Digital Publishing Trends

Digital Publishing: Scaling New Heights

Digital Publishing:
Scaling New Heights

How do consumer, business, technology and
content trends stretch us to expand our view of
what publishing is and deliver to our intended
audience? Smart phones, mobile tablets, e-
Readers and the web drive the new “post paper”
market for magazine publishers but your business
models are still evolving.

Digital Publishing
Scaling New Heights

1 Trends Affecting Digital Publishing

2 Key Development Area: Content

3 Key Development Area: Design, User Engagement & Features

4 Key Development Area: Production Technology & Delivery Options

5 Key Development Area: Business Model

6 Key Development Area: Advertising Sales

7 Key Development Area: Metrics & SEO

Trends Affecting Digital Publishers
Print Audiences

Print audiences for news, opinion and
entertainment content (and the
advertising they attract) are shrinking
worldwide, and the rate of decline grows
every year.

In most countries, print now ranks as
either the #3 or #4 medium by audience
size and advertising spending (typically
after TV, the internet and radio).

Print Audiences

• While the decline of print media (newspapers and magazines) is
dropping more slowly in India than in other countries the trend is the
same – print is shrinking and online is growing every year.

Print Audiences

Implications:

• Print-only publishers should plan to incorporate online editions.

• Publishers with existing online editions need to maximize their
effectiveness and build a realistic online business model.

–This impacts the business model, editorial, design and delivery technology.

Mobile

Mobil in India is 4% in 2012
and growing fast with
market share doubling every
6 to 8 months.

Mobile

In the US, smart mobile device usage
has reached 50% and is still growing.

Mobile usage growth in urban areas across India is now
reaching 15% and growing much faster than the national average.

Future mobile growth in India will rise to 50% over the next five years as
device and data plans come down in price.

Mobile

• Developing and delivering mobile-
device friendly versions of any
publication – whether through
native apps, mobile-friendly
websites or through third-party
mobile content distribution
systems (Pressly, etc.) – has
become far less complicated and
expensive over the past two
years.

Mobile

Implications:

• Understand it

• Prepare your current and future publications for mobile growth

– Strengths / limitations of these devices / content consumption patterns on
mobile devices

– This impacts design, editing and delivery technology.

Social Media

• Social Media is already big in India and growing fast…

Social Media

• About 70% of regular web users in India have a FaceBook account
(60 million people), making India the #3 country worldwide for
FaceBook accounts.
• LinkedIn (14 million) and Twitter (17 million) are more than doubling
their audience in India each year.
• Social media use accounts for about an hour a day in India. Most
access it from home, then office, then mobile.

Social Media

Implication:

• Publishers should incorporate social media features (story post-outs
to social media, mini-sites on key social media platforms to attract
audience from those sites) into their digital products to take
advantage of this growth and high level of engagement.

– This impacts editorial, audience development, business development, and
delivery technology.

eBook Readers

eBook readers are growing quickly in sales and use across India, and
represent an excellent revenue source via content redistribution…

eBook Readers

eBook readers are selling fast in
India – Bowker's Global eBook
Monitor study earlier this year
showed that about 20% of
respondents in urban areas in
India had made one or more
eBook purchases over the
previous six months.

eBook Readers

Lower costs for the readers (starting now at about 5,000 INR) and for
eBook purchases (from about 30 INR) and better copy-protection are
making this channel increasingly important to Indian publishers.

The most common (and lucrative) approaches involve collecting
previously published content into single-topic medium-length (5,000 to
20,000 words) eBooks priced at 100 to 300 INR ($2 to $6 US) and the
publisher keeps 60 to 70% of that revenue.

eBook Readers

Implication:

• Indian publishers should take advantage of the growing eBook
marketplace and re-sell content in this channel.
• The conversion software to convert standard electronic file formats
(Word, InDesign, QuarkXpress, PDF, etc.) into copy-protected eBook
format for Kindle or Nook have become very cheap and relatively
easy to use.

Understanding your publication's online analytics (web, mobile and
social media) grows more vital every day…

Key data

1 traffic drivers
Collecting detailed analytics
from your web site (including Key data

mobile-friendly sites) or your content use and
mobile app can be done without 2
preferences
spending any money at all with
products like Google Analytics. Key data

3
audience loyalty
and engagement

Regular monitoring of your analytics and responding to the trends they reveal is very
important to any digital publisher.

