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Content Assets: Start Selling Corporate Portals
Publishers can yield new revenue by building customized web sites or “corporate portals” to serve the needs of specific companies and enterprises.
According to research by Gartner, Inc., Internet ad spending will increase by 2005 to $18.8 billion per year. But even Gartner notes that this growth won’t come riding in on the backs of banners.
To generate that kind of revenue, publishers will need to change their publishing models to include custom-publishing opportunities that can best be described as corporate portals.
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"Expanding distribution channels for advertisers not only provides opportunities for increased advertising revenue, but creates additional revenue opportunities overall," said Denise Garcia of GartnerG2.
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The model is for business-to-business publishers to identify large, corporate information consumers and provide them with custom content through e-mail newsletters or even a special web site specifically for that company.
Unlike traditional custom publishing, the content on these sites doesn’t hype the corporate client. Instead, the corporate client provides an outline of the kinds of information they want their employees, remote workers and customers to receive, and the publisher develops an editorial product that meets those needs.
The site provides employees with a single point of access to the latest industry news and relevant research, saving them time that would otherwise be wasted sifting through various information sources and subscribing to multiple publications. These sites can be sold to the corporate client through a subscription service based on a number of seats, or for a flat monthly fee.
Many publishers have been dabbling in this area through custom-content newsletters developed in conjunction with specific advertiser. The newsletters are sold to an advertiser as a sponsorship, with the advertiser often selecting not only the content that is sent out but also the particular demographic makeup of the person who will receive it.
But corporate portals, which Gartner calls “Business Services,” go much further and can include fees for custom content, audio and video streaming, and even web site hosting and site management.
Many companies we’ve spoken to are investigating this new publishing model, and the few who admit to having gone this route and have found it to be profitable. Not surprisingly, few want to let the secret out, for fear of opening up competition in very lucrative markets.
“That is definitely a direction we are going to be in,” said an executive at a large publishing company who asked not to be identified. The companies “came to us first with that idea. They said, `You guys have the integrity, you have the news, you have the brand, how about an exclusive feed for us’.”
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According to research by Gartner, Inc., Internet ad spending will increase by 2005 to $18.8 billion per year.
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The financial gains from this arrangement go well beyond the fees charged to the corporation. Gartner research says that up to 80 percent of ad agency RFPs include requests for integrating marketing proposals.
With a corporate portal, a publisher can sell ads across sites and newsletters that are targeted at specific companies to advertisers who are specifically interested in reaching those companies.
For example, a corporate portal site that a publisher produces for IBM might bring premium banner dollars from parts manufacturers hoping to increase their visibility within the IBM organization.
"Advertisers are increasingly demanding unique, creative, integrated advertising programs that require online media properties to expand into other forms of interactive media such as interactive TV, wireless and kiosks," said Denise Garcia, research director for GartnerG2.
"Expanding distribution channels for advertisers not only provides opportunities for increased advertising revenue, but creates additional revenue opportunities overall," she said.
Anti-Spam Legislation Run Amok
Readers of this publication will note that we endeavor to provide the most up-to-date information on anti-spam legislation because even though the publishing industry is legitimate, legislation passed to prohibited spam will invariably impact the way we do business.
But some want these changes to go further. Some of the good folks in Washington state want state Sen. Bill Finkbeiner to introduce provisions that not only allow them to file a lawsuit in small claims court against spammers, but also to file a “John Doe” lawsuit and subpoena records from companies that might have information about the company they are suing.
Taken literally, this means you could subpoena all of AOL’s user and e-mail logs to root out the person who keeps sending out those “Bootleg Viagra” e-mails. The only problem is that the people sending those Viagra e-mails will never include “ADV:” in the subject line, nor will they include their real contact information, nor will they likely use AOL to dispatch their messages.
It’s far more likely that the only people who will be affected by the legislation are legitimate media organizations who will now have one more “i” to dot and “t” to cross to stay within the bounds of legality.
The legislation is Washington State Senate Bill 6568.
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In This Issue
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Anti-Spam Legislation Run Amok
Final Analysis:
GCN’s creative, technical and business team analyzes WGBH 's This Old House Online. Can three companies maintain one brand? See how this web site fairs under our constructive critique.
Editorial Tip:
Integrate Your TOC -- Create an online “Table of Contents” within your print publication to promote your unique web offerings and happenings. This will help drive traffic to your web site.
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