Native Advertising, Glamour Reorg, Meredith Lifestyle Launch, Drop in Smartwatch Sales, Media Metrics, AEM Mobile Tip: Creating Layout Templates
Welcome to Technology for Publishing’s roundup of news and tips for media industry pros! This week, we’re sharing stories about publishers expanding their native advertising businesses, Glamour’s plan to integrate print and digital and combine operations with sister pub Self, Meredith’s partnership with HGTV stars Joanna and Chip Gaines, dropping smartwatch sales, and more.
- A couple articles on native advertising highlighted publishers’ continuing quest to reduce their dependence on display ads and boost digital revenues. Slate, for one, told Digiday that native is now at the center of its sales strategy, with nearly half of its revenue coming from custom ads. The publisher attributed its successful shift to a number of factors, including bringing on new salespeople and retraining existing staff, creating ads that reflect its own brand of “smart commentary,” and more aggressive off-site distribution of ads, according to the report. Another Digiday post described plans at The New York Times to expand its T Brand native advertising unit into a full-fledged agency offering a wide range of marketing products and services. It said agency work now makes up a third of the unit’s business while native accounts for the rest. T Brand campaigns are expected to add 20% to 30% to the Times’ digital ad revenue this year.
- WWD reported Glamour is restructuring and, as part of that process, will integrate its print and digital teams and share operations with sister title Self. It said copy, research, and production departments will begin serving both publications, headed by Glamour managing editor LaToya Valmont and Self managing editor Erin Hobday. Several layoffs were also announced along with plans to “further integrate business and editorial.” While Self had just one layoff, sources told WWD that it may soon be facing a reorg too.
- Meredith announced it’s partnering with HGTV “Fixer Upper” stars Joanna and Chip Gaines on a new quarterly lifestyle magazine. Launching in October, the as-yet-to-be-named title will have an initial run of 400,000 copies, Folio said. While Meredith’s Special Interest Media group will produce the debut publication, Better Homes and Gardens and Martha Stewart Living publisher Christine Guilfoyle will head up publishing operations. The article noted that the Gaines’ popular “personal brand” is likely to resonate with Meredith’s primary target audience: millennial women.
- Smartwatch sales dropped by a third in the last quarter, according to IDC, reflecting an overall lack of interest in the devices. Publishers laid out various content strategies for the devices when the Apple Watch was introduced, but with little innovation since then and no updates from Apple, sales have waned, dropping to 3.5 million for the quarter from 5.1 million a year ago, Recode reported. “Consumers have held off on smartwatch purchases since early 2016 in anticipation of a hardware refresh, and improvements in WatchOS are not expected until later this year, effectively stalling existing Apple Watch sales,” IDC said in a statement.
On the Technology for Publishing Blog
- Our latest Media Metrics roundup looks at the high cost of ad blocking, news consumption on social media, vanishing newspaper jobs, the booming audiobook market, and much more.
- Adobe Experience Manager Mobile: In the Layout Templates section of the AEM Mobile portal you’ll find tools for creating layouts, designing and mapping content to cards, and creating layout renditions. Check out this week’s tip from Monica Murphy for all the details.
- AEM Mobile Update: We outline all the new features, enhancements, and bug fixes in Adobe’s AEM Mobile v2016.9 release.
- ICYMI: Want to be a social media rock star? Our latest infographic pick outlines platform essentials, including tools and tips and tricks for boosting shares and likes.
Photo: Digiday
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Posted by: Monica Sambataro
