Keeping in mind the massive digital transformation that publishers have gone through in the recent past, Quintype held a webinar on 'Digital Media Predictions for 2022' with a stellar panel including Raghav Bahl, co-founder at Quint Digital Media Limited and Chirdeep Shetty, CEO at Quintype Technologies on Tuesday, 25 January.
The webinar touched upon new content formats, new and upcoming distribution channels, innovative monetisation models, disruption brought about by latest technologies in the areas of Blockchain, machine learning and more.
Future of Digital Media
During the discussion, Raghav Bahl pointed out that the pandemic has ushered in a significant shift towards digital media and while the first wave of COVID saw a decrease in serving of digital ads, the subsequent waves have seen the advertisers adapt to the new digital paradigm, which has reflected in increasing digital ad revenues for publishers in 2021.
"It is likely that this trend of increasing ad revenue will continue, albeit the advertisers need to be mindful that the secret sauce is in serving ads across channels and in several formats," he said.
Bahl added that the traffic comes from different channels and that the website traffic is not the only indicator. Different formats of content distributed across different channels add up to a publisher’s digital presence.
"It’s not only website traffic that matters. In the digital world website traffic is legacy."Raghav Bahl, co-founder at Quint Digital Media Ltd, on sources of traffic
While specific businesses may want to focus on particular channels for distribution, depending upon their business model, the true power of digital, in the foreseeable future, is in being present across channels, distributing content across formats.
The discussion revolved around specific formats like short form videos which are likely to keep trending and that niche-content newsletters would witness greater engagement than generic ones.
The panel also discussed the elevated interest in recent times around “creator’s economy” and the fact that the plethora of digital channels is giving more opportunities for individual content creators to build a digital following for their brand driven by the intellectual value they offer.
'Do Less, Engage More'
Furhter, Bahl shared his views on the choice of social channels for publishers. He opined that while niche publications might want to focus on specific platforms, the best way forward would be to have a well-balanced presence across a mix of old and new-age platforms, and cater to the entire spectrum of demographics comprising the audience. Bahl shared his “do less, engage more” mantra, in this context, for a smart social presence.
The panel discussed the topics of paywalled content and subscriptions and observed the importance of knowledge-driven value and a reputed brand. Bahl shared interesting insights around how upcoming brands can still have a significant presence in certain channels and demographics.
Bahl spoke about the distinction between memberships and subscriptions wherein memberships cater to those with a certain ideology or a specific interest whereas subscriptions are almost always driven by a following for super-specialized, vertical-specific content.
Future of Micropayments
Meanwhile, Shetty touched upon the proverbial “subscription fatigue” and the potential thereof for one-time micropayments driven purchases. The panel concurred that the perceived fatigue is real, and most consumers would opt for a maximum of two subscriptions (primary and secondary).
The panel also concluded that micropayments would likely be a rare occurrence and not really a widespread trend in the future.
Regarding subscription revenues, Bahl said that ad revenues are still at a nascent stage.
While subscription revenues are important, publishers should not take their eye off the ad revenues piece that promises potential, he added.
Commenting on the consolidation of media in the future, Bahl called it an inevitable phenomenon with with the need for catering to varied content needs of the same consumer. This could only be achieved by consolidating various specialized properties under the same brand, with central control on dissemination of content, he said.
Impact of Technology on Journalism
The panel concluded the discussion with remarks on the impact of technology on journalism and publishing. The panel observed that investment in technology is necessary for publishers, albeit they may want to modulate their spends based on the state of their business.
Bahl stated that machine-learning generated content will not be as impactful as what can be possibly created by a human mind.
Talking about the recent buzz revolving around the metaverse and its possibilities for content in the future, Bahl said that as long as the “metaverse experience” does not strain our senses or our mind, it would become really sought after, and will generate a lot of content for dissemination and consumption in the metaverse.
The panel closed the discussion and addressed questions streaming in from the audience.
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