Publisher Roundtable, a collaboration between VigLink, Netpop, and sovrn, proved to be incredibly fruitful in producing valuable insights on monetization. One important aspect participants addressed was their expectation of monetization vs. the reality they face on a day-to-day basis. When asked about their expectations, the majority of participants (39%) said they didn’t know what to expect. Additionally, 37% said reality didn’t meet their expectations, 63% of that group admitting that monetization was actually worse than they expected.
The participants were split up into three groups, <10K, 10K to 49.9K, and 50K+ monthly uniques. When asked if monetization has been easier/faster or slower/harder than expected, and how accurately they can predict income, it became apparent that the participants with higher uniques are monetizing with the most ease. For example, 37% of <10K monthly uniques found it much slower/harder compared to only 15% of those over 50K. On the contrary, 16% of those 50K+ found it much faster/easier with only 7% of <10K monthly uniques feeling the same way.
The trend of larger publishers having an easier time, carried over into the monetization report card where participants were asked to grade both themselves and the industry on monetization. As a whole, the majority of participants graded themselves (39%) and the industry (44%) at a C. However, when broken up into the three groups of varying monthly uniques, we saw smaller publishers giving themselves and the industry a much lower grade than those with higher uniques.
The results from this part of the report show that the higher a site’s monthly uniques, the greater their satisfaction with monetization. The sites with higher monthly uniques are clearly doing something right, but ironically they’re using the exact same monetization options. So how are they having so much more success? It all comes down to the production of top-quality content. More people are coming to these sites because they enjoy the content and have come to trust these publishers to produce content they can depend on. Once that trust has been established, people are more likely to click through links in the content and, ultimately, make purchases.
For those with a smaller amount of uniques, monetization is bound to be challenging due to less potential purchasers. However, the best way to increase your readership and encourage people to share the content from your site is by producing thoughtful, unique content. When genuine content is produced, readers recognize that and you’ve earned yourself a fan. Monetization isn’t always easy, especially for those just starting out, but focusing on your content is a sure way to achieve long-term success.
To see full results from the report on monetization, visit the Publisher Roundtable site!
Written by Hanna Fritzinger
