This is a presentation I gave at the Rethink Conference in Oslo, Norway in March 2013. It focuses on shifts in consumption trends, the evolution of mobile/social, the role of brands as content creators and innovative models I'm seeing in the media space.

1. Rethinking Media & Marketing
For the Connected Era
Presented by Adam Ostrow
Chief Strategy Officer, Mashable

2. Introduction
• Joined Mashable in 2007 as Editor in Chief.
• Authored 2,500+ articles for Mashable.
• Oversee content, bizdev and monetization strategy at Mashable.
.

3. The consumption, distribution and
monetization models of media are
being radically disrupted.

4. The State of Digital Media: 2005
Mashable’s Beginnings
• There was no iPhone
• There was no YouTube
• There was no Twitter
• Facebook was college-only
• Mashable’s traffic: 60%+ via search
• Online ad revenue: $12.5 billion (US)

5. Mashable and Adam in 2005
A Different Time!

6. The State of Digital Media: 2013
Mashable Is a Major Media Company
• Nearly half of mobile users own
smartphones
• YouTube: 3 billion video views
per day
• Twitter: 400 million tweets per day
• Facebook: 1 billion users,
$60 billion market value
• Mashable’s traffic: ~ 30% via search
• Online ad revenue: $31 billion
(US, 2011)

7. Connected devices are profoundly
changing the way people consume
content.

8. Connected Devices Growth
Mobile Is Marginalizing the Desktop

9. Mashable’s Mobile Audience
The Evolving Connectivity Ecosystem
Mashable is now access by more than
2,500 unique devices each month!
• Mobile traffic to Mashable has
grown by 180% since 2010.
• Mobile now represents 1/3rd
of
Mashable’s audience.
• Rise of larger smartphones and
smaller tablets = more screen
sizes than ever.

10. Mobility and Mashable
A Rapid Growth Story
Mashable grew
7.5x faster on
mobile devices
than on desktop
in 2012.

11. Mobility Impacts Everything
Connected Devices and Consumer Experiences
TVs Cars Outdoor
KitchenHealth
Fashion

12. Social media is evolving to meet the
needs of mobile consumers.

13. Mobile Is Different
And It Has Major Implications
• Smaller screen sizes reward
brevity and visuals.
• Device functionality = new
social functionality (camera,
GPS, etc.)
• Mobile as a second screen
accelerates real-time media
and marketing.
• The majority of Facebook and
Twitter users are on mobile.

14. A More Visual Social Web
Visual-First Networks
Instagram
Pinterest

15. A More Visual Social Web
Twitter & Facebook: Can You Tell The Difference?
Facebook Twitter

16. Visuals Drive Results on the Social Web
Higher Engagement Than Other Forms of Media

17. Visuals Drive Results on Mashable
Higher Engagement Than Other Forms of Media
Photos lift engagement by 8x on
Mashable’s Facebook!

18. Mobile and social have leveled the
playing field for media consumers and
producers.

19. Self-Publishing Goes Mainstream
Technology Lets Anyone Be a Content Creator

20. Low-Cost Production
Everyone Can Be a Content Creator
When do you think we'll be
able to shoot full movies on a
cell phone in good quality?
“I think we're very, very close.
The power of the computers
inside your smartphone is
incredible and can do
tremendous things.”
-- Danny Boyle, Director

21. Financed By Fans
Crowdfunding Dictates What Gets Made
Movies Gaming

22. Rent vs Own Models
Content Lives in the Cloud
TV Music

23. Pay What You Want
The Changing Relationship Between Artists & Fans

24. Demand-Based Distribution
Knowing Where The Fans Are
Theaters

25. New Data Sources
Forget the Traffic Helicopter
Local TV

26. Social and mobile have required
Mashable to rethink its business.

27. The Mobile Monetization Gap
Ad Dollars Have Been Slow to Catch Up

28. • Mobile: Both content
and ads are optimized
for every platform with
responsive design.
• Social: Content is
organized by social
velocity and optimized
for sharing.
• Visual: Social sites
are going visual;
images are shared 2X
more than links.
The New Mashable
Mobile, Social, Visual

