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SODP Dispatch - 8 September 2023

SODP Dispatch - 8 September 2023

How to maximize programmatic revenue, best subscription management software for publishers and more tips and news for digital publishers

State of Digital Publishing
September 08, 2023

Happy Friday!

Today, let’s talk about how publishers can find a balance between audience building and monetization.

Our managing editor, Andrew Kemp, discusses this subject in his weekly Editor’s Note column:

The publishing game is far from easy. The sector has long struggled between audience building and monetization; even those at the top still strive to optimize and thrive.

Commercial viability isn’t up for negotiation, and even those publishers lucky enough to have the support of a generous patron with deep pockets eventually need to show they’re more than a money pit.

Understanding what does and doesn’t work as a publisher and not being afraid to switch up approaches is vital to unlocking commercial success. SODP has openly discussed its strategy review and the need to pivot toward a healthier mix.

But only some sectors of the publishing sector have had their woes so exhaustively covered as the local news industry, with the decline of the US industry, in particular, receiving frequent and in-depth updates.

Former Washington Post editor Martin Baron observed recently that while some news organizations are fortunate to receive the support of wealthy investors, the “future of our business has to be to be able to support ourselves”. He noted that news outlets need to make tough choices to survive.

Expecting for-profit organizations to turn an actual profit is hardly revolutionary thinking. Yet such a conversation does highlight the perpetual balancing act between business objectives and creativity that many find themselves trapped in.

Even The Atlantic, a publication that has been around since 1857, has struggled to stay out of the red for much of this century.

FROM STATE OF DIGITAL PUBLISHING

——— SPONSORED ———

MAXIMIZING PROGRAMMATIC REVENUE: PUBLISHERS’ 5 ESSENTIAL LEVERS

Programmatic advertising is a shifting landscape, and publishers unable to adapt will be left behind very quickly while others will continue to ride the wave of rising ad spend.

In the US, programmatic advertising digital display ad spend will make up 90% of digital display ad spend this year. This represents a massive shift when, not so long ago, programmatic was viewed as a backfill revenue solution to direct sales.

The uptick in programmatic spending will benefit publishers who are ahead of the curve, well-prepared and able to attract higher cost per mille (CPM) rates. The reality is that spending increases will primarily affect the upper range of CPM bids as advertisers compete more for premium publishers’ inventory. These publishers consistently deliver greater value for their advertising campaigns and, in turn, encourage repeat spending.

While it might be tempting to dive straight into optimizing your programmatic strategy to pursue higher returns, focusing on your ad stack first is more important.

Publishers need to ask their ad ops team when their most recent ad stack audit was. If the answer is “More than 30 days ago”, then alarm bells should be sounding.

Read more

^{TOP TOOLS}
9 BEST SUBSCRIPTION MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE IN 2024

The subscription economy has boomed over the last decade. On average, US consumers spent $219 per month on subscriptions in 2022, two and a half times higher than their estimates.

Subscription businesses in the S&P 500 have grown 4.6 times faster than other segments in the index over the last decade. And the subscription market is projected to continue growing over the next few years to hit $1.5 billion by 2025.

And yet, challenges remain for digital publishers and signs from some corners of the subscription economy point to growing consumer concern over expenditure. One survey from late 2022 found that US subscriber churn for subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services over six months was around 44%, up from the previously recorded 37%.

The good news is that a subscription management platform can help businesses, especially digital publishers, overcome these challenges.

^{CONTENT STRATEGY}
MASTERING CONTENT ENGAGEMENT: KEY METRICS AND STRATEGIES

Publisher success boils down to attracting, keeping and growing audience numbers. And that depends on producing killer content.

The publishing world is incredibly competitive, with audiences demanding to be wowed with each piece of new content. Successful content must be visible, memorable and shareable to stand a chance in an increasingly crowded content arena. Every new piece needs a catchy headline, stellar SEO, eye-grabbing visuals and compelling storytelling.

This makes content engagement a critical metric to understand, given that it defines how effective publishers are connecting with their audiences. Let’s take a closer look at the vital elements of content engagement, dissecting what it means, the best ways to measure it and techniques to enhance it.

TOOLS AND RESOURCES

Get search volume data in Google Sheets with this formula. Learn more

4 free or freemium tools that you're likely not yet using to accelerate your SEO analysis and implementation. Learn more

BITE-SIZED INDUSTRY NEWS

^SEARCH
Google has confirmed that the August 2023 Core Update – the second core update this year – has completed rolling out. The update started on August 22, 2023, and completed 16 days later on September 7, 2023. Read more

^{AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT}
“Come for the news, stay for the games.” The New York Times finds a match with the word game Connections. Read more

^TRENDS
TikTok is the #1 search engine for more than half of Gen Z. 51% of survey respondents chose TikTok over Google as their search engine. Read more

^{BIG TECH}
Meta plans to deprecate the Facebook News tab in the UK, France, and Germany in early December 2023 and won't sign new deals for news content in those countries. Read more

^AI
Linguistics experts identified AI-generated content correctly only 38.9% of the time. Read more

^{FUTURE OF JOURNALISM}
A coalition of non-partisan philanthropies announced Thursday a plan to commit more than $500 million over the next five years to a new initiative called "Press Forward" that will support local journalism across the country. Read more