Publishers in 2016 cannot afford to ignore distributed content platforms, says Andreas Pfeiffer.
Pfeiffer was speaking to FIPP about distributed content platforms, such as Facebook Instant Articles, Google AMP, and Snapchat Discover.
He stressed that although they are platforms ripe for exposure and engagement, they are not to be taken lightly.
On Facebook Instant Articles, Pfeiffer said: Theyre making pages load very fast; its easily done with RSS feeds and specialised HTML. But, you cant drive traffic back to your site, so as a publisher, you have no control. You have no idea where your articles are going to end up, no idea how theyre going to use it.
On Snapchat Discover, Pfeiffer said: "They [Snapchat] choose. Its a cherry-picked list. They say who is allowed on the list and they have very stringent conditions about what youre allowed to do and what youre not allowed to do.
Pfeiffer said that distributed content as a whole is "a necessary evil for building engagement.
People notice content on Instant Articles, they spend more time reading, and all of that is positive, but the revenue equation is not there."
On generating revenue, Pfeiffer said: In theory, you can place your own ads on some platforms which means you can keep all of the revenue, but certain platforms have restrictions."
He advises publishers considering distributed content: choose wisely. There are only two things that are open to everybody and which everybody can do, and thats Facebook Instant Articles and Google AMP everybody is experimenting to see whether theres a point in doing it.
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