Social media puts precious little in publishers’ pockets

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From CBS MoneyWatch:

Publishing on social media platforms may not actually be all that lucrative for media companies.

Only 5 percent of publishers’ total average digital revenue was generated by Facebook and Google, according to a report from industry trade organization Digital Content Next (DCN). That’s a paltry number, considering the two giants’ dominance in search and social media sharing.

“The revenue earned from distributed platforms does not yet match the investment and tremendous value of DCN members’ news and entertainment,” said Jason Kint, CEO of DCN, whose members include NBC Universal, the Associated Press, tronc, The Washington Post, The Guardian and CBS Interactive. “The report once again supports our members’ drive for better economics, which is now happening in parallel to a much larger global debate about the societal and economic harm from certain platforms.”

. . . .

Providers are also adapting to a changing social media landscape, such as Facebook’s recent announcement that it would change the way content is sharedin its News Feed following the backlash over fake news shared on the platform during the U.S. presidential election.

According to eMarketer, Google and Facebook are expected to account for about 65 percent of all U.S. digital ad spending this year, up from the 58 percent they took in 2016.

Link to the rest at CBS MoneyWatch and thanks to Felix for the tip.

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6 thoughts on “Social media puts precious little in publishers’ pockets”

  1. Uh, I think the construction of the website, yada, might have something to do with it. E.g., consumer’s positive experience, ease of use, stuff worth buying online, yada.

    And it ain’t rocket science. Just ape the layout of a successful online retailer. Like, uh, Amazon… 🙂

  2. ‘We have been shoving bad advertising at consumers for so long that they ignore us on all fronts – even that social media thingy.’

    But they keep trowing money at advertising companies in the hopes people will notice/but their stuff.

    Me, I’ve got a long list of companies I won’t buy from due to products not matching their ads – and some just because of their in-your-face advertising …

  3. I don’t know about revenue, but I talk to a lot of my fans on a daily basis through my Facebook page. I’d like to think that interaction keeps me in their minds so they don’t forget me when I release a book.

  4. I just don’t get these articles. The only thing I see on Facebook that isn’t from people I know, is worthless clickbait. Who exactly are these pieces talking about?

  5. “The revenue earned from distributed platforms does not yet match the investment and tremendous value of DCN members’ news and entertainment,” said Jason Kint, CEO of DCN, whose members include NBC Universal, the Associated Press, tronc, The Washington Post, The Guardian and CBS Interactive. “The report once again supports our members’ drive for better economics, which is now happening in parallel to a much larger global debate about the societal and economic harm from certain platforms.”

    ——-

    Or, it could support the idea that their content doesn’t generate enough interest to support the lifestyle they’ve grown used to.

    Let’s face it, if you are at all interested in news from the NYT you go to their website, not waste time doing a google search. The same for WaPo or whatever.

    Platforms like google and Facebook strike me as best suited for opportunistic shotgunning rather than as a core content distribution channel.

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