Trying to compete in the advertising market with Google is a bit like trying to play poker with someone who not only knows all the cards in everyone’s hands but also gets to set the rules, deal the cards, call the bets, and take a significant cut of the winnings.
It’s hard to believe it’s been almost 10 years since we sounded the alarm at DCN. As you likely know, DCN was purpose built to advance the future for premium publishers who trust us to understand and advocate for high-quality news and entertainment.
Back then in 2014, as the digital advertising industry was booming – often growing by 15-20% per year – we noticed something disturbing. Almost all of the incremental revenue growth was being captured by just two companies: Google and Facebook. And it wasn’t just because they were simply competing better in the advertising business – it was due to unprecedented access to data, what many now rightly call surveillance advertising.
And that brings us to why we’re here today: the adtech antitrust case, United States vs. Google. Why are we so focused on this case? Because it is monumental. This case is laser-focused on Google’s dominance over the entire advertising supply chain which funds most of its operations, particularly through the software and data that fuel this real-time, live auction marketplace…
According to Samba TV’s new report on viewership for the first half of 2024, over-the-top (OTT) consumption grew by 40% year-over-year, highlighting the rising demand for on-demand content. However, as audiences shift from linear TV, offering streaming video-on-demand (SVOD), ad-supported options are increasingly vital for capturing and retaining viewers.
Meanwhile, linear TV continues its decline, with a 1% drop in year-over-year consumption and a 2% decrease in average daily reach. As the traditional linear TV audience ages, OTT services are starting to dominate the market. And, as the options and pricing models for SVOD proliferate, streamers are experimenting with a number of marketing methods to stand out.
Growth of ad-supported streaming and FAST channels
During the first six months of 2024, more than half of new SVOD sign-ups were driven by ad-supported options, indicating that consumers are increasingly willing to watch ads in exchange for lower subscription fees. Further, 33% of U.S. streamers now watch content on FAST channels. For advertisers, this shift presents ample opportunities to reach cord-cutters and engage with audiences in a more targeted manner.
As competition intensifies among streaming platforms, effective marketing is becoming more crucial than ever. Many streamers are ramping up their advertising efforts in response, with billions of promotional campaign impressions across linear and OTT channels. Paramount+ and Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max leverage their built-in linear presences to boost visibility.
Churn challenges
Churn is a relevant concern despite the consistent addition of subscribers to SVOD platforms. Samba TV cites Antenna data showing that the number of cancellations is rising to the point where the net additions dropped by over 3 million year-over-year. This high churn reflects a broader trend of “subscription cycling,” where users frequently switch between services to access specific content.
While nearly every household in the U.S. streams content, 44% watch only one or two platforms within six months. This highlights the challenge for streamers: keeping viewers engaged long enough to deter them from canceling their subscriptions. Streamers must optimize their release schedules, promote loyalty through bundling, and emphasize innovative content, such as live events, to combat churn. Importantly, content remains the primary driver behind subscription cycling, as viewers often return to previously abandoned platforms for highly anticipated new shows.
Streamers increasingly leverage bundling, which provides added value to subscribers. The report notes additional Antenna data revealing that users who subscribe to bundles like the Disney Bundle and Apple One (bundles up to six Apple subscriptions for one lower monthly price) are less likely to cancel their subscriptions than those subscribed to individual services. For example, Apple TV+ had a churn rate of just under 9% in March 2024, while Apple One’s churn rate was less than 4%.
Promoting content across a bundled portfolio helps reduce the risk of audiences churning after finishing a single show. Offering diverse content across multiple services can help prevent subscribers from canceling their subscriptions.
Viewer preferences for SVOD
Viewer preferences continue to evolve in the streaming era, with binge-watching becoming increasingly common. Data from Samba TV shows that audiences are more likely to binge-watch docuseries and crime shows when given the option. These genres drive binge rates by over 60%. In contrast, data shows that comedies and dramas are less likely to be binged.
Interestingly, binge-watching is more prevalent among diverse households and in warmer climates. Cities like Houston, Orlando, and Phoenix show higher binge rates than cooler coastal regions. Additionally, Black and Hispanic households exhibit a stronger tendency to binge-watch than white or Asian households.
Linear TV continues to serve a niche audience, particularly for live sports and news, but the growing preference for streaming platforms is undeniable. SVOD platforms, including those with ad-supported models, that effectively engage viewers by offering compelling content and value through strategic bundling are well-positioned to lead the rapidly evolving TV industry.
