With tech advances in filters and screens for audiences, the ad-publisher model is taking a hit – what are some digital magazines doing about it?
If you’re an ad publisher and rely solely on that revenue for your company’s future, blocking software is a disturbing development indeed. While it’s not yet at crisis levels, it’s worrisome enough to demand some action, which is why vendors with antidotes are popping up here and there, while publishers and marketers devise responsive strategies.
Ad Age did a great job of covering this story and a couple of more recently. Let’s take a look!
Facing Blocks of Ad After Ad, Publisher Concerns Grow
Best, most well-rounded story we’ve found so far on ad blocking’s increasing presence and publishers’ responses. Ad Age reports on how the software has grown from a fringe problem to a legitimate obstacle for revenue generation going forward. According to Adobe and PageFair (which sells a service to publishers looking to fight ad blockers), 28% of Americans browse the Internet with blocking enabled, and that percentage is expanding – especially among Millennials, Ad Age says.
So, what are some publishers doing about it?
“We are seeing roughly 20% of desktop visitors visiting with some form of ad blocking on,” Forbes Chief Technology Officer Mike Dugan told Tim Peterson and Courtney Fishman.
“What we are planning to do is just try a number of strategies that might range from simple appeals – Forbes earns revenue from the display ads that you are blocking, kindly remove or whitelist our site so we can realize that potential – and then all the way up to anything from frequency caps on the amount of content they might be able to consume and an extreme case would be actually restricting access to the site entirely … these are all just things we’re discussing.”
Check out this highly recommended article!
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Quartz Makes Famous Charts Searchable While Monetizing Them
Last week, Quartz launched companion site Atlas, which which collate the Atlantic Media news site’s thousands and thousands of charts in an efforts to produce more revenue, Ad Age reports. In addition, Quartz is building a search engine around the new site, while giving advertisers the chance to sponsor branded charts. According to ComScore, Quartz saw 4.7 million American desktop and mobile visitors in May – representing a 109% increase year-over-year – while the site itself reports an average of 10 million monthly visitors globally.
Sports Illustrated Teaming With WebMD on Content
In a straight-up audience grab, Sports Illustrated is partnering with WebMD to produce an editorial series called “The Comeback,” which centers on athletes’ returns from injury and corresponding data on the conditions themselves, Ad Age reports. The content will include text and video, and marks the first time SI has gone outside of Time Inc. digital for such an arrangement, according to Ad Age.
“The magazine has sought to grow its business outside of print advertising, where brands are removing their money to invest in digital media. That’s led to live events, video series (including an investment in the live-streaming site 120 Sports) and even a fantasy sports betting app,” Michael Sebastian writes.
“Sports Illustrated stands to gain more eyeballs on its content with the partnership with WebMD, which attracted 78 million unique visitors across desktop and mobile in the U.S. in May, according to ComScore. Sports Illustrated fetched about 24 million unique visitors during that time.”
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To read more about the ad-publisher dynamic in the news, visit Ad Age.
