Join us Dec. 1-3 in New Orleans for the Digiday Programmatic Marketing Summit
Digiday Research Report: The state of publisher-platform relations
This research is based on unique data collected from our proprietary audience of publisher, agency, brand and tech insiders. It’s available to Digiday+ members. More from the series →
For publishers, managing their resource allocation and output on platforms has become a difficult game. Even as more publishers seek to make more money directly, whether, through more subscriptions or direct-sold ads, many are still reliant on platforms to build audiences.
In our fall research report, we surveyed 136 publishing execs to see how they’re using platforms and made recommendations for how publishers can evolve their platform strategies heading into 2020.
Survey respondents were selected from Digiday Research’s proprietary panel, made up of thousands of executives and decision-makers across the media and marketing industries.
Nearly every publisher posts to digital platforms.
Social and news platforms have burned publishers before. But most publishers, reliant on advertising and subscription revenues, still need platforms to drive users to their content. In fact, 92% of publishers — including every large publisher we surveyed — post at least some content to digital platforms. The most popular: Facebook News Feed, Instagram, and Google AMP.
But platform ROI remains elusive.
Publishers may post to digital platforms, but that doesn’t mean their efforts generate revenue. Barely half of the publishers who post to platforms say they’re happy with any platform partner, and publishers say the ROI on some key platforms is getting worse rather than better. Large publishers, who use digital platforms most aggressively, also reported the lowest platform ROI.
In 2020, optimize your platform investments.
Test different strategies on different platforms to find which combinations work best for you — and which platforms simply aren’t worth your time. And don’t overlook “tier 2” platforms; some publishers report that small platforms can deliver big results.
More in Media
Forbes launches dynamic AI paywall as it ramps up post-search commercial diversification plans
For the latest Inside the publisher C-Suite series, Digiday spoke to Forbes CEO Sherry Phillips on its AI-era playbook, starting with its AI-powered dynamic paywall to new creator-led commercial opportunities.
Creators embrace Beehiiv’s push beyond newsletters
Creators are embracing Beehiiv’s new website, product and analytics tools to help them grow beyond the competitive newsletter space.
Media Briefing: Publishers turn to paid audience acquisition tactics to tackle traffic losses
Publishers facing declining organic traffic are buying audiences through paid ads and traffic arbitrage, and using AI tools to do it.