Month: December 2021

TheStreet had 4.8 million unique visitors in October 2021, according to Comscore’s latest data, which is a 24% drop year over year.

This conversation has been edited and condensed.

What’s your biggest priority in 2022 as the new editor-in-chief of TheStreet?

Broadening our audience of investors. Every single thing we do will be for that goal, which will serve us in the business side and our subscriber side as well. That’s where our opportunity is, and where we can have the most impact and create the most change for TheStreet. The real goal is to grow our audience on the free side.

Why that goal?

There is an opportunity in financial and business news, in general, to reach a wider audience and a more diverse audience by doing stories in a way that [is] still really smart but are more accessible to other people. The entire trading world has become so much more democratized, just since I have been in the financial industry. But the way we talk about managing and investing money still [makes it seem] very hard to do. As it becomes easier for people to do it on their own, and interest in doing that has grown — Reddit has certainly reached that audience — financial publications can reach that audience and provide people with tools to really help them with what technology has already allowed them to do.

What kind of tools?

Like [the stock trading and investing app] Robinhood, and things like that. It used to be such a specific group of people, who were talking about trading ideas in college, and now it’s just opened up to such a wider array of people. You don’t have to study finance or grow up wanting to be a broker to now be interested in the companies that you now are touching every day. With things like Robinhood, people are investing because they just like the company. We would like to speak to that audience and help them.

I hear there are a lot of new hires coming to TheStreet. How many people are you hiring?

We are in the process of growing massively, which is really exciting as well. I don’t have a number, and some of the people joined even before I even started. Ting Wang is head of audience development, at the Arena level. He was head of audience development for Yahoo Finance, and was enormously successful there in growing their audience. We’ve seen our page views grow 60% this year from last year from social referrals, because of him. Greg Schirripa from the New York Stock Exchange, he’s now our head of product. We brought in a managing editor from the Motley Fool, which makes their money much the same way as we make our money. And we have a few people we are not ready to announce yet, to build up some of our coverage in areas that the audience we want to reach is very interested in.

What are some of those areas?

Crypto is one, obviously. We are looking at areas that really smart people across all industries are interested in, and can be entry points for people that might be interested in managing some of their own money — crypto is certainly one of those. Our new managing editor has a lot of experience covering retail companies. Companies that touch people as consumers as well as investors — those companies are often fun to read about and have that investing lens. We are also providing people with tools and resources they can use if they want to make that leap to start trading.

We have room to hire people to add to our overall coverage. We have these incredible premium products that add so much value for investors. We would like the free side of the site to be a real resource to people who are interested in investing but who are not already paying for our premium products. The headcount we are looking to add is to drive some of these initiatives that we are planning to roll out hopefully in the first quarter, and all of those initiatives on the free and premium sides are to help grow a larger audience of smart people who care about investing.

Is another focus of yours to then convert those free readers into subscribers?

[Subscriptions] are not the only business reason for us to grow on the free side. It also will be valuable for us to grow TheStreet as a well-known resource. We have a lot of stars we haven’t been highlighting as much, and we want people to get to know them. There are hedge fund managers who have been contributing to the premium side for a long time, and other stars who contribute that we are going to really be emphasizing going forward. We are adding new stars to that bench, that might be interesting to a different group of investors.

What kind of different groups?

How do I put this… I think that a lot of our current stars really appeal to my dad and the audience CNBC and Bloomberg TV is reaching. I’m not necessarily talking about younger people, but people who aren’t watching market moves on a daily basis, who have been a little bit excluded from the conversation. Generally, the way we talk about financial news is a little bit exclusionary because you already have to speak the language to be there. It’s about reaching an audience that doesn’t want to see the word “EBITDA” in the headline. It’s also about reaching a more diverse audience as well. As a woman who used to work in finance, I don’t like products designed for women, but I do like to see women given roles to give financial advice. We can certainly broaden the types of people that we have and the types of things we are covering. It will absolutely be a priority to increase the diversity of our premium voices and of our staff. A lot of our new hires have already contributed to diversity but I don’t think we can credibly try to talk to an audience that has been left out without also representing that in our own staff and premium content. It’s just not believable or genuine.

