LiveIntent Blog
  • Solutions
    • Advertiser solutions
      Discover a new advertising channel for powering profitable growth.
    • Publisher solutions
      Maximize the revenue generated across email and web inventory
    • Identity data solutions
      Build stronger connections with addressable audiences everywhere.
  • Identity framework
  • Case studies
  • Company
    • Our story
      Learn more about us, our mission, vision, and the people behind it all.
    • Careers
      Grow and develop personally and professionally at LiveIntent.
    • Press
      Read up on how LiveIntent is innovating the digital ecosystem.
    • Events
      Check out our upcoming events and stay up-to-date with all things martech.
  • Resources
    • LiveIntent Library
      Learn how to harness the power of email with our eBooks, guides, and reports.
    • Blog
      Explore martech topics, strategies, and tactics with fun, insightful content.
    • Knowledge base
      Get answers to all your pressing product related questions.
    • Brand assets
      Everything you need to know about the LiveIntent brand all in one place.
Contact Us
LiveIntent Blog
  • Solutions
    • Advertiser solutions
      Discover a new advertising channel for powering profitable growth.
    • Publisher solutions
      Maximize the revenue generated across email and web inventory
    • Identity data solutions
      Build stronger connections with addressable audiences everywhere.
  • Identity framework
  • Case studies
  • Company
    • Our story
      Learn more about us, our mission, vision, and the people behind it all.
    • Careers
      Grow and develop personally and professionally at LiveIntent.
    • Press
      Read up on how LiveIntent is innovating the digital ecosystem.
    • Events
      Check out our upcoming events and stay up-to-date with all things martech.
  • Resources
    • LiveIntent Library
      Learn how to harness the power of email with our eBooks, guides, and reports.
    • Blog
      Explore martech topics, strategies, and tactics with fun, insightful content.
    • Knowledge base
      Get answers to all your pressing product related questions.
    • Brand assets
      Everything you need to know about the LiveIntent brand all in one place.
Log in Contact Us
  • Blog Homepage
  • Programmatic Advertising
  • Email Monetization
  • Identity Resolution
  • LiveIntent Culture
  • Real Time Banter
  • LiveIntentional
  • Subscribe

Why Top Publishers Are Expanding into New Lines of Revenue

    • Email Monetization
  • March 9, 2020
Kerel Cooper
CMO

Publishers are going through an identity crisis.

In just the past few years, they’ve been told to think like digital advertisers, marketing agencies, software startups, fashion brands, entertainment companies, gyms (yup), and, of course, Amazon.

It’s like the world is screaming: “Think like anything but publishers, please, we beg you!” Why? Because publishers are grasping for answers – any way to make up the revenue they’ve lost from decades of counting on print distribution.

According to eMarketer, the most important digital revenue streams for publishers in 2019 was display advertising (81%), subscriptions (78%), native advertising (75%), events (48%), and ecommerce (31%).

Still, even digital solutions once thought reliable have proven to be fair-weather friends, like Facebook video and organic social reach.

That’s why LiveIntent sat down with executives from The New York Times, The Daily Beast, Vox Media, and Ziff Davis. We picked their brains to understand just why they’re expanding into new lines of revenue – and which solutions they’ve found to be successful.

Here’s what they had to say.

Reason: Loss of advertising revenue

When Mia Lehmkuhl Libby assumed her role as chief revenue officer of The Daily Beast, her first task was stemming the tide of ad revenue loss.

She looked to her audience.

“The idea was to figure out what our audience really wanted from us and how we could give them more,” says Libby. “Are there ways to charge for that? Are there ways to create advertising products that advertisers want to be a part of in bringing to our audience? The rubric was always, ‘How can we be in service of our consumer and bring them a better experience?”

Solution: Subscriptions

The Daily Beast launched “Beast Inside,” a paid subscription service, targeted towards loyal readers who visit 50x per month. Subscribers receive access to exclusive content like customized email newsletters and analysis of the 2020 Presidential Election.

