Multiplatform Publishing Strategy posts focus on how publishers successfully distribute and monetize their content across multiple platforms, including memberships, events, clubs and sponsorships.
Did you know that while many Mequoda Members are niche publishers and regional publications, many others have been legacy publishers looking to transition to creating digital magazines that can compete in an industry that finds niche publishers and regional magazines succeeding at unprecedented rates?
That’s why we have a soft spot for legacy publishers, and why
B2B publishers are some of the most forward-thinking in the magazine media industry. Why? Because you have to be to survive. We count many B2B publishers among our Mequoda Members, and they embrace our multiplatform strategy for the simple reason that it helps them generate more revenue.
Well, it’s official – whatever they’re doing is working:
Apple publishing opportunities have long served as a component of digital magazines’ plans, but toward the end of Apple Newsstand’s run, it became clear that the service was not actually serving publishers as well as they might have hoped for.
Now, enter Apple News, an aggregator app that offers publishers some attractive features when it
Another new Mequoda multiplatform publishing system is born
Everyone loves to brag about their children, and at Mequoda we feel the same way about our clients. One of our most successful recent system launches was Metro Parent, a southeast Michigan-based online parenting community offering expert advice, stories on parenting trends and issues, and innumerable resources.
Metro Parent
If you find the concept of blogging several times a day exhausting, join the club. However the one thing that publishers have over any other type of content-creators is an endless supply of content that can be re-mixed and re-purposed into new, evergreen blog posts. These 28 ideas for blog posts should get your motor
Advertisement regulations are ramping up with the proliferation of digital advertising revenue opportunities like native content, programmatic ads, and mobile viewability. In addition, ad blocking programs and data privacy also have legal ramifications. And it’s all happening at once as technologies accelerate and publishers looking to make money attempt to match up with marketers looking
Media Rating Council issues revisions to mobile viewability guidelines; plus, Adobe’s audience development data and a vertical video solution
Ad viewability, especially mobile viewability, is arguably the issue facing digital publishers: As we’ve said before, when it comes to digital advertising trends, all roads lead to viewability: engagement depends on it; ad blocking programs derail it;
Does it seem like there’s been more news about native advertising trends lately? Well, that’s because there has been. Sponsored content has skyrocketed in popularity, and the execution of these ads has gotten stronger and stronger. What’s more, publishers and marketers prefer them because they’re less disruptive to reader experience, which is a big part
ALM, Hearst, Google, Apple, Texture, Time Inc. are the media companies and digital magazines leading the shift in publishing metrics
Much like old-school counting statistics in baseball, old-school publishing metrics like clicks and page views are falling out of favor as key performance indicators that provide a fuller picture rise in popularity. These KPIs deal mainly
The best content management system for publishers doesn’t stop at content or management
If you’re a publisher in business today – congratulations!
You’ve already navigated some stormy times and maybe even stabilized your core business. But the environment keeps changing. How can you respond to that change so that you not only survive, but actually thrive? What’s
With LinkedIn, content marketing, and other opportunities for audience development, brands as publishers are in a position to flourish
Brands as publishers, publishers as brands … given the digital media evolution and the state of the industry, does the nomenclature even matter anymore? We tend to think not, but the fact remains that publishers have been
First things first: What are native ads, as we know them today? Native advertising is sponsored content crafted by marketers, often in collaboration with in-house studios at digital magazines, that’s intended to “fit in” with articles and videos on a publisher’s site, without misleading readers.
Sound like a fancy way of saying advertorial? Well, sure, but
Online magazine advertising is growing exponentially, especially on mobile, but there’s much to be sorted out before it can truly serve as a cornerstone revenue generator for all digital publishers. Ad blocking programs, ad viewability issues, and cross-device targeting pose problems for many publishers.
On the flip side, even all of the options and advertising methods
Social media: Magazines know they must have a presence, but the problem comes in fully achieving it. For instance, when, why, how, and where to post? Or, alternately, do you just hand over all of your content to Facebook Instant Articles and call it a day?
