Next to Now: Sept 16

MIC REIMAGINES SPONSORED POSTS The Wall Street Journal reports on how the millennial news platform .Mic is rethinking video sponsorship. Mic is allowing advertisers to sponsor their highly popular videos on Facebook: “Instead of selling…ads based on content genre or audience demographics, Mic is putting its editorial videos into categories, such as clips that elicit […]

Next to Now for July 21

PREMIUM WEBSITE ADS PERFORM BETTER A new study from ComScore underlines that ads on premium websites—such as the New York Times, WSJ, and various imprints of Condé Nast and Hearst media—deliver better results than ads on non-premium websites. From the Wall Street Journal article on this report: “The study, which comScore said analyzed the ad […]

Next to Now: Does the Marketing Funnel Still Work?

MARKETING PINBALL The CMO of Publishers Clearing House writes on Ad Age about the death of the marketing funnel and the birth of marketing pinball. The article’s focus on brands means it’s only moderately useful for book publishers, but it’s still a good read about the current state of the customer journey—instead of traveling along a […]

Next to Now: The View from Here

Thanks to Digital Book World for hosting another engaging conference on the state of the art of book publishing in a digital world. Verso’s Tom Thompson enjoyed the smart, focused crowd on hand for his Master Class on Paid Digital Media and the packed audience for his panel on the Book-Buyer’s Journey with deeply insightful colleagues […]

Next to Now: Trying to Chart New Oceans of Data & More

PODCASTS CONTINUE TO GROW Digiday has an interesting article about the evolution of podcasts and the need for improved measurement. Measurement is still not there yet—even the link within the article to NPR’s proposed measurement guidelines is broken. But we expect it to happen. Fun fact from this article: NPR is working on a podcast that’s like […]

Next to Now: New Shifts in Ad Ecosystems

As our preparations for this year’s Digital Book World shift into high gear (including the Master Class in paid advertising and the panel on the book buyer’s journey), there is an abundance of ad news to take in. Below is a sampling of what we’ve been reading this week. WHY IS THIS PAGE TAKING SO […]

Next to Now: Feb. 19 Edition

ARE CONSUMERS STARTING TO VALUE NON-DIGITAL EXPERIENCES? Yes. We’ve seen it in the plateauing of ebooks and the continued strength of print books. Now, other media are seeing it too (even marketing people at mobile companies!): “‘We’re seeing that people really love their phones, but many are craving a digital detox,’ explains Meredith Vincent, executive […]

Next to Now: The Super Bowl of Advertising Edition

  It’s Super Bowl weekend! That means most of the advertising industry is strutting, preening, and fretting in advance of the one event in which ads are at least as anticipated as the game. This time of year the industry’s worries are on full display: are we just making ads so people can see what fancy ads […]

Next to Now: News for January Edition

POLITICAL HEAT BRINGS VIEWS TO THE HILL For the coming round of political books, take note of this stat from AdWeek: “The election cycle is already paying off for The Hill. According to comScore’s December 2015 numbers, the politics site garnered nearly 10.6 million visitors, a 175 percent year-over-year increase.” #politics   BRINGING ADS TO […]

Next to Now: Winter Solstice Edition

Our last post before the end of 2016 is a meaty one.   WHAT BROUGHT WATERSTONE’S BACK FROM THE BRINK? A great—and optimistic!—article in Slate about how the future of chain bookstores might be shifting, with a focus on the refurbished Waterstone’s. #bookstores   DESKTOP EMAIL OPEN RATES STILL HIGHER, BUT DECLINING According to eMarketer, […]