to stick around.

Finance, Business and Industrial, & Real Estate

As the stock market fell, news audiences interested in finance, business, and real estate rushed to learn about investment opportunities, hear advice from the experts, and purchase shares.

Money management advice and the news about the real estate market—specifically whether or not it was a good time to buy or sell a home—came in after investment topics.

Society issues

Recent protests and events related to racism and the Black community in the U.S .have led to a surge in traffic regarding social institutions, racism, and crime.

These topics previously drove traffic for news sites. However, other topics like work, dating, and the impact of the Coronavirus on our society and wellbeing had been at the forefront.

The impact of Coronavirus created a surge in traffic around May, as states began to roll out plans for re-opening, marked in red in the graph above.

Science, Computing & Technology

Even when they’re staying inside, news audiences still want to hear about the weather. They are specifically interested in major weather events like tornadoes and storm clusters.

Recent news about internet technology companies like Facebook, Twitter, and Google have also captured their attention. They triggered an entirely new surge in traffic beginning in May, as these companies grapple with how to manage political content on their platforms.

It’s also worth noting that news related to new releases of mobile phones, personal computers, and other consumer technology continues to drive traffic for publishers.

Family and Parenting, Pets, & Home and Garden

For families, Coronavirus meant educating children at home, and in some cases, taking care of them during the workday. In tandem, for many people quarantine provided an opportunity to adopt pets, leading to an increase in traffic for topics related to pet care.

Shopping, Style & Fashion

Fashion companies really had to adapt as sales dropped and strategies shifted. Audiences are focused on clothing specifically, and the impact that the global pandemic will have on those brands.

They’re also tuned in to news related to big retailers. In particular, how their businesses are faring the recession, and whether or not they have plans for re-opening.

Arts & Entertainment

People’s plans to keep busy were entirely digital. And many publisher audiences were interested in the fate of the shows and events they could no longer attend.

Around May, those topics became just as interesting as news about movies and TV shows, a big source of entertainment for people in lockdown.

It’s worth noting the two gaping holes missing from these graphs. Sports and travel news cycles were entirely interrupted as both industries ground to a halt.

While some of these trends are specific to events in the recent months, others could impact publisher news cycles long-term. Keeping a pulse on the topics that engage news readers will continue to serve news publishers in increasing both engagement and traffic with their content.

Industry-Research

Post-coronavirus content: A Chartbeat analysis of global engagement data

Reader interest in coronavirus content has begun to wane. In fact, since March 30, we’ve seen traffic to Covid-19 articles is down nearly 25%.

As Covid-19 fatigue sets in, we wondered how audiences would interact with non-coronavirus content. Therefore, we looked to past data on highly-engaging content to find insights that may help inform content strategy in our near future. 

Do readers spend more time with great content? Yes

We began by analyzing content with the Top 100 articles with the highest engagement from last year (otherwise known as our Most Engaging Stories) against articles published in 2019 with at least 10,000 pageviews*. That data was then compared to our findings on coronavirus and non-coronavirus engagement (as of April 3 of this year) to get a glimpse of what to expect from readers moving forward. Here’s what we found.

For starters, the Top 100 articles of 2019 had a much higher Average Engaged Time compared to the others we analyzed, as we see below.

We’ll narrow this finding to two hypotheses. The first is that the majority of these articles are simply longer, and therefore command more of the reader’s time. The second is that they’re actually more engaging, with audiences actively reading longer.

When we add our Engaged Time data to the mix, it suggests the latter. Readers placed a higher value on this content, or understandably, spent more time with the captivating pieces when you account for scroll and click behavior. Audiences spent an average of more than two-and-a-half minutes (141 seconds) with the Top Stories compared to an average of about 39 seconds with articles that had more than 10,000 pageviews.

Compare this to our latest data on coronavirus-related and non-coronavirus articles, which found readers spent an average of 40 seconds and 36 seconds, respectively, with articles that had far more pageviews (>800,000 since January).

Therefore, while coronavirus content has understandably drawn the world’s attention, it still doesn’t come close to the Engaged Time we saw for high quality journalism last year.

Why this matters to publishing and media organizations

Content creators will likely feel validated by these findings. In fact, some publications have made it a focus to produce fewer, yet more substantial, pieces in lieu of cranking out lightning fast content. When it comes to being a more engaging piece of content, those efforts appear to be rewarded. 

Is social media a factor in non-coronavirus engagement? We think so

We also saw that the Top 100 articles from last year have much higher proportions of referrals from search and social channels. This suggests that their offsite success contributed to their higher Engaged Minutes tally.

The data also shows that, in general, the Top 100 articles had higher search traffic as a percentage of total pageviews, as shown below.

In comparison, our long-term findings have shown that once critical information is widely known, traffic begins to decline, particularly in search. This finding was supported by our newest data on referrals to coronavirus content, as shown here:

Why this matters to publishing and media organizations

While “going viral” isn’t necessarily the goal for writers and their publishers, the popularity of the Top 100 stories with audiences from external platforms had a sustained impact on engagement. We see that organic channels (i.e. getting the eyes of multiple outlets or social media readers) was significant to the Total Engaged Minutes of these pieces. As coronavirus coverage slows down, these attributes can signal a return to the engagement norm.

