How Publishers Can Monetize Millennials
Lazy? More like lucrative.
On the front cover of a 2013 Time Magazine, the nation’s 70 plus million millennials were stereotyped as “lazy, entitled narcissists who still live with their parents”. Ouch.
Millennials, the generation born between 1980 and 1999 and the first to have experienced the whirlwind of Internet growth, have different spending behaviors than other generations, caused by technological changes, globalization, and economic disruption.1
So, the question remains: what strategies should publishers employ to monetize this sizeable demographic? Here are two proven strategies being used to great success.
1. Unobtrusive Advertising
As Maker Studios’ chief content officer Erin McPherson expressed, “This [millennial] generation doesn’t dislike brands. What they don’t like is advertising.”2
In fact, according to a Forbes study, millennials tend to think of advertising as all spin and not authentic – with only 1% of millennials reporting that a compelling advertisement could make them trust a brand more.3
Intrusive advertising, coupled with ad blocking, has created a perfect storm. One where millennials are taking action; two-thirds of the entire millennial population regularly block ads.
While obtrusive ads are incredibly unpopular with millennials, native advertisements are not. In a study performed by Sharethrough in February 2016, it was found that 80% of millennials say in-feed native ads provide a positive user experience and 44% believe that in-feed native ads boost their perception of the publishers, site or app.
Learn what strategies digital publishers are using to successfully overcome other disruptors.
Mic, a news suite built specifically for millennials by millennials, completely bars banner or video advertisements and only allows branded content. In fact, this model empowers Mic’s ad partners to drum up high engagement rates. As an example, a campaign by GE titled “Map Your Mind” saw 3.2 million views and 620,000 shares in just a single week.4
2. Subscriptions
Millennials will pay.
A recent report by Deloitte states that millennials in the US will spend $62 billion on media in 2016 alone.5
On average, 87% of millennials report paying for subscriptions to some form of media with 40% reporting they actively purchase subscriptions to news sources. This includes 14% paying for digital news apps, 11% for digital magazines, 10% for digital subscriptions to newspapers, and 9% for paid email newsletters.6
What’s more, according to a study by Media Insight, 39% of millennials will pay for digital news if they view it as important information to keep up with. This same cohort is also more than twice as likely to pay for a news app and significantly more likely to pay for a news subscription than millennials who view digital news as not being important information to keep up with.7
Indeed, publishers are taking notice.
theSkimm is a year and a half old daily email newsletter with 3.5 million millennial subscribers. Their newly introduced SkimmAhead app provides a second source of revenue; for a monthly fee of $2.99, subscribers receive the latest news, advice on what to watch on Netflix, notification when concert tickets are on sale, and much more.8
Another publisher testing the subscription waters is Mic.
Relying solely on sponsored native ads for monetization, the publication is in the process of developing a subscription service aimed at diversifying their revenue stream. The subscription will start with their news oriented video content, which has 6 million views on their YouTube channel and 1.8 million followers on their Facebook video page.9
Although not yet live, Mic CEO Chris Altcheck is optimistic. At an industry conference called Buying & Selling Content he stated, “I do think, over time, there’s a big licensing business and a big subscription business to be built.”10
Lazy? More like lucrative with numerous monetization opportunities.
1. “Millennials: Coming of Age.” Goldman Sachs, May 2015.
2. Castillo, Michelle. “How to Advertise to the Millennial Who Hates Advertising.” AdWeek. N.p., 9 Feb. 2015. Web. 21 June 2016.
3. Schawbel, Dan. “10 New Findings About The Millennial Consumer.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 20 Jan. 2015. Web. 21 June 2016.
4. Bilton, Ricardo. “Inside Mic’s Millennial Native Ads Pitch to Brands – Digiday.” Digiday. N.p., 24 Nov. 2014. Web. 21 June 2016.
5. “Millennials and the Media.” Editor Publisher. N.p., 18 May 2015. Web. 21 June 2016.
6. “The Digital Lives of Millennials.” American Press Institute. N.p., 16 Mar. 2015. Web. 21 June 2016.
7. “How Millenials Get News: Paying for Content.” The Media Insight Project
8. Buhr, Sarah. “theSkimm on how to rapidly grow an audience of engaged millennials.” Tech Crunch, 9 May 2016.
9. “Millennial Media Company Mic to Test Paid Subscriptions.” Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 12 May 2016. Web. 01 July 2016.
10. Barr, Jeremy. “Millennial-Focused Media Company Mic to Experiment With Paid Subscriptions.” Advertising Age Digital. N.p., 11 May 2016. Web. 01 July 2016.