How many subscribers does TheStreet have, and are there any internal goals to reach a certain number next year?

We absolutely have subscriber growth goals. I’m working on mine right now, in my goal meetings over the next two weeks. But some of those goals started before I was even [here], so I don’t really want to share those.

With your experience in video and TV production, will we see TheStreet do more of that next year?

Yes, absolutely. We are working on a video strategy right now. We do some premium video right now that is valuable to our premium subscribers but video can be a great way to reach and grow new audiences [on the free side]. We have some partnerships already set up that we will launch in the new year that are part of our video strategy. It’s valuable to us to reach audiences whether or not they make it all the way to our site. [TheStreet is launching a new video set on the floor of the NYSE in January, a spokesperson said later.]

Jen Soch, executive director of speciality channels solutions at GroupM, offered up a stat that crystallizes that explosion: GroupM estimated that a new podcast was created every 30 seconds in 2020, amounting to 885,000 in total.

“As video dollars take off and supply goes down, audio is a natural place for the money to go,” said Soch. “I’m bullish on the ability for podcasts to continue to grow. It’s a very active conversation with clients, but it’s still in the innovation stage, so there are still a lot of things we need to do. We do have inclusion and exclusion lists that we use when it comes to these areas.”   

Audio platform Spotify, which has bet big on podcasting as a source of growth, went so far as to become the first (and only, so far) pure-play digital audio service to sign up to the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), a move that was news to the media buyers contacted for this story. 

Khurrum Malik, Spotify’s head of advertising business marketing, explained the impetus behind working with GARM. “We saw a really good partner to to help meet that need [to stay ahead of brand safety issues],” he said. “It’s a community composed not only of our customers from a marketer perspective [or] from an agency perspective, but also a fellow platform that ensures we’re not just meeting industry standards, but we’re working together to continually improve.”

Malik said work with GARM has already had an effect on how Spotify is putting safeguards in place, notably in podcasting. The platform recently launched a product area called Sensitive Topics for Podcasts, which allows brands to exclude certain podcast content. A CPG brand, for example, trying to reach moms in California, can use AI-boosted transcription tech to exclude adult content, crime and violence content and/or mentions of weapons. 

“It’s early days, but GARM is already impacting our product roadmap,” said Malik.

“There’s not enough transparency and control in all of digital,” which includes audio, said Robert Rakowitz, the initiative lead for GARM. “The more we can create that level of transparency and consistency, the better we can all control and monetize” the immense amount of content being created. 

Though he said he believes the podcasting space is generally a more brand-safe environment thanks to transcription technology, Rakowitz wants to see exclusion lists become “more surgical.”

GroupM’s Soch (who oversees Specialty Channels that centralized all audio, digital and terrestrial, into one unit, but also houses advanced TV, publishing, direct response and local video), agreed that transcription technology has helped to refine exclusion lists, so that specific sub-topics can be either sought out or avoided in various podcasts.

Still, more work needs to be done. “We need to improve the reporting on the backend of podcasting,” said Soch. “We’re still blind in the downloads not listens. The standards are basic today, more is needed, just as it is in video.” 

Jacob Schwartz, associate media director of national audio investments at IPG’s Mediahub, noted that one element working in podcasting’s favor relative to video players such as YouTube, is that podcast platforms’ algorithms don’t try to feed consumers content other than what they’ve selected. “I don’t know of an platform that’s going to automatically play you content other than the specific one you selected,” said Schwartz. “If I’m listening to Joe Rogan, it’s going to keep giving me Joe Rogan episodes,” and not offer up Alex Jones or Rachel Maddow content. 

In the end, there’s only one way podcasting ad revenue will go — up, said Schwartz, noting that the segment will hit $1 billion in revenue in 2021, and willl double to $2 billion by end of 2023.

