the roundtable 2013: serge taborin
DESCRIPTION
TRANSCRIPT
Archant
- New Beginning for Old Media -
Serge Taborin
Managing Director
Archant Digital Ventures
Archant introduction
UK Local Media Overview
Archant and Digital
False starts
Lessons
New beginnings
Legacy media vs. pure play
Archant Digital Ventures
4 Case Studies
Q&A
Archant - Introduction
150 years old
Largest independently-owned regional publisher in the
UK
54 newspapers (4 dailies, 50 weeklies)
80 magazines (Regional, Specialist, Contract)
200 digital properties
Events, exhibitions and awards
Contract publishing
1,800 employees
2m circulation
10m “MUVs”
UK Local Media
7 major regional media groups
Dominated local advertising for 100+ years
Weak local radio
No local TV
Unable to respond to disruption caused by pure-plays in
key segments
Industry in steady decline – but not fast enough
Cost-cutting
Consolidation/M&A
Archant & Digital - History
• Inadequate skill-set at every level: titles vs. experts
• Print approach to product development
• Internal resistance/competition
• Geographic operational structure
• Print processes
• Disconnect between editorial and commercial
• Under/non-performing product portfolio
• Inability to identify causes of underperformance
• Losing talent
• Weakening client relationships
• Over-reliance on current assets and business models
• Customer? What Customer?
Reinventing Newspapers?
How do we reinvent our newspapers online?
Re-invent Archant and its relationships with private and
commercial communities we serve
Product portfolio
Business models
Internal processes
Staff (at all levels)
Corporate structure
Metrics
Strategic Building Blocks
Local Brands
• Credibility
• Trust
• Unique content
Marketing Assets
• Targeted
• High penetration
• High frequency
Relationships
• 800+ sales reps
• 1000s of local advertisers
• Extensive knowledge
What Do We Stand For?
Local journalism!
Local advertising! *
* Placing adverts around content
Top 20 Companies by Local Revenue
(Borrell Associates)
Starting Again
Objectives
Increase audience penetration and engagement in target market
segments
Evolve advertiser relationships
Diversify revenue streams
Establish organisation capable of driving the above
Willingness to cannibalise existing products
Not expecting immediate returns
Process
Customer
“Audience” “Advertisers”
Products
Existing New
Execution
Operational Commercial
Metrics
Customer
‘Audience’
Making lives easier in their
community
93% of people spend 50%
or more of their time within
10 miles of home *
‘Advertisers’
Help develop and execute
marketing strategy
88% of people spend 50%
of their money within 10
miles of home *
* Newspaper Society research project
Products/Services
Audience
Existing Products:
Remove non-performers
Enhance remaining
3rd party data
Timely
UX + functionality
Multi-channel comms
New Stuff:
Strict criteria
Best in the world – or don’t bother
Difficult to replicate
Has potential to achieve material scale
Clear metrics
Data acquisition
Advertisers
New role in local marketing ecosystem
Archant Marketing Services
Objectives
Metrics
Planning
Execution
Feedback
Archant products:
Web
Mobile
Local directory
Local commerce
3rd party
SEO / PPC
Social
Mobile
Metrics
Old:
% of digital vs print revenue/profit
This year vs. last year
Performance against peer companies
New:
% of local marketing spend
Borrell Associates study
Pure Play Digital vs Legacy Media
Pure Play
Strategy:
Laser-sharp focus
Disruptive business model
No baggage – go for gold
Product:
Intimate knowledge of market dynamics
Best in class
Execution:
Fast and efficient
Customer satisfaction imperative
Staff alignment with strategy
Taking on bigger guys = motivation
Failure is good
Passion
Always innovating
No either / or
Legacy
Strategy:
Many products/services
Focus on higher margin activities
Baggage mountain – protect what we have
Product:
Focused on immediate drivers
Lack of skilled resources
Execution:
Investment committees
Customer?
“Oh, another initiative”?
Dismissive of competition (until too late)
Monthly/quarterly targets = why risk it?
Limit to areas of passion
“This is how we’ve always done it”
Either /or is a part of life
Enhancing Existing Digital Products
Separation of core digital operational activities from print
Product strategy and development
Marketing
Specialist commercial activities – interest and expertise
Separate location, management and P&Ls for all digital
activities
Shared:
Editorial
Display advertising
Archant Digital Ventures
Investment and ‘digital accelerator’ arm of Archant
Identifies new areas of opportunity beyond journalism
Invests in or acquires digital startups
Accelerates growth by providing support in key areas: finance, marketing,
commercial relationships and operations
Addresses key weaknesses in making innovation happen:
We don’t have best-in-class product dev. skills
We have other valuable assets that are highly relevant to startups
Speed to market
Focus
Allowed to compete against legacy products
Streetlife.com
Hyperlocal social network
Extends relationship with core target
audience
Rich source of local stories
Highly-targeted commercial inventory
Growing exponentially
Older demographic compared to
facebook/twitter et al
WeddingSite.co.uk
Planning tools for organising
weddings
Detailed knowledge of planned spend
for each bride/couple:
What they are buying
How much they are planning to spend
When
Where
How many guests
Leads supplied to wedding
businesses based on specified
criteria
Convenience for users – great
feedback
PlanningFinder.com
Collates planning notices from local
government websites across UK
Sends alerts to users when criteria
are met
Sends leads to businesses when
relevant notices are posted
From zero to 250k MUVs in 3
months
Great engagement metrics
Approached by other media
businesses
…and even local governments
London24.com
Acquired in 2012
Phase 1: focus on intra-London news
Phase 2: a suite of ‘tools’ for making
London life easier
Now 2nd largest ‘general interest’ website in
London (c.1m MUVs)
Huge hit with local advertisers
Increasing interest from national
brands/agencies
Embraced by politicians and key
public/private organisations (transport,
utilities, police etc)
From Newspaper to ‘Problem Solver’
Audience
Advertisers
Local news Aggregator of key local
information relevant to
me/my community
Inventory
platform
Trusted marketing
adviser
Revenue Distribution Impact
Display79%
Directories8%
Recruitment7%
Motors2%
Property2%
Other2%
Digital Revenue Split 2010
Display65%
Directories6%
Recruitment7%
Motors2%
Property2%
Marketing Services6%
e-Commerce6%
Leads3%
Pay wall2%
Other1%
Digital Revenue Split 2013
Share of Local Marketing Spend
Some of increase came from existing partners
Most is coming from new advertisers
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
Archant - Average
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
The Future
Data
Mobile
Trying new things (even if it means failing sometimes…)