Observations on the future of content & the media. Why showing up with good content is no longer good enough. Cross post :: https://medium.com/@jimbabb/9-ways-the-most-innovative-media-organizations-are-growing-5ac50d7457d5

1. OBSERVATIONS ON CONTENT & THE MEDIA
9 WAYS THE MOST INNOVATIVE MEDIA
ORGANIZATIONS ARE GROWING
2015

2. IN 2014, MEDIA ORGANIZATIONS EXPERIENCED AN UNPRECEDENTED ARMS RACE
INSTIGATED BY STARTUPS, TRADITIONAL RIVALS AND BRANDS BECOMING CONTENT COMPANIES.
The landscape grows increasingly
competitive with new forms of
content, technology and data;
showing up with good content is
no longer good enough.
In this age of transformation, the ability to create new and differentiated
methods of sustained growth has become more important than ever.
Only the innovative and agile prevail.

3. 15-35%
VISITORS ONLY VISIT
With content on-demand and ever-available,
traditional loyalty is going the way of the homepage.
Continuing to optimize for increased pageviews no
longer makes business sense.
of visitors, on the average media
site, go deeper than two pages.
ONLY
0 20 40 60 80 100
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
DENSITY
PERCENT OF VISITORS VISITING TWO OR MORE PAGES
SOURCE: CHARTBEAT

4. LEGACY MODEL
TRAFFIC FOCUSED
Monetizing visitors exclusively
through ads led to an
overemphasis on the top of
the funnel and a disconnect
from the bottom.
NEW MODEL
GROWTH FOCUSED
In the new model, traffic is a means to
an end, not the end itself. Creating,
tracking and optimizing an entire
funnel not only grows traffic, but
develops additional opportunities for
creating more sustainable value.
MARKETING TEAM’s
RESPONSIBLITY
PRODUCT TEAM’S
RESPONSIBLITY
GROWTH TEAM’S
RESPONSIBLITY
ACTIONS
Valuable things
your users do for
themselves and
your business
ACQUISITION
How do you get people to
your product?
ACTIVATION
How does your product
convert visitors to actions?
TRAFFIC, AFTER YOU GET IT
HOW DO YOU USE IT
CONTENT TEAM’S
RESPONSIBLITY
{
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5. GROWTH OBSERVATIONS &
INSIGHTS FROM THE FIELD
This report focuses on the shift from
traditional marketing practices to a more
holistic approach for growing and
retaining users. Illustrating this shift are
observations and insights from a few of
the most innovative media organizations.
The impact of this change is far reaching:
from new business models, to internal
processes and even hiring.
ACTIONS
Valuable things
your users do for
themselves and
your business
ACQUISITION
How do you get people
to your product?
ACTIVATION
How does your product
convert visitors to
actions?
NICHE SPREADS BETTER
THAN BROAD
RAPIDLY EXPAND LIKE AN MCN
AIM HIGH TO ATTRACT ATTENTION
TREAT EVERY PAGE AS A
LANDING PAGE
NOTABLE OBSERVATIONS
CONTENT CALENDARS THAT
MATCH BEHAVIOR
DESIGN FOR HABITS
CREATE DIRECT CONNECTIONS TO
VALUABLE USERS
CONTENT SELLS, SO LET IT
GET PHYSICAL TO GET AUTHENTIC

6. NICHE SPREADS
BETTER THAN BROAD
While often counter intuitive for organizations at scale,
more narrowly targeted content has the potential to reach
deeper through networks than traditional mass content.
REASONS WHY
It’s Easier To Make Resonate:
Acknowledging a specific and
quantifiable audience enables a
content creator to focus on
crafting their content in a way that
resonates more with the target.
OVER 2MIL VIEWS
This BuzzFeed post
received over 2mil views
by speaking directly to
18mil Asian-Americans.
CONSIDERATION
How can your organization
make better content for a
networked audience?
SOCIAL IS THE HOMEPAGE
Social networks are overtaking the
website homepage as the dominant
content discovery mechanism.
ACQUISITION
It’s More Sharable: Audiences are
more compelled to share
compelling content with like-
minded peers than content that
feels generic.
SOURCE: NYTIMES INNOCAVATION REPORT, 2014

