Digital Media Consolidation in 2020
The arrival of the pandemic was the trigger for an accelerated audiences digitalization globally. This fact, and the new processes required to work remotely, are fundamental reasons behind the consolidation of the definitive digital transformation of the media.
On December 3rd we presented via webinar, together with the Interamerican Press Society, the main objectives surrounding the digital consolidation of the media. Throughout it, we brought together the most relevant aspects of the media when it comes to consolidating a digital business model. Furthermore, through specific examples, we review different success stories of those who, in recent months, have developed digitalization paths together with Protecmedia with successful results.
Mobile priority
According to Comscore's Global State of Mobile data, around 80% of global digital audiences are mobile. This reality is added to the priority that Google has given since September 2020 to sites with appropriate mobile usability, a scale that takes precedence over desktop analysis.
For these reasons, it is essential to prioritize a better mobile user experience to increase reader retention and, therefore, obtain greater possibilities of digital content revenue.
Given this, the change in workflows leads us to reverse the traditional editorial process, and from a correct mobile version to later adapt the desktop version.
A correct SEO positioning today is not conceivable without this mobile approach. In addition, at all times the content must comply with the guidelines and practices prioritized by Google. Our Milenium DXP platform and the ITERWCM suite facilitate this task thanks to functionalities such as the edition of the AMP version of the articles, which provides correct visibility of the contents, greater scope and, in the end, greater probabilities of monetization.
Dynamic payment walls
The situation about traditional sources of income through advertising and print has led the media to broaden the focus of their business and to decide to develop other strategies, such as access to paid-for content by subscription.
The digital media offers real-time audience data, which is valuable information for a dynamic payment wall strategy. The MAS analytical tool provides particularly relevant data such as the RFV index or the article score to facilitate decision-making based on readers' behaviour patterns. In addition, they allow the audience to be segmented in order to apply specific strategies.
Thanks to these possibilities, this model is having very positive results among the media that have opted for them. At Protecmedia we adapt our technological offer to the needs of the media at any given time. For this reason, we have developed a new solution that allows ITERWCM users to manage their digital subscriptions: eCommerce DXP.
This new module of Milenium DXP provides the essential technological infrastructure needed to implement a strategy based on digital subscriptions quickly, easily and providing detailed control of subscriber data.
Push acquisition of audiences
By sending push notifications or newsletters, the media have simple tools at their disposal to get closer to their audience and establish more powerful links with them. The audience is provided with the latest information or a selection of the most relevant news without the need to access the media to find it, while the media obtains real-time data about the readiness of the readers for the information they have sent.
“We have achieved great results at a lower cost than with other alternatives we had explored” (Diego Acosta y Lara, IT Director of EL PAÍS)
EL PAÍS de Montevideo is an example of the great capacity that these tools have to strengthen the commitment with the readers. Through Protecmedia's MAS solution, 5 months ago they began to send push notifications to their readers, thanks to which they have managed to multiply their web traffic (now representing 6.3% of the total) and have already reached more than 330,000 push notification subscribers.
Accessible, scalable and flexible technology
Through Cloud technology, the media have access to a global, scalable and flexible system that allows them to optimize the resources available to them, without making significant initial investments. Also, continuous updating and assured technological support allow the teams to focus their attention on editorial production tasks.
Protecmedia's Media Cloud model has the technological support of Oracle Cloud, which guarantees the total security of the systems.
The newspaper El Universal migrated all its systems to the Media Cloud during the first wave of the pandemic, in a project carried out remotely and thanks to which, over the last few months, they have been able to recover their publishing activity. First, they did so through their digital channels and by sending out newsletters, and later, resuming their print edition with a renewed design.
El Correo Gallego, on the other hand, has adopted the Media Cloud editorial solution for all its systems. This decision has achieved a convergent newsroom that merges the paper and web newsrooms, so the work processes in the newsroom have taken a 180° turn.
Work teams have experienced a significant transformation in their flows, and this has directly affected the technological needs they require. In this way, with the appropriate tools, the means can reduce their costs and obtain better results quickly.
As a technological partner of the media, Protecmedia is evolving at the software level to incorporate functionalities that adapt to the new mobile-first approaches, audience push or RFV segmentation. Keeping up with constant technological innovation allows us to offer solutions in line with the current needs of media teams: remote working coordination, the possibility of working from any location and from different types of devices or tools for developing digital subscription models.