Key Development Areas
Content

Ideal digital edition (web site and/or mobile app) content mix:
– All (or almost all) the story/department/column content from the print edition,
posted when the print edition hits the street or slightly after

– digital-only additions to most major items from the print edition (detail or
background text, extra photos or a photo gallery, possibly a video or audio clip,
user poll, etc.)

Content

Ideal digital edition (web site and/or mobile app) content mix:
– Entirely new digital-only content (additional stories, blogs, columns, videos,
etc.; posted daily or near-daily between main issue dates – some of this may
well wind up in the next print issue; this is a ‘digital-first’ approach already in
use at a lot of newspapers)
– regardless of your print edition structure, shorter items (500 words or less)
work better than longer ones for most digital publications because of 'grazing'
content habits online

Content

Ideal eBook edition content mix – essentially the same as the print
version

With a copy-protected searchable PDF - usable on most eReaders -
you can get the exact look of the print version - this is usually called a
'replica' edition.

Content

Opting for the ePub3 format gives you a product more adaptable for use
on different screen sizes and horizontal or vertical orientation, but not
the ability to mimic the print look and feel.

(This is a regular eBook edition of the print magazine, sold separately or as part of a
bundle. Any special eBook products would each have their own content mix and a
similar overall design look & feel.)

Design, User Experience & Features

Digital products (website, mobile app, ePub edition) should share the
same overall design approach, colors and standing graphic elements
(logos, etc.)

The design for these digital products must be carefully matched to the
strengths and weaknesses of the devices used to access the product.


A typical information architecture (IA) for a publication website (for use
by people with desktop, laptop, netbook and tablet devices) involves a
home page with story leaders and links to all key/recent items on the
site, sometimes placed in a sliding ‘carousel,’ along with direct links to
each site section.


Two-click Rule
No major site item should be more than 2 clicks from the
home page, and the top five or eight new items should be
teased on the home page with 1 click access


Think of an area of about 800 pixels wide by 800 pixels high as 'above the
fold' – the area where your most important content and links should all be.


In addition to the design detailed on previous slides, the
only other site design that should be used if at all
possible is one for smartphones.

While most mobile tablets can use the same site design
as a desktop or laptop, the smartphone has a far more
limited display – high-resolution, but typically not much
bigger than a business card.


Good smartphone design uses slightly-larger type (i.e.12-14
points) a single-column vertical approach (smartphones are
almost always used in portrait / vertical orientation) using
limited photo or graphic elements.

Example: Regular Site: http://www.theglobeandmail.com
Mobile Version: http://m.theglobeandmail.com

(Visit these with a smartphone to see these designs. The web
server automatically determines if a visitor is using a smartphone
and delivers the regular or smartphone design as appropriate.)


If you develop a mobile app or highly- Slide-out
specialized website design themes for Slide-up
smartphones and tablets, you can add Slide-down
Extra content
design features unique to those Navigation elements
devices using HTML5 and other Light-boxes, etc.
specialized languages


Popular Publication Site / App Features:
– Favorites function (a Favorite button on every story page, hit it to add the
story to your Favorites list, which is a list of links on a custom page for each
site user. Revisit the stories anytime.
– Email this story link, post out to Social Media sites (FaceBook, Twitter,
LinkedIn, etc.) buttons on every story or blog page
– Body type size controls in the smartphone page themes for the site or a
mobile app

Production Technology & Delivery Options

Recommended production technology for typical magazine sites (for all
devices): A WCMS (web content management system) which allows for
any authorized writer, editor, contributor or graphics person to post and
arrange content to the site (words, images, video, audio, slide shows,
etc.) without technical training.

Items can easily have SEO key words and page design type ('theme')
attached and start / end dates/times on the web site. Examples:
DRUPAL, JOOMLA, etc.


Larger organizations can use a Hybrid WCMS to allow for single entry of
content by contributors driving output for both web and print editions
(high-res PDF). Examples, DTI, K4, DITTO, QPS, etc.

Typical format of web pages created: HTML 3 - 5 plus JavaScript and
CSS3 (Cascading Style Sheets).


