The AP Debuts New Website Designed to Attract More Ad Spend

Global news publisher the Associated Press (AP) launched a newly redesigned version of its website Tuesday, part of a broader effort from the news outlet to diversify its revenue by attracting more direct advertising. The publisher currently generates roughly 80% of its revenue from content licensing, an unorthodox model that has shielded it from the commercial headwinds buffeting the industry. The redesign will help the organization double the amount of revenue it generates from advertising, from 5% to 10%, over the next two years, according to chief revenue officer Kristin Heitmann. The privately held company declined to share specifics. “We are going through a transformation,” she said, “and we are glad to say that digital advertising is a part of that strategy.” The publisher hopes the update encourages more direct media buys from advertisers, as it currently generates roughly 85% of its ad inventory from the open programmatic exchange. With Its Frequency Tool, The Financial Times Fine-Tunes Ad Exposure Among other changes, the new website will more prominently feature photography and video, incorporate a live blog to showcase breaking news, present more ways to capture first-party data and highlight lifestyle content, like sports and entertainment reporting, according to executive editor and senior vice president Julie Pace. The redesign does not introduce any new ad formats or targeting capabilities, but AP has plans to introduce these in the coming months. The updated format will also boost digital advertising revenue by increasing traffic and dwell time, in addition to creating more video advertising inventory. “In order for the AP to remain essential, we need to have a test kitchen for creating digitally optimized content,” Pace said. “Everything we create and learn there in terms of engaging a digital audience.” A redesign on its own is unlikely to attract greater ad spend, especially considering the AP’s emphasis on hard news, which advertisers often avoid out of brand safety concerns, said Brian Morrissey, a media analyst and author of The Rebooting newsletter. But the face-lift represents the first step of a larger strategy, which includes hiring a direct sales team—roughly seven headcount at the moment—for the first time in the 177-year history of the publication. The AP also hopes its strong track record of consumer trust and its underutilized sports and lifestyle reporting could spark interest from brands, Pace said. More visuals, blogs and lifestyle content When drafting designs for the new website, the AP looked at audience data to understand which kinds of its content most resonated with readers, according to Pace. As a result, the publisher has increased the amount of space devoted to photography and video, a staple of AP journalism. The increased number of video players also creates more video ad inventory, which yields higher CPMs than traditional display media. the AP website will unlock more opportunities for lucrative video advertising. The redesign also offers the publisher the ability to live-blog breaking news, a valuable tool in attracting traffic. As part of its transformation, the publisher also started a relationship with the supply-side platform Sovrn to manage its ad stack, worked with Nativo to more prominently feature native advertising and partnered with Taboola to increase recirculation revenue. Previous design of AP homepage from May, via Wayback Machines A change in business model While the publisher has the enviable benefit of a robust licensing business, the AP trails its competitive set in its first-party data capabilities and its relationships with brands. The publisher relaunched its Morning Wire newsletter in June and introduced more newsletter sign-ups across the site, but it lacks a comprehensive database of first-party information—a critical component to serving relevant ads in a cookieless environment. The AP also eschewed a direct sales team until late last year, meaning it will start from scratch when building relationships with brands Additionally, the shift to its commercial model could complicate its licensing business, which thrived, in part, because the publisher rarely competed against its licensees for readership. Pace dismissed these concerns, stressing the primacy of the AP's licensing business. But the transformation will certainly entail a degree of consumer education, as the publisher has invested scant resources in building direct relationships with readers until now, Morrissey said. “The tricky part of this is less the design, more the business model,” he said. “The AP's long operated as a cooperative model. It has avoided competing with its members. So it has a formidable brand, but it lacks a direct connection with its audience.”

Digital Transformation

The AP Debuts New Website Designed to Attract More Ad Spend

The publisher currently generates 80% of its revenue from its syndication business

Mark Stenberg

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