Welcome to the latest INMA Advertising Initiative newsletter and welcome from London, UK. 

In this newsletter, I will cover two things: 

Advertising: A future focus? I caught up recently with Martin Little, audience transformation director at Reach plc (the UK and Ireland’s largest commercial news publisher) here in London. Reach owns over 130 national, regional, and local media brands with a combined print and digital monthly reach of 48 million. Titles include The Daily Mirror, Daily Express, Manchester Evening News, and Liverpool Echo to name but four. 

Recently, there was a media article reporting that Reach was stepping back from its focus on advertising as a future focus. I interviewed Martin to set the record straight. 

The future of media advertising. I have also recently been asked by many INMA members: 

“What should we be concentrating our thoughts on in the next two to three years re: advertising?”

“Where should we put our sales resources?” 

“What should we be training salespeople on?”

I will attempt to answer this with my top five areas of advertising growth. I hope you find it a useful steer.

Advertising: A future focus?

Here’s my interview with Martin Little, audience transformation director at Reach plc.

Mark Challinor (MC): Martin, thank you for your time. I want to focus today on Reach’s attitude to advertising in the future as a revenue source. You have started a process trialing new, paid reader revenue opportunities. What’s the thought process here? 

Martin Little (ML): Hello Mark. Thank you for the opportunity to share our thinking. Our Customer Value Strategy has seen us acquire over 13m registered users across our network — so it feels like the natural next step as we look to diversify our revenue streams. It stems from listening to our readers, where some of our most loyal customers are telling us they love our content and are willing to pay for a better experience on our sites, specifically to go ad-free. 

MC: What specific trials are in the mix? 

ML: We are trialing “ad-free” on The Express Web site, premium apps (which have moved beyond pilot phase and into roll-out) on the Manchester and Liverpool titles, and a series of paid-for newsletters. 

MC: Will advertising revenue still be a core focus for Reach ongoing?

ML: Absolutely. Our content will remain free-to-air, and advertising will continue to represent the lion’s share of our digital revenue. 

MC: So, does this untimely mean that your overall strategy will shift from content free online? 

ML: No, it doesn't. Keeping our content free and available to all is a critical part of our strategy. 

MC: What have you learned from your audience? What did they have to say about this refocus? Is there an appetite to pay for some content? 

ML: We have learned that a portion of them are willing to pay. So far, we have converted over 1% of app users on the Manchester Evening News and Liverpool Echo. Generally, the feedback has been positive — particularly as we find our app users are often our biggest supporters and most loyal. 

MC. How many registered users do you now have and what percentage can you expect to convert to a paying audience? What do they say they’d be happy to pay for?

ML: We currently have 13.5m registered users. We’re not ready to commit to a percentage that will convert as we are still learning and experimenting with different platforms. I mentioned earlier that we have converted more than 1% of app users where we have launched premium so far — and that’s after just two or three months. We’re happy with that and still have a long way to go before we know what our optimal level or ceiling might be. 

MC: Can you tell us more about your paid apps and what you’ve gleaned from your offerings and the reader experience thus far?

ML: The paid apps have metered paywalls on them; we’ve generally set these at 25 articles per week. But I expect we will experiment in that space quite heavily. We also have puzzles and special offers available for subscribers in the apps. We’ve learned that our soccer content is critical to driving conversion. We’ve also been heavily focused on striking the right tone and balance on our app homepages as our editors seek to curate a premium experience. 

MC: Your first-party data from all this … do you turn it into unique insights for advertisers? If so, does that create a premium offering to them? 

ML: Good question. As part of our Customer Value Strategy over several years, we built up a substantial amount of first-party data on our registered audience base. We already use that to serve premium opportunities for them and generate a better return on their investment. Any further data we collect from our premium experiences will just further this work. 

MC: Tell us about your paid newsletters? What are the content areas you are focusing on? Will you include advertising and/or sponsorship? 

ML: We are using Substack for all our paid-for newsletters as it has allowed us to test and learn quickly. We have a whole range of newsletters ranging from baking to soccer, to UK defence, to environment and more. We have no plans to include advertising or sponsorship in these at this time, but never say never. The focus is on building premium subscriptions. We have over 600 other free-to-air newsletters across the Reach estate which have advertising and sponsorship opportunities, with over 11m free subscribers. 

MC: The Daily Express has the option for readers to pay to have an ad-free experience. Does that not create a message to advertisers that their involvement and their money is not that important? Has there been any kick-back to this?

ML: I don’t think so. We want to give our advertisers the best experience possible for their goals, as much as we want to give our readers the best experience possible too. There hasn’t been any kick-back on this.

MC: How have the newsroom adapted to all this? Open arms? Resistance? 

ML: Superbly. They’ve adopted it quickly and are enjoying a fresh challenge for their content. I’d say open arms, for sure. Our journalists are experts in getting their content read by the maximum number of people. Now this helps them derive a deeper understanding of the impact of the content they are producing. I think it’s made them think twice about the depth of content and tone of voice they strike — which can only be a good thing for our brands.

MC: Finally, how do you see the future of advertising? Will it morph to a different environment than we see today? 

ML: The shape of the advertising industry, supporting journalism, has been evolving since I have been in the industry. I would be amazed if that doesn’t continue ... . And it’s up to us to continue this. 

MC: Martin, thank you. 

So, there you have it. Advertising will remain crucial for many years to come. It’s great to see such a big player in our industry reaffirming this commitment.

Be it for future company profits, the continued support of future journalism, or the sheer variety of engagement with our audiences, we relegate in our thoughts and our focus at our peril. 