Can engaging pieces attract more loyal or new readers? Our findings say yes

In our analysis of new versus loyal visitors, we found that the Top 100 have higher proportions of new visitors. The data suggests that these more engaging articles manage to transcend a site’s typical audience and draw new readers’ interest.

Why this matters to publishing and media organizations

This should also come as good news to media and publishing as they look to transition to non-coronavirus content, all while maintaining the strong traffic momentum from the past few months.

Today’s digital publishers are also as focused on retention as they are on acquisition, especially when it comes to generating reader-driven revenue. In this instance, we see an engaging story as a chance to introduce new readers to content. It also presents a better opportunity to create returning (i.e., loyal) audiences that will read more than a single article.

What to make of a post-coronavirus content world: Our takeaways

Overall, our data suggests that highly engaging stories will display certain qualities as readership (and production of) coronavirus-related content declines. Those included:

  • A higher Average Engaged Time among readers
  • Greater search and social media referral traffic
  • New visitors (a possible benefit from the aforementioned social media boost)

What does this mean for content creators trying to recreate the positive impact of an engaging piece of content moving forward?

Longform still has a place, but isn’t the only distinguishing factor for the most engaging reads. Audiences made more time for long, captivating narratives.

The Top 100 stories we analyzed were given a boost by search and social media, whether on the backs of their organizations or influential readers that elevated them. Good practices across SEO, promotion and re-promotion are key to maintaining momentum for prolonged periods.

Engaging pieces are not just for loyal readers. Content creators can use these marquee pieces to attract new visitors as well. One way to attract new audiences is by leveraging a wider set of platforms (such as mobile aggregators) where your content’s quality will  also command a high level of attention.

*A note from our Data Science team on engagement methodology:
The plot above shows the distribution of Average Engaged Times for the two groups of stories, normalized so that the total area under the distribution curve equals 1.0.  We see that about 40% of the Average Engaged Times for stories in the Top 100 group take values greater than 150 seconds, while almost none of the stories in the other group have an Average Engaged Time greater than 150 seconds.  

We can interpret this to mean that the probability a Top Story has an Average Engaged Time greater than 150 seconds is about 0.40, while the probability a story with 10K+ page views has more than 150 seconds Average Engaged Time is practically zero. If we take the average of each small bin of Average Engaged Times weighted by the probability that the Average Engaged Time falls within the range of the bin, we can get  the mean Averaged Engaged Time for each group. 
Featured Post | Innovation

Comment sections aren’t dead (yet)

Comments for news organizations’ digital publications took a blow when NPR closed its online comments section in 2016. Even before NPR’s monumental decision, other organizations including The Verge, Reuters, and Recode had also bid adieu to online comments. The feature was increasingly viewed as an incubator for name-calling, insults, and sometimes harassment. And the trend continues. In just the past year, USA Today and OregonLive added their names to the growing list of news outlets that have had enough of supervising online trolls and bots.

Comments definitely don’t always bring out the best in people. Some commenters use the shield of anonymity to share derogatory and abusive messages, communicate hate toward certain racial groups, or turn a constructive discussion into a name-calling match. And negative comments can even influence readers to have a more unfavorable view of the story itself.

Some national and regional newsrooms have employed comment moderators, but monitoring thousands of comments requires considerable labor. The task of deleting uncivil comments oy leads to emotional exhaustion for the moderators. However it turns out that deleting the litany of racist, sexist, and hompophobic comments also decreases trust in the news organization, according to a 2019 Center for Media Engagement study. While comments sections once held the promise of democratizing news discussions, that optimism seems to have backfired.

The death of comments may be exaggerated 

Is this the beginning of a slow dive into obsolescence for comment sections?

Coral helps moderators identify disruptive comments and surface the best submissions.

Not necessarily. Despite the woeful forecast from some commentators about the death of comments sections, experts who study reader engagement warn critics against hasty obituaries. The number of news organizations that have done away with comments sections do not represent the industry as a whole, says Andrew Losowsky, head of Coral by Vox Media, a system that aims to bring publishers and journalists closer to their communities. 

In fact, comments sections can bring great value that often goes overlooked. Done right, comments sections can increase reader loyalty and engagement, and even boost subscriptions. Simply deleting comments sections, Losowsky says, makes sense when those sections turn into vitriolic spaces. But he says this move can also be  “incredibly short-sighted.”

The key for news organizations is to develop a strategy. News outlets should think of their comments sections more deliberately. The need to ask questions like: What does it mean to involve people in the conversation? And, what sort of conversations do news organizations want to foster? From there, news organizations can ask pointed questions for readers to answer in the comments sections.

Managing the unmanageable

One way to make handling the volume of comments more manageable is by implementing artificial intelligence to help with the task of comment moderation. The New York Times is one outlet that actually expanded its comments section in 2017, with a machine learning technology called Moderator, which helps to moderate up to 12,000 comments a day. The technology scores each comment based on whether a human staffer might reject it based on inflammatory or inappropriate behavior. It then decides whether to keep or delete the comment based on that score.