September 9, 2024 marks the start of the antitrust trial United States v. Google. This follows closely on the heels of the landmark antitrust case in which S District Court Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Google “is a monopolist and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly.”.
In this antitrust case, Google is accused of illegally monopolizing the $700B+ digital advertising industry by virtue of owning the dominant service for advertisers buying ads, the dominant service for publishers selling ads and the dominant exchange where bids are awarded. As the evidence will show, Google has systematically abused its dominant position through acquisitions and anticompetitive behavior to protect its monopoly, suppress competition and maintain their unique ability to collect a treasure trove of data about consumers. As a result, Google exerts outsized control over where revenue flows with dire impacts on journalism. The Department of Justice is rightly seeking to break up this monopoly in order to increase competition and innovation for advertisers, publishers and consumers.
We’ve partnered with other industry organizations to create a site that offers a wide range of resources to provide background on the case itself as well as regular trial updates. We also created an informational video in an effort to provide clarity and transparency in the digital advertising marketplace (in support of the AMERICA Act), which illustrates and explain some of the complexities in the digital advertising ecosystem that will be central to this trial.
Hear insights about the trial, what’s at stake, and what possible outcomes look like from DCN CEO, Jason Kint:
Commerce data unlocks rich insights into consumer behavior, preferences, and purchase patterns, meaning brands can now craft programmatic strategies with more precision than ever before. The integration of commerce data with programmatic represents a new inflection point for digital advertising, arming brands with a competitive advantage that drives more personalized campaigns and better results. For media companies, this means partnering with the right DSP so that you can access and leverage these data signals to help your advertising partners reach their goals.
Why traditional data providers are falling behind
The first question you might be asking is: Why does the industry need commerce data at all? Don’t we already have plenty of data providers in market right now?
In short, yes. But not all data is created equal.
Traditional data providers have historically faced significant challenges which, over time, have undermined the quality and effectiveness of their insights.
Incomplete data. Modeled data often leans on partial information, leading to inaccurate insights.
Outdated data. In fast-changing markets, stale data can lead to ineffective targeting.
Data silos. Data often lives in silos, making it hard to create a cohesive model that works across platforms.
Algorithmic bias and transparency
Biases in data. If the data used to build models is biased, it can lead to skewed targeting that reinforces biases.
Discrimination. There’s a risk of unintentionally excluding or targeting specific groups, leading to unfair practices.
Transparency. A lack of transparency around how models operate can erode trust from consumers and regulators.
Introducing commerce data—a new approach to data-drive marketing
In today’s digital world, commerce is everywhere.
Shoppers generate a wealth of information at every touchpoint, from their first product search to their final purchase. This rich data reveals not just what people buy but how and why they make decisions.
Commerce data combines consented purchase and intent signals, built on real-world consumer behaviors. It covers everything from demographics and location to product views, last purchases, offline sales, and ad clicks. Layer in some AI, and patterns begin to emerge which can supercharge audience targeting and ad strategies.
In the context of programmatic, commerce data is made up of various events and signals based on consumer behavior, including:
Product views and cart additions
Purchases and ad clicks
Contextual data like URLs, categories, and keywords
Product details like categories, SKUs, prices, and descriptions
Identifiers like hashed emails and visitor IDs
Offline sales
Putting commerce data to work
When combined with commerce-focused AI, commerce data powers some of the most effective advertising strategies for today’s modern marketer. That includes:
Identifying in-market consumers: Knowing who’s ready to buy and the best time and place to reach them.
Product recommendations: Suggesting products and bidding based on the value-to-cost ratio of each impression.
Audience building: Creating lookalike audiences to find new prospects and zero in on people actively shopping for specific products.
How to get the most out of commerce data
When you’re evaluating a commerce data provider, asking the right questions is essential to getting the best results. You’ll want to dig into a few key areas to make sure you’re making the right choice.
First, consider data collection and sources. It’s important to understand where the provider’s data comes from and how it’s gathered. Is it collected directly, such as onsite, or inferred through modeling? Knowing this helps gauge the reliability of the data you’re working with.
Next, think about data quality and accuracy. You’ll want to ask how they ensure their data is accurate and complete. Are they refreshing it in real-time, daily, or on another schedule? Consistency here can make or break the effectiveness of your campaigns.
