The Association of Online Publishers’ (AOP) annual census of UK members recently found that mobile development, e-commerce and commercial data analysis are key priorities for publishing businesses for the coming year.
Apps for smartphones and tablets are an area of important growth for the AOP’s members. In an effort to align with rapidly changing reader expectations in the new digital world, publications are reinventing themselves. Mobile devices have become a primary focus as publishers can reach users throughout the day. However, the first objective is to find out what readers want and how that differs to what they look for when consuming media from print and online channels. With that knowledge, publications can create fresh ways to interact with news and create additional revenue streams.
But mobile and social measurement is still a relatively new space for publishers, yet this data is invaluable, not only in helping them to understand the content its readers want but also providing advertisers with a business case to invest. Without this information, publishers are unable to fully measure the success of the content and the investment in these channels.
The use of analytics is still widely unsophisticated with many organisations relying on free software which only provides basic information such as popular search terms, but offers little in the way of strategic testing and targeting. This use of free software highlights an awareness of the need to analyse and extract this data but little understanding of the best tools to use. In fact, two thirds of companies do not conduct online testing and even fewer undertake data-driven targeting.
Whilst this stat broadly refers to a wide collection of online companies, media organisations and publishers are representative of this sample and many are still only taking tentative steps into using analytics despite the speed at which they are rolling out online, social and mobile strategies.
The Telegraph Media Group is, however, one such example of the value analytics can offer a media company when it contemplates a mobile strategy.
Before implementation of its mobile proposition, The Telegraph identified its primary business challenges as commercialising mobile publications and reaching younger users. It wanted to offer better ways of interacting with the news, and to monetize the mobile channel through advertising.
The Telegraph began its mobile strategy with the launch of a free app to measure initial user activity. During this time it found time-starved readers wanted curated news and the important stories tailored to the iPad. It found iPad usage in fact complimented consumption of other media and the app drove loyalty and retention, the number of returning readers continually grew. Critically the Telegraph was able to improve readers’ experience by observing how they navigated the iPad. Webtrends Analytics provided this invaluable insight into the nuances in behaviour of its readers using this app and as a consequence, the Telegraph was able to apply these lessons learnt to create a new version of the iPad app that subscribers paid to use. The Telegraph was able to justify the investment into this app as it had the proof points of what its readers demanded but also knew that willingness existed among its readers to pay for this content.
The intention of the paid-for app was to increase the mass and volume of its readers and develop greater engagement. The Telegraph specifically used analytics to measure several key metrics, including page views, number of visits, and the time of day that readers used the app, the app version and most-read stories. The Telegraph was able to play around with the types of content that worked best for the iPad and a paid-for audience. The Telegraph used this data to inform any changes made to the app and adapt its offering to complement advertisers’ demands without impacting readers’ preferences.
The third stage of The Telegraph’s mobile strategy, that is being rolled out in 2012, is to show advertisers the value of tablet advertising and investment. Without a robust set of data extracted from the analytics tools, The Telegraph is in a weaker position to command the amount of revenue it can generate out of advertisers. Whilst its readers might be paying a fee for the paid-for app, this amount, particularly in the stages where the subscriber numbers are lower, will be nominal. The revenue a publishing giant like The Telegraph needs is fuelled by advertising investment.
What The Telegraph has learnt, and a lesson that can be applied to other publishers, is measurement is critical to the success of any mobile, online or social strategy. Understanding behaviour, however, goes beyond numbers of clicks or app downloads. The behaviours within these channels are measured in multiple ways: web performance by visits, page views, click-throughs and duration; social platform success through “likes,” posts, comments, sponsored stories, re-tweets; mobile as downloads, usage, QR code usage, or even as a tool for payment. The overall business goals should be aligned to the channel strategy and analytics provides the data to evaluate whether these goals have been met through sophisticated measurement.
The Telegraph is one of a number of publishers looking to understand what engages readers and drives advertising sales as publishing moves with the digital age. Knowing what and how to measure each channel can set the stage for continual improvement, customer engagement, conversion and revenue. This information is not static and it is an ongoing process of understanding evolving behaviour that helps drive conversions and revenue. It is not based on guesswork or opinion but on data of actual visitor activity, preference and behaviour. Without advanced analytics, publishers are blindly making decisions on what readers want and consequently are unable to provide tangible ROI data for advertisers.
