With the rapid decline in search and social referrals, publishers have never faced a more challenging environment. Even Google admits the open web is “in rapid decline.”
How do publishers reach viewers, build brand recognition and generate revenue?
Syndication is an answer
Smart publishers are re-emphasizing content syndication to reach customers where they spend time — news aggregators, AI agents, CTV channels and mobile apps. Hundreds of millions of consumers use MSN, Apple News, Yahoo and dozens of other news aggregators to consume content. Through syndication, publishers can reach new audiences, maintain engagement with existing readers, build their brand and generate new revenue, all while seeing enhanced referral traffic.
Publishers who have not reviewed their syndication strategy lately are likely missing out. For example, Apple News+ launched six years ago and is now material to earnings and revenue for many subscription publishers. In the last two years, Apple has branched out to embrace local, sports and recipe content. News+ payouts are determined on a time-spent-per-publisher basis. While Apple News does not allow programmatic ads, publishers can work with a partner for Apple News Monetization.
Similarly, MSN has changed its payout structure from page views to dwell time. Publishers can improve their results by developing longer-form content and/or inserting contextually relevant related content components, similar to Apple News.
Revenue opportunities abound in syndication. For publishers struggling to drive awareness of their commerce content, it’s worth considering that Yahoo is rolling out new feed specifications designed to improve the commerce reading experience. For publishers whose video views are maxed out across YouTube, Amazon Fire TV, Xumo, MSN, Yahoo and NewsBreak are noteworthy as they ramp up their publisher video experiences.