Then, there’s data segmentation and customization. How is the data broken down, and what criteria are used for segmentation? Can the provider integrate data across multiple devices and channels? Flexibility here can be a big win when you’re targeting your audience across platforms.
Of course, data privacy and security is the cornerstone of any digital activation. You need to know how your provider protects the data they handle. Is personal data anonymized or pseudonymized, and can they offer you transparency into how they’re collecting and processing that data?
Time to leverage the commerce data opportunity
There’s no doubt that commerce data presents a huge opportunity for brands to enhance targeting, personalize messages, and drive better results. By working with the right DSP, you can quickly and effectively leverage these new data signals in order to help your advertising partners more effectively achieve their objectives.
As more and more media companies and brands hop into the podcasting space, they’re turning to tried-and-true tactics to launch new shows. But podcasts live within a unique ecosystem, and podcast listeners themselves have distinct habits when it comes to consuming audio content.
If you’re planning to launch a podcast, there are five key marketing and audience development strategies you need to be thinking of, according to Christy Mirabal, an independent podcast marketing executive. She’s spent more than a decade building audiences for audio power players like Sirius XM, Sony’s Global Podcast Division, Stitcher, and HarperAudio. Here, she shares her five tips for success in podcast marketing.
1. Get to know your listener
“You can’t really build a marketing strategy without first knowing who you are building your podcast for,” says Mirabal. “If I had a nickel for every time somebody was like, ‘Well, this podcast is for everybody,’ I’d be rich. Because that’s not true – you know, no movie is for everybody – and that’s true for podcasts, too.”
Many podcasts are hyper-focused on a topic, so they attract specific, niche audiences. And people who market audio content need to think about how to specifically connect with that niche.
“For example, if you’re making a music podcast that’s trying to reach someone in their mid-to-late ‘30s, you’re not gonna reach them on TikTok, But you might reach them at a music festival, right?” she says.
Connecting with your target audience way before launching — whether in person or through online surveys – will help a media company find out if the people they’d like to target would actually want to listen to the program they’re cooking up. Knowing why the listener wants to consume a podcast will then inform how it’s marketed when it comes time to launch.
2. Ask: What is your podcast’s end goal?
When setting key performance indicators (KPIs) for a podcast marketing plan, Mirabal recommends backing up and asking a key question: What is your company’s end goal with a podcast? That will “help establish your north star metrics,” she says.
A media company may launch a podcast with the hopes of monetizing a series through paid advertising. If that’s the case, the end goal is likely clear cut: Grow a scalable audience that’s attractive to advertisers.
“But for a lot of brands, that’s not necessarily the end goal,” Mirabal says. “Maybe they’re looking to extend their brand and get it in front of a different audience. Maybe it’s just somebody’s passion project — like someone in the c-suite really believes in something and they want to do a podcast to get the word out there. And so the KPIs that you develop, if you are making a passion project, that’s gonna be a completely different path and a different set of KPIs than if you’re trying to monetize your work.”
Setting clear goals as a team from the jump will help determine the answers to key questions: Should we have a paid marketing and audience acquisition budget? Should our strategy be focused on organic growth? Do we need to set an audience bar to sell to advertisers?
3. Bring your entire company on board
As you begin to plan your podcast’s launch date, it’s crucial to make sure there’s cross department collaboration within your organization to make sure the show’s roll out is a success.
“Map out all of your own channels where you might promote the podcast to your audience,” Mirabal says. “With bigger media companies, sometimes these channels can be very matrixed.”
Coordinate with the team who owns newsletters, those who run a site’s content operation, and the groups who steer social.
“Somebody who owns a newsletter channel might need completely different assets and different collateral than someone managing a homepage,” Mirabal says.
Bringing in the art department to work with each vertical is also key. Even though podcasting is often an audiomedium, launching and promoting a show requires engaging visual imagery.
When a potential listener is searching for a podcast to listen to, they’ll come across your show’s visual identity first.
“If you’re making a show about shoes, there are probably a decent number of podcasts that also have shoe content,” Mirabal says. “So if people search ‘shoe podcast,’ and your art is not jumping off the page, people are just not ‘gonna click on it, and you’re never going to get the chance for that listen to happen.”
4. Establish a multi-channel storytelling plan
When bringing on a podcast editorial team, it’s important to communicate early on that part of their role will be to capture content that will go beyond the podcast product itself.
If the creative team shepherding the podcast is not thinking about promotional assets while they’re conducting interviews or recordings, a marketing team may be at a loss months down the line when it comes time to launch.
