Month: October 2019

Video revenue for Bon Appétit had increased 40% from last year, according to the company. This is not the first time that the title has worked to capitalize on the 4.5 million YouTube subscribers and nearly 50 million views it received on the platform in August of this year. The editorial talent has been brought out to host cooking classes, as well as a weekend-long event that gives fans face-to-face interactions with them. They’re also regular guests on the brand’s podcast and on social media, not to mention website content. 

According to one media buyer who asked not to be identified, Condé’s investment in highlighting their editorial talent on video and on other platforms ties into the company’s ongoing efforts to prove that they can compete with television dollars and the major networks. 

According to the Alliance for Audited Media, from the start of the year to June 30, 2019, the average total paid and verified subscriptions was 1.5 million, with an additional 21,000 copies sold at newsstand. 

Gillin said that Bon Appétit has seen a 64% increase in subscriptions generated from digitally native channels year over year, including plugs from social, podcast and newsletters. Specifically, since August of this year, that number increased to 158%, when the brand began its effort to push subscriptions across multiple platforms, bring awareness of the its other offerings to its digital audiences. And next week, its YouTube page will have the capability to allow viewers to sign up for a print subscriptions through the channel itself. 

“In a way it was done to drive newsstand because there is the element of collect them all that we hope will happen. But people who are watching on YouTube are going to want to take action immediately, they’re not going to close Youtube then run to Walgreens to buy the issue immediately. They’re clicking a link saying they want to subscribe to this. Getting print subscriptions online is the easiest way to convert people,” Gillin said. 

Condé Nast won’t say how big a portion video contributes to the brand’s overall revenue, though Gillin said it’s a significant chunk that’s becoming more in-demand with advertisers looking for branded content opportunities with the editorial talent. 

Gillin said that a big contributor to video’s growth over the past year is because of advertisers looking to capitalize on the connections the shows’ hosts have with audience. Advertisers include Goose Island Beer, The Mushroom Council, Mitsubishi, Wine Australia and Glossier.  The Mushroom Council, a new client, wanted Morocco to create a custom recipe for its “Blended Burger Contest” and created video content as well as sponsored digital content to promote that campaign. And the American Egg Board wanted to work with Saffitz and senior associate food editor Molly Baz to create holiday baking recipes and is going to create a series of videos around that. (Gillin said editors get to approve all branded content they appear in.) 

“For premium publishers like Bon Appétit, I don’t know if they should be shifting their strategy totally towards influencer, because they have so many other offerings. But we’ve seen this especially in the food space. Food Network took their talent from video and now they have Food Network Magazine,” said Danielle Sporkin, U.S. head of integrated planning at OMD.

“They don’t only live on YouTube, they make the magazine too, and we want to make that really clear to everyone who’s a fan of one channel to the others. It’s not to drive newsstand, it’s not to drive subscriptions, it’s to support the overall ecosystem that we’ve created,” Gillin said.

Photo credit: Laura Murray, Bon Appétit

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In a recent study commissioned by Integral Ad Science (IAS) — The Halo Effect: Ad Environment & Receptivity — we learned that consumers exhibit different neurological reactions to ads placed in environments of differing quality. Ads alongside high-quality content produced significantly higher brain activity related to positive increases in likeability, engagement and memorability.

As a follow-up to this study, IAS conducted additional research among a sample of 1,000 survey respondents in the United States, aiming to quantify and understand the perceived importance of content quality for both brands and consumers. Do consumers’ brand perceptions change when faced with a difference in environmental quality in which an ad is placed? Findings from this survey echoed the results from the neurological study.

1. Content quality matters slightly more than personally relevant content
   The quality of the environment in which digital ads are placed is important to consumers. About 83 percent of US consumers cite that it is important that the ads they see are placed next to high-quality content. This is slightly more than the percentage of US consumers that place high importance towards ads that are personally relevant, which was measured at 80 percent.
2. Consumers are less likely to engage with ads in low-quality environments
   52 percent of US consumers also state that they are more likely to engage with an ad that is adjacent to high-quality content; which is significantly greater than the 13 percent who say they would engage with an ad adjacent to low-quality content. This creates opportunities for marketers to enhance consumer engagement with their brand by not only tailoring their ads to be personally relevant to the consumer, but by also ensuring that the ads are in high-quality content environments.
3. Ads in low-quality environments annoy most consumers
   Consumer perceptions are affected by content and environment. 81 percent of US consumers find it annoying when a brand appears next to low-quality content. Subsequently, over half (52 percent) would feel less favorable towards a brand if their ad appeared next to low-quality content. In fact, 62 percent of consumers said that they would even stop using a brand’s products or services because of the adjacency an ad has to low-quality content. Ultimately, ads that are placed in low-quality environments elicit negative sentiments among consumers to the detriment of marketers’ brands.

Take responsibility and control 

According to  IAS’s recent brand safety survey, only 37 percent of marketers feel they are the ones who are responsible for brand safety. Brands look to and rely on tech partners to ensure that their ads do not appear on low-quality sites or alongside unsafe content that is not suitable for their brand. Interestingly, while 63 percent of marketers feel that they are not the ones who are responsible for brand safety, 63 percent of consumers hold brands accountable for the content that appears next to advertisements.

Understanding consumers’ emotional responses to ads — as well as their perceptions of them — in high versus low quality environments will better equip marketers for planning their digital campaigns. The quality of content in which an ad appears matters to consumers and has a significant impact on their fondness of a brand. Marketers need to take heed and continue to make a concerted effort in ensuring ads are run in high-quality environments, to not only reach consumers, but make better connections with them as well.

To download the full Halo Effect study, click here.

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