SODP Dispatch - 9 May 2025

How to Price and Package Digital Advertising and Sponsored Content in 2025

In this webinar, you’ll learn:

• How much your digital advertising should cost

• How to sell digital for real money, not “digital dimes”

• How to build packages for mom/pops AND $100k whales

DON’T fall into the trap of:

• Thinking that your site traffic needs to dictate pricing

• Looking at other publishers to figure out your pricing (they’re as probably confused as you are)

• Underselling and underpricing the real value that you provide

📅 Date & Time: Wednesday, May 21, 2025, at 1:00 PM ET

Hosted by Kenny Katzgrau, Publisher of Red Bank Green and creator of Broadstreet. Joining him will be Charity Huff, Publisher of 5280 Magazine and owner of January Spring.

You’ll walk away from this workshop with a clear plan to figure what you should be charging for your display, newsletter, and sponsored content packages along and gain rock-solid confidence in the result.

Register here

Monetization Week 2025 - a must attend online event for publishers

Monetisation in 2025 demands more than just ads and subscriptions – it requires strategic diversification across multiple revenue streams.

To equip digital publishing and news media professionals with actionable strategies for the future, we’re excited to host the 2nd annual Monetisation Week. Learn from industry experts as they share insights, case studies, and practical advice to help you adapt to evolving media revenue models.

Here’s what to expect:

Day 1: Ad vs. Subscription Revenue: Analysing Performance and Models – Presentation by our founder, Vahe Arabian

Day 2: Embracing AI-Driven Advertising Solutions – Panel Discussion with Dominick Miserandino (CEO, Retail Tech Media Nexus) and Ben Aston (Founder, Black & White Zebra)

Day 3: Navigating First-Party Data Utilisation – Fireside Chat with Tyler Bishop (CMO, Ezoic)

Day 4: Capitalising on Multi-Platform Content Distribution – Workshop with Sneha Banerjee

 Day 5: Innovating Business Revenue Approaches in 2025 – Roundtable with Scott Jamieson (CEO, Annex Business Media) and Weldon Johnson (Founder and MD, LetsRun)

📍 Online

🗓 May 19–23, 2025

⏰ 2 PM BST | 9 AM EDT | 3 PM CET

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to future-proof your monetisation strategies!

🚀 Supercharge Your Sales Prospecting with AI

Introducing a powerful AI-driven tool designed to streamline your sales prospecting process. By automating research, enrichment, and lead ranking, this tool can save you over 100 hours each month. By leveraging this AI tool, sales teams can optimize their prospecting efforts, leading to increased conversions and revenue growth. See more ▸

🧰 Journalist's Toolbox AI

Looking to integrate AI into your journalism workflow? Journalist's Toolbox AI offers a curated collection of AI tools tailored for journalists, editors, and educators. From transcription and summarization to data analysis and digital security, this platform provides resources to enhance your reporting and storytelling capabilities. See more ▸

By Vahe Arabian

👂 Why zero-party data is your audience’s loudest whisper

Your audience wants to tell you what they need. Are you listening?

In an era when third-party cookies are becoming obsolete and privacy regulations are tightening, publishers must pivot to strategies prioritising user consent and engagement. Zero-party data information that users intentionally and proactively share emerges as a critical asset in this industry.

According to Forrester Research, zero-party data is “data that a customer intentionally and proactively shares with a brand,” including preference centre data and purchase intentions. This contrasts with first-party data, which is collected through user interactions, and third-party data, which is aggregated from external sources. Zero-party data ensures higher accuracy and compliance with privacy standards.

You can collect zero-party data through:

✅Interactive Quizzes and Surveys: Engage users with relevant quizzes or surveys, which encourage them to share preferences and interests.

✅Preference Centres: Users can customise their content experience by selecting preferred topics or formats.

✅Feedback Forms: Soliciting feedback on content or user experience provides direct insights into expectations.

These methods respect user privacy while delivering actionable insights.

Utilising zero-party data enables publishers to:

• Personalised Content: Tailor articles and newsletters to user interests to boost engagement. For example, Mediahuis used a self-learning engine, boosting CTR by 50% and diversifying content.

• Enhance Advertising: Offer precise targeting options. Mediahuis combined zero/first-party data via DMP for targeted campaigns (27% of ad revenue, CTRs 26% higher). Their RECLICK retargeting hit 0.32% CTR (vs. 0.09% industry avg.).

• Develop Products: Inform strategies with direct user input, ensuring offerings align with audience needs.

Key takeaways for publishers:

1. Focus on Trust, Not Quantity: Prioritise transparent, consent-driven data collection to build audience trust—quality insights outweigh volume.

2. Offer Mutual Value: Incentivise data sharing with personalised content, exclusives, or rewards—a clear "give-and-get" dynamic.

3. Leverage Hybrid Targeting: Combine zero-party data with first-party insights (e.g., DMPs) for hyper-targeted campaigns that attract premium advertisers.

4. Adapt Retargeting Strategies: Shift to first-party solutions like RECLICK to maintain reach amid cookie deprecation.

Implementing these strategies enhances content relevance and revenue streams.

Facebook engagement has exploded for news publishers in 2025 | Newswhip

In January, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook would be going back to its roots with some changes coming to the platform. Whatever those changes ended up being, it seems to have had a big effect on engagement levels for news publishers on the platform. Every quarter, we publish a study of a group of 50 publishers across different social platforms to get a sense of the shifting sands of social media.
Read more ▸

The brief history of people writing things to other people | Media Finance Monitor

While independent journalism is often seen as a subversive activity by those in power, the reality of it, especially on funding, is rarely revolutionary. Probably the most meaningful structural "innovation" of the last two decades was the introduction of digital paywalls.
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Apple Says Google Searches Down On Safari & Google Says Searches Are Up | Search Engine Roundtable

Yesterday, Apple's Eddy Cue said searches on Google via Safari were down last month for the first time in 22 years. Then later, Google issued a statement saying there was an "increase in total queries coming from Apple’s devices and platforms." Looks like Apple and Google are at odds with this data, for some reason. Read more ▸

Particle brings its AI-powered news reader to the web | TechCrunch

Particle, the startup behind an AI-powered newsreader that aims to help publishers, not just steal their work, is bringing its product to the web. On Tuesday, the company announced the launch of the new Particle.news website that connects news consumers with headlines and AI summaries from a variety of sources Read more ▸

The New York Times Delivers Strong Q1 2025 Results as Bundle Strategy Gains Momentum | Pelcro

On May 7, 2025, The New York Times reported strong Q1 performance — fueled by growth in digital subscriptions, rising ARPU, and improved profitability. The company’s strategic focus on multi-product engagement, cross-platform bundling, and editorial breadth continues to drive consistent growth.
Read more ▸

Are Media boosts digital audience with Dotdash Meredith ad deal | Mumbrella

Are Media has signed a deal with US lifestyle publisher Dotdash Meredith to sell ads on DDM’s digital properties, bringing Are’s ad network reach to more than 10 million people (14+) according to Ipsos data. The deal rolls in the Australian audiences of DDM properties such as People and Allrecipes to Are Media’s lifestyle stable, which includes The Australian Women’s Weekly, Better Homes and Gardens and Woman’s Day. Read more ▸