As with any other component of your multiplatform strategy, you
Subscription publishing is another element of multiplatform strategy that digital magazines must stay attuned to, as the landscape seems to shift every week. Most recently, paywalls for online content have rapidly wavered in favor, as publications like the Sun have scrapped theirs altogether. Freemiums and premiums rule the day, as do membership systems and tiered
The latest in B2B publishing includes Penton’s purchase of MRO Network; Informa’s bet on events; and CIO’s big change
B2B publishing represents the best of niche strategy; audience development depends largely on the quality of your content and whether you can earn the trust of executives in your target trade. In addition, B2B publishing lends itself
Internet advertising revenue isn’t all the way there quite yet as the sole source of profit for the majority of publishers, but it continues to grow at a rate that makes it more and more attractive to digital magazines, on both the local and national level. As publishers get closer to cracking the code on
Discover how ConsumerReports.org and Lynda.com are utilizing the reference subscription website model
A reference subscription website archetype allows paid subscribers continued access to a library of content that is updated constantly with new information.
The top digital publishers have risen – and stay – there because they’re willing to experiment, evolve, and tread along the cutting edge of industry-wide best practices while pushing out ahead of the pack with new practices. This includes everything from hiring trends to social strategy, mobile video trends to ecommerce website design.
To start off
October has been a busy month for hires, promotions, dismissals, and more for publishing executives at the New York Times, Fusion, and Slate
Every once in a while, we like to take a peek at the comings and goings of publishing executives and share what we find with you, especially when hiring trends reflect the direction
Just think if you could take a master class on digital content monetization with executives from the likes of The Economist, Hearst, Salesforce, and The Guardian.
Well, if you were in London last week, you could have, by attending the Monetising Media conference event, which, like our Mequoda Intensives and Summits, brings together publishing professionals to
Which magazines on social media are performing especially well as of the third quarter of 2015? Well, the Association of Magazine Media 360° is glad we asked – they recently released their latest Social Media Report, which covers the top 25 magazines across all social networks in terms of likes and followers, as well as
In the second decade of the 21st century, the online publishing environment is not only changing dramatically, it’s changing at a faster rate than we ever could have anticipated.
In a mere 20+ years, since the dawn of the commercial Internet, we’ve experienced a genuine paradigm shift in content marketing. That’s because magazines, newsletters, books, audio
Have you noticed an uptick in your online ad revenue?
If so, take pride in keeping pace with the rest of the industry. 2015 has seen a jump, from several sources.
If not, don’t despair: 2015 has also seen a jump in the spread of bot activity, leeching online ad revenue from publishers and other brands.
MediaPost has
Despite the proliferation of platforms, channels, and technology, ad engagement hasn’t exactly gotten easier for publishers and brands. Whether it’s the ad blocking craze that seems to be taking over the Web or cross-device targeting concerns, viewability issues or unreliable metrics, connecting consumers with meaningful ad experiences that can sustain digital magazines and satisfy marketers
The future of digital magazines gets brighter with every passing fiscal quarter, but it’s a slow and steady progress as traditional revenue generators try to keep pace with advancing technologies, evolving device usage, and the gradual migration of ad dollars from print to the mobile web.
The ties that bind publishing, social media are stronger than ever; plus, Condé Nast debuts new video platform
If you own a company in digital publishing, social media is not an optional arm of your strategy – it’s required to help promote your content, of course.
But too often, digital magazines treat social media as a formality,
The Mequoda Rocket Award, which premiered in 2009, was originally created by looking at a large sample of online publishing websites. In 2010, we started looking only at Mequoda Gold Member websites. The winner of the Rocket Award is the online publisher who experiences the greatest growth in online traffic throughout the year.
This year’s winner
Publisher acquisition news is often pretty predictable and ho-hum, but sometimes a deal comes along that not only captures the imagination, but also truly crystallizes the state of the industry.
There’s no doubt that niche content is the name of the game, at least if you’re playing the game using the Mequoda Method. But digital magazines can’t expect to slap a few enthusiast articles up on a homepage and wait for the money roll in. Rather, online publishers must stay vigilant in repurposing content, developing
Are you generating all of the digital advertising revenue you’re capable of? If so, what’s your secret? If not, join the club.
Mequoda Members know that relying solely on digital magazine advertising to pay the bills and try to turn a profit isn’t the wisest move. But as one plank of a multi-platform strategy – functioning
Digital audience development is the endgame for magazine publishing companies making the transition from traditional channels to a multiplatform strategy that will them in a position to compete in the coming decades. But getting to the endgame is a work in progress: Digital magazines are continually experimenting with new channels, refining best practices, and measuring
When you read about international media news like the kind eMarketer covers below, small and midsize digital magazines have the ability to act on it overnight to start capitalizing on audience potential, a bigger pool of tablet users, and expanded digital ad revenue opportunities.