Color by numbers

In its latest report, Influencer marketing platform Collabstr is projecting impressive growth for the influencer marketing world. Having grown 42 percent from $9.7 billion in 2020 to $13.8 billion in 2021, Collabsty projects a $15 billion by the end of 2022, much of it on the strength of short-form videos as seen on platforms like TikTok. The report notes that the most popular platforms for influencers are Instagram (94 percent are doing branded content on it), TikTok (64 percent) and YouTube (19 percent — the report attributes that smaller percentage to the fact that it’s harder to build an audience on YouTube than the other two). Finally, the report also notes that 77 percent of influencers identify as women. 

Takeoff & landing

• Stagwell Media Network (SMN) last week promoted three senior veterans of the media agency world to take on global roles: Jon Schaaf becomes chief investment officer, moving up from SMN’s Gale Partners where he had the same role; Shannon Pruitt becomes chief content officer, moving internally from her prior role as president of content and managing director at MDC Media Partners; and Rick Acampora becomes chief client officer, moving up from the same role at SMN’s Forward PMX.   
• Dentsu’s iProspect made its own global promotions last week: Shenda Loughnane was named global managing director, moving up from group m.d. with Dentsu Ireland; supporting her will be Dan Friel, who was named global client president & head of iProspect Global, up from global client president of Vizeum, which was absorbed into iProspect.
• Media planning tech firm Telmar bought AI-driven audience intelligence platform Helixa, and Helixa’s CEO Florian Kahlert will join Telmar’s executive team. 

Direct quote

“I tell people Spotify is Stockholm patience, New York hustle, all in a bow of kindness.” 

— Khurrum Malik, Spotify’s head of advertising business marketing

Speed reading

• I wrote about Horizon Media, the biggest independent media agency in the U.S., selling minority stakes in itself for the first time, ostensibly to expand internationally.
• Digiday’s latest hire, senior reporter on ad tech Ronan Shields, details why Criteo bought IPONWEB, the best kept secret in digital media.
• Variety explains the backstory to Roku and YouTube burying the hatchet, which keeps YouTube on the former’s platform.

Collectively, it takes up the better part of her workday. Filming TikTok content alone can take anywhere from 15 minutes to a couple of hours, not an easy feat considering the bulky owl suit can be hard to maneuver, she added. Sometimes those TikToks get others in the office involved and most recently, TikTok star Rod Thill (or @Rod on TikTok). Community management is another key element of the social strategy, in which Parvez and her team regularly respond to comments on the brand’s posts as Duo, sometimes with a video. Once, Duo responded to a comment from McDonald’s Canada by taking a dig at the chain’s ice cream machines, which are notoriously broken.

“A lot of brands are just figuring out TikTok, ourselves included,” Parvez said. “This is part of our origin story right now. A lot of it is testing, seeing if something works or [doesn’t] work.”

And seemingly, the big green owl works. Since launching its TikTok presence back in February, Duo, which Parvez says is a sassy and fiercely loyal owl, has landed a number of viral TikToks by riffing off of trending audio clips. In one TikTok, which racked up 1.7 million likes, Duo can be found twerking on an office tabletop in what’s captioned as a “sneak peek at premium content you can only get with Duolingo Plus.” In another, Duo appears to be crying and sliding down the wall Taylor Swift’s “Enchanted” with the lyrics “Please don’t be in love with someone else” in response to people who use Google Translate as opposed to Duolingo’s services. It got 4.6 million likes. Sometimes Duo can be found in the comment section, sassing anyone who forgets their lesson.

After introducing Duo as a regular character in October, Duolingo’s viral content took off, per Parvez. There was an uptick in people reporting they’d discovered the language-learning service via TikTok, something the team learned via a “How did you hear about us” survey and anecdotally on Twitter with “TikTok made me download it” tweets, she added.

It’s not just about the likes. Duo’s antics have humanized the brand, giving a face to Duolingo on TikTok and ultimately caught the attention of NBC News, Insider and even Rolling Stone magazine. The key to the team’s success is that the account is less about selling Duolingo to TikTok audiences, who notoriously don’t want to be sold to, but entertaining them, she said. The brand’s ability to lean into “unhinged content,” per Parvez, leveraging viral trends, interacting with other TikTokers in the comment section and poking fun at themselves by recreating memes that have been created about the brand is meant to entertain. That could be anything from people confusing Duolingo for pop singer Dua Lipa to Duo the Owl’s threatening, do-your-lesson-or-else persona.