Emerging format (also for delivery to any device type): HTML5 plus
Conditional CSS3: With this approach, best embodied in Adobe's
DreamWeaver 6, you can create a single page design template (theme)
that can dynamically adjust its own layout on the fly based on device
type and screen size.
Just one set of site page themes (designs) can adapt to any device from
a smartphone to a 30" screen automatically. This is generally referred to
as ‘responsive design’.

http://www.qz.com http://www.bostonglobe.com
Try changing the size of the browser window - watch it change from a 3-column normal
web page down to a little smartphone page on the fly …)


Recommended technology & delivery options for a mobile app
(smartphones and tablets): A native 'shell app' for iPad and one for
Android devices. Both work exactly the same way – they have built-in
visual page design themes (horizontal and vertical for tablets and vertical
for smartphones) and standing graphic elements (logos, section heads,
etc.). Content is received in the app through an RSS feed from the web
site. The app can store a few issues to read offline.

Usually the shell app is free, but the actual content is sold as part of a
site/app bundle or as tablet app-only content on the iTunes or Android
online stores (30% to them).


Alternative approach for a mobile app: Arrange for an external company
to handle your mobile app deployment – you provide an RSS content
stream and they do the rest. Typically they charge 30-40% of subscription
and/or ad sales in the app for this service. (Example: pressly.com).

Business Model

Digital publications can derive revenue from several sources, and best-
practices business models incorporate two or more of these

– Website ads or in-app sales
• Your own ad sales team or through ad agencies
– Sponsorships
– Site or app subscription sales
– eCommerce sales and transaction fees through the website

Business Model

Web site ads or in-app ad sales –
Automated ad network-based ads
(DoubleClick, AdSense, etc.) offer very
low CP/M rates (70-125 INR per
thousand ad impressions) are usually
only practical if your site or app draws
tens or hundreds of thousands of site
visits (or app users) each month

Business Model

A better approach is ad sales through your own ad sales team or through
ad agencies. This approach can generate much higher ad
CP/M rates, but to make it work you'll need to demonstrate that your
audience are exactly the type of people who select advertisers want to
reach.
– Advertisers and agencies like sites with a carefully-focused and loyal audience –
this means less 'spill', where their ads reach people who are not interested in their
products or services.

Business Model

Sponsorships – This is a higher-level sales approach where a few
carefully-selected large companies or organizations 'sponsor' a site or app
section for a week, month, etc.
– This approach can be tricky if the sponsor wants editorial / content input for the
section.

Business Model

Site or App Subscription Sales – Today some sites will offer a basic set of
site content and features for free (in order to maintain a good base traffic
level and paid ad impressions), and also sell a site access subscription
(more content and features, less ads) for a set fee per month or year.
(Mobile apps can also offer the same approach.)

Many times bundle deals are offered: print + full web site + PDF Replica
Edition or full web site + mobile app access, etc.

Business Model

Important pricing note!
If you have a print edition and you decide to charge for online content, do
not sell full website access for less than you charge for the print version, or
you'll risk losing your print customers (who generate much higher ad CP/Ms
than web users) over to your web site.

Charge the same as your print readers pay, but not less.

Combo print + digital bundles (print, full website, replica edition and mobile
app content) can be up to 50% more than the print edition by itself.

Business Model

eCommerce Sales and Transaction Fees through the Web Site – Under
this model, you sell access to other digital products (resource libraries,
special eBooks or other digital products, etc.).
– These can be high-margin sales.

Advertising Development

Every effort should be made to package your audience as carefully as
possible to potential advertisers.,
If your site draws a regular and loyal (frequent repeat visits) / engaged
(longer page visits and multiple pages viewed per visit) audience who share
interests, locations or demographics they represent a potential audience for
advertisers offering related products or services.


From most advertisers' point of view, a site with a mostly 'drive-by' audience
who visit only once or twice per month (or less often) is not an attractive ad
medium, unless your site draws a huge crowd.

They would much more likely prefer a smaller, but regularly-visiting
audience.

Advertising works best with the same person seeing the ad several times.


While top, side and bottom banner ads are standard, advertisers will pay
more for interactive ads (where the user enters information about
themselves or their product interests directly in the ad and is then taken to
their site) or full-page interstitial ads (ads that appear when moving between
the pages of a story or between site sections).


• Content-aware ad placement systems (either through ad networks or
through your own ad delivery system) are also sought-after. They offer
customized on-the-fly ad placement on your site based on page content
matching the ad's product or service.
• Pop-up ads and flashing / irritating ads are generally frowned on by
advertisers, as are Flash-based ads (or other Flash-based site content) –
Flash does not work on mobile devices.


