We all surely remember the days sans constant news updates; life was calm for the most part. Like it or not, this isn’t the reality anymore. The age of information overload or explosion of information is here, and we do see how it is bombarding each of us.
With a global pandemic ramming its way right into our life’s core, everyone is obsessing over receiving consistent information updates. As rightly being reckoned, data is the new fuel running the engine of the world.
The glut of the content may have drowned our sense of judgment and personal inclinations, but it has most prominently impacted the Publishing sector. The eagerness to consume news and information has never been so high. Breaking news junkies and information addicts are fueling the increased digitization of hitherto print-only news and the time is ripe for publishers to restructure their approach for revenue growth.
The Age of Content Shock
A vast majority of the current information in circulation is digital in nature. Considering the media and entertainment industry, OTT and other VOD services are very sprightly, with cheaply available and fresh online content mushrooming by leaps and bounds. Cord-cutting is a fact, and the pandemic-induced job losses are only adding up to it.
Therefore, magazine publishers today have to be more flexible than ever before to try and contest the free-floating info dumps being found online. Although it might seem a little overwhelming to cater to millions of choices, it really boils down to a few things when looked at closely.
And these are:
1. Quality over Quantity
The internet is flooded with gazillions of data. An average person finds it cumbersome looking for what he/she is interested in, especially when they are looking for specific details. So, publishers need to ensure that they’re not just chasing new customers in high numbers, but also delivering customized and quality content. As is mostly known, magazine readers are more loyal and stick to their habit, as long as they find uncompromised content quality.
2. Digitalize with Subscriptions
Print media is slowly declining, but it is too soon to write it off. Nevertheless, it is crucial to stay abreast with the contemporary standards of reading. Providing digital content backed by a resilient subscription billing software would not only enable the millennial customers to come aboard but also would create recurrent revenue pools.
3. App it Out
This comes without saying. Although it can sound exhausting, today, there is indeed an app for everything, and very soon, there would be a subscription for everything too. So, why not have the best of both worlds? Having a self-made magazine application empowers you to maintain analytics on the acquisition, develop better strategies to serve, and most importantly, you can monetize traffic with in-app advertising too.
Global digital magazine advertising revenue is set to grow to $18.73bn in 2020, making up more than a quarter of publishers’ total advertising revenue. There is an added advantage of posting the latest updates via an app, which would otherwise be impossible to do.
4. Video’s the Way
Publishers today focus on producing a range of videos, tackling a wide variety of subjects, with high production values. They could be a few seconds long and shot on a phone to feature-length documentaries filmed on high-end HD cameras. This adds to your scheme of getting closer to the current media usage habits, ensuring your brand name is closer to your customers.
One way or another, publishers will have to imbibe and embrace the new but highly successful strategies and business models if they want to stay in the game. Adjusting to the glut of content is not easy but very much manageable with the right maneuvers in place. Creating subscriptions backed by a future-ready and scalable subscription billing platform is one of the best proven and easiest ways to monetize quality digital content. Talk to us today, and we can show you the way to go and get ahead.
