Commentary

Publishers Want To Diversify Into Video, Digital Audio Sales

  • by June 7, 2021
Publishers are looking to sell a broader variety of products as they seek to build on the recovery that many experienced when media spending improved in the second half of last year. More than half (56%) of publishers said they wanted to sell video, making it the most popular choice among products they hadn't sold previously, according to a study by Boostr, a maker of sales management software for media companies.

“We continue to see the proliferation of different ways in which video is consumed and more clever delivery by the content providers," Brian Georgi, CRO at Boostr, said in an interview. "You're going to see the better publishers diversify their offerings and also diversify the way in which those offerings can be bought.”

Amid their goals to diversify their product offerings, publishers also said they're most interested in selling digital audio (47%), sponsorships (46%), digital out-of-home (45%), linear TV (38%), linear radio (37%) and over-the-top or connected TV (34%), according to Boostr. The company analyzed the mostly digital media companies that use its platform and surveyed 200 media executives for its report.
The desire to sell more digital audio advertising reflects the growth in podcasting.

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Many publishers are developing audio programming that showcases their editorial expertise in a format that's portable, hands-free and can be consumed while doing something else.

"In a very short period, people have gone from, what's a podcast? to wouldn't it be interesting to advertise on a podcast? to why don't we have a podcast?" Georgi said.
Streaming video is less of a priority, but that may change as the recent surge in connected TV viewership makes CTV apps a more compelling revenue opportunity for publishers  producing video. CTV promises to offer better audience targeting than traditional linear TV, making that ad inventory more valuable.
“That's why we're seeing so much more programming," Georgi said. "Some of these apps are consumed rabidly by a small subset of the population that would never have been supported by the prime-time model of yesteryear. Now, you can support it because you can prove the audience -- and you have something different to sell.”
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