“A producer would tell me about this amazing interview that they had six months ago,” Mirabal says. “And I’m like, ‘Did you get anything from it — did you get any images or did you get any video?’ And they’re like, ‘No.’ And I always ask why, because I could totally do something with that. If you’re not thinking about the promotional assets while you’re actually making the podcast, it’s such a missed opportunity for fun things that your marketing team can really utilize.”
Have your podcast production team meet with your marketing and social departments when they begin to create a new show. Ahead of interviews, reporting trips, or in-studio recordings, have the creative team share their editorial plans, and discuss what assets can be created for engaging behind-the-scenes content.
5. Work with platform partners
The vast majority of podcast listeners don’t consume content on a media company or brand’s website, They’re doing it through audio apps like Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or video-based social media platforms, like YouTube.
“So digital service providers — like the Apples and Spotifys of the world — it’s important to work with them because you are getting in front of an audience that’s already listening to podcasting,” Mirabal says. “They’re looking for something to listen to. You’ve got a captive audience and more importantly, you’re preaching to the choir — they’re already listening to podcasting. You don’t even have to talk ’em into the medium.”
Mirabal says it’s important to coordinate with audio platforms on your launch strategy because they can prominently feature your podcast to hungry listeners.
“It’s a very useful way to get in front of an audience that’s literally searching for what to listen to,” she says.
Coordinating with a platform should be done months before launch – they may require special visual assets to feature your show.
“Apple Podcasts, for example, they’re looking for something that is like on par with [the type of marketing] you would find on like the movies or TV side of the Apple ecosystem — they want it cinematic, they want it lush, they want it to really stand out on the page so it can call people to listen,” Mirabal says. “You can’t just have one asset like the show art to try and tell that story.”
Today’s employees are focused on more than just a steady paycheck. To improve their work-life balance, many media professionals seek flexibility when it comes to hours and work shifts – including the option of four-day workweeks, hybrid shifts, and remote work. In fact, research finds that 42% of office workers would take a 10% pay cut to have the flexibility to work from home. But flexibility is not necessarily a fully-remote work schedule.
New research that looks at the preferences of advertising industry professionals finds that they prefer hybrid work over fully remote or fully on-site scenarios. This stated preference spans demographics, tenure levels, and company size.
However, more would prefer to work completely from outside the office than are currently doing so, and there is a greater gap between current and preferred work scenarios among mid-career professionals, employees of local/regional media agencies, and those who identify as Black, Latino, and/or LGBTQ+. These preferences are revealed in the Myers Report 2024 Survey of Advertising Industry Professionals, based on a recent survey of 3,462 advertising professionals. The gap between current and preferred work scenarios offers insight to media leaders interested in attracting and retaining diverse talent.
Currently, most advertising professionals are engaged in hybrid work:
74% work in hybrid situations.
25% work entirely remotely.
1% of survey respondents work fully on-site.
Of the 25% who work fully remotely, a third are older professionals, 55 and up, whereas only one fifth of younger employees18 to 34 do. More than a third of all employees surveyed would prefer fully remote work.
64% prefer hybrid work.
34% prefer fully remote work.
The survey found small companies with 1-99 employees more likely to offer fully remote work as an option. Currently, 31% of those employed by small companies work entirely from outside the office, compared with just over 20% of employees at companies with 100-999 employees, and about 24% of those at companies with 20K+ employees. The discrepancy between employees who would prefer to work remotely and those currently doing so was lowest among the smallest companies.
Mind the gap!
Currently only 20% of Black advertising professionals work fully remotely. However, almost twice that amount (39%) would prefer to do so. There are also more Latino (37%) and LGBTQ+ (35%) employees who would prefer to work fully remotely as an ideal scenario. These findings are relevant to leaders responsible for DEI and HR, both as indicative of the need to cultivate more inclusive and supportive work environments, and as keys towards developing and maintaining a diverse workforce.
Mid-career professionals with 8-14 years in the industry are also more likely to prefer fully remote work (39%) than new employees or those with over 15 years of experience. Under 30% of employees with two or less years of experience prefer remote work, suggesting that early career professionals may look to on-site collaboration and interaction to improve their career trajectory, while more established professionals are seeking work-life balance.
