Digiday Research: 88% of publishers say they will miss forecasts this year
In a new survey examining business confidence, Digiday Research found that 88% of publishing executives surveyed expect to miss their business goals this year due to the outbreak.
Ninety-five executive-level publishers were surveyed this week in a snap poll to understand the effects of the outbreak on their business. Of them, 85% said also that they expect to see a decline in ad revenue due to the pandemic.
That problem is an exceptionally difficult one. Coronavirus dominates news coverage, and with levels of worry skyrocketing, plus a lot more people working from home, means more people are consuming news. But publishers have found it difficult to monetize this coverage with advertising: Many big brands are staying away from spending adjacent to coronavirus coverage, and throwing associated keywords into their block lists.
About 79% of publishers surveyed said they also expect, unsurprisingly, to see a decline in event revenue due to the outbreak. Events have been a particularly important source of revenue for publishers across B-to-B and consumer media. With large gatherings effectively banned, this important source of revenue is essentially decimated.
Right now, only 38% of publishers say they expect to lay off staff due to the outbreak.
-
Bloomberg Media tunes up ABBA to break down barriers between its ads and subscriber businesses
The business news publisher's ad ops and product groups now sit in the same organization as its subscriptions team.
-
The 74’s publisher Jim Roberts on bridging equality divides in education and making trust bonds with audiences
One of The 74's central focuses before the pandemic was the achievement gap in America's education system.
-
‘Scale with great context’: The Independent eyes global expansion
The U.K. news title marked 'double-digit' revenue growth this year and posted a profit, despite the pandemic. It plans to grow headcount by up to 25%.
-
SponsoredHow artificial intelligence and machine learning power content-first newsrooms
By Chris Nguyen, executive vice president, marketing at Naviga Digital is no longer just a nice addition to a newspaper’s success, but an imperative. While print remains a key source of revenue — capturing both subscriptions and advertising — spending too much time on designing and managing printed editions has become an obstacle to digital transformation. […]
-
‘This is a tricky job for humans’: How Meredith used AI and contextual data to build Campbell’s a new campaign
To keep Campbell's ads relevant, Meredith created new artificial intelligence technology to track hyper-contextual data.
-
Vying for consumer revenue, Eater serves up new wine subscription play
Eater's making a play for more national scale consumer revenue with the launch of its new wine club.