Local news organizations, however, often lack the resources of larger sites. With revenues falling for smaller outlets, securing funding to implement a comments moderation system — much less hiring an employee specifically to moderate comments — might land quite far down the priority list.

Innovating with engagement

The State newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina has found that its Coral commenters are more engaged.

That doesn’t mean some local news sites aren’t experimenting with their own initiatives, though. The State newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, which has a daily readership of around 270,000, implemented Coral about nine months ago. The platform uses AI to detect and remove toxic comments. Commenters at The State also need to sign into and register their email addresses to Coral separately from their subscriptions. This means that Coral users tend to be more engaged.

“We still see some of the bluster and posturing that can be negative in comments. But by and large, the comments that we do get are a lot more focused on the actual story,” said Cal Lundmark, southeast audience growth editor for McClatchy.

In addition to more constructive comments, general engagement on The State’s website flourished for Coral users. Active Coral commenters read twice as many stories on The State’s website per visit compared to other subscribers.These visitors spend almost 16 minutes longer on the site per visit as well.

Interaction breeds civility

When journalists interact with commenters, they can actually encourage civility in the comments sections, according to a report from the Democracy Fund and the Engaging News Project, now known as the Center for Media Engagement. The study found that journalists who answer reader questions and participate in discussions make the tone of comments sections more constructive.

It is effective even when local reporters only have enough time to dip into the comments sections rather than engage regularly. It “creates a sort of bond between the reader and the news organization, where people feel less okay to say nasty things,” says Gina M. Masullo, associate director of the Center for Media Engagement at the University of Texas at Austin.

Reporters at The State have been doing exactly this as part of the recent initiative to re-strategize the comments section. “The time in their day when they can really just stop and say ‘I can respond to some comments’ is pretty limited,” Lundmark said. “So it does take teamwork… between the audience team and the reporters themselves.”

In addition, news organizations can benefit from highly “person-centered” messages, according to Masullo’s research at the Center. These are comments from journalists that acknowledge a commenter’s anger, but also ask the commenter to keep their language civil.

“It worked across three different experiments that we did,” Masullo said. “I think it’s because even people who are angry like when somebody validates that they have a right to be angry.”

Social media, mediated

For the news organizations that have deleted comments sections over the past few years, engaging with their audiences is far from dead. In its one year update after doing away with its comments sections, NPR’s public editor Elizabeth Jensen declared the move a success.  She cited other ways of communicating with readers such as newsletters as garnering more attention. Journalists respond to readers and listeners through social media channels like Twitter and Facebook, Jensen wrote, and discussions also remain civil in closed Facebook groups.

Plus, it makes sense to take the conversation to social media if the community already regularly engages there, says Lynn Walsh, assistant director of Trusting News.

“We have to be realistic: Are people going to log into the website to comment when they may not already be engaging there actively?” Wash said. So, maybe “we should reach people by going to where they already are instead of asking them to come to us.”

But Losowsky warns against relying too much on social media to foster discussion.

“What you’re saying is that your engagement with your most loyal and engaged users belongs to a third party that you cannot control. And that data and that relationship belongs to them,” Losowsky said. “So if you say instead we will let Facebook manage this, then Facebook owns that relationship with your readers. You do not own it, they do. And they control it.”

Positive comments

So what does the future hold for comments and will news organizations abandon comments sections while reaching out to readers on other channels? Or will they attempt to take on the challenge of molding comments sections into places for constructive feedback?

Research continues to explore how to make comments sections into constructive spaces. Maite Taboada at Simon Fraser University, for instance, is working on a system to identify constructive comments that news organizations can highlight to create civil dialogue. And innovative organizations like Hearken develop different ways to tune into to readers and commenters, in addition to making listening to communities a fundamental directive in the reporting process.

“I’m cautiously optimistic that we will make the internet a better space,” Masullo said. “It’s not going to happen overnight, and it’s gonna be a combination of human and technological solutions. But I don’t think we should just say, ‘oh you know, this is a dismal mess and there’s no hope.’ Because I really think there is.”

Featured Post | Perspectives

Audience expectations are critical in DCN’s 2020 vision

We’ve just returned from our annual summit where a couple hundred senior executives gather in a closed-door meeting to discuss the most pressing issues and exciting opportunities that we, as an industry, have before us. It was my sixth year of having the honor of setting the table to open the executive summit, after more than a dozen years listening from the audience.  

Everyone in the room is a premium publisher – with the exception of a handful of supporting sponsors, speakers, and invited guests. The attendees at the DCN Next: Summit are among the most knowledgeable people in the business of digital media anywhere. It is a daunting task to capture the proper sentiment for the direction of our industry at a gathering of such key leaders. That said, here are the main points from my kickoff remarks this year.  

This new year also marks the start of a new decade, 2020.  

2020. Yes, perfect vision. Optimal focus. As we begin this decade, I believe that DCN’s members are uniquely positioned. As a group focused on creating premium content experiences, we have never lost sight of the importance of our audiences. We’ve remained steadfast in their trust and our direct relationships. 

I see three key facets to this 2020 vision: 

First, we find ourselves rightly renewing our resolution to put the expectations of our audiences first. To meet, to exceed, their expectations. To be their trusted ally. 

