Millennials hungrier than we thought for money content says Junkee Media publisher
Content about finances has gained unanticipated levels of interest from millennial readers according to Tim Duggan, publisher of Junkee Media.
Speaking at Mumbrella’s Finance Marketing Summit about Junkee Media and Westpac’s millennial focused portal, The Cusp, Duggan explained that millennials interact with articles about money more so than those about health and well-being.
“We thought the money content wasn’t going to be as exciting as the other content,” he said.
Ash Gray and Tim Duggan
The Cusp’s content was originally focused evenly on career opportunities, financial security and health and well-being.
“We kind of thought, health and wellbeing was going to be the honey to draw people in”, said Duggan.
However, The Cusp’s traffic results showed a higher level of interest in financial content which Duggan said was an indicator of millennials’ hunger for money-related content.
Ash Gray, head of youth and millennial markets for Westpac Group, added that results from Westpac’s 2016 Student Financial Report found 9 in 10 university students deemed managing finances a high priority.
“They’re aware of their financial position and hungry for content”, he said. “That content needs to be authentic, helpful, relevant and needs to be accessible.”
Speaking on the creation of The Cusp, Duggan said that research on millennials’ biggest fears left a “white space opportunity” for Westpac to jump in to.
“We looked a lot at fears, and FOMO (fear of missing out) and FONK (fear of not knowing) are two big fears that came through. We thought Westpac had a place in helping alleviate some of that fear”, said Duggan.
“The whitespace opportunity we saw for Westpac was to combine passion, purpose and experience all into one. And that’s where the idea of The Cusp came from.”
Duggan added that Westpac’s partnership with Junkee Media allowed the bank to address millennial financial concerns in a way that was relevant.
“The reason why this partnership works is Westpac has the authority in that space and we have the authority with millennials,” he said.
The business model involves Westpac owning The Cusp brand and content and Junkee Media holding a license to run and manage it on Westpac’s behalf, giving the bank an effective means of communication with the millennial market.
Junkee Media also sells the advertising and shares revenue with the banking group.
Duggan said: “Within a couple of years, Westpac will own an amazing content play for millennials, which is a great way for communicating with them.”
So adults are surprised that other adults are interested in content about money? Millennial aren’t children.
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