In recent years, national newspapers have continuously been involved in somewhat of a 'near death experience', with advertising revenue being a key contributor to this. The internet has been the main disruptor here, with it essentially nullifying what were some of the uses of newspapers initially. An example of this is the use of databases which let advertisers target their main audiences, contacting them directly about offers. This of course, proves to be a lot more effective than the newspaper counterpart of just place ads in the paper. It doesn't seem to be all bad though when 'national titles, combining print sales with online numbers, are actually reaching a higher proportion of the UK market than ever before.' What's particularly interesting here is how 18-34 year olds are the group with highest monthly reach, albeit through mobile devices. However it can be understood that this isn't as beneficial as it seems, particularly when all of the national paper's digital audiences can be found through the 'retargeting' cookie-based technology. This means that unique access as well as control of pricing, is completely out of the hands of the paper. Something that has to be noted while this is being discussed, is the way in which advertising revenue is earned. Media intermediaries, the so-called 'guardians of their client's marketing/media budget,' are the people who guide money into relatively small proportions of Internet-provided opportunities. What ends up happening with these intermediaries though, is that over half of the money in the 'marketing pot' doesn't reach the publisher from an advertiser using 'programmatic' advertising on the internet. Where the money ends up going is in the actual hands of media buyers, through the client company's marketing department. Issues of transparency creep up here with both clients and media owners. All this is said though, without the mention of the fact that papers have to compete with other institutions like Facebook and Google, with them accounting for a huge share of the increase in mobile revenue.
- Total readership across print and digital news brands is 35% of the total UK population daily, 63% weekly and 90% monthly, with the highest monthly reach among the youngest groups (18-34) who tend to access via mobile devices
- 75% of the money in the marketing pot does not actually reach the publisher from an advertiser
- In the first quarter of 2016, Facebook’s net income increased 300% and its margins jumped from 26% to 37%
- 90% of the increase in mobile revenue is going to Facebook and Google
This article represents the pure complexity involved in what exactly is contributing to the loss of advertising revenue for newspapers. They not only have to worry about digital giants like Facebook and Google coming through and taking what should be their revenue, but also a lack of transparency in terms of media intermediaries. The role of these 'guardians' is something which I'll need to observe in future to really view the impact that they have.
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