A little over a year ago, toward the end of 2018, the digital publishing industry took a hit when more than 1,000 employees at BuzzFeed, AOL, Yahoo, VICE and HuffPost were laid off. For some, the news was a shock; for others, it was a long-anticipated scenario in the digital publishing world.
Digital publishers such as BuzzFeed focus on providing information, news and user-specific content through digital channels. While most publishers build their websites, distribute content and collect analytics through a combination of service agencies, platforms and technologies, BuzzFeed and The New York Times (with a paywall) have taken full responsibility for the technology (building a custom CMS called Scoop), the content, the advertising and the metrics. But before publishers invest time and money in a content management system that ultimately serves as the company’s central nervous system, they first need to determine how they can use innovation and technology for digital media to build a profitable model.
„The beauty of an in-house CMS is that we can evolve its features and technologies over time. Since its introduction, the Scoop platform has been expanded with many new features, such as sophisticated authoring and editing tools and workflows, budgeting, photo editing, video management and more robust content APIs. The user base has grown from a few dozen web producers to more than 1,000 users, including reporters, editors, photo editors and video producers.“
Source:The New York Times
So why did Buzzfeed fail while The New York Times is thriving, and how will content management systems (CMS) affect the future of digital media?
Let us first consider digital media
Digital media include all media platforms capable of decoding „machine-readable“ formats, such as websites, social media platforms, digital images, videos and audio. As a result, new technologies play an important role in the digital content landscape, which has made digitization a strategic imperative. Consequently, customer-centric thinking plays a decisive role in achieving the company’s goals. This can be achieved when content management is not limited to creating web pages, but delivers the entire digital experience. The challenges associated with creating these digital experiences should lead technology leaders to view content management less as a silo and more as a valuable function.
Content management has already initiated the transition to digital media. Companies use multiple channels to deliver content, so the traditional web now represents only a small part of the much larger overall potential. This can only pose a greater risk for providers of content management solutions if they fail to recognize the bigger picture behind solutions that offer digital personalization, data management, AI and predictive user behavior.
How important is a content management solution for building a profitable model?
In the 2000s, as digital companies emerged, new tools were needed to analyze specific metrics, traffic, user engagement and other key performance indicators (KPIs), driving the popularity of a custom CMS to new heights.
Digital media have jumped on the custom CMS bandwagon and use adaptive algorithms to recommend specific stories to users that appeal to them, measure reader engagement, map user flows and regulate the source of advertising profitability. The software enables companies to monitor and monetize content, allowing publications to move away from the tech conglomerates and social media platforms that are taking their advertising revenue.
Today, content management systems have evolved into highly sophisticated digital printing presses. They influence how content should look, how it is produced, discovered, consumed and monetized with the help of artificial intelligence (AI). Once a digital media company has understood the value of publishing unique and exclusive content for a precisely defined readership, it will increase its audience and strengthen its position in the digital world.
While a CMS complements traditional media, it is not a substitute for thorough analysis and investigation, which ultimately determine how profitable your model is or is not.
What comes next?
It is widely known that digital media have brought a wide range of innovations to many sectors of the economy. Some of the industries most affected are education, advertising, entertainment and publishing, to name just a few.
So where do we go from here? What comes next for digital media?
User-centric content is on the rise across digital media channels. So expect targeted content delivered to the desired reader, powered by technologies such as STRG.BeHave, which use AI and behavioral economics to predict a user’s interests, needs and digital behavior.
The emergence of new technologies, from AI to the optimization of voice search and personalization, will revolutionize the publishing landscape.
If the digital age has taught us anything, it is that good information becomes richer over time and should cost less and less. However, the major media sites with paywalls have found a solution, albeit one that becomes less convincing over time. The path ahead will therefore bring us new – and effective – revenue models that improve the user experience through sponsored content and native advertising rather than disrupting it.
If you enjoyed this article and would like to learn more about what a custom content management system can do for your company, either visit our website www.strg.at or send us an email at office@strg.at.
by Nathalie Rogers