Second, we’ve defeated the myth content has to be free and finally defined what it means to be premium. It simply means to have real value worth paying for whether by distributors or consumers. 

Third, given too many years of platform dominance – in which they have indiscriminately hidden the real costs to their services and vacuumed up as much consumer data as possible while, at times abusing trust – we find ourselves in the best position to align with new user expectations. To believe that data is the lifeblood of the Internet is to look past the trust and audience expectations which underpin it now, and in the future.  

Audience first 

Unlike some of those who seek to cravenly capitalize on consumer attention merely to collect data and target ads, we celebrate an unwavering focus on the wants, needs, and expectations of our audiences. The experience across platforms can be rich and elegant. But even more importantly, digital allows us to use multimedia to tell stories in ever more engaging ways, better informing the public – something that has never been more important.  

In this case bringing it altogether, I’d like to point to the brilliant Wall Street Journal report on Google’s ad tech business. It informed a public conversation and made its way not just across the industry but into meetings of regulators investigating Google – this is true impact in journalism. 

Storytelling at its best 

As technology enables us to better tell our stories, it also becomes more deeply embedded and entwined with every aspect of our audiences’ lives. The New York Times 1619 Project was one amazing example featured at a DCN Storytelling Member Day. It not only brilliantly told the story; it reexamined the legacy of slavery and made its way into other media – not just audio and video but it also found its rightful place in classrooms and libraries as educational material – this is true impact in journalism. 

Revenue revived 

The past couple of years have been particularly promising around subscription-based and other Direct-to-consumer (DTC) models. While ad vendors chase “DTC”, the latest acronym in their alphabet soup, DCN’s members have always focused on direct, trusted relationships with their audiences.  

While concerns have loomed around subscription fatigue, recent DCN research found the opposite. In fact, consumers aren’t even aware how much they are spending on subscription products. (DCN’s research shows an average of $54 per month across 4.3 products). So, it’s clear there’s room for more! And we now see that younger audiences who grew up in digital are willing to pay for satisfying experiences. The DCN research backs this up showing that they see value well beyond their cost. 

As we build our subscription-based offerings, and optimize ad experiences across platforms, we must keep these audience experiences top of mind. We serve neither our audiences, nor advertising partners, if we do any less.  

Video views 

Our members – and the industry as a whole – are seeing a hearty appetite for audio and video content. We see robust revenue around licensing of our content and IP, which also allows us to impact ever widening audiences. This is backed up by a renewed effort to preserve copyright over their art, notably including last year in the EU.  

We are also seeing true diversification in our busiess models.  

Where desktop display eroded over the past years, mobile display has offset it. And other forms of advertising including native, sponsored content and leads have helped drive growth. Video advertising, where inventory can be created, continues to carry the highest price and growth in advertising.  And arguably the most important growth of all, we’re seeing direct audience revenues grow more than 20% per year where content companies are being paid directly for their content recognizing its premium value. 

UBS estimates that a combination of 16 media firms will spend $100 billion to produce content in 2020.  In fact, it has been predicted that more than $35 billion will be spent on streaming video content alone.  And with over 60 media companies among the DCN membership, we know that the total investment will be much higher. And rightly so. Hulu has been investing in premium content for its streaming video platform. So is CBS All Access. Disney+ launched in the last few months with an absolutely gorgeous experience. Peacock will launch in April and then HBO MAX a month later. And those are only a few examples. 

Engaging experiences 

While we continue to monitor the power of platforms, their own investment in content demonstrates that information and entertainment are the lifeblood of social experiences online. And now the platforms are starting to pay for it. No DCN member is surprised that film, television, news, sports and other topics engage audiences and ignite conversation, debate, and discussion across platforms.  

Be it delivered on the big screen, small screens, smart speakers, or the myriad delivery channels in the digital content ecosystem, the work our members do forms a nexus of cultural impact. We have reached new heights of digital storytelling. And, undoubtedly our craft, the art of storytelling, will continue to surprise and delight as its evolution continues in the decade to come. 

And, while we face challenges like broad-swath and blunt keyword blacklisting masquerading as “brand safety” and the ease of data-driven scale, we also see signs that marketers too are shifting their focus to quality contexts and making genuine customer connections.  

Yes, it is “easier” to pull a series of data-driven levers and reach purportedly targeted audiences with generic messaging. However, as a growing number of consumers opt out of advertising and intro tracking prevention, savvy marketers too are reviving the art of storytelling. They have a renewed understanding of the power of delivering compelling messages in trusted, engaging, inspiring environments and an appreciation for the cost to their brand when it’s associated with experiences that abuse customers’ expectations. They see that being part of exceptional experiences creates the kind of cultural resonance and relevance that a click cannot compare to.  

Data diligence 

Don’t get me wrong. Certainly, data is a powerful tool for understanding audiences. It is also critical for storytelling and we see it leveraged in stunning executions to create vivid narratives built on numbers. 

