This week, in Vail, Colorado, Digiday has gathered together 25 C-level executives from top publishers to discuss the challenges confronting digital media. The leaders split into three working groups to address the promise and perils of platforms, how to go beyond ads, and how to build direct connections with audiences.
We held these meetings under Chatham House rules, agreeing that all discussions be on the record, only without attribution of names and companies. What follows are the candid thoughts these leaders shared during the first day of meetings. Needless to say, Google and Facebook are very much at the top of these leaders minds.
Duopoly issues
Im 100 percent confident Facebook and Google are not our friends. They dont think like publishers. They dont value what we do.
The mistake with algorithms is having something that works and leaving it alone. Every piece of content gets looked at once a month.
It is virtually impossible to game Google. You can still game Facebook. Facebook is going to try to legislate against that. Facebook scares the crap out of me. We dont understand where theyre going.
Google tells you nothing ever. Nothing, nothing, nothing. They tell us to use their products. Theyll never talk to you about how to rank better in their index.
Youve just got to look at the search results, and it gets scarier every day, with organic results below the fold.
With short-form video, the metrics Facebook uses allows them to say theyre better than YouTube. And everyone in this room can go to their bosses and say, Even though were struggling, heres an opportunity to grow and here are the awesome metrics that show it.
Facebooks core business is not to be in the business of content they dont give a shit about that. They used to care about gaming that was a line item in their S1 but content hasnt shown up in any of their public documents. Their goal is to grow engagement on their platform.
Instant Articles doesnt work for us. Where we get killed is the RPV. What Facebook doesnt let you do is use your own recirculation. You have to use theirs, and theirs is effing terrible. Thats been the killer for a premium publisher.
Other platform issues
[Pinterest] is so fucked up. They have no idea whats going on. What theyre trying to be is visual search. Theyre not sophisticated and good with dealing with publishers. Theyre constantly apologizing because their product and tech teams arent oriented to publishers. Theyre very Silicon Valley.
I cant build a Snapchat studio for $10 million and see if it pans out. We spend a lot of time saying no to things. We spend our time on things were very good at. We dont spend time on [Snapchat] at all. Were a fast follower. We dont want to be first.
Agency issues
One of our largest ad clients said, I have a wedding next weekend. Can you take me for manis and pedis?
Someone sent us Thanks so much for the four tickets to the Governors Ball. We just bought the tickets for them.
Agencies are keeping client money, not paying publishers for 200 days, then using the float to fund operations.
Advertising issues
Its insane that publishers say, Its OK for people to have ad-blockers on. The amount of money you make on reinsertion goes way down, and you lose control over the inventory, and all those companies that do it are complicit with the ABPs of the world.
People are not going to sit through a 30-second ad on their phones, and advertisers refuse to adapt. Im hoping Facebook has the influence to force agencies to produce video ads that are appropriate for short-form content on phones.
Audience issues
I get very suspicious when people talk about audience. On average, 11 percent of a sites audience drives 60-70 percent of the pageviews. The audience is really only the people who are truly aware of the brand.
We dont own our audience. Lots of people own our audience. I can argue that I have a special relationship with them, but thats not necessarily true.
Subscription issues
Right now, subscription indicates one product for all, rather than a highly personalized, service-oriented thing youre working hard to maintain.
Loyalty is not necessarily there after purchase; its earned after purchase. Youre really only earning them as real loyal customers when theyre up or they continue to subscribe because the values been delivered.
If you want a viable product that you can drive subscriptions for, you have to think about the thing thats going to get people to grab their credit cards beyond the ability to access exclusive content.
Written by Digiday editors, March 29th 2017, published on Digiday.com
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