Maximising the value of owned media
Combining content generation with media sales is set to become a growing trend for 2014 says Patrick Fuller, chairman of Result – sparked by a rise in consumer appetite for owned media…
Research from the States reveals that 82 per cent of brands are not currently monetising their owned media. I suspect the same holds true here, but I think this is set to change.
The very nature of owned media means that brands are naturally nervous about using their own platforms as a revenue generating opportunity. And this is a sentiment propounded by media agencies that would rather brands poured their money into more lucrative (for them) paid for media and digital agencies that want to create beautiful content and manage communities, not negotiate third party ad rates.
The resonating argument against commercialising owned media is that consumers are already naturally suspicious of it. As everyone knows today’s shopper is no fool. They have a keen understanding of the world of marketing so see through the corporate Facebook pages, Twitter campaigns, websites and branded content as company propaganda.
However, I don’t think this is the case anymore. The best brands have built relationships with their customers that establish trust. Couple this with the rising cost of living and suspicion flies out of the window.
In the last year, consumers have experienced a 10 per cent rise in subscription TV services, a 23% increase on phone and broadband services, a 16% increase in the number of paywalls, and small rises in cover charge prices of newspapers and magazines. The price of paid-for content is rising, and as a result the demand for free content is growing.
Consequently, customers are turning to their favourite brands for entertainment, news, and general information in their droves because they provide engaging and relevant information for free as part of their customer experience. Research conducted by Dres Consulting showed that last year a quarter of all time spent consuming media is spent with branded content.
Monetising owned media is a balancing act and it must be handled sensitively”
The naysayers will argue that third party advertising would devalue the trust that brands have built up, yet my argument would be that advertising actually serves to legitimise owned media.
As far back as Victorian England, shoppers have been conditioned to accept advertisements on owned media. In fact, back then the value exchange was far more blatant. For example, the Post Office gave away free envelopes to punters in a bid to sell stamps and this was funded by selling advertising space on the envelopes – the first example of this can be seen in the Royal Mail Archive in Farringdon.
Likewise, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle funded his publication of The Hound of The Baskervilles by selling space on the front cover to Fry’s Cocoa; the first edition of which is proudly on display in Portsmouth Library.
Granted, monetising owned media is a balancing act and it must be handled sensitively. As Facebook and Twitter continue to try to commercialise their platforms you can’t move for the horror stories reported by the national press on kids being exposed to explicit adult advertisements.
Poor targeting aside, consumers are not leaving these channels, proving that they recognise that ads fund free access. Moreover, there hasn’t been national uproar about The Met Office opening up its site to third party advertisers. Clearly, with a government agency, stringent guidelines need to be in place – The Met Office is unlikely to want to host ads for unhealthy foods or alcohol, for example.
In my experience brands that are opening their channels to third party advertising in a measured and responsible way are reaping the rewards. Those that do it well have not suffered any negativity from their customers, and in return are able to use the revenue to fund the content generation, essentially making content even stronger – a winning formula for all.
Supermarket customer magazines are one of the strongest examples of third party advertising success. The ads serve to strengthen the customer experience and are proven to shift products for the advertisers.
Given consumers’ growing appetite for owned media I suspect that if the same research is carried out again next year it will show a dramatically different picture, with brands actively looking to reap the rewards that maximising the value of owned media can bring. I predict that combining content generation with media sales is set to become a growing trend for 2014.