Month: April 2020

The Media Minute 04.21.2020

There are no easy, one-size-fits-all answers to how magazines can survive COVID-19 and the resulting recession. But asking the right questions can help you navigate your magazine through these rough waters.

68% of consumers say they’re searching for coronavirus updates on the internet – making it the biggest online activity, according to latest research by GlobalWebIndex. The company has been studying consumers’ media consumption habits in the current pandemic.

Called Source Local, the product allows readers to browse businesses in a local market offering gift cards. The businesses are sorted in alphabetical order. Nearly 10,000 businesses across the U.S. have added themselves to Source Local since Gannett first launched the product last month, and it has drawn over 1 million pageviews.

Publishers fret they are losing revenue from their coverage of the coronavirus pandemic when media buyers block online ads from appearing next to those stories. Yet much of that content can be considered brand-safe, according to a study that suggests news publishers are being unfairly punished for keeping readers informed about the crisis.

Curating an effective email list for your company is a lot like creating a playlist of songs for a party. It takes time, consideration,and awareness of who you’re trying to connect with. You don’t make your friends listen to a bunch of random songs in an attempt to get their attention.Instead, you hand-pick tunes that you know will get the crowd excited.

It turns out if you’re a journalist, Muck Rack is a handy little website filled with a few useful tools intended to help reporters monitor the news and quantify the impact of their reporting. Not surprisingly, it was Poynter’s digital tools guru Ren LaForme that got me to stop and notice what the site had to offer.

The Media Minute 04.14.2020

This is part of a series of articles showcasing publisher responses to COVID-19. If you’d like to share what your publishing business is doing to serve audiences and maintain business, please reply to our callout for industry input.

A vast majority (96%) of consumers read, watch or listen to media content (including news) for almost 24 hours a week, according to a new report from the World Economic Forum. What’s more, “almost 60% have gone through some form of registration process to consume news or entertainment – either free or paid.”

With commuting on hold and everybody Zooming all the time, podcast consumption has taken a bit of a hit as listeners look for new ways to fit shows into their daily routines. Last month, the analytics firm Chartable released research suggesting that podcast downloads were 10% lower on March 25 than they were on February 26.

Of the 2.8 million online pages containing COVID-19 related keywords across GumGum’s publisher network, 62% were considered brand safe, according to a study by the artificial intelligence company and its content classification and brand safety platform, Verity.

We’ve all been there. Standing in line for a cup of overpriced coffee, reluctantly deciding to click on the little envelope icon on our smartphones because we know exactly what’s coming: a flood of emails with everything from sales on shoes from a store you barely remember visiting to deals on yoga classes that never seem to stop coming in after you innocently attended a studio’s free week trial.

As is the case with any successful business, it’s one for all and all for one. Yet based on my experience in both newspaper publishing and commercial printing, I’ve often questioned the fair distribution of expenses across these two divisions.

The Media Minute 04.07.2020

Attention and eyeballs go to the legitimate publishers who have invested so much in talent and infrastructure that allows them to do original and researched reporting, as opposed to aggregating other news sites or relying on user-generated content. Publishers are seeing a marked increase in engagement.

Echobox, a social media platform for publishers, tracked more than 2.3M stories shared to social media by 700 leading publishers, in more than 50 countries, through most of the first quarter of the year. The company looked at how many of those mentioned the words “corona” or “covid” in the shared messages.

Bloomberg Media CEO Justin Smith said it’s seeing Asia open up again and the beginnings of more activity happening there. One major international news brand is expecting to sign three contracts last week from three of the biggest countries in China and the immediate area.

Digital magazine service Readly reports that as people spend more time at home to deter the spread of the COVID-19 virus, readers are increasingly turning to the Home & Renovation, Gardening, Comics and Kids categories on its app.

As COVID-19 stealthily continues to make its way around, many people have taken precautionary actions, like stocking up on disinfectant products and even washing their hands, to avoid getting sick.

In an era where print advertising revenue continues to decline rapidly and the lion’s share of digital advertising dollars are sucked up by Google and Facebook, it’s more important than ever for news organizations to focus on developing as many revenue streams as possible.

The Media Minute 03.31.2020

“Isolated Connectivity” was the first thing that came to mind when I heard that story. Folks today feel we are so connected, yet we are more isolated than ever before.

It’s become a mantra of sorts, one of those terms we use without really giving it a lot of thought. In my world view, I have some trusted industry thought leaders I turn to again and again, including Samir “Mr. Magazine” Husni.

Publishers on Monday began to make cuts to their businesses to control operating costs, with many following the lead of BuzzFeed and enacting an assortment of pay cuts and benefits reductions that do not — for now — cut deeply into staff.

The U.S. government’s $2.2 trillion coronavirus aid package may help some ailing publishers, especially small businesses that face the biggest financial threat from the COVID-19 pandemic. Their bigger concern will be how quickly the economy bounces back from the public-health crisis that likely has caused a deep recession.

Publisher Abrams launched a new #HELPABOOKSELLER fundraising challenge campaign to benefit BINC (Book Industry Charitable Foundation), looking to raise more than $100,ooo to help booksellers in need. Ceo Michael Jacobs says in the announcement..

It’s all thanks to the Post and Courier, the robust, family-owned newspaper that can trace its roots back to 1803. It’s not exactly the type of publication you’d expect to be a hotbed of successful innovation, but as they say, “Don’t judge a broadsheet by its cover.”

The Media Minute 03.24.2020

The coronavirus pandemic has created a lot of uncertainty in a very short period of time. Many companies have decided to cut their marketing budgets as a result. On the one hand, this is a prudent financial decision to protect cash flows.

Popular content analytics platform Chartbeat has reported that the number of pageviews across its network was up 33% last week compared to the same time last year, according to Recode. The amount of time spent actively scrolling, clicking, and reading articles was also up 30% during the same period.

Reader worry – and work from home policies – are driving a surge in news consumption about the coronavirus, with pageviews up 30% year over year, according to Parsely data. Publishers also face pressure to move their stories about the virus in front of their paywalls, stunting a key area of revenue growth.

Brands increased their email volume following President Trump’s European travel ban announcement on March 11. But that doesn’t mean consumers were converting, judging by research conducted by email service provider MessageGears.

Recent start-up Bookshop.org has received a significant lift in recent weeks, as a number of independent bookstores have enrolled with them to create an online storefront quickly and easily. And the organization gives a lift to ABA member stores as well — stores that sign on as affiliates get 25 percent of any sales they generate.

As newspapers have struggled with the decline of advertising revenue from retail, auto, real estate and recruitment, many have leaned on preprints, legal advertising and obituaries for stability.