Mobile Analytics Can Prove Useful for Publishers

The Value of Mobile Analytics
We've been chatting for what seems like forever about the importance of online content, but the biggest obstacle continues to be how to generate revenue from this content. It's always been difficult to tell what financial payoff online content has for magazine publishers, short of actual online subscription sales.

Now, mobile or tablet analytics may provide the answer. Similar to web analytics, mobile/tablet stats provide behavioral metrics such as page views and user actions, but on a mobile device where a user can be much more focussed on a publisher's content or advertiser's message, such metrics may be much more meaningful for publishers and advertisers than web metrics.

How to Capitalize on Mobile Analytics
According to an article in Folio, these mobile metrics can include geolocation, which for a savvy marketer can be critical information to determine what content to post to solidify brand loyalty.

To really capitalize on these metrics, you have to effectively tag your pages, online elements and apps so you can track user actions such as opening a page, clicking on an object, entering information, leaving a page, starting or stopping a video playback, and so on.

Where to Start with Mobile Analytics
The mobile analytics arena is still young, and it will take a while yet for the data to build up. Qualified interpretation remains the key to turning these metrics into useful marketing information, but it's a good time to start developing a tagging infrastructure that is built into your workflow, and taking a look at vendors who can provide these metrics.

---Colleen Seto
AMPA Blogger-in-Residence

The Future of Digital Publishing (Part One of Two)

Photo courtesy D Molyneaux Photography

Big Picture Perspective on Digital Publishing
There are no certainties when it comes to predicting the future, especially when it comes to digital publishing. Understandably, some prefer to sit back and see how this all plays out before launching headfirst into the unknown. It can’t hurt, however, to hear the perspective of some of the bigger players, gleaning tips where they apply to your business, storing the rest as knowledge of the bigger picture.

Luncheon with Wired.com Editor in Chief
All of this is to say that there was much to be learned at the “Publishing in the Digital Age ” luncheon with Evan Hansen, editor-in-chief of Wired.com. It’s true, Hansen has a digital team that most small publishers in the audience could only dream of. There were, however, some broader themes to consider (and yes, more questions than answers).

Building Online Brand and Community
To the many magazine publishers in the audience, Hansen reassured them that print is still very much alive; that said, magazine publishers will have to start thinking of themselves as much more than print publishers in this digital era—it’s about building brand and developing community.

Questioning the Essence of the Magazine
Hansen highlighted how new forms of communications technologies are profoundly changing written culture; with the introduction of the iPad, for example, the mobile web traffic at Wired.com went from 2% to 20% in less than one year. All of this raises conceptual concerns for our industry: What is the essence of a magazine? Can it exist on a mobile app, iphone, etc? How far can we push the notion of a magazine before it becomes something else entirely? What are the core values that need to be preserved?

Mobile Devices Monetizing Content
On the business side of things, Hansen sees the advent of mobile device capabilities as revolutionary for monetizing online. With apps, people are warming up to the notion of paying for content with their mobile devices; this shift to mobile consumption suggests that publishers must turn to these platforms as a way to recapture some of their online value. Hansen’s advice is to start small, with enhanced features for paid content, for example, and see how this plays out.

Stay tuned for Part Two of "The Future of Digital Publishing"...

--- Rebecca Lesser
AMPA Communications & Programs Coordinator

Tweets from Presentation with Evan Hansen of WIRED.com

Photo courtesy D Molyneaux Photography

I'm still reeling (in a good way!) from yesterday's "Publishing in the Digital Age" luncheon with Evan Hansen, editor-in-chief of WIRED.com. I may follow-up with a more in-depth summary of presentation highlights for next week's MagaScene e-newsletter. In the meantime I thought I'd share some tweetables with those of you who weren't following along on twitter (#WiredInYYC):

• Print is still alive, but think of yourselves as something broader than publishers.
• Conceptual concern in our industry: What is the nature of a magazine? Core values to preserve?
• Shift to mobile is changing consumer behaviour to an extent we've never seen before.
• Instead of editorial decisions, it's now online metrics that determine which content rises to the top.
• The iPad is the biggest source of mobile traffic for wired.com. Everyone should start to build their mobile app.
• People are warming up to the concept of paid content on mobile devices.
• Digital revenues account for 40% of the Wired brand (including the magazine).
• Each platform requires a very tailored approach, you can't just transfer content across media.
• The Wired.com web operation is fully editorially independent of the Wired magazine staff. They have daily editorial content, with a schedule more like that of a print newspaper.
• Recast your brand for the web. Wired.com puts a premium on investigative stories, concentrating on daily content.
• Let your digital team at the magazine function independently of the magazine for their content creation.
• Future of advertising on web: people want cross-platform. Partnership, sponsorship, something unique
• The web is the web. If you want to succeed, don't act like a magazine, act like a web site

There was so much more to tweet, but alas the irony of limited cell reception prevented a better online presence on my part, so thank you to @jesspatterson, @icameforthefood, @allisonmcneely, @BridalFantasy, @Andrew_NVS and @DaveatNORTH for engaging in the twitter sharing and conversation!

--- Rebecca Lesser
AMPA Communications & Programs Coordinator

Content-Driven Apps: New Insights for Publishers

[excerpts from "Beyond the Magazine Replica: Publishers Explore New Types of Content-Driven Apps" at emediavitals.com]

Publishers are evolving their app strategies beyond basic magazine replicas, experimenting with a variety of new formats and products that have the potential to create new mobile revenue streams.

The apps cut across a broad spectrum of features and content offerings but generally fall into one of three categories: utility app, special issue or content feed. Interviews and other commentary from a variety of consumer publishers – including Consumers Union, New York magazine, Hearst and Meredith – offer some insights into how publishers’ mobile app strategies are extending beyond print content.

Filling the idea pipeline

Most publishers will readily acknowledge that they are still in the very early stages of determining what type of content best lends itself to an app experience. One thing they quickly figured out: Smartphones offer a much different user experience than larger-screen tablet devices. Smartphones are very much utility-driven, with users often looking for specific information to help them complete an activity. Early research on tablets points to a lean-back reading experience that equates more with traditional magazine reading than with the task-driven Web. [...]

A dose of consumer research

Publishers are also pairing editors’ suggestions with consumer research to ensure that a legitimate target audience awaits a new app.

“We did a lot of user segmentation and mapping to determine women’s passion points and their perceptions of relevance and value,” said Lauren Wiener, senior VP of interactive at Meredith. “We have been taking this information to our editors to power product development.” [...]

Read more