Why Facebook and Google aren’t the answer for publishers
This past fortnight has seen Facebook and Google hitting out at the Australian competition watchdog’s proposed news and advertising controls. But whether you think further scrutiny is required or not, Outbrain’s managing director for APAC, Andrew Burke believes there’s clearly a need for publishers to rethink their media strategy.
It’s a figure you’ve no doubt heard before from marketers if you work in the media world. That is, the mighty duopoly of Facebook and Google gobble up over 60% of digital advertising dollars worldwide.Often repeated yes, but it’s a statement that has enduring relevance. That’s because according to research from US web analytics company parse.ly, barely 25% of publishers’ traffic is accounted for on Facebook. Via Google it’s below 45%. And that’s a significant disconnect when compared with the advertising dollars they haul in.
The upshot is that the publishers of rigorously researched and curated content are not reaping the rewards for their craft from advertisers, who are instead chasing fast returns at one of the big two.
Worse still, despite Facebook dialling up algorithms that promote so-called social content over publisher content, many have decided that reliance on these two giants is better than the alternative. It’s the business equivalent of cuddling up to the ex who treats you poorly because loneliness is too terrifying to contemplate.
Outbrain’s global co-CEO David Kostman recently provided even more granular detail on the battlefield that publishers face today. “Premium sites are now forced to compete for clicks on those platforms [Facebook and Google] with third-, fourth-, and lower-tier publications. As the duopoly takes charge of content traffic, publishing is becoming a rapidly commoditising business,” he said.
David’s counterpart, Outbrain’s co-CEO Yaron Galai, expounded further. “Over the past few years, most of the industry drifted in the exact opposite direction [with content curation] – preferring more revenue extraction on each visit, while handing people’s loyalty and habits over to Facebook.”
And despite it being something of a Faustian contract, it’s not hard to see why this has happened. For advertisers and publishers alike, the impressive audience and revenue numbers of Facebook and Google can be seductive.
I have little doubt a feeling pervades among marketers that they should be putting their money where everyone else is. But this strategy, while providing short term gains, can be damaging in the long term for publishers.
For those in this particular bind, the first thing they need to do is to acknowledge there is a problem.
But to truly move the needle, publishers should put their focus on two things. Firstly, their greatest assets – their content and the intimate knowledge they possess of their audience. Secondly, as I’ve alluded to already, they need to be bold, stop relying on Facebook and Google’s algorithms for deliverance and instead invest in their combined strength.
The most powerful long-term driver of publishers’ business is people’s trust. If a person that reads something today comes back tomorrow for another serving, that creates a sustainable, return audience that contributes over and over to the bottom line.
So, in order to arrest this cycle, publishers need to back themselves to be better curators of content for their audience than either Facebook or Google. This means serving viewers with their own bespoke offering as well as being a gateway to other relevant content from trusted sources.
One further comfort for bona fide publishers should be Facebook’s own stance on the role it plays in disseminating information. The company has been very vocal since the beginning of last year about its intentions to de-prioritise content from businesses and media sources, which CEO Mark Zuckerberg described as “public content”, in favour of posts from friends.
If that’s the case, then it only strengthens the argument that premium publishers of news and information should take their destinies back into their own hands, reinforce their own credentials, and partner with those who will make them stronger.
Couple this with evidence that shows people are growing frustrated with being seen as a mere advertising target, and instead are craving genuinely personalised content, and what you have is a good, old fashioned opportunity.
As part of the wider publishing industry, Outbrain encourages the growth and proliferation of quality journalism and premium, brand safe content. Today, with powerful incumbents dictating terms in this realm – and often falling short – this commitment is more important than ever.
Publishers are faced with difficult decisions, but also a golden opportunity. It’ll take courage, but a change of strategy today will ensure a robust tomorrow.
Andrew Burke is the APAC managing director at Outbrain.
I’m please these type of stories are still getting some coverage. Thanks Andrew.
FB and GG are they publishers or re publishers selling screen real estate?
What’s on the screen of a typical Google SERP page is a third paid listing, that is, renting space on the screen for a few seconds until the user clicks away. A third is rich snippets and answers boxes with stolen valuable content from publishers websites to fill the SERP page to give it authority. The last third of the page is the organic search scraps. That’s most of the small business owners with very modest websites, content creators like me and other photographers and similar artists.
So I take your point and agree. Take back control put content first on your own asset and look after your clients.
Your clients just might share your content on FB and GG for you 🙂
YouTube recently changed their algorithms and demonetised many channels. 30 days of no income for them. Many unhappy publishers.
Orlando Sydney
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“…premium publishers of news and information should take their destinies back into their own hands, reinforce their own credentials, and partner with those who will make them stronger.”
We never let our destiny leave in the first place. I predicted this would be the outcome when the big digital “content” push first started and have stayed true to our loyal, specialist based customers who have stayed with us all the way through.
All through my publishing life (50 years) we have been warned of new technology displacing old and without exception over all those years, those who pursue new technology fully, to the detriment of their traditional operations, have all disappeared. New technology seldom displaces old completely and absolutely at a rapid rate, it usually enters with a burst and then settles down to run alongside and complementary to established technologies before gradually blending into the established operations. I have seen and worked in it all from hot lead to the digital cloud.
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Is this sponsored content? It really should be marked.
It is not clear what you are advocating at all:
Are you saying publishers are making a mistake by posting content on Facebook and allowing same to appear in Google search results?
Or are you saying that publishers are making a mistake advertising with Facebook and Google (when you would prefer they spent with you)?
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Whilst this is a horribly predictable serve serving (paid?) opinion piece from a company that would like to financially gain from clients moving away from the competition, I also genuinely don’t understand from this article what they suggest news publishers do.
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Okay someone please correct me if I’m wrong… but if 25% of traffic comes from FB and 45% from Google, that means 70% of traffic comes from those two platforms, meaning the investment share of 60% seems quite reasonable. Our industry is about reacting to user behaviour, not fighting it, and if people are entering content platforms from social & search then thats where the dollar bills are gonna go. To tell publishers they need to take things into their own hands and risk losing their traffic is irresponsible advice, especially when many of them don’t have the time, ability, or even the need to build an approach that doesn’t rely on these two mass platforms. Besides that, Outbrain talking about traffic strategy with the bounce rates and quality of traffic they deliver is pretty. fucking. rich. Google & Fb built the content ecosystem as we know it. Yes they’ve both transgressed, but that doesn’t change the fact that they deliver results.
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