Media General and Meredith made major digital industry news recently when they announced a mega-deal was in the works that would see the former acquire the latter to form a publishing and broadcast monster, taking multiplatform strategy to a whole other level. The terms were reported as a 65% stake for $2.4 billion.
But Nexstar
One of the most significant advantages of a multiplatform strategy is that new digital magazine platform options pop up frequently: They make for a renewable resource that will likely never run out. If you’re willing to put in the work and climb the learning curve as quickly as possible, you can integrate new Internet revenue
“We’ve used the Mequoda Method to more than double our digital memberships,” says Susan Laden, newest member of the Mequoda Multiplatform Publishing Hall of Fame.
Web Editor Robin Ngo accepts the award on behalf of Biblical Archaeology Society
The Mequoda Multiplatform Publishing Hall of Fame, founded in 2006 to recognize publishing executives at the
As websites become more and more sophisticated, the look and feel of portals has become slicker but it many cases more confusing as media companies attempt to use every trick, tool, and toy they can to impress visitors, retain traffic, and convert consumers. This is understandable, and sometimes it even works! Recently, however digital magazines
Latest publishers’ news includes personnel moves, mergers & acquisitions, and multiplatform advances
For publishers, news from across the industry is nonstop these days, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. Keeping tabs on the activity of other digital magazines and media companies makes for an instructive exercise in both inspiring stories and cautionary tales for
There aren’t many industries as exciting these days as media and publishing, which rivals even the tech sector for growth opportunity.
Each week brings with it a new advancement, revenue stream, and shakeup. For every failure, there are that many more successes – or at least startups. The revolving door has never swung around faster or
If you’re a mobile publisher trying to monetize an already challenging platform for digital magazines, no two words strike more fear into your heart than “ad blocking.”
Ad blocking programs are not some flash in the pan gimmick that’s fading with time; they’re proliferating, and gaining in popularity with key demographics for audience development (ie, Millennials
Sometimes, you just need the numbers, right? When it comes to making decisions that could be the difference between flourishing or folding, data is a commodity. Device usage, performance metrics, ROI: Publishing industry analysis on these factors and others will determine the direction digital magazines take in the coming years – which themselves will be
If you’re considering joining the ranks of video publishers, the time to jump in is now.
With so many digital magazines and brands deploying multiplatform content on the likes of Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, devising social media standards for measuring data for advertising purposes was only a matter of time. Now, the Media Rating Council has done just that. Keep in mind, of course, that no matter how these guidelines shake
Dedicating resources to an online magazine archive is a best practice for multiplatform publishers that we highly recommend, and a big key to success in the Mequoda Method.
Our favorite part about digital magazine archives? You don’t actually have to dedicate too many resources to make them work. Aside from some general maintenance, most of the
Are you acting as the general contractor of your content management system when it’s supposed to be managing itself?
Digital media publishers and executives move at a pace months ahead of others in many professions.
Whether it’s on a practical level with editorial calendars planned months in advance or with efforts to continually anticipate industry trends, digital magazines must be vigilant. The reward for reacting and responding? If you play your cards right, increased audience.
Publishing events continue to establish an industry foothold, as best practices are refined and perfected
Upward of 60% of our Mequoda Members have integrated publishing events into their multiplatform strategy. One online media company we work with generates more than half of its revenue with sessions produced by a 25-person staff. And audiences keep growing. Clearly,
There’s no such thing as an excess of content distribution platform outlets – the more the merrier, as far as Mequoda Members are concerned. But Apple Newsstand certainly had its fair share of detractors despite the visibility and content monetization it could provide digital publishers during its better moments. Now phased out, it gives way
Is there still anyone out there maligning email as a has-been component of publishing? We sure hope not. Newsletters are hotter than ever, for starters, and emails operate as a another strong delivery mechanism for content like video. They build loyalty with existing consumers, create relationships with new consumers, and give you the opportunity to
Discover how ConsumerReports.org and Lynda.com are utilizing the reference subscription website model
A reference subscription website archetype allows paid subscribers continued access to a library of content that is updated constantly with new information.