7. +
RAPIDLY EXPAND LIKE A
MULTI-CHANNEL NETWORK
While having different verticals (lifestyle, sports, etc…) is nothing
new to scaled media organizations, new entrants are able to
grow audiences incredibly fast by smartly integrating and
sharing audiences between partners.
CONSIDERATION
How can your organization get
more value out of current or
future partnerships?
Partnering Is The Default: Any teen will tell
you the best way to increase your number of
social followers is by making content with
someone who has more followers. This mindset
of building networks through networking is
inherent with innovative media organizations.
More Platform-like: The distribution of media
is incredibly easy to scale, but the backend
scaling of operations is what makes an MCN-
like organization more valuable to their
consumer facing brands, verticals and talent.
REASONS WHY
Low Switching Costs: Today,
users are disloyal and bounce
around to different brands that
provide immediate value. The
switching cost of media is
practically zero, so sharing traffic
at the top of our funnel is no
longer something to fear.
OVER 15MIL MONTHLY UNIQUES IN 9 MONTHS
The blogging pioneers behind The Verge and
SBNation combined their innovative tech with
Ezra Klein’s voice to jump start their new platform.
SOURCE:QUANTCAST, MEDIA REDEFINED
DEC 14 MAR 14 JUN 14 OCT 14
45M
40M
35M
30M
25M
20M
MONTHLY
ACTIVEUSERS
60% growth since
Maker Studios was
acquired by Disney
ACQUISITION
$1B YOUTUBE NETWORK
By aggregating the efforts and audiences
of individual creators, while leveraging the
operational scale, Maker Studios is defining
a future of networked media.
MAKER STUDIOS’
MONTHY ACTIVE USERS

8. AIM HIGH TO
ATTRACT ATTENTION
Taking risks and heavily investing in validated bets attracts
new audiences. These high profile projects are press-worthy
themselves and inspire top talent.
REASONS WHY
The Content R&D Lab: While it’s
important to keep your risks in check,
saving resources for experimentation
allows safe spaces to push boundaries
and find new insights.
MOST POPULAR PODCAST EVER
The most popular podcast made an even more
popular podcast. By investing heavily in an
underutilized medium, This American Life’s
team created a new project so compelling
that people shifted their listening behaviors
and expanding the entire market.
CONSIDERATION
What bet will have the biggest
impact, while also having the
greatest odds of success?
Long & Evergreen: Big pieces of “stock”
content stand the test of time and remain
valuable long after the latest Tweet has
been forgotten.
Memorable: While sparking buzz,
differentiated and significant content
connects with people and reminds them
what your organization stands for.
START STRONG
Netflix launched into original
programming by ordering an
unprecedented initial two seasons
of House of Cards without even
producing a pilot.
OLD DOG, NEW TRICKS
The New York Time’s Snow Fall
pushed their narrative
journalism to new digital
heights and won them a
Pulitzer Prize too.
ACQUISITION

9. CONTENT CALENDARS
THAT MATCH BEHAVIORS
Interest in breaking news always peaks when it’s the most
fresh, however behaviors around other forms of content are
dispersing. Besides the most immediate uses, your data can
reveal how visitors use your content for other purposes.
REASONS WHY
Not All Social Is Twitter: While
media is heavily influenced by
Twitter, other social behaviors are
less ephemeral and open
opportunities for sustainable
feedback loops.
PINNERS PIN EARLY
BuzzFeed pre-seeds its
Halloween content in
September so its Pinterest-
loving audience has enough
time to organize their
projects before the holiday.
CONSIDERATION
What unconventional ways are
visitors using your content? How
can you leverage it?
Passive And Active Content: The social
newsfeed is a passive experience, where
friends curate content for us. At the same
time, we actively seek out other types of
content. Smart media organizations
balance content for both behaviors to
create multiple in and out roads.
LINKS MADE EVERGREEN
Vox’s innovative “card” based UI delivers
explainers on current events. Rather than
pushing new stories, Vox updates existing pages
which makes them evergreen and SEO friendly.
ACQUISITION

10. TREAT EVERY PAGE
AS A LANDING PAGE
As every page becomes an entry point, create custom
optimized experiences for each user based on insights
of who is visiting and why.
CHOOSE YOUR OWN DISPLAY
Buzzfeed observed that users
coming to their listicles from
Pinterest were sharing content back
to Pinterest, not to other social sites.
By revising their layout for these
users, Buzzfeed grew Pinterest into
their 2nd highest social referrer.
standard layout presents
multiple sharing options
CONSIDERATION
Do you understand where your
audience comes from, where they go,
and how you might create a value
exchange between you and them?
Users Have Preferred Social Networks:
Chartbeat observed that users are far more
likely to return to a site via the same social
referrer than all others combined. If a user
came through Twitter, chances are they’ll
come back through Twitter.
Destinations Are Revealing: Besides where
users come from, knowing where and why
they go helps determine what valuable
actions they are most likely to take. Which
group of users is most likely to sign up for a
newsletter, share or go one page deeper?
REASONS WHY
Segment By Referrer: Where
users come from is the first
insight to their behavior.
Compare and contrast behavior
from different sources as a
jumping off point to create
more value for them.
ACTIVATION
specialized layout mimics
Pinterest’s own UI
SOURCE: WIRED, BUZZFEED, CHARTBEAT

