Custom Content Gets Digital Platforms

According to Characteristics Study: Content Marketing in America for 2011, by the Custom Content Council and ContentWise, video, mobile, virtual events and educational content spending hitting an all-time high of $12.5 billion in 2010. Print still dominates the market, with $24 billion spent on print production and distribution, and $3.6 billion spent on other forms of content. Of the average overall marketing, advertising and communications budget, 29% of funds are allocated to custom media.

Money Spent for Production and Distribution (Billion Dollars)
	Expenditure
Year	Print	Electronic	Other Forms
2010	$24.0	12.5	3.6
2009	30.9	12.1	4.2
2008	27.3
2007	34.1
2006	37.3
2005	28.4
2000	12.9
Source: Industry Characteristics Study, ContentWise& Custom Content Council, April 2011

Custom content publishing is described by the CCC as the combining of marketing ambitions of a company with the information needs of its target audience via the delivery of editorial content (print, digital, or other media) to move the recipient's behavior in a desired direction.

Titles targeting external audiences exceeded those targeting internal audiences at a 4:1 ratio: 79% of print publications targeted external audiences and 21% targeted internal audiences. Of these externally targeted publications, 37% were distributed from B2B companies and 63% from B2C.

Other key printed-content-related findings include:

• Paid advertisements expanded for the third consecutive year with 30% of printed custom publications carrying them
• The average age of titles jumped from 8.2 in 2009, to 9 years in 2010, reflecting the staying power of the printed custom publications.
• The number of titles declined to 110,174 print titles in 2010, about 3,000 fewer than in 2009.

The average company distributed custom content 404 times annually, more than once a day. In the print sector, the number of unique printed publications per company is 1.7, the same as 2009; frequency per title declined to six times a year and the number of pages per issue rose to an all time high of 29.4.  The average circulation per issue also rose to 52,000 copies per issue.

Digital Publishing Annually Frequency
Content	Annual Frequency
Website updates	142.5
Mobile content	102.2
e-mail newsletters	46.2
Podcasts/other audio	35.3
Virtual events	25.9
e-zines	23.6
Branded video	16.8
White papers	5.2
Source: Industry Characteristics Study, ContentWise& Custom Content Council, April 2011

The most important: digital forms of content to reach target audiences are:

• Websites (to publish articles, blog posts, and other content)
• Email newsletters
• Branded video

Forms of Branded Content Used (% of Respondents)
Content	Yes	No
Website updates	79%	21%
email newsletters	61	39
Branded video	44	56
RSS feeds	37	63
White papers	30	70
Virtual events	30	70
Podcasts/other audio	24	76
Mobile content	19	81
e-zines	18	82
Source: Industry Characteristics Study, ContentWise& Custom Content Council, April 2011

The report summarizes it's conclusions, noting that:

• The future is video, with  57% of marketers saying they will produce video, as compared to 54% last year, on the heels of a 7% increase in popularity of the format over the past year
• Paid advertisements expanded for the third year in a row, with 30% of printed custom publications carrying them
• Printed custom publications have staying power, as the average age jumped from 8.2 to 9 years this year
• The number of titles is 110,174, 3,000 less than 2009, as marketers broaden the array of content marketing media beyond print
• The most common other content format, beyond print, is website updates of articles, blog posts and other content, while usage declined in e-newsletters, podcasts and RSS feeds

Lori Rosen, Executive Director, Custom Content Council, said "... while print remains the choice for most custom media programs, new media channels are providing more growth opportunities for the custom content industry... "

For additional information from the Custom Content Council, please visit here.