But in reality, this distinction is not so clear cut. At the end of the day, loyal readers and longer visits create more revenue opportunities. The driver of all of this is quality content and user experience.

Publishers are walking a tightrope between elements that bring in revenue and elements that attract and retain users. Keeping readers on the page longer and encouraging them to come back to the site improves revenue gains. The key is not only creating the written content that meets reader needs and expectations, but also easing the path for them to discover more. In the middle of all this is the format that delivers on both revenue and user experience — video.

Video is a vital component of the user experience

When smoothly integrated video meets user needs, it becomes a vital UX component: A tool that improves editorial quality and keeps users on site for longer. Publishers who become renowned for relevant, quality video will find that users will come back to their site, too.

While user retention is of utmost importance for a publications’ success, so is their revenue generation strategy. Yet, finding internal harmony between the editorial and revenue teams can be a challenge. Thankfully, editorial teams know the power of video storytelling is often unmatched and revenue teams know that in-stream video ads are often the highest-yielding advertising unit. Finding a partner or product that delivers on both is the trick. But not all video content is created equal.

Platforms that enable videos to be created by stitching together images with text and music have become popular. With fast turnaround times and increasing numbers of editing functions, these can seem appealing. But a frustrated viewer who sits through an ad only to discover the video is a rehash of the article or that the video is of poor quality is not going to return.

Improve UX with quality content — and context — and revenue will follow

At the other end of the scale is quality content from renowned sources. And this is where the bar is really being moved in 2021; household names in news, sports, entertainment and lifestyle are now syndicating their content to quality sites. Needless to say, these also provide an in-stream opportunity for publishers, encouraging the all-important repeat and multi-page visitors.

Content is only one part of the puzzle — it must also appear in the right place — the context of the content is crucial. Ideally, video content should enhance the information presented on the page around it by providing new information, an alternative take or moving image footage bringing the text descriptions to life. Automation and machine learning is now able to do this instantly.

But even that’s not enough to impress the seamless needs …read more

Source:: Digiday

Author: Aaron