RETHINKING PUBLISHING IN THE
CONTENT MARKETING ERA
Matthew Buckland | Creative Spark | www.creati vespark.co.za
Edgars’s Club Advertising Summit
2015 | Johannesburg

TM

The digital/internet era caused massive
disruption & change in just about every
industry. Here are a few...

Banking & financial services: Bitcoin, Google
Wallet, ApplePay

Banking & financial services: Peer-2-Peer
lending, cutting out the banks, Wonga,
Snaplify, Friendsurance
Credit: teeveetee.blogspot.com

Travel & hospitality: Uber

Travel & hospitality: airbnb

Telco: whatsapp. Death of SMS greatly
understated. Now, death of “calls”?

Medical: mines data from millions of
studies to make assessing medical
experts and treatments easier

Medical:behavioural analytics platform
that turns smartphone data into health
insights

Self diagnosis: Philips vital signs camera
(available on app store)

...disruption also in
education, retail,
government,
consumer
electronics. In the
media & marketing
world we have seen
unprecedented
disruption too...
MEDIA

CHOICE
Mainstream media
consisted of a few
choices in TV, radio
and newspapers.
Then came the
internet...

Massive digital fragmentation: many
options, competition for our time &
competition for media businesses

BUSINESS MODEL
Competition for both revenue &
reader attention. Media &
advertisers need to figure out a
new paradigm: platforms, ad
formats, content types, distribution
& business models

Internet instigated a dramatic fall in
the economics of media. It’s now
cheaper, faster, quicker to produce
& distribute media allowing non-
media companies, bloggers, one-
man shows to get in on the media
game. Therefore all companies are
media companies = massive
competition for eyeballs & revenue
MODELS

• Superdistribution: the forwarding of media through social
networks means a tiny publication with an important article
can reach huge audiences quickly & at no additional cost*
• Presence of networked video cameras in people’s pockets
increasingly means reporting comes from readers*
• Print felt disruption first... now TV (internet TV in fast
bandwidth era) & Radio (podcasting) beginning their
disruption cycles
• New platforms mean new rules (tablets & all digital devices)
DIGITAL MEDIA DISRUPTION
* Post-Industrial Journalism: Adapting to the Present: COLUMBIA JOURNALISM SCHOOL

...in the home

...in shops

TV, Parrot here
Here already...

Everywhere... looming media battle to
disseminate content to and monetise
just about any surface...

...even solar-powered
LED roads??
elitedaily.com

• Soaring user numbers, but revenues struggling: 10c
per print user, vs 1c per digital user
• Paid content online is NOT WORKING, except in limited
cases where financial data or B2B research data sold
• Fierce (and unfair - tax) battle for digital advertising
pie from Google (R1,5bn) & Facebook (local office)
• Advertising flocking to these new businesses. Why?
Reach, scale & ease of placement; better targeting &
engagement; better ad formats & placement;
CPC/shared risk model
DIGITAL PUBLISHING 2015

• Niche publications that serve rich advertising
ecosystems will continue to thrive
• We are seeing rise of new, lean media companies that
are able to run profitably & extract value (Open source
tech, crowd-contributor model, new ways of working)
• But digital publications in general still searching for
optimal revenue models
DIGITAL PUBLISHING 2015

• “Light bulb moment”: Stop seeing ourselves as Online
Publishing but as a Content Distribution Network
• Secret behind any site is the web of business deals,
distribution decisions behind it that sees its content
activated and monetised on new platforms
• Successful digital operation sees website/CMS at the
centre, distributing content & brand to a variety of platforms
RISE OF THE
CONTENT DISTRIBUTION
NETWORK

WEBSITE/
CMS
APPS & OTHER
DEVICES
PRINT
EVENTING
SOCIAL
MEDIA
VIDEO/TV
AUDIO/RADIO
THE CONTENT
DISTRIBUTION
NETWORK
Also known as “Hub &
Spoke”. CMS distributes
content to other platforms
& social media. Create
content once and
publish everywhere
SYNDICATION
EMAIL

• Print is many a digital philosophers’
punching bag
• Print will not die, but will shrink, niche
• Like theatre became smaller & premium
• High barriers to entry (cost) ironically make
medium better businesses
• Print publications “dedicated devices” –
more effective at getting your attention
• Digital overload & too many choices in a
busy world: Print able cut through noise
• A good option for niches with loyal
communities
“ATTENTION”

Fire vs electric heater
Print vs online
‘Common sense’ that one
would replace the other
“Easier, cleaner, faster”
vs “dirty & old”
But each has different feel
& function
ANALOGY

• Well, many hardcore, new-
economy digital businesses
• Net-a-porter, AirBNB (Pineapple),
Uber (for drivers), Politico,
Allrecipes, Ars Technica, Pando
• Locally: ITWEB (for the last 15
years)
WHO IS DOING IT?

WE ARE
DOING IT!
#platforms #contact
#expansion
WITH THANKS
TO JOHN BROWN

• Last 10 years has seen a search for new revenue models
• Banner ads alone are not cutting it
• Banner ads an outdated model: a pre-social media & pre-
search invention: not shareable, searchable, emotionally
engaging or ‘interruptible’
• (Users don’t mind interruptions if advertising relevant &
useful)
• Harder to ‘distribute’ banners to broader internet in a
medium that is all about distribution & sharing
NEW ADVERTISING MODELS

• Paradoxically banner CPMs dropping as sites get
bigger (supply & demand)
• We need to get creative: advertising types,
placements, creative, platforms
• New product innovation: Programmatic, native
advertising, sponsored content, advertiser
partnerships, full page tablet & smartphone ads
NEW ADVERTISING MODELS

Display (mobile)

- Native advertising is part of a site’s core newstream,
therefore plugs into its existing distribution network (RSS
feeds, social media, email, apps, syndication etc)
- Is also part of search ecosystem
- Is ‘interruptive’
- Is shareable
- Can live “forever”
- Encourages user engagement (commenting)
- Publishers therefore can charge higher CPMs
NEW ADVERTISING MODELS

- Native advertising is a form of advertorial (2.0) or
content marketing for the search & social era
- We differentiate between “sponsored content” and
“native advertising”
- Ethics are key: commercial vs editorial to be clearly
delineated to maintain credibility
- New ethical dilemmas arise: show sponsored during
share etc?
NEW ADVERTISING MODELS

Glimpse of content & news in
the future. Hint: it will not be on
your phone or in a browser

OUT THERE
IT WILL BE

Will media publish traffic &
weather info on their websites
...or the roads?

THANK YOU
TWITTER: @matthewbuckland
EMAIL: matthew@creativespark.co.za