Advertisement revenue constitutes a large chunk of the entire weight when it comes to publishing, be it print or digital. As this relationship continues to be celebrated, let’s take a look at why publishers are seeking advertisers and what’s mutually beneficial in this setting. The U.S digital advertising and marketing market is currently estimated at $460 billion. The global digital advertising and marketing industry was estimated at $350 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach $786.2 billion by 2026. These are big figures and the reason it thrives is because the publisher provides a platform for the advertisers which already has a dedicated readership associated with itself. The ads also make more digital content accessible as the publisher has enough revenue to carry out their process. Having a solid advertising revenue is crucial for this reason.
Digital display ads are expected to grow at a 15.5% CAGR and more. This is a simple strategy where one depends on visual storytelling capabilities of your content creating team. Display ads were one of the first ad formats that were introduced on the internet and it is very versatile. They range from pop-ups, banners, videos on the sides of an article, or even actionable pictures.
Since they’re easier to create, they’re extremely popular. Some may be static while others should involve multimedia elements that enhance the immersive experience. The display ads are an effective way for publishers to add multiple ads while separating it from their primary content while also giving it enough spotlight.
Email advertisement is truly a publisher’s forte. It’s one of the most important strategies in the industry. This helps monetize traffic better. Email truly a part of the “digital ritual” for most digitally relevant groups. Its widely used and almost every netizen has a primary email address that they use to interact with the web.
As publishers, email ids act as phone books that hold a lot of information. Publishers have access to this information and can give this to the advertisers or let them use this network created by the publishers to communicate indirectly with the audience through an established relationship.
The Covid-19 pandemic also helped with email usage as it went up and the revenue from email advertising went up by 86% as people wanted news updates that were personalized on their mobile devices.
This involves using sponsored links onto your website in clever ways. This is increasingly popular amongst bloggers and smaller publishers. Especially helpful for niche stories, here publishers insert links that readers can click on to make purchases online while the publishers get a certain amount of money in turn.
It’s a popular monetization strategy and an easy one to apply onto any content plan. Publishers provide user-centric information about products/services or sometimes even develop listicles and promote the offers. There could be proactive buttons (“View offer”, “Save to my list”) on the website which are intended to drive leads for these e-commerce partnerships.
Native ads take more effort on the publisher's end and are often more expensive. This is because in native ads there is content curated to support the promotion of the product/service. Content writers use effective language to communicate with their audience and bring out charming information. It could be in any format but is often led primarily by the publisher.
It sounds more natural this way and is less pushy. It’s important to address that the content is paid for and hence takes a positive spin. Powerful native ads get lots of attention and are in demand by advertisers as they stand apart and seem organic.
Similar to the native ads, this is when the advertiser pays for an actual blog post or story which is written by the content team. The content writer would have to learn the product/service and come up with a story that effectively promotes the same. These are creative, distinct and true to the publisher’s tone. Some publishers have a different section altogether for sponsored content, it does contribute to around 30% of The NYT revenue.
Sponsored advertising is usually offered to ensure that the promotion isn’t as obvious and is done in many distinct voices. It shows the advertiser in a light that may not have been seen before and the different approaches from publishers adds to the campaign’s dimension.