Another significant gap appears among employees of local/regional media agencies, where fewer than 20% work fully remotely but over 40% would like to do so. This is an area for improvement when it comes to maximizing employee satisfaction and reducing turnover. In contrast, the alignment between actual and ideal work scenarios among advertisers and brand marketers is more even, with about 30% currently working remotely and about 35% stating that preference.
While there is a slightly higher preference for fully remote work among those aged 55 and up (37%), it is not dramatically different from the preference among the youngest group surveyed, people 18 to 34 (33%). Thus, the gap based on career experience is more significant than that based solely on age.
Set up for success
Based on the survey data, the report authors recommend investing in remote work infrastructure to strengthen workplace culture and improve worker engagement and effectiveness.
Bolster communication tools and collaboration platforms.
Facilitate team building activities.
Train managers on leading remote teams.
Draft clear remote work policy.
The report also recommends implementing more flexible work options. Although most advertising professionals of all demographics value the flexibility of working outside the office combined with the benefits of in-person collaboration, awareness of gaps in satisfaction levels can help employers stay competitive by maximizing healthy work environments. Recommendations include:
Conduct periodic surveys to assess staff satisfaction with current working arrangements.
Enable more remote and hybrid work options based on employee preferences.
Consider expanding remote work options for mid-career professionals to retain experienced talent.
Although there are more similarities than differences among worker preferences, even minor discrepancies can point to areas for improvement and help industry leaders maximize staff fulfillment and effectiveness.
Are the time-consuming, error-prone manual processes of traditional ad operations a thing of the past? The answer is simple – they can be. Because there’s a paradigm shift happening in the fast-paced world of digital publishing. The catalyst behind this shift is automation. And it’s not just transforming ad operations, it’s also driving growth and unlocking new revenue channels for media companies.
By automating repetitive and labor-intensive tasks, media organizations can streamline workflows, reduce errors, and free up resources for more strategic initiatives. But automation isn’t simply streamlining processes; it’s fundamentally reimagining the roles within ad operations. No longer confined to being mere ‘doers’ burdened with high stress and constant fire drills, ad operations teams are evolving into vital contributors to revenue growth. The result is a work environment once steeped in friction and burnout, shifting to one where productivity and motivation thrive.
New revenue streams unlocked by ad operations automation
To help media companies understand the impact automation of ad operations can have on long-term success, let’s explore the specific ways it’s opening new doors to revenue growth.
Maximizing ad inventory utilization
Automation optimizes the use of ad inventory, which significantly increases fill rates and revenue. By continuously analyzing real-time data, automated systems allow ad operations teams to make intelligent adjustments to ad placements. This ensures that every available slot is used efficiently, reducing wasted inventory. Automated platforms can help identify demand trends and dynamically allocate inventory to the highest-paying ads, maximizing potential revenue.
For example, during peak times, automation provides key insights that enable the prioritization of high-value ads, ensuring premium inventory is filled first. Conversely, during off-peak times, teams can quickly adjust their strategy to fill available slots with lower-paying ads, ensuring no space is left unused.
Real-time bidding and dynamic pricing
Dynamic pricing strategies supported by automated, real-time bidding allow media companies to instantly adjust prices based on demand. Automated systems continuously monitor market conditions, competitor pricing, and user engagement metrics. As a result, ad professionals gain instant insights, allowing them to optimize campaigns, adjust prices, and maximize ad inventory sales. For instance, during high-demand periods, such as seasonal events, automated systems can help teams increase interest or prices. On the other hand, in low-demand situations, prices can be lowered to attract more buyers, ensuring that inventory is still utilized efficiently. This flexibility helps media companies capitalize on market fluctuations and maximize revenue.
Personalized ad experiences
Personalized advertising, enabled by advanced data analytics, significantly enhances engagement and conversion rates. Automated systems analyze user data, including browsing history, purchase behavior, and demographic information, to create detailed user profiles and accurately segment audiences. This allows for highly relevant ads tailored to individual interests, increasing the likelihood of user interaction. Users are more inclined to click on ads that resonate with their current needs, leading to higher engagement and conversion rates.
Automation doesn’t just unlock new revenue channels; it also enhances operational efficiency. These efficiency gains play a critical role in boosting profitability. These efficiency gains play a critical role in boosting profitability.
Enhancing operational efficiency for revenue growth
Automation in ad operations takes care of routine tasks, freeing up teams to focus on strategic initiatives and explore new revenue opportunities. It reduces errors and makegoods with more accurate ad placements, improving client satisfaction and boosting revenue. It also significantly accelerates complex order-to-cash processes, enabling media companies to capitalize on time-sensitive opportunities and expedite revenue realization.