Your ad sales should be focused on a smaller group of potentially large
advertising clients, rather than the other way around. Maintain an ad sales /
ad clients database as your targeting method for regular ad sales contacts.

Print + web ad combo deals can be attractive sales-builders, but resist the
urge to throw in the web ads for little or no extra money than the print ad by
itself. If you do, you're effectively de-valuing web ads for every potential
advertiser who sees that deal.

Product Promotion

All publication sites who sell subscriptions will use house ads onsite to
promote the paid product and link directly to a registration / subscription
page. Some publishers will also advertise in other (non-competing)
publications or sites of interest to audiences similar to their own.

Social media out-posting buttons (FaceBook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) on
each story page are an excellent free promotion method - your site users
post links to your stories on their social media pages, where they're seen by
many other potential site visitors.

Product Promotion

Some publications who sell site subscription use a soft ‘metered paywall’
approach, where a site user can view a certain number of site pages per
month before starting to get 'meter ad messages' that promote the paid
product.
– The more pages a user views over a month, the more meter messages are displayed
to him.
– At some point (perhaps 20 pages viewed), the site may lock him from viewing more
pages until the current month is over.
– All meter messages have a direct link to the subscription page.

Product Promotion

A 'hard' paywall (no-one can see much or any of the site without paying) is
effective only in highly-specialized business/trade publication sites or other
examples where the site offers absolutely unique / highly-valued content or
services.

Many sites offer a three-stage approach to moving their audience
through increasing levels of loyalty and engagement with the site, and,
finally, paid purchase of a site or app subscription:

1. Anonymous Only the basic site features and content
user

2. Registered They provide their email address (and perhaps a bit more
user information) to get extra site content and features.

3. Subscribed Full site access with all site features and content.
(Paid) user

(With registered or subscribed users, a weekly/monthly email newsletter is a good
device to draw them back to the site regularly, but typical open rates are low: 3% to 8%/)

Metrics & SEO

Good web site
analytics can be
easily obtained with
free or low-cost
external web
analytics reporting
services like Google
Analytics or Alexa.

Metrics & SEO

Google Analytics – Basic Dashboard

Metrics & SEO

• Much more detailed reporting can be collected with paid services like
Alexa Pro, Scout, Adobe Analytics (formerly Omniture), ComScore,
etc. but these can be quite expensive for small organizations.

Metrics & SEO

There are also mobile analytics specialists (like Juice Analytics) to report
on user demographics and content preferences inside your mobile app.

Metrics & SEO

Paid analytic products typically offer
external third-party audience data (paid
data sets or census data, etc) to overlay
your own data to give a clear view of your
audience
– Interests
– Demographics
– Buying habits.

Metrics & SEO

Fundamental web analytics to collect monthly and watch over time
(regardless of the source):

– Total Visits
– Total Unique Visitors (i.e.: different people)
– Average Pages Viewed Per Visit
– Average Visit Duration (direct measure of audience engagement)
– The fraction of your audience visiting once, twice, five times, ten times, etc. per
month (direct measure of audience loyalty)

Metrics & SEO

Fundamental web analytics to collect monthly and watch over time
(regardless of the source), continued:

– The % of single-page site visits ('bounces', lower is better)
– Geographic breakdown of site visitors by city, region or country
– % of Site Visits using a regular desktop/laptop and using a mobile device
(smartphone or tablet)
– Key traffic sources (search sites / other sites linking to yours / traffic from ads on
other sites or emails / links to your site from different social media sites, etc.)
– Most popular content on your site (sections and individual story/column/blog
pages)

Metrics & SEO

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) – Using proper key words to
describe the subject of each story, blog or column (and your overall site)
is crucial to build traffic from search sites like Google Search, Bing, etc.
These are easy to add when posting the content items in most WCMS
systems, but you should develop and use a consistent ongoing set of
standard keywords.
– To find the best ones, do searches on the big search sites using the topics your
site covers with different key words and determine which ones seem to work for
you.

THE FUTURE IS DIGITAL

“…Publishers have largely replicated their books, magazines, and
newspapers in digital forms. While this is a good start, publishers
won't complete the digital transition until they have created entirely
new digital media products that fulfill the promises made by digital
technology.”

Forrester.com

Digital Publishing Trends

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