But user expectations around data collection and use are of critical concern. With increasing consumer awareness around data practices online and looming enforcement when they’re abused, we must continue to focus in on what’s best for our audiences and only then for our marketing partners. The ability to micro-target, to force an action with a digital ad is not the same as engaging audiences around trusted content. It is not the way to build long-term customer relationships. 

Fans and friction 

It up to us to keep our customer focus razor sharp as we embark on this 2020 vision. We need to minimize complexity and reduce friction while continuing to innovate and enhance experiences for our audiences. Certainly, challenges abound including news deserts impacting local communities, anti-press rhetoric from none other than our own President which sends dangerous signals globally, and continued platform competition and unequitable marketplace control now under investigation by Congress, FTC, DOJ, states, the EU among others.  

I’m feeling good this year about where things are headed. I’m feeling really good.  And I’m thrilled at the programming lineup we assembled for our annual summit to talk about it.  

What I’ve seen in my time in digital, particularly the years I’ve been fortunate enough to spend on the team at DCN, has taught me is that we are at the forefront of something great here. We are on the frontlines of storytelling and communication. We have the power to shape minds, to touch hearts, to fill the world with laughter and tears. Here’s to 2020 bringing the roar of the crowd as we focus on what matters most: the audiences we serve. 

Marketing

From Fortnite to Jeff Goldblum, here’s how 7 publicity stunts affected readership

There’s a blackhole in the video game universe. A massive, bare chest Jeff Goldblum is lounging on a London lawn near a bridge. And the golden arches have inverted.

Surely some sort of revelation is at hand!

Oh no wait: It’s just brands going viral.

Inspired by Fortnite’s bold strategy of taking the massively popular game offline for nearly two days to tee up the release of a new virtual world, we decided to investigate several so-called “publicity stunts” to see which ones were the most impactful in generating reader engagement.

To do this, we checked how these campaigns impacted readership about the companies on the Taboola network of news publishers. We’ve seen that successful marketing can often generate significant news coverage and create a viral effect.

Taboola’s data include readership of more than 1,300 US news websites including national, local, and digital-native organizations. The scope of the network offers a broad view of what’s capturing people’s attention.

With that in mind, let’s see which stunts sparked the biggest spikes.

The Fortnite black hole

Fortnite has become one of the rare titles of this generation to transcend gaming to become a cultural phenomenon. Its player base has expanded into the hundreds of millions over the past two years.

Naturally, people totally freaked out when the game’s universe was sucked into a black hole leaving behind only a dark screen and a cryptic string of numbers.

As described by Kotaku’s Riley MacLeod:

“It then, to the internet’s collective shock, stayed that way. Confused players joined forces to decode mysterious numbers, play a hidden minigame, entertain themselves with speculation, and spend more than 35 hours staring at what basically amounts to a screensaver.”

It didn’t take long for people to realize that this was the game’s way of teasing the beginning of a new season and the introduction of a new world for players to shoot to control.

In the meantime, millions of people read news articles about the phenomenon. We saw readership spike more than 10x above its daily average.

International house of what now?

Who doesn’t love IHOP? The food is decadent. The blue roof is iconic. And “Rooty Tooty Fresh ‘N Fruity” is honestly one of the all-time great names for a menu item.

You could invert three of the letters in IHOP and not a thing would change. But when the company inverted that fourth letter, a great mystery ensued.

After several days of anticipation, “IHOb” revealed the b stands for burgers because, yes, they also serve burgers. A month later, IHOP admitted the supposed name change was a gimmick all along.

Readers seemed to find the gag palatable. Traffic spiked like an 8-year-old’s energy level after eating IHOP pancakes with blueberry syrup.

WcDonald’s

IHOP isn’t the only food chain to cause a stir by inverting its branding. A McDonald’s in California flipped the golden arches in honor of International Women’s Day and the company changed its logo on its social media channels to match.

McDonald’s said this gesture was meant to recognize “the extraordinary accomplishments of women everywhere and especially in our restaurants.”

(Credit: McDonald’s)

We saw increased readership about McDonald’s related to this move. But it was not necessarily a triumph of publicity. The gesture received harsh backlash as people criticized the company for the wages it pays its workers.

Payless pranks influencers

Fashion influencers flocked to Palessi’s popup shop in Santa Monica, California, to sip champagne and try on shoes listed for up to $1,800. The line to get in extended well out the door. Photos were posted to Instagram.

No one suspected the supposed luxury kicks normally sell for as low as $20 until discount retailer Payless ShoeSource revealed it was behind the entire production.

Well played, Payless.

The farce earned a big bump in readership for the company. Unfortunately, the spike was overshadowed a few months later by the news that Payless was imminently closing all of its US locations.

Tesla boldly goes

Here’s one only Tesla could pull off.

Yes, that’s a Tesla Roadster in outer space.

The electric car company was able to pull off this extraterrestrial feat because of its association with SpaceX (since Elon Musk founded both companies).

So when SpaceX needed to show off the capabilities of its Falcon Heavy rocket during a 2018 launch, it brought along the Tesla as the payload to add some extra flare to the event.

How epic was this stunt? Business Insider’s Mark Matousek wrote, “Tesla created the world’s best car commercial without spending a dime on advertising.”

Both companies saw significant bumps in readership around this event.

