OBSERVATIONS ON CONTENT & THE MEDIA

9 WAYS THE MOST INNOVATIVE MEDIA ORGANIZATIONS ARE GROWING

2015

IN 2014, MEDIA ORGANIZATIONS EXPERIENCED AN UNPRECEDENTED ARMS RACE INSTIGATED BY STARTUPS, TRADITIONAL RIVALS AND BRANDS BECOMING CONTENT COMPANIES.

The landscape grows increasingly competitive with new forms of content, technology and data; showing up with good content is no longer good enough. In this age of transformation, the ability to create new and differentiated methods of sustained growth has become more important than ever.

Only the innovative and agile prevail.

15-35%

VISITORS ONLY VISIT With content on-demand and ever-available, traditional loyalty is going the way of the homepage. Continuing to optimize for increased pageviews no longer makes business sense.

of visitors, on the average media site, go deeper than two pages.

ONLY

0 20 40 60 80 100

2.5

2

1.5

1

0.5

DEN

SITY

PERCENT OF VISITORS VISITING TWO OR MORE PAGES

SOURCE: CHARTBEAT

LEGACY MODEL TRAFFIC FOCUSED Monetizing visitors exclusively through ads led to an overemphasis on the top of the funnel and a disconnect from the bottom.

NEW MODEL GROWTH FOCUSED

In the new model, traffic is a means to an end, not the end itself. Creating,

tracking and optimizing an entire funnel not only grows traffic, but

develops additional opportunities for creating more sustainable value.

MARKETING TEAM’s RESPONSIBLITY

PRODUCT TEAM’S RESPONSIBLITY

GROWTH TEAM’S RESPONSIBLITY

ACTIONS Valuable things your users do for themselves and your business

ACQUISITION How do you get people to

your product?

ACTIVATION How does your product

convert visitors to actions?

TRAFFIC, AFTER YOU GET IT HOW DO YOU USE IT

CONTENT TEAM’S RESPONSIBLITY

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GROWTH OBSERVATIONS & INSIGHTS FROM THE FIELD

This report focuses on the shift from traditional marketing practices to a more holistic approach for growing and retaining users. Illustrating this shift are observations and insights from a few of the most innovative media organizations.

The impact of this change is far reaching: from new business models, to internal processes and even hiring.

ACTIONS Valuable things your users do for themselves and your business

ACQUISITION How do you get people

to your product?

ACTIVATION How does your product

convert visitors to actions?

NICHE SPREADS BETTER THAN BROAD

RAPIDLY EXPAND LIKE AN MCN

AIM HIGH TO ATTRACT ATTENTION

TREAT EVERY PAGE AS A LANDING PAGE

NOTABLE OBSERVATIONS

CONTENT CALENDARS THAT MATCH BEHAVIOR

DESIGN FOR HABITS

CREATE DIRECT CONNECTIONS TO VALUABLE USERS

CONTENT SELLS, SO LET IT

GET PHYSICAL TO GET AUTHENTIC

NICHE SPREADS BETTER THAN BROAD While often counter intuitive for organizations at scale, more narrowly targeted content has the potential to reach deeper through networks than traditional mass content.

REASONS WHY

It’s Easier To Make Resonate: Acknowledging a specific and quantifiable audience enables a content creator to focus on crafting their content in a way that resonates more with the target.

OVER 2MIL VIEWS This BuzzFeed post received over 2mil views by speaking directly to 18mil Asian-Americans.

CONSIDERATION

How can your organization make better content for a networked audience?

SOCIAL IS THE HOMEPAGE Social networks are overtaking the

website homepage as the dominant content discovery mechanism.

ACQUISITION

It’s More Sharable: Audiences are more compelled to share compelling content with like-minded peers than content that feels generic.

SOURCE: NYTIMES INNOCAVATION REPORT, 2014

+

RAPIDLY EXPAND LIKE A MULTI-CHANNEL NETWORK While having different verticals (lifestyle, sports, etc…) is nothing new to scaled media organizations, new entrants are able to grow audiences incredibly fast by smartly integrating and sharing audiences between partners.

CONSIDERATION

How can your organization get more value out of current or future partnerships?

Partnering Is The Default: Any teen will tell you the best way to increase your number of social followers is by making content with someone who has more followers. This mindset of building networks through networking is inherent with innovative media organizations.

More Platform-like: The distribution of media is incredibly easy to scale, but the backend scaling of operations is what makes an MCN-like organization more valuable to their consumer facing brands, verticals and talent.

