At the 46th FIPP World Media Congress held earlier this month in Portugal, revenue diversification and innovation was a central theme. Key takeaway? As Time Out Market ably demonstrates, the only limit to revenue diversification is a publisher’s imagination and bravery. Our monetisation roundup will form part of the 2024 Congress report to be launched soon – P.S. you’ll be the first to know!
At a time when diversified revenue streams are at the heart of successful media companies, a key focus of Congress was the variety of monetization strategies available to publishers.
Indeed, the only barrier to publishers widening their portfolios is their own imagination and courage to think outside the box. As if to underline this, just 19 miles from Cascais is one of the world’s standout examples of media diversification: Time Out Market, Lisbon.
In a specially laid on Congress trip, Time Out International Development Director, Tim Bulley, Cristina Mesquita and Ana Alcobia, VP Iberia at Time Out Market, explained how the media brand had launched Time Out Market Lisbon in 2014 to such success that it has since led to expansions in New York, Chicago, Montreal, Dubai, with many more planned.
The market’s commercial secret? Time Out uses its editorial teams to carefully curate and select only the best of each city’s top chefs, restaurateurs, drinks, and cultural experiences and place them all under one roof. Alcobia told us, “It’s this curation that is at the heart of our success, and this comes from the expertise of Time Out’s editors.”
Fast food chains need not apply.
License to quill
With Cascais serving as the inspiration behind Ian Fleming’s James Bond, it was fitting that another type of ‘licensing’ was a key theme. Many publishers shared how they had successfully launched international brands within their own country-specific territories.
Michelle Myers, Global Chief Revenue Officer at licensing specialists Wright’s Media, implored delegates to look into how they could leverage licensing, adding, “Everyone has some kind of content that is licensable”.
Key to this, she continued, was, “Creating a hierarchy of brand logos to ensure that each logo maintains a clear and consistent relationship with all the others, as well as communicating the mission of the brand and business across all teams and functions, especially editorial.”
As Myers highlighted, licensing isn’t limited to larger media brands. Congress delegate Lulu Skantze, Co-Founder of niche British children’s magazine, Storytime, told us, “Our partners in China know their market really well and what they wanted to create, so our 2021 entry into China was no different from most licensing deals we have done before.”
She added, “Children under ten account for approximately 11 percent of the 1.3 billion Mandarin speakers worldwide, so this is definitely a strong market for us.”
In a separate keynote Auditorium Q&A, Claire Léost, President of Prisma Media, described how Harper’s Bazaar had been successfully reintroduced in France by obtaining permission from Hearst to adjust the licensed brand to give it a more French feel. The localization of content, allied to a strong social media funnel, significantly contributed to the brand’s success in the French market.
Cracking the Code: Advertising
In a powerful keynote presentation, Dotdash Meredith’s CIO, Dr Jon Roberts, outlined how his company was making more money from fewer ads by taking a user first approach, “This is a religion in our business and by ensuring that there are no bad ads on our sites, we have demonstrated that fewer, well-placed ads can generate more revenue.”
“The problem with programmatic is that there is someone else telling you how valuable your readers are, which is a race to the bottom and encourages clickbait. Keep in mind that every bad ad on your site prices down all the good ones.”
Dr Roberts went on to highlight how his company’s recent partnership with OpenAI allowed its D/Cipher tool to, “Connect advertisers with consumers based on the context of the content being consumed, without relying on third party cookies.”
He described how D/Cipher leverages AI-powered capabilities to enhance ad targeting precision and effectiveness, making it a significant advancement in intent-based advertising, before concluding, “We want to move the value of ads back to the content.”
The price is ‘write’
One of Congress’ most insightful sessions came from Julia Petersen, Vice President of Pricing and Sales Business at Axel Springer’s Hy, the media consulting group.
In a presentation focused on media pricing, Petersen emphasised the need to make product differentiation easy for the customer to understand, warning, “You mustn’t overwhelm them with options”, adding, “Your default setting must be ‘opt-in’.”
However, it was bundles where she became most enthused, commenting that Coca Cola’s “Burger, Fries, Coke, I love it!” was a perfect example of a bundle expertly crafted through its simplicity.
Her colleague, Dr Sebastian Voigt, in a pre-Congress interview, added, “When Telcos introduced bundles and flat rates, most consumers paid more than before but they were also happier because the ‘taximeter’ per call minute disappeared in their minds.”
The theme of bundles was taken up by Juan Señor who stated, “The perceived value of bundles far exceeds their costs.” He singled out the New York Times as the clear leader in digital bundles, “With the acquisition of Wirecutter, Wordle and The Athletic, customers find greater value in these comprehensive bundles and are willing to pay more, generating increased incremental value for the company.”
Writing in the 2024 Innovation in Media World report launched at Congress, Señor added, “When a reader chooses a bundle, it signals their perceived value of your products and identifies the elements of your offering that are most important to them, effectively segmenting them into customer groups.”
The final word on pricing goes to Dr Sebastian Voigt, “Pricing is always a two-sided sword: if you increase prices, you make more money in 99% of all cases. However, you most certainly will lose a few customers. But examples exist where a price model change improved both profits and customer satisfaction.”
It’s hanging in the balance
In an afternoon panel discussion on publisher strategies for audience monetisation, Atlas UK’s Abi Spooner echoed the need to keep things simple, “If you’re trying to sell something to person, make sure you make it easy for them. Reducing churn is simply a matter of understanding why your audience are there. Think from the customers shoes.”
MIT Sloan Management Review’s Deb Gallagher added, “You must convey value and explain to your customers clearly and simply the proposition. You might have just one sentence….get it right!”
Suprio Guha Takurta, Subscriptions and Recurring Revenue Consultant and former Chief Strategy Officer, The Economist India, concluded, “You must search for that ideal balance between monetisation and trust.”
Exactly.
