Mobile Strategies for Media Owners

Dominic Jacquesson, Ink on Dead Trees

Mobile Media Strategies 2011, June 14th, London

Ink on Dead Trees• Digital marketing and digital publishing consultancy

• Work with several publishers, large and small, and also with several VC funded ‘disruptive tech’ start-ups

• Subscription / recurring revenues speciality

• Previously Chief Operating Officer at Institutional Investor Inc, and at Electric Word plc

• February - published a business intelligence report on mobile strategies for publishers, with TheMediaBriefing

Some predictions that have been

borne out...• Smartphones become the norm in mobile

• Tablet market still booming

• Android penetration overtakes iOS

• Blurring of line between apps and html5

• Pricing ceiling for apps at £/$3

• Integrated subscriptions will prevail

• Digital replicas of print issues don’t work

• Virality is the best form of marketing - be social

• Think workflow, not issues - be innovative

...with a few surprises

• Nokia choosing Microsoft Mobile rather than Android

• Slower-than-expected rollout of tablets to compete with the iPad

• Fewer mobile successes among traditional media than I had expected (hoped?)

Ten models for monetising mobile

apps• Freemium

• Integrated subscriptions

• Lead generation

• Sponsorship

• One-off sales

• Embedded advertising

• In-app issue purchase

• Digital news-stand

• Standalone subscription

• Issue-based payment

Decreasingeffectiveness

Increasingeffectiveness

1. Android will dominate this

market• BlackBerry will switch

to Android (probably) within 18 months

•Microsoft will keep playing a game of catch-up

• Apple will retain a ‘profitable niche’ status

•Makes your platform decisions fairly easy...

IODT June 2011: mobile OS projections by 2015

2. A new digital media landscape is

emergingm.site

www

app.site

wwwm.app

www.Discoverabilit

y(marketing)

Functionality(product)

+

+

=

=

Paywalls

3. Social media is drawing old media

into mobilem.site

iPhone

Android

B’berry

SamsungOvi

millions of MAUs

Facebook usage is already 40% mobile

IODT time-series analysis, June 2011

4. Apple is backing down on

subscriptions• 30% revenue share is a good deal for consumer publishers compared to news-stand or subscription fulfilment costs

•Data-sharing is getting better:

- Incentives being allowed to encourage opt-in

- Print subscriber integration being explicitly allowed

• ‘Best price’ rules are being covertly relaxedAndroid’s rise and the threat of

app.sites have forced the re-think in Cupertino

5. Innovation is working, replication

is failing• “Pay-once, access anywhere...and we’ll

know”

• Lead-generation revenue models

• Location-aware functionality

•Workflow from data

• Joyful user experience

• Social media integration

Thank Youdominic@inkondeadtrees.com

Twitter: domjacquesson

Are you investing in innovation or managing

decline?R

evenue

gro

wth

Profit margin %

Case Study: Top Table• Online restaurant search and

reservations

• 1.3 million registered users, 1 million reviews, 2.5 million visits/month, 70 staff

• Earns a fee for every diner-reservation. £100 million booked in 2010

• iPhone app for 11 months - location and cuisine based search, real-time reservations

• 250,000 downloads and 10% of total reservations... and growing

Case study: Financial Times

• “Most admired” app strategy in my survey of publishers in November

• 207,000 digital subscribers (+71% YOY), and over £200 million digital revenue

• Integrated subscriptions, across print, online and apps - ie pay once

• iPhone app 595,000 downloads, iPad app 487,000. Also Android and BlackBerry

• Sponsorship supported 2 months full free access to iPad app, worth £1million

• 1 in 10 new digital subs now via iPad app

Digital issues aren’t working on

tablets...WiredJune = 105,000November = 22,000

GlamourSeptember = 4,300November = 2,775

Men’s HealthJune = 2,800

October = 2,000