Simon Owens's Tech and Media - The advertising recession is over
Welcome! I'm Simon Owens and this is my media industry newsletter. If you've received it, then you either subscribed or someone forwarded it to you. If you fit into the latter camp and want to subscribe, then you can click on this handy little button: Let’s jump into it… The advertising recession is overEarlier this year, it became pretty apparent that we were in an advertising recession, especially once the large tech platforms started reporting disappointing earnings. Given the easing inflation and the strong economic indicators over the last few months, a lot of publishers were hoping that advertising demand would pick back up in Q4, but Digiday reports this demand isn’t materializing:
I'm not sure it's accurate to say we're in an "advertising recession" anymore. I think what we're really in is a "publisher advertising recession." Ad revenue at major platforms like Google and Meta has mostly recovered, but brands are becoming less and less interested in advertising on traditional media outlets. Part of it probably has to do with brand safety concerns, but I think there's a growing recognition that the display advertising that publishers rely on just doesn't produce much marketing ROI. It was always a shitty ad delivery system, and brands just have access to too many more effective ad platforms to bother with it. The publishing industry needs to get serious about building performance-driven ad products, and that probably involves embracing native advertising at scale. Will consumers listen to podcasts on publisher apps?Is it possible to get an audience to consume your podcast on a platform outside their normal podcast-listening app? I'm skeptical, but Tortoise Media is making a go of it:
ICYMI: How Maria Brito used Instagram to build a 7-figure art consulting businessShe eventually grew her audience to over 200,000 followers across Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and email. The internet is a video-first medium nowRyan Broderick, the writer behind the Garbage Day newsletter, explained why he now devotes a large portion of his work week to adapting his newsletter content for video:
Brands will always find room in their budgets for live eventsWhy are publishers doubling down on events? Probably because brands see actual ROI from sponsoring them, something that can't really be said for programmatic display advertising:
Why a star journalist left journalismAdam Davidson, who co-founded Planet Money and was a staff writer at places like The New Yorker and NYT, explains why he mostly left journalism:
Let’s take this relationship to the next levelI only send this newsletter out twice a week, but I curate industry news on a daily basis. Follow me on one of these social platforms if you want your daily fix: You're currently a free subscriber to Simon Owens's Media Newsletter. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription. |
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