Flipboard希望拯救出版業(yè)
????麥克庫伊說,但更重要的是,如果馬歇爾在撤走他的內(nèi)容并且稱這種服務(wù)是“騙局”之前與Flipboard溝通的話,那么他可能會了解到,F(xiàn)lipboard正在計劃打造一項計劃,讓小型出版商實際上能夠聯(lián)合起來銷售廣告。這有點新聞價值:Flipboard尚未正式公布這一計劃。麥克庫伊稱,這項計劃將在明年的某個時候推出。此外,F(xiàn)lipboard還計劃成立自己的廣告團隊,為小型出版商減負。 ????麥克庫伊堅持表示:“我們想幫助他們?!辈糠置襟w權(quán)威人士認為,“影響范圍”本身就是讓出版商留在Flipboard上的一個足夠充分的理由。麥克庫伊同意這種說法相當愚笨。他說:“基本上關(guān)鍵在于錢?!彼姓J,如果沒有帶來營收的話,那么“讓外界知道你的名字”并沒有多少價值。不過,他補充說,進駐Flipboard使出版商在他們最終可以開始獲取廣告收入之后處于一個更有利的境況之中?,F(xiàn)在就建立讀者基礎(chǔ),他們以后就更容易銷售更多的廣告,從而賺取更多的錢。 ????麥克庫伊表示,他之所以必須先從大型出版商入手,只是因為他們在進駐這個平臺方面做好了最充分的準備。他們現(xiàn)在向古馳(Gucci)、李維?斯特勞斯(Levi Strauss)和達美航空(Delta)等大品牌銷售廣告。麥克庫伊說,平均而言,這些廣告的每千次展現(xiàn)量價格是網(wǎng)絡(luò)橫幅廣告的許多倍。 ????部分原因是因為Flipboard的廣告更像是雜志廣告。這些廣告的版面很大(尤其是在平板電腦上),富有藝術(shù)氣息,而且強調(diào)品牌意識。與此同時,網(wǎng)絡(luò)廣告的價值正在直線下降,因為他們多半根本無法達到預期的效果。更糟糕的是,他們越來越多地通過廣告網(wǎng)絡(luò)銷售,其中廣告定價和投放基本上是由計算機程序協(xié)商的,從而推動價格越來越低。品牌推廣活動的價值遠遠超過由廣告程序大量產(chǎn)生的那種廣告——其中許多的質(zhì)量都極其低劣。 ????據(jù)麥克庫伊稱,F(xiàn)lipboard從所有廣告收入中收取的分成比例很小。他說:“絕大部分廣告營收都歸出版商所有?!辈贿^他不愿討論具體數(shù)字。但他表示,公司最近一個季度的廣告營收是前一季度的三倍。 ????去年把內(nèi)容撤離Flipboard的另外兩家知名出版商是:《連線》雜志(Wired)和《紐約客》(The New Yorker),它們都是康迪納斯特旗下的雜志。Flipboard應(yīng)用程序仍顯示這些雜志文章的一些介紹性文字,而想要閱讀更多內(nèi)容的讀者必須通過點擊轉(zhuǎn)入這些出版商的網(wǎng)站。麥克庫伊說,他希望未來某個時候能讓《紐約客》回來(“我們一直在與所有出版商洽談”)。他同時指出,這些出版物離開該服務(wù)平臺時,正好《紐約時報》(the New York Times)在簽約加入?!都~約時報》的讀者每月可以免費閱讀三篇文章。此后,他們必須訂閱《紐約時報》,或者通過登記證明自己已經(jīng)訂閱《紐約時報》?!都~約客》認為,由于它這么多內(nèi)容都是在付費墻后面,因此它進入Flipboard平臺沒有任何意義。麥克庫伊說,鑒于Flipboard正在讓自己適應(yīng)付費墻,這種情況可能會改變。 ????而且康迪納斯特旗下的其他幾份出版物仍然留在Flipboard平臺上,其中包括《名利場》(Vanity Fair)、《好胃口》(Bon Appetit)和《Glamour》。據(jù)麥克庫伊稱,《名利場》的廣告位最近已經(jīng)售罄,這在該應(yīng)用程序上仍然是一件很少發(fā)生的事情。 |
????But more important, McCue says, if Marshall had talked to the company before yanking his content and calling such services "scams," he might have learned that Flipboard is planning to create a program for smaller publishers, enabling them to in effect band together to sell ads. This is a bit of news: Flipboard hasn't formally announced it yet. McCue says the program will launch sometime next year. Further, the company plans to create its own ad team to take the burden off smaller publishers. ????"We want to help them," McCue insists. He agrees that the argument by some media pundits -- that "reach" by itself is a good enough reason to be on Flipboard -- is rather witless. "It's very much about the money," he says. "Getting your name out there" isn't of much value if revenue isn't coming in, he acknowledges -- though he adds that a presence on Flipboard puts publications in a much better position for when they can eventually start collecting ad revenue. Building up a readership now will make it easier to sell more ads for more money later. ????McCue says he had to start with bigger publications first, simply because they were the best prepared to come on board. They now sell ads to big brands like Gucci, Levi Strauss, and Delta. On average, McCue says, these ads sell for many times what the cost-per-thousand rate is for banner ads on the web. ????That's in part because Flipboard's ads are more like magazine ads. They're big (especially on a tablet), arty, and emphasize brand awareness. The value of web ads, meanwhile, is plummeting because they simply don't work for the most part. Making matters worse is the way they are increasingly being sold -- through ad networks where pricing and placement are basically negotiated by computer programs, driving prices ever lower. Brand campaigns are worth much more than the kinds of ads that are churned out by ad programs -- many of which are downright cheesy. ????Flipboard takes a cut of all ad revenue that is, according to McCue, very small. "The publishers get the vast majority of revenues," he says, though he won't discuss numbers. He does say that total ad revenues in the company's latest quarter were three times the revenues of the preceding one. ????Two other well-known publishers pulled their content from Flipboard last year: Wired and The New Yorker, both Conde Nast titles. The app still displays a bit of introductory text for their articles, and readers who want to see more must click out to their websites. McCue says he hopes to have The New Yorker back at some point ("we're always in talks with everybody"), and notes that those publications left the service just as the New York Times was signing on. Times readers get three free articles a month. After that, they must either subscribe to the paper or prove through a sign-on that they already do. The New Yorker felt that since so much of its content was behind a paywall, it didn't make sense for it to be on Flipboard. That might change now that Flipboard accommodates paywalls, McCue says. ????And several Conde Nast publications are still on Flipboard, including Vanity Fair, Bon Appetit, andGlamour. Vanity Fair's ad inventory recently sold out, according to McCue -- still a rare occurrence on the app. |