The struggles of the publishing industry come down to three things, according to Hola! magazine publisher Sylvia Banderas: over-saturation, over-complication, and what she calls "shiny-object syndrome."

The timing of the push for longer video content is significant, as Facebook is also poised to introduce new mid-roll video ad products, which may be more suitable for long-form videos.

For all the attention they have garnered over the last few years, distribution partnerships with big tech platforms like Facebook and Google still contribute a relatively small proportion of total revenues for a number of big publishers, per a Digital Content Next report first publicized by Business Insider.

When vetting various partners, we considered various criteria, especially fees, features and reporting. Publishers should evaluate partners across these elements and ask probing questions.