“The way I think about it, especially when I’m commenting as Duo or creating content as Duo, is Duo is that pushy friend that motivates you,” said Parvez. “But we never want Duo to be that pushy friend that makes you hate your existence. He wants you to do well and will always be up in your business. The way to make Duo love you is to do your lesson.”

Luckily for the social media manager, Duo’s shenanigans haven’t given higher-ups much pause. In fact, Parvez says Duolingo has always had a playful and quirky brand voice, making it “easier for us to push the more unhinged content.” As an example of said unhinged content, one of Duolingo’s most-watched posts is Duo seemingly asking for singer Dua Lipa’s hand in marriage, riffing off of the joke where people often confuse Dua Lipa for Duolingo.

Embracing memes

All said, it’s the humanization of Duo that seems to be the selling point, according to Brendan Gahan, partner and chief social officer at Mekanism creative agency. To that point, Gahan has been sold since Duolingo’s TikTok videos first started making rounds on Mekanism’s team Slack channel a while back, he said. Within a three-day period, at least a dozen people had brought Duo to his attention.

“The brand embraced this slightly menacing perception of the owl,” he said. “There were memes for years. I don’t think that most brands have the bravery to do that and embrace these things which, on the surface, can be perceived as a negative. [Duolingo] really flipped it on its head.”

What Duolingo gets right, Gahan says, is “letting the audience lead them to the right answer.” It’s a muscle that’s built through social listening, a willingness to fail and a strong ability to pivot, he added, noting that good content is subjective. To put it in TikTok terms, the brands that get it, get it and the brands that don’t, don’t.

Per Parvez, Duolingo posts anywhere from three to five times per week, but only if there’s original and authentic ideas. If they don’t have a great idea that speaks to the brand, they simply don’t post, she added.

“The idea that you’re going to throw a dart out there and hit the bull’s eye, no one should go in with that expectation,” Gahan said. “You should go in with the expectation of, let’s improve 1% each day and let that compound.”

Duolingo isn’t the first or only brand to humanize itself and create a deep brand affinity on social media without drawing ire from shoppers who are unimpressed with brand antics (at least not yet, knock on wood, Parvez said). Another example Gahan points to includes The Washington Post’s with Dave Jorgenson, who puts a face to the newspaper.

“We’re still in this growing pains stage with much of social for brands, where they’re learning to understand that attention is something that needs to be earned versus paid for,” he said.

Humanizing brands

It’s a strategy brands like Wendy’s, Steak-umm, Denny’s and MoonPie perfected on Twitter years ago. For Wendy’s, that looked like sassy tweets, roasts and digs at competitors circa 2016-2017. For Steak-umm, that looked like existential crisis tweets and critiques of society around that same time.

“For a while, after Wendy’s went viral, you saw people trying to copy and paste the same strategy,” said Amy Brown, who managed Wendy’s Twitter from 2012-2017. “What’s really important and cool to see is that brands are starting to figure it out. They’re figuring out how to take the same principles, but apply them in a unique way that makes sense for their brand.”

Nathan Allebach is the man behind Steak-umm’s Twitter. To Allebach, Duolingo is on its way to becoming the “Wendy’s of TikTok.” But he questions how long the schtick will last.

“Steak-umm has gone viral every year that I’ve worked on it since 2017, but each year it wanes,” Allebach said. “Figuring out what still has a novelty to people over time is really difficult.” For the most part, he added, people still get excited when a brand responds to them. As long as the interaction is authentic, it makes users feel seen and heard, he said.

At Duolingo, the thought has already crossed Parvez’s mind. But for now, the plans are to continue testing and learning, tightening the brand’s social media strategy, as well as exploring different storylines and social media platforms. Although, it’s unclear where the menacing green owl fits into this.

For Parvez, it’s been a wild ride, but she’s grateful for the experience as junior talent to be given the reins and trust to lead a major brand account. 

“It’s only upwards from here,” she said.