The future of media advertising

So, what will advertising look like in, say, two or three years?

What will be the issues that media sales teams will be concerned about? What trends will be prevalent? 

It is, of course, somewhat very hard to predict, but from my own experience running this INMA Advertising Initiative over the past 18 months thus far — where I have spoken to and interviewed many people, attended many conferences, hosted many Webinars, and read many articles on the subject — I think I might have an inkling on what we might expect in terms of the future trends which are likely. 

Advertising is a truly dynamic arena with ever-changing trends. Media businesses (and their advertisers) that don’t plan for change and choose to stay with outdated advertising techniques will remain both stagnant and will, by default, allow competitors to overtake them. 

Alternatively, businesses that constantly keep track of the likely trends and revamp their adefforts and strategies appropriately can attract more readers/customers and, in turn, achieve growth in the long term. 

The future advertising trends will no doubt focus on more interactivity, more personalisation, better engagement with consumers, and the design of advertising that’s less intrusive and more of value to the end user than ever before.  

Advertisers have started the process of the above by their use of the likes of AI, chatbots, Augmented and Virtual Realities, more video content, podcasting, and the clever use of social media to increase attention, interest, engagement, desire, and sales. 

So in three years, we can expect new advertising trends that will truly capture the attention of the consumer through a more personalised  approach. 

Bearing in mind the above, I have five future trends I expect to see by 2026, which you may/may not agree with, but I give you my thoughts for comment/debate:

1. AI first 

Both machine learning and Artificial Intelligence have been here for a number of years but only now are we beginning to realise their true potential. AI is now starting to revolutionise the ad arena by providing media sales trams and advertisers alike with real-time insights to enhance the overall market offering. That includes automation of the more mundane tasks in the ad chain (leaving more time for creativity), the writing of campaign briefs, pricing strategies, and much more. 

Another bonus: much better customer support. The AI-first approach to advertising in future will include using smarter chatbots simulating conversations with customers, with them becoming regularly used in both offline and online environments, advising and advertising products/services.

AI will also be used to help track views and sales by use of much improved engagement and more detailed analytics.

2. The rise of voice 

Voice assistance can be seen as something gradually becoming part of our daily lives. A constant “friend,” if you will, who listens and, frictionlessly, provides forour needs.

Voice-enabled tech opens new opportunities in the ad industry sector while showing us the need for contextually relevant ad interactions with end users. Voice-assisted ads will allow consumers to enjoy a more personalised experience. 

Voice advertising is expected to soar. The future will be more innovative and inviting with the use of voice-activated devices such as Alexa, Siri, Google Assist, et al. Smart speakers give customers the chance to seamlessly find and explore details on products and services from anywhere in the world. Advertisers can recommend and then sell those items in the comfort of consumer homes.

How powerful is that?

3. A new reality? 

Getting closer to our future customers is a significant key to persuading them into buy our products and services. 

While media businesses and their advertisers are looking forward to more innovative tools to offer personalised experiences, new techs like Augmented and Virtual Reality are able to create huge impacts. Such tech advertising offer brands an opportunity to appeal to an emotional side of target audiences. In doing so, they can develop brand loyalty and improve the customer lifetime value. 

More personal engagement than ever before, AR, VR, and the combination of mixed reality (MR) engage like never before. By 2026, I expect more creative use of these powerful techs and that they will become a more important part of our lives without our even realising it. Just look at the investment being make but the Big Tech giants into such spaces. Customers will want emotional, new, incredible experiences. 

Brand reputations can be massively enhanced by clever use of such techs. Customers will come back again and again, and will increase their loyalty to the advertised brand.

4. User-generated content

UGC has been gaining more power in recent years. 

There is so much more power and persuasiveness when an advertised brand not only talks up itself but adds in existing customers endorsing and explains their own personal experience with that brand. 

I believe UGC will become more of an integral part of an advertising strategy over the next two or three years. Maybe it will take the route of advertising brand products or maybe new projects and services with emerging/encouraged favourable customer reviews on Web site landing pages and blogs as a more impactful trend and way to increase sales.

Word of mouth on social media platforms is already helping sales for advertisers. Companies using these channels of online advertising are sure to become even more popular and more powerful.

5. Social channels 

And speaking of social media, it will, I think, become an increasingly used place for brand promotions. Advertising is all about locating possible, future customers where they are gathering and running personalised/targeted promotional campaigns there. 

I see a future where social media channels include interactive, voice-controlled ads that consumers can control with the click or even their own voice. Advertising a brand will become much easier because the customers will be raising awareness of the brand.

Summary 

The future of advertising will need to demonstrate new ways to creatively interact and engage customers. We see a rise in the use of the likes of chatbots, voice interaction, social channels, and alternative reality techniques over the next few years. 

As a result, there will be more personalised and more targeted communications with customers. If a customer has a question about a product, then a chatbot or maybe voice-enabled device will assist them. 

The new advertising trends will set the scene for an increased “customer-based” approach, with UGC/reviews and social media strategies used to promote brands and services. 

In many ways, the future is already here — just expect an increased focus and more budgets spent on the above five points. 

About this newsletter 

Today’s newsletter is written by Mark Challinor, based in London and lead for the INMA Advertising Initiative. Mark will share research, case studies, and thought leadership on the topic of global news media advertising. Sign up for the newsletter here.

This newsletter is a public face of the Advertising Initiative by INMA, outlined here.

E-mail Mark at Inma.mark@gmail.com with thoughts, suggestions, and questions or follow him on Twitter (@challinor).

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