Marketers Favor Stronger Spend Focus On Content Marketing

This year, marketers devoted 37% of their budgets to branded content, which averaged out to exactly $1,860,788 per brand.
 
Although the percentage of overall market share dropped slightly from 39% in 2012, 80% of marketers anticipate a moderate to aggressive shift in spending toward content marketing going forward.
 
That’s according to the annual content marketing survey from the Custom Content Council, which is put out in partnership with ContentWise.
 
Of particular note, those figures do not include “native advertising” or "sponsored content,” according to Lori Rosen, executive director at the Custom Content Council.
 
“The lines are blurring [between branded content and native advertising], but we still draw a distinction,” Rosen told Online Media Daily on Tuesday.
 
Comparing branded content to traditional advertising, respondents showed a definite preference to content over magazine advertising, TV commercials, direct mail and public relations.
 
Remarkably, spending on print publications returned to levels not seen since before the 2008 recession, while digital budgets saw a 13.8% rise. “That print did so well this year was surprising,” Rosen said. “Usually [the sector] grows at print’s expense.”
 
Overall, personnel continues to account for the lion’s share of content marketing spending at 52% of total spend -- a figure that has remained consistent over the past several years.
 
Production -- which since 2012 has included digital programming as well -- accounted for 32% of content marketing budgets, while distribution comprised 18% of total spend.
 
According to the CCC, customer education was once again cited as the biggest factor in the decision to employ content marketing, with 49% of respondents holding it up as their primary reason, and 29% naming it as their secondary reason for betting on branded content.
 
Repurposing of content remains a common practice, with social media serving as the most utilized secondary channel. Corporate Web sites also received a healthy share of branded content by marketers.
 
For their research, the CCC and ContentWise emailed a survey targeting a random sample of companies across all industries. Some 8,000 survey invitations were emailed, and approximately 210 were completed and returned.
 
Responding companies included Allstate, ValueOptions, Graybar, TCF Bank, BB&T and Honda, according to the CCC and ContentWise.
1 comment about "Marketers Favor Stronger Spend Focus On Content Marketing".
Check to receive email when comments are posted.
  1. jeri cohen from jericohen.com, December 4, 2013 at 1:44 p.m.

    This piece is interesting; however, I'm curious about the relatively low response rate. Of 8,000 invites/surveys, 210 responses were used as basis of story. Seems a bit low to me although some of the companies are arguably important brands. Just wondering if it is an accurate reflection of the market and if there are other studies that can bear out these findings?

Next story loading loading..