Ultimate guide to monetisation | Top publishers on Whatsapp Channels
And we rank the publishers with the highest rates of reader-to-subscriber conversion
Good morning and welcome to your Press Gazette Future of Media newsletter on Thursday, 11 July.
Today Press Gazette is proud to publish the first in a new series of deep-dive guides seeking to answer some of the key questions facing publishers. The Ultimate Guide to Acquisition, Conversion and Monetisation for Publishers features exclusive data and key insights from leading industry figures.
This ten-page guide was written by Jim Edwards thanks to sponsorship from Norkon. It's gated so to read a copy simply share your email on this link.
And something to whet your appetite: Aisha Majid has put together her second annual ranking of subscriber conversion rates by looking at publishers’ online audiences versus their subscriber figures. Only one is above the 20% mark – and it’s also one of the only sports brands on the list.
Finally, one year on from the launch of Whatsapp Channels, Bron Maher has delved into the ranking of the top 150 by follower count – thrillingly for us, half of them are from publishers.
As well as, unsurprisingly, some of the world’s biggest newsbrands, sports again are prominent on the list. Bron also took note of which Channels seemed to have higher than average engagement with their followers – in many ways this will be more important than pure reach.
It’s got some really reassuring and useful lessons for publishers harnessing a niche – even if that niche is the Kardashians.
Keep an eye out on the Press Gazette website today for the Future of Media Awards 2024 shortlist, coming this afternoon.
New from Press Gazette
Press Gazette publishes ultimate guide to reader conversion and monetisation
The guide concludes with eight key action points for publishers seeking to improve their acquisition and conversion rates, headlined around technology hostility, ad revenue challenges, shifting acquisition strategies, engagement and data collection, diversification of revenue streams, walled garden strategies and challenges around the mass traffic model.
Top newsbrands for converting readers to subscribers revealed
Topping the list of brands included in our analysis once again are The Athletic and News Corp financial title Barron’s, which both had conversion rates of above or close to 20% – well above most industry benchmarks.
Whatsapp Channels one year on: Top news publishers ranked
The top non-American publisher is the Daily Mail — but, notably, not for its all-purpose Daily Mail account, which has 580,000 followers. Instead, the eighth most-followed news account on the platform is named "Daily Mail | Kardashians News", and has 2.7 million followers.
Previously on Press Gazette
News and politics page views reach record high in 2024 election week
Secret arrests could mean publishers don’t know they are in contempt of court
New culture secretary Lisa Nandy called for BBC to be ‘mutualised’ but backed licence fee
Top 50 UK news websites in May: ITV growth sees broadcaster re-enter top ten
National World buys second sports brand in two months amid specialist drive
Threat of Welsh council tax notices reform that sparked newspaper revenue fears is over
City AM editor Andy Silvester steps down after almost four years
Our latest podcast
How the world's biggest football title is expanding into USA
Goal, Indivisa and Mundial publisher Footballco was reaching 30 million people in the US without having any meaningful boots on the ground.
But at the start of 2024 Jason Wagenheim arrived as its first CEO for North America, bringing lessons that sports publishing can learn from lifestyle after a long stint at Bustle Digital Group.
Wagenheim told Press Gazette UK editor Charlotte Tobitt about how he is approaching Footballco's two-year runway ahead of the World Cup being held in the US, Canada and Mexico in 2026 as well as the value of going deeper - well beyond traditional match reporting - in an age of algorithms and generative AI.
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