« Selling Ads: Closing the Deal -- Part III | Home

Publishers Hesitant on Amazon Live

Posted on Tuesday, November 30, 2021 at 4:02 PM

In the news: Amazon Live falls short of expectations this holiday season. Why aren't more publishers jumping aboard?

The holiday shopping season was Amazon's best hope for its Amazon Live video platform. But things got off to a lackluster start. Writes Max Willens of Digiday.com last week: "Amazon had hoped to celebrate Cyber Monday with a big helping of publisher-supplied shoppable live video this year. With one notable exception, those hopes went unfulfilled."

Publisher recruitment efforts have, thus far, fallen flat. Although Amazon is a key affiliate, many media companies remain skeptical of its intentions, says Willens: "In sizing up Amazon's Live entreaties, many heard something that was unfocused and vague, with the only real clear priority being training publishers' audiences to use Amazon Live, according to sources at four publishers that Amazon pitched." What's more, Amazon subsidies to help offset video production costs are smaller than publishers had hoped. Read more here.

Also Notable

The Key to Retaining Employees

It's an employee's market right now, and publishers across all the major industries are seeing turnover as employees seek better pay, more flexibility, and more generous benefits. So what can publishers do to keep their best talent? It's about more than just a paycheck. Al Tompkins of Poynter.org cites a recent Gallup poll showing that "52 percent of people who left their job during the pandemic said their employer could have done something to make them stay." Tompkins' advice to publishers is simple: "Tell the people that you want to stick around that you want them to stick around.... How many journalists who left their job in the last year needed the flexibility to manage children's schooling, care for parents and deal with COVID-19 concerns but had a boss who was clueless about these pressures?" Read more here.

Mixed News for Print Magazines

Some print magazines temporarily shuttered by the 2020 lockdowns are slowly making comebacks, but others have yet to return. Kathryn Hopkins of Women's Wear Daily examines some of the challenges publishers have faced and some of the iconic magazines still absent from newsstands. In addition to "a slide in advertising, producing certain magazines became almost impossible in some months during lockdowns," Hopkins writes, "with only limited numbers of people allowed in studios and fashion items hard to come by as factories produced hand sanitizer instead of apparel and handbags." She highlights four titles that shuttered during the pandemic and have yet to return: Paper, Love, Time Out New York, and Nylon. Read more here.

Publishers Speak Out Against State Censorship

"States starve publishers of ad dollars if they refuse to pledge political allegiance," reads a recent Editor & Publisher headline. The story focuses on a recent dust-up at the Arkansas Times, which recently saw essential funding cut off at the state level. "When Arkansas passed an anti-boycott law, it sought to prevent state funds from going to any business partner that refused to sign an agreement -- a pledge of allegiance, really -- to support Israel," reports Mike Blinder in the E&P Reports Vodcast. Alan Leveritt, publisher of the newsweekly, refused to sign any such pledge, which he saw as a First Amendment infringement. As a result, Blinder reports, "the University of Arkansas yanked its ad spend" and the ACLU quickly intervened to challenge the decision. The controversy highlights the growing number of anti-BDS laws in the United States, currently in 33 states. Read more here.

Buzzfeed Goes Public

Last week Buzzfeed issued a press release announcing that the company was to become the first publicly traded digital-only news outlet. The company hit the NASDAQ this week and is off to a slow start. Todd Spangler of Variety reports that stock is down 11 percent on its first day: "BuzzFeed stock started trading on Nasdaq under the symbol "BZFD" on Monday. Shares opened at $10.95 per share and rose as much as $14.77 (up more than 50 percent), before slipping into negative territory in late-morning trading. The stock closed at $8.56/share, down 11 percent for the day, amid a rise in broader market indices. BuzzFeed's market cap currently stands at $363.85 million." Read more here.

Architectural Digest Goes Global

Condé Nast title Architectural Digest is publishing its first global print edition in December, as part of its company-wide global content initiative. Sara Guaglione of Digiday.com reports: "Editors from AD's U.S. and nine international editions came together to work on the brand's biggest issue of the year, as parent company Condé Nast continues to shift to a consolidated global content strategy that has editorial teams around the world working more closely together." The publisher sees myriad benefits of a global publishing program, particularly in terms of increased editorial collaboration and integration, cost savings. Read more here.

Add your comment.

« Selling Ads: Closing the Deal -- Part III | Top