Pizza and potholes

Most of us likely have experienced the utter disappointment of receiving a pizza from a delivery person, only to open the box and see a pie that looks like it’s reached us via a carnival ride.

Domino’s created its “Paving for Pizza” campaign aimed, perhaps symbolically, to address this issue by fixing potholes in towns across the US. In theory, this would create a smoother ride for their delivery people.

A road condition meter on the website promoting the campaign shows the supposed carnage various degrees of road disrepair wreak on pizza.

(Credit: Domino’s Pizza)

Domino’s even put its own branding on repaired roadways to make sure citizens knew who was responsible for the fix.

(Credit: Domino’s Pizza)

This campaign did not see the same type of traffic spike as the others. When it launched in June 2018, there were a number of stories that caused a small bump in activity as indicated by the red arrow in the chart below.

It’s possible this campaign had more of a slow burn effect though. It seemed to create increasing buzz at the local level as it expanded to new towns.

And despite the lack of readership at launch, there were a number of positives. PRWeek highlighted the campaign’s success on social media. It also covered the sheer number of requests the company received from towns that wanted to be part of the program, which included over 15,000 zip codes.

Sex sells, but at what cost?

Your scientists marketers were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.

If the advertising maxim “sex sells” is true, then this one might be the new gold(blum) standard. See for yourself.

The British streaming platform Now TV was behind this monumental stunt.

Unlike the other companies we’ve discussed so far, we didn’t actually see a spike for now Now TV when measuring readership in the UK. Taboola’s semantic AI looks for terms in headlines and the first few paragraphs of a story to categorize them into topics. Since Jeff Goldblum is such a big star, most of the story headlines about the statue gave him top billing and mentioned that it was organized by Now TV deeper in the stories.

With this in mind, we also looked at news stories about Jeff Goldblum and did find a bump in readership when the statue first appeared. As you can see below, it wasn’t the biggest Jeff Goldblum news of the past two years. That honor went to the revelation that Goldblum, Laura Dern and Sam Neill would all appear in the next “Jurassic World.”

The competition is fierce for the attention of readers and customers.

The stunts that not only successfully garnered “earned” media for brands but also significant audiences for those media sites can be categorized into three themes: providing a public service or pushing for social good (Domino’s/McDonalds), generating intrigue (Fortnite/IHOP/Payless), or creating a spectacle (Tesla/NowTV).

The successful stunts for brands were the ones that best aligned with their public image. A lighthearted brand like IHOP with playfully named menu items can get away with shenanigans if it’s all in good fun. While Tesla and SpaceX, both known for being on the cutting-edge of technology, took those reputations to the next level with the space car stunt.

Journalists have the important responsibility of giving readers context about these stunts and holding brands accountable when their plays for attention miss the mark. However, when done right, these stunts not only deliver significant PR, they drive interest and traffic for media companies as well. 

Note: Taboola’s news publisher partners have access to data on trending topics in the Topic Insights part of Newsroom, a real-time audience analytics platform. There’s also a publicly available version of Topic  Insights on the Taboola Trends page.

Taboola is always looking for interesting ways to use data to help bring context to how news readers are interacting with real-world events such as measuring which presidential candidates are getting the most attention and measuring the huge impact of a coordinated media effort to increase climate change coverage. Please DM @franberkman on Twitter if you’re doing any research or reporting that you think this type of data could help support.
Innovation | Perspectives

Mobile apps are making a comeback and publishers better be ready

The mobile app ecosystem will turn 11 years old this summer, and it has evolved into one of the largest industries globally with forecasted revenues of almost $190 billion. There are now millions of apps in both the Apple App Store and Google Play. And they account for over half of digital media usage and time spent in the US. We are obviously in a mobile-first world – at Teads, mobile traffic represents over 70% of our publishers’ traffic worldwide.

However, we find that many publishers continue to focus investment on web while either treating their existing apps as side projects or not developing an app presence at all. Given the rapid shift in consumer media consumption and shift in the publisher landscape, combined with digital dominance by the “duopoly” (and soon triopoly), the time is now for publishers to prioritize their mobile app presence.

Increasing consumption and engagement

Consumers not only spend the majority of their time on mobile in apps, but the average number of apps used continues to increase (by 15% in 2018) to ~35 apps per US smartphone user. Mobile app users are also more attractive audiences given their high engagement rates in app as opposed to mobile web.

The Daily Beast recently confirmed this trend, noting that their app users average 3x more pages per session than their mobile web users. Bleacher Report is a prime example of a publisher whose audience is primarily in-app vs. mobile web – with its users averaging 5 minutes per day in the app. More and more editorial publishers are now appearing among top apps, as names such as The New York Times, CNN, Bleacher Report, The Washington Post, BBC News, and USA Today, among others, continually rank in the top 500 apps in the US (per comScore, July 2018).

Mobile apps > mobile web

The mobile app user experience (and native apps in particular) is superior to mobile web for both content and advertising, which is probably a core driver of consumer engagement in-app. Native apps are typically faster, lighter, more interactive, and can often allow offline content browsing. They’re also easier to access for consumers, especially if apps are loaded on to the home screen of a smartphone.

