Publishing Executive magazine presents:

Questions About ABC's New Definition of a Digital Magazine

By Bob Sacks

Everyone seems quite excited about the new ABC rules that now allow for some flexibility in digital publishing. This action was taken before the soon-to-be-released iPad hits the market. Roughly speaking, the new rule allows publishers in the U.S. and Canada to let the design flow rather than be static and states that they do not need to make their digital editions identical to their print editions. This will allow publishers to combine circulations of both mediums into one circulation figure. If handled correctly, this could mean greater profits based on greater audience reach.

However—and this is the part that concerns me the most—that editorial content apparently has to remain exactly the same or the digital version cannot be counted in the circulation tabulation. I need more information on this rule. As I don't have all the details yet, this is not a full-fledged vent but rather a series of questions:

What if my new design for the iPad has video which, until now, I had a lot of trouble putting into my printed version. Does that make my digital version uncountable?

What if I have the same advertisers, but in my digital version they want a dynamic ad? Am I to tell my advertiser, "No. I know it would be cool and the readers would like it, but ABC won't count my issue if you do that." Is that what the rule implies?

The truth is, as far as I can see it, that the digital version must be different than the printed version or why bother at all? It can be close enough in ads and edit to be meaningfully loyal to the printed version, but to confine it to the limitations of the press is to deny the possibilities of the new platform. 

I have no idea whether the iPad and other future platforms will be the salvation of our industry. I rather think that we will save ourselves in many ways, with the tablets just being one of many new directions. But if our auditors can't get completely out of the box we grew up in, we will never grow and prosper. 

Don't Let Your Advertisers Put You Out of Business

By Rob Yoegel

Has it been almost two months already? A train ride to New York for this year's Publishing Business Conference & Expo fixed this problem, while it will be great to see many of you in person again this week.

Last October, we purchased a group of blogging sites that fit nicely into our Consumer Technology Publishing Group. Besides one consumer magazine title launched a decade ago, this was my first real foray into the commoditized world of display advertising on consumer Web sites. It also introduced me head-on to ad networks and the teeth whitening and fat trimming ad creative that often ends up littering these sites.

Managing the six ad network relationships we inherited was somewhat of a daunting task. I reviewed eCPMs and fill rates and tried to get everyone here to understand that the more direct sales we made, the faster we would see a nice return on our investment. Until then, I prepared folks for pennies per ad impression and a strong desire to do more with the ad placements we offered.

Ad networks typically don't care about publishers. They often are dealing with hundreds if not thousands of Web sites and reap long tail rewards. We recently signed an exclusive deal with a new, targeted network that is guaranteeing 100% fill on a large chunk of inventory at a CPM that hopefully will allow us to have our investment in the black within a year of the acquisition. If you're working with ad networks, these exceptions are out there. Take your time and try to find them.

Then there's the never-ending push to get us to participate in co-registration programs. If you still don't believe that everyone can now be a publisher, consider the increasing amount of companies (many are your former or existing advertisers or vendors!) that want to sell your advertisers onto your Web sites and put your visitors onto their lists in exchange for promised revenue that's a long way from making up for the losses suffered in print advertising.

Perhaps publishers are becoming the 85-year-old widowed grandmother who gets taken by the nice guy on the phone offering to invest their social security check.

If you're considering co-registration, find out if the contract you must sign prevents you from doing deals with similar partners. You should work with as many of them as you can to test the type of results you can get. Test where the co-registration offers appear on your site and if you decide to include them on a registration form, study your abandonment rates carefully.

Make sure you also can participate not only as a publisher on a co-registration deal, but also as an advertiser allowing you to offer your own subscriptions, paid products and webinars. Devote someone to monitor the co-registration advertisers that could appear on your site. Similar to ad networks, you could start seeing offers that might turn-off your devoted readers.

Between co-registration programs and ad networks, I'm trying to make up my mind on which could hurt publishers more and dare I say put even more of us out of business. You would be foolish to not listen to offers from any of these companies, but time may be better spent training your own sales team and innovating new products.

