Publisher Roundtable is a community sharing platform powered by Netpop designed to let online publishers collaborate and learn how to grow their websites more effectively. Together, publishers can generate benchmarks around audience growth, content and monetization. Designed to benefit content publishers of all types and sizes, the goal of Publisher Roundtable is to arm publishers with the objective data and insights they need to make more informed business and marketing decisions.
Interview 2: Monetization
The second Publisher Roundtable interview covered the topic of Monetization: What can publishers do to improve how they monetize the content on their sites?
A total of 427 online publishers participated between July 3rd and September 2nd, 2014. Members of Publisher Roundtable were invited to participate. Marketing partners, Viglink and sovrn, also reached out to their contacts in the publishing community to participate.
The Publisher Roundtable community now numbers more than 700 publishers, representing over 150 million monthly uniques. To find out about the characteristics of the Publisher Roundtable community, please refer to the “Community Profile” information at the end of this report.
Key Topics
1. Where to Begin
What should publishers do first to monetize? Next? And after that? This report provides a roadmap.
What should publishers who are just starting out do first? next? and after that? This report provides a roadmap for newbies so they face fewer hurdles and see results more quickly. A closer look will be paid to publishers who are newer to monetization, as their experiences are likely more new and relevant to those just starting out.
2. Getting to the Next Level
What should publishers do first to monetize? Next? And after that? This report provides a roadmap.
What should publishers do to improve their monetization performance? What are the most important tactics to focus on? Should different types of sites be focusing on different things? This report examines the top tactics, offering tips to publishers of different sizes, tenure and vertical.
3. Picking a Partner
Not sure which ad network or what to look for to help you monetize? This report reveals the most popular ad networks and why publishers like them.
Looking for an ad network to help you monetize? Not sure where to turn or what to look for? This report reveals the most popular ad networks and why publishers like them. Tips will offer advice on what to look for when choosing an ad network and how long it makes sense to “test” a network before committing long term.
4. Monetization Options
What should you use to monetize your site? This report helps you decide which options to try and approximately how many to use in total.
So many options! What should publishers be using to help monetize their site? Which approaches are publishers most satisfied with? Which ones are generating the greatest share of revenues? This report offers a comprehensive look at the major monetization options to help publishers decide how to allocate their time and budget effectively.
5. Expectations vs. Reality
Do the expectations publishers have when they start monetizing match what they achieve? Find out.
Are publishers’ expectations being matched? Has monetization been harder or easier than they expected? Can publishers accurately predict what they will be making next year? This report will examine the mindset of publishers when they start the process compared to what they face in reality. Tips will help publishers who are new to monetization set the appropriate expectations and plan accordingly.
6. Monetization Report Card
How do publishers grade themselves and the industry on monetization? Do larger sites perform better than smaller ones? This “report card” provides an honest assessment.
How well do publishers think they’re doing? How well do they think the industry is doing to support them? Do certain types of publishers have a more positive outlook? This report provides an honest assessment of the publishing ecosystem with the aim of giving the industry a benchmark for mutual growth and improvement.
7. Non-Monetizers
Hesitant to start monetizing? This report shares the attitudes and ideas of other publishers like you.
What are the barriers for publishers getting started? When are they thinking they’ll start and which networks and options are on their radar screens to try?
8. Community Profile
Who makes-up the Publisher Roundtable community? See that stats on audience size, annual revenues, geography and more.
9. The Independent Web
How do topics group across the Independent Web? This map shows you. It may also spark ideas on how to expand the topics you cover.
Stay tuned on the PubHub in the coming weeks for additional report findings and monetization tips from the Publisher Advocate team at sovrn!
