Digital publishers and platforms see online ad revenue skyrocket; plus, new online video distribution deal for Time Inc. & new websites for Newsweek and IBT
For some digital magazines, the effort to generate online ad revenue can evoke a verse from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner: “Water, water everywhere, / Nor any drop to drink.”
Here’s the thing: The money is there to be had. Lots of it. Marketers are ready to spend — are spending as we speak — across desktop and mobile. On sites, apps, and social media channels.
But if you don’t have the right infrastructure, content distribution strategy, audience development, and magazine business model in place, it’s like stepping inside one of those old game-show cash chambers with your hands tied behind your back.
Still, it’s heartening to know that with the right multiplatform publishing strategy, the market is booming and waiting for you to maximize it. Folio covers the record-breaking third quarter for digital advertising, plus some other timely developments.
Online Ad Revenue Jumps Again in Third Quarter
As publishers have learned to better manage mobile monetization, the influx of marketing bucks is giving online ad revenue the shot in the arm it needed to perform the way we’ve all been working toward. Folio: reports that 2015 has witnessed the biggest rise yet.
“Despite challenges such as ad-blocking and viewability, advertising revenues in the U.S. reached an all time high in the third quarter of 2015, soaring to $15 billion and outpacing last year’s third quarter figures by 23 percent, according to the latest figures released by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and auditing firm PwC US,” Greg Dool writes.
“As consumers flock to digital platforms, advertisers appear to be following suit. Q3’s record-breaking $15 billion represents a five percent uptick from the second quarter of this year, when revenues were $14.3 billion.”
[text_ad]
Time Inc. Digital Finds Partners for Online Video Distribution
With video views increasing four times over in the past year per comScore and unique video views shooting up 86%, Time Inc. digital is partnering with Hulu, Yahoo, and Zealot to capitalizing on online video distribution, Folio: reports.
“Heavy investment in digital content was a theme at Time Inc. throughout 2015, as revenues for the 93-year-old publisher, spun off from Time Warner last year, declined. Print advertising saw double-digit percentage losses, while digital advertising, a smaller piece of the pie, performed well. The company acquired digital natives HelloGiggles, xoJane and xoVain after scrapping All You in October, then announced a new partnership with digital ad platform GumGum last week,” Dool writes.
Newsweek and International Business Times Launch Redesigns
IBT Media launched a redesign for International Business Times last week, and another for fellow flagship Newsweek will debut soon, Folio: reports.
“Aimed at both improving the user experience and providing increased integrated sponsorship opportunities, both redesigns include an overhaul of the general aesthetic, mobile optimization and increased image and video capabilities,” Dool writes.
“In recognition of the growing role played by social media as a source of traffic and the fact that the sites’ homepages are no longer the primary point of entry for many visitors, Newsweek’s editor-in-chief Jim Impoco says every page on the site has been designed to act ‘like a homepage. … We made sure that each article page offers up links to other Newsweek stories that represent the depth and breadth of our coverage.'”
Waiting for your online ad revenue to grow but growing impatient instead? Contact us today to get things moving in the right direction!
To read more about online ad revenue in the news, visit FolioMag.com.