These benefits extend to ad experiences in-app as well, where advertising growth continues to explode and expected to reach $77 billion in the US this year. Mobile app ads have evolved beyond just traditional display and rewarded videos, which are typically fueled by app-install spending.

The market has evolved to include video, outstream, and native formats, many of which provide more innovative and interactive experiences then web since these ads can tap into the native features of smartphones (i.e., Bluetooth, GPS, gyroscope, camera, compass, etc.).

Measurement is also greatly improved with the IAB’s Open Measurement SDK, which facilitates 3rd-party viewability and verification measurement in-app, and this is poised to further accelerate mobile app ad spending. In addition, mobile apps are relatively immune to ad blocking which is pervasive in web environments.

Better personalized ads

Mobile app inventory for publishers could become an even more critical component of a wholistic digital ad strategy as industry concerns around data privacy escalate and tech giants clamp down on tracking and personalization in browser environments. Apple’s ITP (Intelligent Tracking Prevention) in Safari and Mozilla’s Firefox browsers have placed significant limitations on cookie usage and hence programmatic ads on mobile web. And Google is rumored to be evaluating similar restrictions in Chrome, which would then effect the majority share of mobile web browsers.

Mobile apps represent both a hedge against these limitations and a superior environment for personalized advertising. In-app ad targeting can leverage Device IDs, which are tied to specific users rather than browsers, as well as more accurate location (GPS) and detailed demographic/behavioral data (particularly if the app requires registration).

Revenue diversification

Ultimately, mobile apps provide a new path for publishers to diversify their revenue streams. Not only do apps provide more opportunities for advertising, but also a channel for subscriptions, in-app purchases, e-commerce, etc. In-app subscriptions actually fueled growth in consumer spending in non-gaming apps by 120% since 2016. App stores also provide an easy way for engaged audiences (which are generally more prevalent in-app than web) to subscribe and make payments for transactions.

It’s time for publishers to start investing in mobile apps, which should no longer be an after-thought. While mobile app development and maintenance is not an easy task for many publishers, it should be considered an integral part of long-term digital strategy and a major growth driver. A successful transition of web users to app users can result in significant increases in loyalty and engagement, leading to new revenue opportunities while defending publishers against threats in a rapidly changing digital landscape. Mobile apps are no longer just a game (pun intended).

Industry-Research

Community connection drives local news engagement, though support lags

Financially, it’s not the best of times for many local news companies in the U.S. Revenue losses continue as local publishers’ transition to digital platforms. While financial sustainability remains in question, overall findings from the new Pew Research Center survey show that consumers are engaged with local news. The favorite go-to for local news is TV (41%) with online access following closely behind (37%). About one in ten prefer a printed newspaper (13%) or radio (8%) for their local news.

Unfortunately, despite their reliance on local news, Pew’s research also reveals that consumers are not aware their financial woes. Seventy-one percent of U.S. adults think that their local news media is doing very or somewhat well. Yet only 14% directly pay a local news source either through subscription, donation or membership.

Digital access

Going online for local news is a common practice for nearly all Americans. A full 89% get some of their local news digitally. This breaks down almost equally between those accessing websites and apps (26%) and social media (25%) I

Mobile is a big driver of reading local news online. Just over half (51%) of those surveyed consume local news on mobile devices, 27% on desktop/laptop, and 19% use both mobile and desktop. News alerts also factor highly into usage. Forty-two percent of consumers consume local news alerts on their mobile phones.

Community focus

Local news plays an important role in the community. Eighty-five percent report that it is important (very/somewhat) for local journalists to understand the history of the community. Eighty-one percent think it’s important (very/somewhat) for local journalists to be personally engaged in the community.

In all, almost two-thirds of consumers (63%) report that local journalists are in touch with their community. However, far fewer (37%) feel that local journalists are influential in the community. Not surprisingly, people who view their local journalists as connected to the area give their local news media higher ratings than those who do not.

The survey shows a key function of local journalism is to provide news to help local residents navigate their daily lives. Top news topics important to daily live include weather (70%), crime (44%), traffic (41%) and news about changing prices (37%).

Strong performance

The majority of consumers report that their local media is doing well on the job. Seventy-one percent say local media is reporting the news accurately, providing “news that you use daily” (67%), “keeping an eye on local political leaders” (66%), and “reporting news thoroughly” (65%).

Local news often tells the inside stories of communities. It plays a unique role ensuring news is relevant for a local audience. Importantly, innovation is in the works for local digital news. A number of industry initiatives are underway. Google recently announced their Local Experiments Project, a new partnership with McClatchy to fund the creation of three local digital-only, multi-platform publications. Facebook is also investing $300 million in journalism projects including a non-profit venture that focuses exclusively on local reporting. In each of these initiatives, publishers are part of the digital transformation of local news to ensure the presence of community engagement.

Perspectives

5 ways non-traditional publishers connect with audiences

The digital media industry is not exactly heading into 2019 with unbridled optimism. However, with great challenge comes a sense of clarity and focus. And we have to hope that it’s finally registered that building a media company on Facebook traffic alone won’t sustain another year. An actual connection with the audience will make or break media companies going forward. As Brian Morrissey from Digiday put it: “Among the biggest lies publishers have told in the past few years, “We don’t buy traffic” ranks rather high.” Without a doubt, consumer engagement needs to top publisher strategies for 2019. 

