Among all the changes magazine media faces—consolidation, layoffs, digital—the one consistent trend is the decline of print advertising. Moody’s estimates that print ads will continue to fall 10% through mid-2018, providing little hope for a turnaround in the traditional revenue stream that media companies used to rely on.
But, it’s also true that some companies, like New York Media and Atlantic Media, have long looked past the traditional advertising spigot, to find more reliable resources of growth. This has created some innovative strategies, where organizations have sought to use their knowledge and prestige to test new revenue streams.
We take a look at three different initiatives that may not replace the advertising losses, but provide a new way of viewing the potential still inherent within media brands.
The Recommendation Business
Last year, New York Media’s executive Director of Business Development and Strategy, Camilla Cho, decided to take a closer look at the management of affiliate links. The parent of New York Magazine had a few partners that provided its sites revenue for when readers clicked to the partners’ website, but it contributed only a tiny portion of the business. Cho, however, noticed that engagement rates were “very healthy.”
The numbers indicated that readers took the advice that writers gave concerning what’s in style, what’s worth buying, and what they can ignore. Cho wanted to see if her team could better monetize this trust.
They began by testing out affiliate links on e-commerce articles developed by her team. They posted them, primarily on The Cut, the site’s fashion and politics page geared towards women, to determine what made readers click. Did more readers want shoes? Were they interested in sunwear? Did they buy more often from Amazon, Macy’s or Nordstrom’s websites?
“After a period of five months we blew through the KPIs,” says Cho. “We were able to prove a real viable business here.”
That’s when the company decided to take its long-running magazine section, The Strategist, and turn it into a website of the same name that provides reviews—and affiliate links mixed within—for a variety of products that its writers enjoy. Article topics range from the best bed sheets, to the best gifts for a one-year old. Alexis Swerdloff runs the editorial side of the project, and she has a full-time staff that includes a senior editor, three staff writers and a number of freelancers. They work in tandem with Cho and her team on the business side. The site only offers suggestions to products that “the editors or writers stand behind,” adds Cho.
The Strategist launched in October, and e-commerce affiliate revenue has grown 20 to 40% per month since, in part because it was starting at a very low level. But it has encouraged offshoot opportunities, like a pop-up shop, which debuted at the Vulture Festival in May.
“We’ve always been in the recommendation business,” says Cho, now more so than ever.
more at: http://www.minonline.com/closing-the-gap-how-magazine-media-is-solving-for-print-losses/