11. DESIGN FOR HABITS
Meaningful relationships and increased engagement are
created by designing content and products that fit into a
user’s existing and underserved behavior.
USER CONTENT THAT MAKES SENSE
Product Hunt reached 11Mil Monthly
Uniques by combining the social fun
of Reddit’s up-voting with the
addictive behavior of seeking out
and discussing new products.
CONSIDERATION
What valuable behaviors are your
users already doing and how can
you join them?
Loyalty Through Behavior: Rather than
traditional emotional brand loyalty, users
today are more loyal to products and
services that are aligned with their behavior
and provide them with the most value.
REASONS WHY
Behavior Change is Hard: We all
know habits are hard to change.
Instead of trying to go against the
grain of change, serve the habits
they’ve already formed.
BUILT FOR COMMUTERS
Much of WNYC’s audience spends
time underground commuting so
they designed an app that pre-
downloads the right amount of
content for the trip.
PUSH NOTIFICATION AS NEWS
Circa knows smart phones are rarely
far away and are building a modern
news delivery service that is timely,
customizable and at your fingertips.
ACTIONS

12. CREATE DIRECT CONNECTIONS
WITH VALUABLE USERS
While still a somewhat unproven business model, a few innovative
organizations are attempting to grow and monetize existing channels
rather than driving users elsewhere. Within these opt-in connections,
content providers can push directly to users.
REASONS WHY
Direct Connections Are
Proprietary: Having a direct
relationship with users not only
fosters more guaranteed reach,
but it also opens up valuable
sources of data.
CONSIDERATION
How can you create own-able direct
connections with your most valuable
users?
Most Loyal Are Most Valuable:
While more challenging to scale,
having a direct connection with your
most loyal users can be incredibly
valuable to experiment with
alternative forms of moniteazation.
CONNECTING WITH 500K
PEOPLE WITH EVERY EMAIL
theSkimm pushes a highly
stylized news digest to
their millennial audience
every morning.
NO PLACE TO GO
BFF, BuzzFeed’s new experiment, attempts to crack
every social platform the way they did Facebook,
by creating platform specific content that doesn’t
drive anywhere else.
ACTIONS

13. CONTENT SELLS,
SO LET IT
With the rise of native advertising, the line between ad and content
is disappearing. Aligning with this change, a few content companies
are experimenting with making their content sell things.
WINDOW SHOPPING
While still unproven,
Spring is attempting to
merge mobile commerce,
Instagram-like content
and follow mechanics.
CONSIDERATION
What sales opportunities overlap
with your current product and
user behavior?
Growing Advertising Capabilities:
As more media organizations build
in-house branded content teams,
they’ll be able to use these new
teams and capabilities to sell their
own products and services.
REASONS WHY
The Most Valuable User Action:
Converting traffic into actual
sales provides an alternative
opportunity for revenue, brand
voice and user value.
ACTIONS
PICK A RECIPE,
GET THE GROCERIES
Yummly, the recipe app, just
partnered with Instacart to bring
on-demand grocery delivery to
their users. Simply pick a recipe
and have the ingredients
delivered within an hour.

14. GET PHYSICAL TO
GET AUTHENTIC
While the digital content space is increasingly fragmented,
opportunities exist for differentiation through the authentic
and physical premium experiences.
NON-TRADITIONAL PUBLISHERS
Last year Airbnb launched Pineapple a travel &
lifestyle magazine and Warby Parker added a
publishing imprint to their eyeglass business.
A GATHERING OF YOUR CLOSEST FRIENDS
Call it a Sunday revival, family dinner or the spawn
of TED conference. Media organizations are finding
value in bringing their core audience together.
CONSIDERATION
Do you have existing communities
that could be leveraged into
premium physical experiences?
People Like to Come Together: With
Twitter it has never been easier for
fans to connect to creators and
perhaps paradoxically, there have
never been bigger crowds of fans at
Comic Con and other fan events.
REASONS WHY
Old School is Cool: Last year vinyl
record sales hit a 18 year high while
“heritage” American brands are all
the rage in fashion.
ACTIONS

15. ACTIONS
Valuable things
your users do for
themselves and
your business
ACQUISITION
How do you get people
to your product?
ACTIVATION
How does your product
convert visitors to
actions?
2015 KEY GROWTH
CONSIDERATIONS
‣ How can your organization create better
content for networked audiences?
‣ How can your organization get more value
out of current or future partnerships?
‣ What bet will have the biggest impact, while
also having the greatest odds of success?
‣ What unconventional ways are visitors using
your content? How can you leverage it?
‣ Do you understand where your audience comes
from, where they go, and how you might create
a value exchange between you and them?
‣ What valuable behaviors are your users already
doing and how can you join them?
‣ How can you create own-able direct connections
with your most valuable users?
‣ What sales opportunities overlap with your current
product and user behavior?
‣ Do you have existing communities that could be
leveraged into premium physical experiences?

16. Part and Sum is an innovation
and strategy consultancy.
We collaborate with organizations to uncover,
inspire and validate innovative offerings; then
support them by building agile teams able to
continually solve their own challenges.
If you’d like to learn more, please reach out.
jim@partandsum.com
THANK YOU.