The future of digital publishing

Podcasting, AI and engagement are some of things digital publishers should be paying attention to if they want ad rates to increase

Aman Goklani speaks softly but very intensely about podcasting. The India head of audioBoom points out that most digital publishers struggle with getting people to spend more time on their sites or apps. Podcasting or listening to a fiction series (say Harry Potter), a book, an article, an interview, a research paper or a piece of music online has proven to be the best way to increase time spent, also known as ‘engagement’. The UK-based audioBoom hosts, distributes and monetises podcasts. Last year, marketers in the US spent $314 million reaching 124 million people while they were listening to a podcast of a Bill Bryson book or a talk on parenting among thousands of other things. India is as yet a very small market, but growing very rapidly. 

Podcasting and its possibilities in a video-sated environment was the first of three things that Digipub World, a digital publishing conference held in Gurugram last week, flags. The others were online publishers’ approach to advertising and the supporting role AI or artificial intelligence can play in publishing. 

Goklani’s pitch for podcasting dovetails with what Kedar Gavane, vice-president, comScore India, told me on the sidelines of the event; the second thing to flag. That the focus of selling ad inventory online is volumes not premiumness. And while Gavane doesn’t say that — engagement is a big factor that influences the perception of premiumness. It explains why with a lower viewership NDTV gets better rates than its competitors, both on and offline. If digital publishers could learn to cluster inventory, charge more for the one with higher viewability and engagement, and push the rest onto programmatic, CPMs or cost per thousand people reached, could get better. 

The reach and the market exist. The comScore presentation displayed the sheer size of digital publishers in India — measured across devices. For instance, The Times of India sites reached over 108 million unique visitors. NDTV is number two with 75.3 million and so on. Most publishers have doubled their reach in the last 8-10 months. Yet CPMs remain low — anywhere between Rs 50-Rs 200 or so. For global publishers with far lower numbers they range between $2-10 (Rs 140-Rs  700). 

There are several theories on why monetisation is lower in India. But the biggest reason, says one senior analyst, is that publishers do a terrible job of selling their ad inventory. For example, a local newspaper or media house is closer to the advertiser than Google or Facebook but they simply don’t leverage it to get better engagement and therefore rates. Also digital publishers don’t experiment enough with more services to advertisers, formats, or even language advertising. The reason? Most media houses in India are privately held and don’t have quarterly pressure. The guys with quarterly pressure experiment more, says this analyst. 

Maybe. But the fact is that most digital publishers have very profitable offline businesses, so there is no pressure on that front too. It shows. Except perhaps for NDTV Convergence which made a net profit of Rs 0.2 billion on revenues of Rs 1.44 billion in the year ended March 2018, most digital publishers are not profitable. 

And that brings me to the third thing to be flagged. That AI is still just a buzzword in publishing, even in developed markets where several newsrooms are experimenting with it. AI helps with crunching and sifting through a lot more data, machines are learning more about us, but not necessarily writing or creating for us. Where AI will play a role, said speakers on one panel, is improving distribution and reach and cutting the cost and effort of research. Journalists can breathe a sigh of relief — for now. 

https://bsmedia.business-standard.comtwitter.com/vanitakohlik