REASONS WHY

Low Switching Costs: Today, users are disloyal and bounce around to different brands that provide immediate value. The switching cost of media is practically zero, so sharing traffic at the top of our funnel is no longer something to fear.

OVER 15MIL MONTHLY UNIQUES IN 9 MONTHS The blogging pioneers behind The Verge and SBNation combined their innovative tech with Ezra Klein’s voice to jump start their new platform.

SOURCE:QUANTCAST, MEDIA REDEFINED

DEC 14 MAR 14 JUN 14 OCT 14

45M

40M

35M

30M

25M

20M

MO

NTH

LY

ACTI

VE U

SERS 60% growth since

Maker Studios was acquired by Disney

ACQUISITION

$1B YOUTUBE NETWORK By aggregating the efforts and audiences of individual creators, while leveraging the operational scale, Maker Studios is defining a future of networked media.

MAKER STUDIOS’ MONTHY ACTIVE USERS

AIM HIGH TO ATTRACT ATTENTION Taking risks and heavily investing in validated bets attracts new audiences. These high profile projects are press-worthy themselves and inspire top talent.

REASONS WHY

The Content R&D Lab: While it’s important to keep your risks in check, saving resources for experimentation allows safe spaces to push boundaries and find new insights.

MOST POPULAR PODCAST EVER The most popular podcast made an even more popular podcast. By investing heavily in an underutilized medium, This American Life’s team created a new project so compelling that people shifted their listening behaviors and expanding the entire market.

CONSIDERATION

What bet will have the biggest impact, while also having the greatest odds of success?

Long & Evergreen: Big pieces of “stock” content stand the test of time and remain valuable long after the latest Tweet has been forgotten.

Memorable: While sparking buzz, differentiated and significant content connects with people and reminds them what your organization stands for.

START STRONG Netflix launched into original programming by ordering an unprecedented initial two seasons of House of Cards without even producing a pilot.

OLD DOG, NEW TRICKS The New York Time’s Snow Fall pushed their narrative journalism to new digital heights and won them a Pulitzer Prize too.

ACQUISITION

CONTENT CALENDARS THAT MATCH BEHAVIORS Interest in breaking news always peaks when it’s the most fresh, however behaviors around other forms of content are dispersing. Besides the most immediate uses, your data can reveal how visitors use your content for other purposes.

REASONS WHY

Not All Social Is Twitter: While media is heavily influenced by Twitter, other social behaviors are less ephemeral and open opportunities for sustainable feedback loops.

PINNERS PIN EARLY BuzzFeed pre-seeds its Halloween content in September so its Pinterest-loving audience has enough time to organize their projects before the holiday.

CONSIDERATION

What unconventional ways are visitors using your content? How can you leverage it?

Passive And Active Content: The social newsfeed is a passive experience, where friends curate content for us. At the same time, we actively seek out other types of content. Smart media organizations balance content for both behaviors to create multiple in and out roads.

LINKS MADE EVERGREEN Vox’s innovative “card” based UI delivers explainers on current events. Rather than pushing new stories, Vox updates existing pages which makes them evergreen and SEO friendly.

ACQUISITION

TREAT EVERY PAGE AS A LANDING PAGE As every page becomes an entry point, create custom optimized experiences for each user based on insights of who is visiting and why.

CHOOSE YOUR OWN DISPLAY Buzzfeed observed that users coming to their listicles from

Pinterest were sharing content back to Pinterest, not to other social sites.

By revising their layout for these users, Buzzfeed grew Pinterest into

their 2nd highest social referrer.

standard layout presentsmultiple sharing options

CONSIDERATION

Do you understand where your audience comes from, where they go, and how you might create a value exchange between you and them?

Users Have Preferred Social Networks:Chartbeat observed that users are far more likely to return to a site via the same social referrer than all others combined. If a user came through Twitter, chances are they’ll come back through Twitter.

Destinations Are Revealing: Besides where users come from, knowing where and why they go helps determine what valuable actions they are most likely to take. Which group of users is most likely to sign up for a newsletter, share or go one page deeper?

REASONS WHY

Segment By Referrer: Where users come from is the first insight to their behavior. Compare and contrast behavior from different sources as a jumping off point to create more value for them.

ACTIVATION

specialized layout mimics Pinterest’s own UI

SOURCE: WIRED, BUZZFEED, CHARTBEAT

DESIGN FOR HABITS Meaningful relationships and increased engagement are created by designing content and products that fit into a user’s existing and underserved behavior.

USER CONTENT THAT MAKES SENSE Product Hunt reached 11Mil Monthly Uniques by combining the social fun of Reddit’s up-voting with the addictive behavior of seeking out and discussing new products.