Where to look for inspiration? A whole crop of brand publishers—admittedly free from the constraints of CPMs and programmatic ad-tech headaches (often with ex-journalists at the helm)—find ways to focus on building impressive audiences who contribute to revenue, without subscriptions. Imagine such a world! Maybe the traditional publishing world can learn something from these marketers (and one pretty radical publisher) when it comes to connecting with an audience.

Here are five big ideas to focus on in 2019:

1. Harvard: Get specific about your intended audiences—plural.

Resist the impulse to paint with a broad brush.

“When it comes to targeting, we start by asking that question upfront—Who’s the primary audience and the secondary audience?” said Mike Petroff, Director of Content Strategy at Harvard University. “The audience affects what we’re writing and how we’re evaluating and measuring. If the content is not hitting the right audience, it’s not successful.”

Petroff also distinguishes between audiences for specific channels. “With The Daily Gazette newsletter, we know the audience, we can understand the type of news a student needs vs. alumni or staff,” Petroff said. By understanding the nuances of the newsletter audience and their behavior, Petroff’s team can better serve all their readers. “We’re able to say, ‘Wow, this story really resonated with this audience but not at all with other audiences.’ We can give that info to certain editors about intent and what they can learn for future stories.”

2. Billy Penn: Ask your audience questions and listen to their feedback.

Okay, Spirited Media is clearly a publisher through and through. However,  they’ve taken such a radical approach to local news, that their advice gets included in this list. Data and market research are important for understanding audience behavior, but so is getting feedback directly from real people.

Danya Henninger, Editor at Philadelphia local news site Billy Penn, wondered if she should change the structure of their daily newsletter. “Our sister websites, in Denver (Denverite) and in Pittsburgh (The Incline)—they both start their newsletters with a personal note and then get to the news,” Henninger said.

Should Billy Penn follow suit? She brought the question to her readers: “At one point I asked, in our morning newsletter. I said, ‘Hey, how about if we do this note up here.’ And got several replies, ‘Please don’t do that.’” Henninger learned that her readers valued the format of the newsletter as it was, a brief recap of their news for the day.

3. Delta Sky: Create and empower quality content.

It pains me that this advice still needs to be shared but even in 2018. But let’s face it, quality isn’t something we can take for granted when it comes to content.

We asked Sarah Elbert, editor-in-chief at Delta Sky magazine, what constitutes quality. She replied, “Stories that don’t underestimate their readers.” And it’s working for her team: Sky’s readership among 22- to 44-year-olds has grown 32% in the past year and they’ve found that people are spending more time with the magazine.

Specifically, “it’s about finding the most alluring places to visit and bringing new elements of these destinations to life—whether it’s an adventure angle in Iceland or an urban tour of Seoul. And finding people who are just doing really cool, innovative things.” More generally, quality content includes the “kinds of stories that make the reader want to find out more. It’s about stoking their curiosity and engagement with the world.”

Creating stories that don’t underestimate readers also means trusting your writers. As Elbert said, “We allow our writers to have their own voice and we don’t dumb-down the content.”

4. BarkBox: Create an environment that people want to be a part of.

“Our philosophy as a company has always been that we’re not the party promoters—we are the DJs at the party,” said Stacie Grissom, Head of Content at BarkBox. “We’re responsible for creating the atmosphere that makes customers want to participate in the peripheral conversations rooted around our product.”

“We try to create content that sticks to your bones a bit more than just social memes and social videos,” Grissom said. “Our goal for BarkBox is to create a really entertaining experience.”

To that end, not only does Grissom have writers and social media people on her team, she also has comedians. The Bark approach is a marriage of data-driven decision-making and sheer creativity. “We tend to pursue a lot of things by thinking, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if?’”

5. eMarketer: Don’t make your content frustrating on mobile.

Mobile is driving growth in time spent with digital media, according to data from eMarketer. An audience-first content strategy should also connect users with content that meets their mindset across devices, including when they’re on their phones. Often, that mindset is killing time in small increments.

Nicole Perrin, Senior Analyst at eMarketer, noted that content creators need to be “respectful of the user’s attention when [they] only have five minutes to look at [their] phone.” Ensure that experiences aren’t interruptive on mobile devices.

“As a user, I often get very frustrated consuming content, whether it’s on desktop, laptop, or phone, by how interruptive the experience can be with advertising,” Perrin said. She also urged creators to be smart about recognizing subscribers across devices. Removing friction from the user experience whenever possible can help you deliver value to prospective users and current users alike.

Big ideas for 2019

To make it out of 2019, and beyond, business as usual will not be business as usual. Big bets will have to be placed, and bold moves will have to be made. Making sure you’re constantly exploring strategies and tactics that make an audience want to connect with you is the best way to go on the offense, instead of spending your time playing defense against a constantly shifting market.

Here’s to learning from unexpected sources and trying new things in the new year.

Industry-Research | Revenue

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

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.

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