Delivering digital magazine subscription growth
The latest UK publishing industry subscription figures showed digital magazine subscription growth increasing for publishers. Overall digital edition sales grew by 20% in 2021, up from about 1.5 million in 2020 to… (more)

How publishers can build effective data strategies
The value of data has been clear in our digital economy for a long time. UK mathematician Clive Humby described it as the new oil back in 2006. But he qualified his… (more)

Publishers and personal brands: The pros and cons
Before social media, the majority of journalists were known only by the publications they worked for. But as publishers came to rely on social networks to distribute their content, and… (more)

How much publisher revenue is lost to ad-tech fees?
It’s no secret that ad-tech vendors take a lot of money out of the digital advertising ecosystem. In 2018, a report by global accounting firm PWC found that half of the… (more)

Metrics show how poor digital experience impacts revenue
Common sense says your customers’ digital experiences are closely tied to overall customer satisfaction. But new metrics can now show the effect of a substandard digital experience on the bottom… (more)

Substack’s newsletter app: One step closer to becoming a publishing platform?
For some, it’s a convenient way to organise and discover newsletter content, for others, it turns Substack into just another walled garden. Newsletter company Substack has released a newsletter app on… (more)

Print publishers continue their steady transition to digital
UK newspaper and magazine publisher Archant is asking subscribers to its regional Life series of magazines to sign up for their digital editions rather than receive the publications in print.… (more)

How to optimise your content to perform well on Google Discover
Since it was launched in 2018, Google Discover has enjoyed mixed reviews from publishers and marketers. Complaints centre on a lack of clear instructions for content optimisation and a tendency to surface… (more)

Could publishers be facing peak subscription?
The Atlantic magazine has reached the conclusion that the consumer subscription boom has peaked. Could that be true for publishers? A column in the Atlantic magazine has stated that we… (more)

Why publishers’ advertising revenues jumped last year
For some publishers, the long-awaited digital future arrived in 2021, bringing with it record-breaking ad revenues The promise of significant digital rewards came true for some publishers in 2021. Revenue… (more)

Puzzles and games power relationships with readers
The world went crazy for Wordle this year and the simple word game’s incredible viral success led the New York Times to acquire it for a rumoured $1.5 million. With other newspapers and… (more)

New study points to publisher priorities for revenue growth
According to a 2022 survey from the UK’s Association for Digital Publishing (AOP), more than half of publishers are prioritising subscriptions as the biggest area for revenue growth over the… (more)

How publishers are using read-it-later apps to increase traffic
Digital media is an inherently fragmented space, with audiences accessing content across multiple channels every day. Against that background, read-it-later apps like market leader Pocket have become increasingly useful to… (more)

Gen Z shuns display ads, but loves native advertising
According to a recent survey, society’s youngest consumer cohort – Gen Z – actively avoids display advertising. Marketing technology firm CM Group found that 52% of Gen Z respondents avoid ads… (more)

Rival industries eye advertising revenue from customer data
Engaging, relevant, informative content used to be the gold standard for advertisers seeking to put their sales messages in front of potential customers. But working with non-publishers that have access… (more)

Publishers: Are there any benefits in sticking with Google AMP?
According to a recent article in the UK’s Press Gazette, some publishers are ditching Google AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) after it was dropped as a ranking consideration for the search engine’s… (more)

What might web3 mean for publishing and advertising?
Last year saw the first real web3 experiments from publishers and advertisers. From NFT drops to purchasing metaverse real estate, companies started to at least think about what web3 might… (more)

More than $31 billion: Amazon’s advertising revenues in 2021
According to Amazon’s full year results for 2021, reported at the beginning of February, the online shopping juggernaut has a $30+ billion advertising business. Reports of the growing scale of Amazon’s advertising… (more)

Google’s third-party cookie alternative: Topics to replace FLoCs
The latest development in Google’s efforts to find a third-party cookie replacement involves the dropping of its FLoCs solution and the introduction of Topics. Both support interest-based advertising, but following privacy concerns… (more)

Advertising creative — a key factor in improving programmatic performance
Advertising creative was never high on the agenda for programmatic advertisers; ad optimisation was generally seen as the answer to better performance. But as programmatic budgets have increased and optimisation… (more)