The Weekly Bulletin | October 31, 2023

Catch up on your members' content, check out the community buzz, and browse through job opportunities

Author

Vahe Arabian
October 31, 2023

Hi SODP community,

Let’s recap on what’s been happening last week, the new content, industry updates, tips, and more.

EDITOR’S NOTE

A quick look at the global economic situation reveals that monetization diversity remains as sound a strategy for publishers as ever.

Before  the Israel-Hamas war, the outlook for the global economy was middling, with the OECD projecting that growth would slow next year amid persistent core inflation.

Now, however, the World Bank has just warned that if the conflict escalates, then global energy prices will hit record-breaking highs. In the bank’s worst-case scenario, in which oil hits $157 per barrel, a world recession is almost inevitable.

Long-time readers will be familiar with my commentary towards the end of last year, in which I urged publishers to review organizational structures as a matter of urgency amid a worsening economic outlook.

While I stand by this recommendation, this time, I’m narrowing the focus somewhat by recommending revenue diversification.

Big Names, New Games

When the pandemic-driven boom in content consumption slowly began winding down, it was the social media companies and tech giants that were first out of the gate with their efficiency drives (read rationalizations).

Now, we’re seeing an increasing number of major tech players begin to experiment with new ways to monetize their audiences.

We’re fast approaching Netflix’s first anniversary of having ads on its platform. Since the launch of Netflix’s ad-supported streaming tier on November 3, 2022, the streaming giant has revealed that the offer has attracted almost 5 million monthly active users as of May.

Netflix, while notoriously shy about sharing viewing figures, has been more open about its user numbers to attract advertisers. Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters said in May that more than 25% of sign-ups in territories where ads were an option had picked this plan.

And yet, even as formerly subscription-only platforms explore opportunities afforded by advertising, a more surprising evolution is taking place within the advertising-dominated social media space.

Social Media Shift

Meta has just announced that it will introduce new subscription options in the EU, EEA and Switzerland in November to comply with European regulations concerning data privacy.

These subscriptions will allow paid-up members to enjoy an ad-free experience while ensuring their data isn’t used for ads.

TikTok, meanwhile, has also confirmed that it’s testing an ad-free tier in a “single, English-speaking market outside the US”. Whether EU privacy laws are behind its motivations isn’t clear, though I’d feel somewhat safe in suggesting that might be the case.

What Does This Mean for Publishers?

Will ad-reliant publishers benefit from social media networks’ introduction of subscriptions? Possibly. Streamers’ introduction of ad-supported tiers might not offset the reduction in available social media ad inventory.

But that’s one of those “time will tell” questions. In the here and now, when factoring a combination of global economic uncertainty and evolving regulations, the argument for more than a single iron in the fire gains more weight.

SODP POSTS

———— SPONSORED ————

PubLive Q&A

PubLive Q&A: Publishers’ CMSs Are Key to Unlocking Growth Potential

Creating great content without a fully flexible and responsive search engine optimization (SEO) strategy isn’t good enough. And nailing both of these can still fail to yield the desired results if the publisher hasn’t given much thought to their backend infrastructure or monetization strategy.

Further complicating the picture is the arrival of generative AI, which observers have claimed could sink publishers or help them swim.

While it’s never not a challenging time to be a publisher, the industry does find itself facing a unique set of challenges in the here and now.

With this in mind, we sat down to pick the brains of Manavdeep Singh – founder of PubLive and media industry veteran with 15+ years of experience – to discuss how publishers can navigate these challenges.

Check out the full interview to learn:

✅ The challenges that stem from publishers' heavy dependency on multiple vendors, plugins, platforms and dashboards to operate efficiently.
✅ Why a publisher’s backend infrastructure is critical to its SERP rankings
✅ The future of publishing in the age of AI
✅ How digital publishers can create additional audience touchpoints beyond their website
+ more

NEWS SEO PLAYBOOK

News SEO Playbook

Join the November cohort of News SEO Playbook – a 4-week online course with publisher SEO expert Vahe Arabian!

News publishers have had a challenging year. Between social media-driven traffic plummeting and the impact of Google’s Search Generative Experience (long-term consequences have yet to be seen), getting discovered by the right audience is getting tougher.

Stop applying generic SEO tactics – the results are usually disappointing. Instead, learn technical and content SEO strategies that are customized to the needs and requirements of news publishers and have proven to deliver outstanding results!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Eight intense sessions over four weeks with hours of new content to watch and digest and on top of that - an assignment! Was it worth it? Definitely! Did I learn something new? You bet! Will I be able to apply it in my day-to-day job? I've started already Thanks, Vahe Arabian for the knowledge, experience and your time.

September cohort participant

JOB BOARD

➡️ Claudio Cabrera, VP of Newsroom Strategy and Audience at The Athletic, has three new roles on his audience team on the programming side (two in the US and one in London). SEE MORE

➡️ BBC Global News & Streaming is looking for an SEO Analytics Engineer (London, UK). SEE MORE

COMMUNITY BUZZ

Industry News

➡️ Danny Sullivan, Google's Search Liaison, defended why Google pushed out search ranking algorithm updates, saying on X, "The web changes. Content changes. People's expectations change. That's why we keep looking at ways to improve the search results we show." READ MORE

➡️ Direqt, which offers customizable AI chatbots to ESPN, GQ, Wired, Vogue, and other publishers, raised a $4.5M seed from Todd Parker, Dan Marino, and others. READ MORE

Social Media Discussions

➡️ Ben Goodey on LinkedIn:

Want more growth via SEO? Here’s a test we did recently with YouTube influencers.

We wrote a "Best X Tools" listicle for a client earlier this year. It's doing stupidly well, now ranking pos. 1 and receiving 14,000 visitors/mo.

At the same time, we worked with a YouTube influencer in the niche to independently review the software:

- Costs
- Features
- Guide to setting up

It's a long-form video from a voice the audience trusts.

We embedded that video into the written listicle right under the company name (shown below).

The great thing? That video now also has 8,000+ views.

These are the highlights for last week.

Until next!

Andrew Kemp and the editorial team at SODP