A survey of publishers by the Alliance for Audited Media (AAM) showed that 2022, for all its discouraging headlines and disconcerting headaches, wasn’t completely void of positive news and (hopefully) heartening trends.
Of the AAM-audited publishers surveyed, 67% saw their digital subscriptions increase and 40% saw their overall web traffic increase.
“Innovations in subscriptions and advertising were also on the rise,” according to AAM. “37% reported greater creativity in attracting new readers and 33% had more creative offerings for advertisers.”
With rising production costs, print subscription numbers, and distribution challenges also marking the year gone by, 89% of the surveyed publishers said digital subscriptions would “continue to be an area of focus,” with 67% aiming to reduce production costs.
Following up on their survey, AAM asked a number of industry leaders to reflect on 2022 as well. Fran Wills, CEO of Local Media Consortium, said “creating new digital opportunities through collaboration and leveraging scale” was the biggest achievement for local media last year. “Working together to address industry challenges, grow audiences, optimize revenue, create content and build innovative new digital programs have contributed to healthier online businesses for local media,” Wills said.
Looking ahead, Wills highlighted the importance of acquiring and managing first-party data as “imminent cookie deprecation and consumer privacy regulation” loom over the coming years. “Publishers and broadcasters made great strides in nurturing customer relationships and increasing engagement with local audiences,” Wills says, “which are vital to both consumer and advertising monetization.”
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