Creating additional revenue channels is just one aspect of how automation contributes to revenue growth.
Strategic revenue optimization with automation
Data-driven decision making
Data analytics enabled by automation can process vast amounts of data to identify trends and insights that would be near impossible to detect manually. This data-driven approach allows media executives to make strategic decisions that maximize revenue by understanding patterns in user behavior, market demand, and ad performance.
For example, automated systems help media companies track ad performance, revealing specific data insights that improve decision making and optimize ad spend.
Enhanced targeting and retargeting
Automation significantly improves targeting and retargeting, leading to more efficient ad spend and a higher ROI. Automated systems empower ad professionals to analyze user behavior and preferences to deliver ads to the right audience at the right time, increasing campaign effectiveness. This precise targeting ensures that ads are shown to users who are most likely to engage and convert, maximizing ad spend efficiency and boosting revenue.
Embracing automation in ad operations: thrive or fall behind
Purpose-built automation solutions are designed to meet a company’s hyper-specific needs. Unlike off the shelf options, these tailored solutions deliver optimal performance virtually out of the gate, driving rapid adoption and maximum ROI.
Media companies that embrace purpose-ready technology and automation have a distinct competitive advantage and an opportunity to transform ad operations into a revenue driving powerhouse. Companies who fail to evolve and continue to depend on legacy systems risk getting left behind, while the competition scales to new heights.
Despite the challenges thrown at publishers by obfuscating metrics or deliverability changes, newsletters continue to grow in importance. Media companies increasingly use email newsletters as a key tool for maintaining relationships with audiences away from social media, finding new readers, building habits, and opening new revenue streams.
At The Publisher Newsletter Summit, publishers came together to share strategies, advice and case studies on everything from newsletter monetization to audience growth.
Here are some of the strategies that they shared:
1. Don’t be afraid to center personalities
The role of journalists with followings has grown more complicated than ever in recent years. One theme that emerged at the Summit from a number of the sessions was that – if managed right – individual members of your team can serve as an incredible audience-building tool.
Women’s membership and community publisher Black Ballad started a newsletter from founder Tobi Oredein as a way to create a bond with the reader, because people build connections with humans, not brands. “Social media is very noisy,” Oredein outlined. Given that Black Ballad has paywall, she finds that “there is a barrier with people who can’t afford a membership. The newsletter is free, so everyone that’s signed up with their email gets that newsletter every week. So it’s a way to create that personal relationship.”
Leaning into this has also opened up revenue opportunities, although Oredein said that she chooses partner organizations very carefully. A recent campaign with the Founder’s Letter newsletter saw Black Ballad work with Maltesers around maternal mental health as Oredein was about to give birth to her second child.
“I wrote this newsletter on letting go of the Superwoman complex as a mum, second time around,” she explained. “It all came together and the newsletter opened the partnership; we had an editorial video that went alongside the essay, and it just went nuts. People loved the partnership. We realized that my personal newsletter opens up partnerships. Now the newsletter stands alone as the most requested advertising channel and is the most popular source of revenue for Black Ballad.”
There are risks with building newsletter audiences around individual journalists, but these can be managed. It’s an issue UK news brand The Telegraph faced when a big-name writer for their political newsletter left, and the team had to decide what to do next.
“We’ve grown [the newsletter] substantially since then,” Head of Newsletters Maire Bonheim said, explaining that they gave another political journalist a chance to fully front the newsletter. “He’s in your inbox at exactly 1pm every day. He’s really passionate about it, and he gives it his own edge. People have built up a habit and a relationship with him.”
2. Prioritize newsletters for retention and conversion
Special interest publisher Immediate Media monetizes many of its brands like Good Food and Gardeners’ World through subscriptions. Head of CRM and Customer Retention Matt Nash sees newsletters as playing a vital role in their subscription strategy, especially for long-term relationships.
“One of the big reasons why we’re so focused on newsletters from a subscription capacity is that 25% of our app subscribers received or read a newsletter before going on to subscribe,” he said. “So on average, there’s about 18 months between someone registering on Good Food and then converting to an app subscriber.”
“We also find that conversion from trials – mainly we run free trials going into paid subscriptions on the app – is around 10 percentage points higher for people that have previously been on our newsletter base before converting to a subscription.”
