Print aficonados are becoming digital cognoscenti
Julia Hutchison, COO of APA, says digital formats have bolstered the content marketing industry…
The latest market intelligence on the content marketing industry from Mintel, commissioned by APA and sponsored by Menzies Digital Marketing, reveals that the popularity of digital formats has bolstered the industry and made it one of the most robust marketing disciplines, now worth an estimated £880 million.
Whilst print remains the most commonly used format in content marketing, accounting for 52% of all content developed, this figure has fallen significantly since the last study four years ago when it made up 71% of the total, and even further since 2005 where it stood at 90%.
Digital activity encompassing websites, e-zines, email, mobile applications and video now accounts for 37% of the industry, an increase of 22% since 2007 and 32% since 2005. On the basis of these trends, digital is expected to overtake print as a share of total by 2013. To reinforce this assertion, website revenues have grown rapidly and are up 65%, while e-zines have risen by 165% since the last report in 2007. Despite this rebalance of channels, print is still very much viewed as an essential part of the content marketing mix moving forward.
The ever increasing levels of convergence have played strongly to content marketing’s strengths, with more clients choosing to supplement their offerings with multi-channel content – a clear example of this being Google’s decision to launch a print title earlier this year. In terms of sectors, retail continues to dominate accounting for 23% of total content initiatives. In terms of the print sector, B2B customer magazines have experienced the most growth rising from a 4% share three years ago to 16% today.
This was also reflected in the digital space, with B2B showing a significant 13% rise from 4% to 17%. B2B magazines move to become the second most prolific content sector followed by charities and financial services. Utilities and the public sector experienced the biggest drop in terms of share over the last three years but are still the fifth largest content marketing sector. Travel, leisure and automotive take sixth, seventh and eighth place respectively.
Other Key Facts:
Circulation:
- Average circulation of customer magazines exceeds that of consumer magazines and customer titles account for 10 of the top 20 ABC audited magazines by circulation
- 5% of titles have a circulation of one million or more
- 14% of customer magazines have a circulation larger than 250,000
- 50% of titles have a circulation of 50,000 or less, which reinforces the trend for tighter targeting and increased segmentation of audiences
Frequency:
- The most popular publishing frequency is quarterly accounting for almost one in four titles
Pagination:
- Despite the recession publications have not been trimmed, demonstrating brands’ commitment to engaging content. Pagination has either stayed the same or increased for 75% of magazines. Only 6% have reported a decline (the remaining 19% account for new titles)
- The average pagination is between 31 and 48 pages
Distribution:
- Post continues to be the most widely used method of distribution at just under 60% of titles. This is a substantial increase on 2007 figures which showed that post was only used by a third of titles
- In-store distribution (12%) is the second most popular distribution method
International:
- One in five customer magazines created by UK content providers are distributed internationally
Digital
Reach:
- Digital reach is now extensive with a user total of 41.2 million, averaging 1.1 million visits per digital title per month
Frequency:
- A third of website based content is updated daily, indicating marketer’s commitment to keeping content fresh and up-to-date. This also reflects findings from APA commissioned YouGov research in 2010, which showed that consumers wanted new content daily from their favourite brands
- Email is being used very selectively with 60% of brands sending out no more than six content-driven emails per year
- The most common e-zine frequency is three to five times per year
- Smartphone formats and apps are expected to be the growth digital channel moving forwards