Global Publishers Shift How They Work With Partners

As markets around the world start reopening, CNN is getting out in front to reach decision-makers about the recovery. The WarnerMedia brand is doing so by expanding CNN International's CNN Marketplace across regions and platforms. By adding more inventory in TV and digital, CNN International aims to add more to its bottom line, capitalizing on ad recovery. Later this month, CNN Marketplace Asia and CNN Marketplace Europe will begin airing on CNN International, with CNN Marketplace Middle East to launch later in the year, joining long-running weekly show CNN Marketplace Africa and several other daily shows. These verticals, shows and dedicated new sections on CNN Business cover in-depth interviews, reporting and analysis on regional trends across technology, sustainability, automotive and mobility, health and medicine, energy and ecommerce. “The business audience is key,” said Cathy Ibal, svp, CNN International Commercial. “We have demand, and now on the client-advertiser side specifically, there has been a very big increase in the volume of proposals.” The upswing in ad budgets flowing to publishers since the second half of last year is continuing. But shortened sales cycles, fears of new virus variants and a still volatile ad market has made future forecasting even harder to pin down, leaving some execs uncertain how many proposals will convert to campaigns. CNN International's new programming will “tell the story of the recovery following the pandemic, analyzing the new economy and ways of working driven by innovation,” said Ellana Lee, senior vice president and managing editor for CNNI Asia Pacific and global head of features content. Advertising opportunities include segment sponsoring, digital sponsorship, branded content production and distribution across CNN platforms and social. African conglomerate Dangote Industries, for example, is a long-time sponsor of the Profit Point segment on CNN Marketplace Africa. Portfolio diversification by necessity International unique visitors to CNN Business on digital has grown 66% in the last year, the company said. During this time, there has been a 27% increase in the number of proposals for business, finance and tech sector clients compared to last year. It has seen a 171% increase in the volume of proposals that include reaching business audiences compared to last year, Ibal said. This opens up the company to new clients that are active when sectors of the economy are still fledgling. In April, 60% of briefs were from new clients in sectors it hadn't worked with before. Clearly there is a rebound. 2022 will be strong.—Cathy Ibal, svp, CNN International Since business-focused companies have been more protected from the worst characteristics of the pandemic, “everyone is trying to make their mark in those new markets,” said Jameel Amini, senior strategy director at media agency Essence. "We find business-focused organizations are investing heavier on brand building, including in existing markets to signal international business security, strength and scale and using more established channels like TV and radio." New sales structures for new needs Publishers are refitting themselves around a sales process that works for how the pandemic changed existing processes. For CNN International, that meant introducing a new layer of client services to manage its top 25 clients, which represent a big chunk of revenue. In October, the media company announced a more formal four-pillar framework for how it approaches each campaign in an audience-first way, rather than by platform or geography. This ties in audience behavior, insight-based creative and sophisticated targeting. (CNN International has beefed up its contextual targeting tool to yield better returns for advertisers). The company increased the client services team from two to five people. It also added two roles to its revenue strategy team, growing it to nine globally. It’s still figuring out how to effectively measure the success of this selling arrangement, but more than 75% of the campaigns it sells are cross-platform. And branded content studio Create is involved in over two-thirds of all campaigns from CNN International Commercial “Clearly there is a rebound; 2022 will be strong,” Ibal said. “The CMO and other senior people have been more available to have discussions about media, campaigns and their reparation,” she added. “What has changed forever is on the reputation side. You are what you do—action has become more and more important.” But on the target audience side, there are challenges in reaching business decision-makers based at home whose priorities might have shifted, Amini said. “This has introduced distance between teams, … introducing bias and stagnation into the vendor selection process," he said. "We’re working with our clients to ensure their ads hit the right mark at a personal and organizational level." CNN Breathes New Life Into Political Cartoons Using Stop-Motion Animation

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As the World Opens Up, Global Publishers Shift How They Work With Partners

60% of CNN International sales briefs are coming from new clients

Lucinda Southern

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