29. • Ads live in-stream
• Ads are optimized for every
screen size
• Ads are sold across every
platform
• Infinite scroll eliminates “below
the fold” placements
• Ads are content
Rethinking Display Advertising
Mobile, Social, Visual

30. Delivering Results
Mobile, Social, Visual
• New traffic records in Jan. ‘13:
25MM unique visitors, 120MM
pageviews
• Pages per visit on mobile up 85%
• Time spent on mobile up 30%
• Performance on mobile ads
improved 2-3x
• Performance on desktop ads nearly
doubled.

31. Brands are turning to content to win
in today’s digital landscape.

32. Brands as Content Creators
An Old Idea Transformed for the Digital Age
THEN NOW
10M Livestreams
300K Likes
8M Video Views

33. Why Content?
An Elegant Solution For Today’s Landscape
•Content lives in the stream with
stories, photos, video, etc.
•Content gets shared by social
media users
•Content helps build following and
engagement on social sites
•Content + social is the
future of search
•Content is inherently
cross-platform
•Content + native advertising drives
performance

34. Social Algorithms
The World Is Getting Reorganized by Social
• Organic Facebook posts by
brands only reach 17% of
subscribers.
• Search engines increasingly
use social signals to rank
results.
• Aggregators like Flipboard,
Pulse and News.me use social
signals to organize news.

35. Native Advertising
The Business Model of Social
Sponsored
Stories
Promoted
Tweets
Promoted
Videos

36. Why Native?
It’s the Winning Format on Social
"With Promoted Tweets, we've seen engagement rates from 1 to 3 percent on
average. On mobile, the engagement rates are even higher."
“As measured by click-through rates, Sponsored Stories in News Feed perform
multiple times better on both desktop and mobile than ads in the right-hand column.”
“What we find is that when you’re in that content, you get far superior click-through
rates. We’ve seen three to five times as high.”

37. Mashable helps brands become
premium content creators and
optimize social distribution.

38. Female Founders Series Leaders in Digital Series Tails and Rails
What’s Inside
Extraordinary Entrepreneurs
Series
Global Innovation Series
A Win-Win Scenario
Matching Brand Interests With Reader Interests

39. The Publisher’s Role
Publishers Help Brands Become Content Creators
To promote the launch of IE9,
Microsoft came to Mashable to create
the web series “Behind the Launch”:
•16 original episode docuseries +
behind the scenes + supporting
content + community events
•50,000+ video streams
•Average viewer watched
3 mins, 15 secs
•53,000+ social shares across multiple
platforms
•4,200+ Tweets of custom hashtag
#BehindTheLaunch

40. Integrated Campaigns
Content + Community Lifts Overall Performance

41. Custom Content + Native Advertising
Driving Audience and Engagement
 Mashable Lift Units get 1.5-2.0%
CTRs
 Mashable Custom Content gets 50%
more engagement than organic
content.
 Improves performance of display
ads by 2-3x

42. … And Powering Brand-Owned Channels
Brands Have Massive Distribution Platforms, Too

43. Real-time marketing is the next
evolution of mobile, social and native
advertising.

44. Super Bowl XLVII
The Lights Go Out; A New Marketing Buzzword Is Born

45. Real-Time Marketing
Being Relevant In the Moment

46. Mashable Social Lift
Amplifying Brand’s Social Assets
Photo
Video
Vine

47. Here’s What to Do Next …

48. Keys For a Successful Future
How to Future-Proof For Mobile + Social
•Design for an optimal experience on
every device.
•Develop an expertise in speaking to
your brand’s values; not its products.
•Create content that drives engagement across
social platforms.
•Organize your teams to take advantage
of real-time marketing opportunities.
•Amplify your brand assets with native
advertising solutions.

49. Q & A
adamo@mashable.com
@adamostrow
facebook.com/AdamOstrow
linkedin.com/in/AdamOstrow