Traditional media houses have been faced with a double-edged sword for some time now. Not only are they finding it difficult to sustain their existing customers but also proving to be a challenge for them is planning and executing strategies in the digital world. According to Gartner, a leading information technology research and advisory company, there will be 25 billion connected devices by 2020 and 2.5 quintillion bytes of data being created each day.
The huge penetration of internet and mobile; the vast numbers of younger demographics turning to digital media rather than print or TV for their content needs; the fact that digital is accessible through multiple devices such as mobile, tablets, laptops etc. and print only through newspapers and magazines, have made it clear to media houses that they can’t afford but to adopt a strategy which embraces digital.
According to Iconic Digital Agency, a US based digital marketing agency, 70-90% of customers turn to the web first when searching for a product or service or news. Consider the following: In 2013, revenue from print advertising hit a record milestone in the US—when it went lower than that in 1950! Imagine United States in the 1950. Fresh out of war, lot less people, lot less wealth and even then all these years later, revenues from print advertising declined.
Now, in 2015, print media houses for quite some time have been trying to increase their revenues through multiple sources. Digital has been in the focus, and, since they are already in the business of publishing, entities like WSJ and New York Times have also started using paywalls for the content that they generate.
As per Rama Krishna Veerapaneni, Managing Director, Whacked Out Media, “Target audiences and subscribers everywhere in the world are seeking 24x7 engagement and interaction. Speed has been a mantra for information deliver and now is also a mantra for information consumption. Media houses will have to adapt and create mass media channels at the pace of users’ information consumption.”
To build a community around their products and sell the community’s attention to advertisers are critical goals for most media houses. It is extremely important for traditional media houses to innovate when it comes to content presentation—which in lay man’s terms would be how they write anything, news, reviews, reports, etc. The digital world, which has made consumption of media and news possible in places where print has never been able to reach, is the missing link. Digital Audience Development companies such as Whacked Out Media have organically built large online communities on social media, with over 140+ Million social followers across the board, and use this community to further promote their new content as well as brands.
“Based on our experience working with Traditional Media companies in order to build their digital space, and having been at it for over 4 years (now that's really long in digital time!), here are some pointers for traditional print media houses to start their digital journey” stated Rama Krishna Veerapaneni, Managing Director, Whacked Out Media.
Have digital first and digital only content:
Digital usually has the advantage of being first to break a news story. Along with that, print media houses can also have digital only or content that's exclusive to digital so that even subscribers of their print products start using digital and become a part of the community eventually. There are a host of digital choices such as slideshows, videos, social networks, blogging to name a few for even the slightly tech savvy journalist.
Leverage the uniqueness of each platform:
A media house that has understood the uniqueness of each of the platforms will have their online and print edition look very different. The print edition would focus on analysis, longer feature stories, news to be perused in a more relaxed manner, and articles around leisure activities. The website with updates through the day would focus on breaking news, shorter articles, with searchable services like events calendars, dining guides, etc. in the offing.
Continue print stories digitally:
At the same time, continue print stories digitally. This increases the engagement of users in ways print media alone could never achieve. Digitally, as mentioned above, there are a lot of content types and content presentation styles that can be worked on to match readers’ consumption preferences.
Don't try to make money and survive on digital platforms:
Digital revenues are increasing no doubt but, as most publishers complain, the revenues are not as high as other mediums. According to reports, online revenues for most news media are still a small fraction of the income from traditional print or broadcast. For newspapers, typically 15 percent or less of total revenues come from online operations. Magazines similarly get less than 10 percent of their revenue from their digital operations. Additionally, the scale of paid digital content is still not at its potential for most media houses and also, digital spend is another factor.
Consistency across platforms:
The greater number of platforms means a stronger need for media houses to maintain consistent standards across them. Media houses by following a strong code of conduct on all digital platforms will create greater brand loyalty.
Know your audience:
Who are they? What do they do? What are their consumption patterns, etc.? Understand and know the tastes of your audience really well. Since tools to target and advertise to specific individuals have gotten better and since there isn't much data from print (as there is from digital), it is all the more important for publishers and advertisers as well to understand the target audience that they are trying to reach.
“Over the last few years, we’ve seen that the Industry front-runners have proved the right mix of digital and traditional media is better than the sum of its parts. It’s still not too late for others to embrace digital and the above pointers will hopefully get them started on the journey.” says Rama Krishna Veerapaneni, MD, Whacked Out Media optimistically.
ABOUT WHACKED OUT MEDIA
Whacked Out Media is a next-gen media company based out of Hyderabad. Focused on digital marketing since 2011, Whacked Out is today Asia’s largest and fastest growing YouTube Multi-Channel Network Partner and also publishes video across several other models as well. Its core strength lies in its organic content marketing strategies as well as its experience with audience development and content optimization. It has over 180+ skilled professionals dedicated to aggregating and distributing content, managing celebrities, promoting movies, brands, products and campaigns. For more information, please visit www.whackedout.in
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