Nash shared that they have a two-part email strategy for pre- and post-subscription. The first half is focused around getting eyes on the website, showcasing the product and the subscription offers. “Every newsletter we send is an opportunity for us to try and convert someone if they look like they’re likely to subscribe,” he explained.
Once someone has converted, the focus switches to the “core readership phase,” where newsletters are part of a multi-channel tech stack optimized to try and get existing users to continue their subscription. The publisher uses a range of personalization options, from content type to send frequency and time to hit the readers at just the right frequency for them.
3. Consider repackaging content for educational courses
A number of publishers offer newsletter “courses” with a clear start and end point as an alternative way of engaging audiences. As part of its newsletter strategy, Pew Research Center launched an email course, which allowed them to leverage their reports and blog posts on U.S. Immigration. More recently The Guardian released a five-week email coaching plan called Reclaim Your Brain, which has attracted over 140,000 sign-ups.
Seeing examples like these, Ruth Hardy-Mullings, Head of Content at Community Care, a publication for social workers, wondered if newsletter courses could help solve some of their challenges. Their biggest driver of traffic was their weekly newsletter. She was also aware of the friction readers faced finding time to log onto the website and proactively seek out training content. A course delivered straight to their inbox would be a good way to prove value.
They launched some test courses in March 2021, delivering six emails a week over a three week period. “We took the content from longer guides and hosted it within the body of the email itself, so it solved that problem of having to go and log in on the site,” Hardy-Mullings explained. “Someone was able to open up their email, read the content and get that learning wherever they are, whether they’re in a car before they go and do a home visit, on their commute home, making use of those small amounts of time that people do have.”
Each email had a recap section at the beginning, a progress bar to keep people motivated, further reading links, and a reflective exercise at the end. Hardy-Mullings noted that signing up for a finite period of time was helpful for professionals who get thousands of emails. “The general feedback was that people really loved the convenience of the course and that format of learning, a good way that could genuinely fit into their working week,” she said.
Email courses may not suit every publisher. However, they can be a strong way of repurposing evergreen content, reducing friction points for membership organizations, or giving samples of journalism for paywalled publications, to name a few use cases.
4. Prioritize list-cleaning for a healthy newsletter strategy
One of the most revealing sessions at the Summit was Maire Bonheim and David Alexander, Head and Deputy Head of Newsletters respectively at The Telegraph. They talked about how to turn around an underperforming newsletter, and noted that they often have to use different tactics across almost 40 newsletters in their portfolio.
Alexander was keen to emphasize that although metrics have a place in your newsletter strategy, they need to be the right ones. “If you put all your effort into getting a massive list, and you trick people into signing up to your newsletter, they’ll get it. But no one will care because they didn’t mean to get it in the first place,” he explained. “You’ll have a massive list, and over time, your email provider will think it’s spam, and they’ll just put it in everybody’s junk. Pursuing vanity stats is a fool’s game. Massive lists are not the aim. You want people to read your stuff.”
Clearing lists and pursuing slower, more genuine engagement is a braver path to take, especially with other commercial and business pressures publishers face. Bonheim said that they have different time periods for list cleaning different newsletters. “If a newsletter is a daily send, then we wait a shorter amount of time before we list cleanse, whereas if something’s weekly or even monthly, we wait longer,” she explained.
The Telegraph was also facing an issue where when some marketing emails were sent to editorial newsletter segments, readers were getting confused and newsletters were ending up in the promotions tab.
“As a whole at The Telegraph… the volume of emails had gone up hugely, and we needed to get smarter about our overall email strategy and cleverer about who we segment and target,” Bonheim said, explaining that they send warnings about removing readers from lists if they don’t ‘Click to stay’. “So to combat that, we became much more stringent with our list cleanse emails, and that seems to be having a positive impact.”
The takeaway
These strategies may not work for every publisher, and one theme which emerged strongly from the Publisher Newsletter Summit is that newsletters can be used for a wide range of different purposes. The key is to be very clear for each newsletter what its purpose is, and how that will be measured.
“[Key metrics] are so different across all our titles,” said Alexander of his work on The Telegraph’s newsletters. “I’ve worked on newsletters that have had almost 1,000 words in them, and people want to read them more than anything. I’ve also looked after newsletters where it’s all about getting people through to the site. You have to be really clear on what’s important.”
Whether it’s exploring the potential of short email ‘courses’ or letting editors take a personal lead, there are plenty of ways to freshen up a newsletter strategy. But whether this is through iterative changes, pivots or launches, keep the newsletter’s purpose front and center.
