The Washington Post Expects Overseas Ad Revenue to Grow 50%

The Washington Post has been making strides internationally, announcing plans to increase its international newsrooms by 21 journalists this year, a move that will in turn boost ad revenue. By this summer, the London hub—led by editor Sara Sorcher—expects to have nine staffers in positions including breaking news reporters, editors and photojournalists. This is in addition to its London team of three editorial staffers. The London hub, plus a second hub in Seoul, South Korea (in addition to international bureaus in Australia and Colombia later this year) will build The Post's capabilities in global, around-the-clock news coverage. The Washington Post Amps Up Its App Strategy to Drive More Subscribers 'The first to respond' Like a quick response unit, the breaking news hubs “will be the first to respond,” to global developments, said Sorcher, who has worked at The Post's Washington D.C headquarters since March 2018. “The focus is on live news, that could be related to Covid-19, protests, natural disasters, late breaking political developments. This will be almost a news relay, then we’ll pass the file to the most relevant news desk in D.C.” No doubt it’s been a turbulent year for media businesses, shuttering the international expansion plans for many digital-only media businesses like BuzzFeed. The Post’s dual revenue streams of subscriptions and advertising, plus its brand clout, stand it in good stead for striking ad deals outside its domestic market, U.K. media agencies say. But competing with home-grown news brands on scale will be a struggle. International ad business has broadened This global investment in breaking news will have the most impact on its digital commercial business internationally, said chief revenue officer Joy Robins, adding that “the international digital business is one of our fastest-growing areas within my team.” She wouldn't share more specific details. In November, The Post appointed former Quartz managing director Simon Davies as its first vice president, international client partnerships to lead international ad sales. Before 2020, a fairly large percent of international business came from clients looking to reach D.C. policymakers via print, said Robins. Publisher-led measurement solutions will become more important.Chris Lehane, Essence “That has changed dramatically in the last eighteen months and we are quickly seeing more and more clients work with our Creative Group on content programs, and increasing interest in our Washington Post digital live programming opportunities,” she said. That’s paying dividends. Despite being from a smaller base, The Post’s international digital advertising business is expected to increase 60% in the first quarter this year versus the same period in 2020. Globally, digital advertising is growing and expected to be up 15% year-over-year, The Post said. Across ads and subscriptions, it’s projecting that total international digital business will grow more than 50% this year. The Post started the year with global subscriptions up 80% year over year. Last November, Axios reported The Post had 3 million digital-only subscribers. In October, The Post said just under 10% of global subscribers came from outside the U.S. The goal has been to increase this to 20%. Contextual capabilities versus local scale Because the international readership is from a smaller base compared with the U.S., the audience indexes overwhelmingly high with C-suite decision-makers. International clients tend to be more luxury and business-focused categories, while in the U.S. this is split more evenly between business and consumer clients. That international audience of affluent opinion leaders is both a boon and a bane, according to Chris Lehane, programmatic and brand director at Essence. “I’ll be looking to see whether they try and change that focus to open up and broaden the scale,” he said. U.K. ad buyers have enough home-grown news alternatives, like The Guardian and The Times, to turn to for reach. That scale leads to efficiencies and cheaper ad rates. As The Post’s around-the-clock news coverage leads to more local readers, how this impacts the audience make-up will dictate its relevance to more buyers. Lehane notes The Post’s contextual targeting and tech capabilities positions it well for the future, when third-party cookies disappear entirely, pitting it ahead of competitors. But that won’t be a huge differentiator in the future as more publishers push their contextual capabilities as more third-party cookies for targeting, attribution and measurement disappear. “Publisher-led measurement solutions will become more important, [including] how .. publishers like The Washington Post prove the value of the audience advertisers have bought.” Update: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated The Washington Post was adding 44 international journalists this year. The Washington Post Expands Technology Team

Publishing News

The Washington Post Expects International Revenue to Grow 50% This Year

This will be spurred by breaking news hubs in London and Seoul

‘The first to respond’

Lucinda Southern

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

‘The first to respond’

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

Lucinda Southern