CONSIDERATION

What valuable behaviors are your users already doing and how can you join them?

Loyalty Through Behavior: Rather than traditional emotional brand loyalty, users today are more loyal to products and services that are aligned with their behavior and provide them with the most value.

REASONS WHY

Behavior Change is Hard: We all know habits are hard to change. Instead of trying to go against the grain of change, serve the habits they’ve already formed.

BUILT FOR COMMUTERS Much of WNYC’s audience spends time underground commuting so they designed an app that pre-downloads the right amount of content for the trip.

PUSH NOTIFICATION AS NEWS Circa knows smart phones are rarely far away and are building a modern news delivery service that is timely, customizable and at your fingertips.

ACTIONS

CREATE DIRECT CONNECTIONS WITH VALUABLE USERS While still a somewhat unproven business model, a few innovative organizations are attempting to grow and monetize existing channels rather than driving users elsewhere. Within these opt-in connections, content providers can push directly to users.

REASONS WHY

Direct Connections Are Proprietary: Having a direct relationship with users not only fosters more guaranteed reach, but it also opens up valuable sources of data.

CONSIDERATION

How can you create own-able direct connections with your most valuable users?

Most Loyal Are Most Valuable: While more challenging to scale, having a direct connection with your most loyal users can be incredibly valuable to experiment with alternative forms of moniteazation.

CONNECTING WITH 500K PEOPLE WITH EVERY EMAIL

theSkimm pushes a highly stylized news digest to their millennial audience every morning. NO PLACE TO GO

BFF, BuzzFeed’s new experiment, attempts to crack every social platform the way they did Facebook, by creating platform specific content that doesn’t drive anywhere else.

ACTIONS

CONTENT SELLS, SO LET IT With the rise of native advertising, the line between ad and content is disappearing. Aligning with this change, a few content companies are experimenting with making their content sell things.

WINDOW SHOPPING While still unproven, Spring is attempting to merge mobile commerce, Instagram-like content and follow mechanics.

CONSIDERATION

What sales opportunities overlap with your current product and user behavior?

Growing Advertising Capabilities: As more media organizations build in-house branded content teams, they’ll be able to use these new teams and capabilities to sell their own products and services.

REASONS WHY

The Most Valuable User Action: Converting traffic into actual sales provides an alternative opportunity for revenue, brand voice and user value.

ACTIONS

PICK A RECIPE, GET THE GROCERIES Yummly, the recipe app, just partnered with Instacart to bring on-demand grocery delivery to their users. Simply pick a recipe and have the ingredients delivered within an hour.

GET PHYSICAL TO GET AUTHENTIC While the digital content space is increasingly fragmented, opportunities exist for differentiation through the authentic and physical premium experiences.

NON-TRADITIONAL PUBLISHERS Last year Airbnb launched Pineapple a travel & lifestyle magazine and Warby Parker added a publishing imprint to their eyeglass business.

A GATHERING OF YOUR CLOSEST FRIENDS Call it a Sunday revival, family dinner or the spawn of TED conference. Media organizations are finding value in bringing their core audience together.

CONSIDERATION

Do you have existing communities that could be leveraged into premium physical experiences?

People Like to Come Together: With Twitter it has never been easier for fans to connect to creators and perhaps paradoxically, there have never been bigger crowds of fans at Comic Con and other fan events.

REASONS WHY

Old School is Cool: Last year vinyl record sales hit a 18 year high while “heritage” American brands are all the rage in fashion.

ACTIONS

ACTIONS Valuable things your users do for themselves and your business

ACQUISITION How do you get people

to your product?

ACTIVATION How does your product

convert visitors to actions?

2015 KEY GROWTH CONSIDERATIONS

‣ How can your organization create better content for networked audiences?

‣ How can your organization get more value out of current or future partnerships?

‣ What bet will have the biggest impact, while also having the greatest odds of success?

‣ What unconventional ways are visitors using your content? How can you leverage it?

‣ Do you understand where your audience comes from, where they go, and how you might create a value exchange between you and them?

‣ What valuable behaviors are your users already doing and how can you join them?

‣ How can you create own-able direct connections with your most valuable users?

‣ What sales opportunities overlap with your current product and user behavior?

‣ Do you have existing communities that could be leveraged into premium physical experiences?

Part and Sum is an innovation and strategy consultancy.

We collaborate with organizations to uncover, inspire and validate innovative offerings; then support them by building agile teams able to

continually solve their own challenges.

If you’d like to learn more, please reach out. jim@partandsum.com

THANK YOU.