Webinars Remain Popular Among Audiences and Advertisers

Webinars continue to offer a real revenue opportunity for many publishers, despite sagging or stalled ad revenues across many other products. Daniel Roche, vice president of marketing for TalkPoint, a provider of webcasts and audio and video broadcasts to the publishing, media, financial, life sciences and meeting and events industries, spoke with Publishing Executive Inbox about the state of the webinar industry. Roche is in his 10th year with TalkPoint, which currently serves more than 50 publishing and media customers, including McGraw-Hill, Access Intelligence and Haymarket.

INBOX: In what ways are these customers using your products most these days—webinars? Are you doing virtual conferences at all?
DANIEL ROCHE: We are still seeing a focus on webinars. In publishing, it's still where the 'easy' money is. However, we are seeing some customers explore the virtual conference space, but it can still be a risky venture. We do offer virtual conferences through a partner relationship and our product can and has been integrated with most of the platforms on the market. In addition, we offer a more affordable, virtual lobby solution that gives users a more robust experience on the front end of their webinar, including multiple sponsor opportunities and document downloads in a more visual environment.

INBOX: Webinars have really seen their popularity grow among publishers and
advertisers/sponsors in the last few years. To what do you credit this shift?
ROCHE: I think the shift can be attributed to a few factors. The most notable have been the general state of the publishing market, the recession’s effect on budgets and the proven success of the model.

Publishing in general has been suffering and ad rates (print and online) have plummeted. The reality is that most publishers are actively pursuing new revenue streams. Webinars provide a genuine revenue opportunity with an attractive ROI that utilizes the publisher’s best assets—their lists and editorial content.

The recession over the last 18 to 24 months has had a dramatic effect on audience and sponsor budgets. The former having to cut travel expenses and the latter desperate to improve ROI on marketing spends. With the webinar model, viewers are still able to stay active and continue their professional education without traveling and spending time out of the office. The sponsor’s advantage is in spending a fixed amount and getting a relatively guaranteed amount of leads that can generate revenue.

Webinars have worked well in the publishing industry. Everyone wins if they are done right. The publisher generates money through pay per view or sponsorship while strengthening ties to their readers. The sponsor gets solid ranked leads for a fixed expense and the viewer gets information and knowledge from the convenience of their desk or home.

INBOX: What are one or two of the most costly mistakes you see publishers
making with their webinar programs?
ROCHE: The most common problems we see are related to promotion and content.
 
Events that are either poorly promoted or under-promoted will never be successful. You have to maximize exposure for the event. It is vital that you cross-promote your lists, put banners on other sites, do a press release, use social media—anything you can think of to generate viewers. Your responsibility and value to the sponsor is delivering quality leads and you must deliver.

The second most common mistake relates to content. The end game is to drive viewers and have them come back again. You must be providing valuable editorial content. If events are overly advertorial or don’t provide much insight, they risk low attendance. There are a lot of choices out there and it is important that you bring something to the table for the viewer.

INBOX: Some publishers worry that their audiences could eventually suffer
from "webinar fatigue." How would you address this concern?
ROCHE: Webinar fatigue is a genuine concern in my opinion. There is so much content out there and most of it is directed at finite market segments. The major elements to combat this are quality content and delivering variety.

First and foremost, I feel strongly that if you can consistently deliver legitimate, high quality, valuable content people will show up. There's just no substitute for quality. Events need timely topics, high profile speakers and original thought or research. If you deliver these things, your events will be the ones people seek out.

Secondly, we encourage publishers to try something new. Feature marquee events with guest speakers, offer giveaways, or switch the format. Conducting a particularly high profile event in video instead of audio can add some weight to the message and drive new viewers to your site. 

INBOX: With the rapid growth and advancement of the mobile market, does
TalkPoint envision a place for webinars on mobile devices anytime soon?
ROCHE: This is definitely a hot topic and one that we are monitoring closely. We already offer on-demand options for mobile in the form of MP4s. However, I think the introduction of even more advanced technologies like Flash for mobile will influence people and push them to try live webinars in this format.

Personally, I think the overall make-up of the webinar format would have to adapt to accommodate small screens, and distracted viewers. I also think sponsors may have concerns about their level of visibility in this layout and, of course slides, would be tough to read.

I feel the mobile market might be a better opportunity for the corporate communications and marketing customers of webcasting. These entities may have presentations that are more concerned with the media message with less value on slide and sponsor elements.