Reason: Find new ways to tell stories

As a legacy print business, The New York Times has been under great pressure to modernize and monetize in the digital age. Still, SVP of ad innovation Allison Murphy says they have a commitment to journalism at heart.

“We recognized that some of the stories we’re telling – and our journalists are finding, –have more ambitious ways to be told, whether that’s through audio, video, or other formats,” says Murphy. “Then we started to think how to monetize these new formats in ways that audiences want to engage with us.”

Solution: Branded content

The New York Times launched T Brand Studio, a brand-marketing unit that works with advertising partners to craft long-form stories, investigative articles, and interactive videos that push the bounds of modern storytelling. To promote its documentary 13th, Netflix’s sponsored “Plantation to Prison,” an article about involuntary servitude in the U.S. prison system. And Delta sponsored “Welcome to the Airport of the Future!” providing an immersive look at the technology that will change air travel.

Reason: Reaching audiences across platforms

As Vox Media audiences started spreading across different platforms, VP of revenue Courtney Glaze began to explore new revenue streams that could be part of their experience.

Solution: Podcasting

Vox Media tested a couple of podcasts and saw great success with the format. So they doubled down on it — or rather increased their output by over 87x. Popular podcasts include The Ezra Klein Show, which tackles big ideas and research in current events, and Today, Explained, a daily explainer series.”We now have 175 podcasts across our seven different networks because our audience loves them,” says Glaze. “The audience engagement was there; monetization follows.”

—

0
Tweet 0
Kerel Cooper
CMO

Must-Read Content

3 publishing priorities
    • Email Monetization

3 publishing priorities for 2023

  • Mano Pillai
  • December 21, 2022
    • Email Monetization

Staking a claim in $61.15bn in digital ad spend

  • Chris Hartley
  • December 13, 2022
    • Email Monetization

Why email is crucial to local publisher monetization strategies

  • Victoria de Leon
  • July 14, 2022
Learn more about Email Monetization.
View Post
  • Email Monetization

Consumer behaviors, email newsletters, and subscription fatigue with Mark Stenberg

  • Mark Dunning
  • June 13, 2022
View Post
  • Email Monetization

Email list monetization: What is it and why is it important?

  • Victoria de Leon
  • May 18, 2022
View Post
  • Email Monetization

4 ways to monetize your first-party data in 2022

  • Victoria de Leon
  • May 3, 2022
View Post
  • Email Monetization

5 tips for email audience building in 2022

  • Mark Dunning
  • April 5, 2022
View Post
  • Email Monetization

Unlocking and supporting business opportunities with first-party data

  • Nick Bolt
  • March 30, 2022
View Post
  • Email Monetization

CNET finds the sweet spot between direct-sold strategy and operational ease with Native Ad Blueprints

  • Jennie Conway
  • March 14, 2022
View Post
  • Email Monetization

Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection (MPP): What it means for direct-sold deals

  • Nick Bolt
  • February 22, 2022
View Post
  • Email Monetization

Building audiences in today’s digital world

  • Mark Dunning
  • February 16, 2022
LiveIntent Blog
Think outside the inbox and discover all the innovative ways email can help you grow your business.
© LiveIntent 2022
  • Solutions
    • Advertiser solutions
    • People-Based audiences
    • Publisher solutions
    • Identity data solutions
    • Identity framework
  • Company
    • Our Story
    • Careers
    • Employee Resource Groups
    • Press
    • Events
    • Contact us
  • Resources
    • Case studies
    • Blog
    • Knowledge base
    • Brand assets
  • Legal
    • Powered by
    • Content policy
    • Website privacy policy
    • Services privacy policy
    • Do not sell my info
    • Ad choices
© LiveIntent 2022
Popular topics
  • People-Based Marketing
  • Meet-a-LiveIntenter
  • Email Revenue
  • Identity Graph
  • Subscriber Acquisition
  • First-Party Data
  • Direct-to-Consumer
  • Cookie Apocalypse