Fans are spreading their time among an ever-widening variety of platforms and channels when live-streaming video, according to data from the Live Streaming Trends Report. This indicates that, far from being married to favorite platforms, games, or creators, consumers are willing to shop around for fresh content and great experiences. The report compiled by Stream Hatchet finds live streaming viewership up 10% overall in the past year. Twitch still leads as a platform but dropped from 70% to 60% of the market share during the past year.
The report finds that an increasingly diverse array of creators is capturing attention. While the top 5% of creators were responsible for 86% of streaming hours watched for the quarter, that represents a drop from 98% five years ago. This points to opportunity for media leaders to partner with creators or develop their own.
Politics lured viewers, helping push Rumble into the top ten platforms in hours watched for the quarter, surpassing Facebook Live. Based in Toronto and drawing most of its audience from political coverage with uncensored discussion, Rumble’s viewership benefited from content surrounding the U. S. presidential debate. During the debate week, Rumble’s total viewership peaked at 10.7 million hours, with almost a third of those hours coming from streams with keywords related to U.S. candidates and politics. Rumble surpassed Facebook Live by over 40M hours in its first full quarter, becoming the 7th most-watched platform.
In an interesting move, the Democratic National Convention just announced that it would be streaming on a number of non-traditional platforms including social standouts TikTok and Instagram but also on Amazon’s Twitch as well as Prime and YouTube.
Variety of platforms widens
Twitch still holds more than half of the market share (60.3 %), but YouTube Gaming increased its share to almost one quarter of the market (23.4%). Other strong platforms include Kick, which increased its viewership by 163%, now in third place with 5.5% of the market. AfreecaTV came in fourth. Meanwhile, Facebook Live dropped out of the top five.
The market showed opportunity for new platforms. The new South Korean platform Chzzk came in at fourth place, winning 2.1% of the market. Rumble became the 7th most-watched platform. Bigo Live, offering options like virtual live with 3D avatars, also had a strong debut, reaching 9th place.
Diversity of creators grows
Just as fans tuned into a wider variety of platforms, they also chose to watch a more diverse range of creators. During the past five years, the share of viewership held by the top live streaming channels decreased, boosting opportunity for emerging creators. While the top 0.01% of channels held 45% of the audience five years ago, that percentage fell to 33% by the second quarter of 2024- a12% decrease. A few takeaways stood out.
Male live streamers still dominate the market, with American KaiCenat taking the number one spot of the quarter with 43.8 million hours. His 78% increase in viewership this quarter was buoyed in part by the popularity of Elden Ring.
Most of the top female live streamers (7 out of 10) engage primarily in Just Chatting rather than gaming.
Some Vtubers (virtual YouTubers using avatars) showed an impressive jump in popularity. Kuzuha Channel, run by a male Japanese streamer, increased viewership by 27%, taking the #1 spot among Vtubers. Japanese creator Aqua Ch. 湊あくあ and Korean 고세구!, both female, surged 392% and 202% respectively for the quarter, achieving sixth and seventh place.
Top games and genres
The second quarter of 2024 found downloadable content (DLC) dominating new game releases. Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree was by far the most successful new release, reaping 81.2 million hours watched across all platforms in its first 30 days. Destiny 2: The Final Shape was a distant second, with 24.8 million hours. Those two titles combined garnered 55% of the top ten new games’ viewership in their first month.
Across all platforms, a few top games captured the lion’s share of viewing hours. Grand Theft Auto V and League of Legends lead the pack. Combined, these two games accounted for almost 950 million hours watched for the quarter, although they dropped in overall percentage of hours watched.
The action genre soared 30% higher over the past year thanks in large part to Elden Ring, which accounted for 24% of the action genre audience. The survival game Rust rose 150% in viewership, also boosting this category. Driving and Racing games were up 13%. While first person shooter games still topped hours watched at 1.2 billion for the quarter, that number represents a 4% drop since the previous year. Likewise, the action-adventure genre’s viewership declined 24% due to lack of new releases.
Looking forward
The live video game streaming market is important to the popularity of streaming platforms, game publishers, media, and creators. The latest data demonstrate the industry’s resilience after a post-pandemic slump. Media leaders should continue to keep a close eye on up-and-coming creators and platforms as well as the overall consumption trends of younger audiences.
/ An inside look at the business of digital content
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