Digital and non-digital native strategies analysis
The Guardian
Words count : 2504
Patrick Kibale
“The Guardian has realised that digital isn’t just an extension of their print offering. They understand that digital journalism is different from its print counterpart. They realise that they’re old processes will need to adapt for the digital age.” Paul Boag. Consultant and expert in digital transformation
Patrick Kibale [ID: 1451823]
Digital Marketing
BA (Hons) in Management
Contents
About The Guardian ................................................................................................................... 2
Newspaper circulation goes down .............................................................................................. 3
Digital policy .............................................................................................................................. 4
Website ................................................................................................................................... 4
Blogs ....................................................................................................................................... 5
Podcasts .................................................................................................................................. 5
Apps ........................................................................................................................................ 5
Social media ........................................................................................................................... 6
Recommendations and conclusions ........................................................................................... 8
Sources ....................................................................................................................................... 9
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Patrick Kibale [ID: 1451823]
Digital Marketing
BA (Hons) in Management
The Guardian
About The Guardian
The Guardian is a British English-language based newspaper. It is as popular as the Financial Times, daily newspaper which the content is focused on business and economic news internationally. But The
Guardian is also the third most read English language based newspaper site in the world (2013).
The Guardian print circulation dropped 350,000 to
160,000 approximately -46%! In 2011, struggling with some financial difficulties, the Guardian’s board switched to a new strategy: “Digital First”. However, the printed edition is still the first revenue, the share of the digital edition rose about 25% in 2014 (+£70million). The non-UK online readers have a real impact on the audience which represents two-thirds of its online readers.
The revenues for the newspaper come from the advertising spaces between the articles. For the digital structure, the revenues come from the advertising too.
“For every $11 collected from print ads, newspapers collect $1 from digital ads”. Because they succeeded to generate a monthly traffic of 90 million unique visitor. Thanks to their
Open philosophy. Sharing the expansion of the digital content with the community. They provide simpler codes and external tools for the developers. They invest a lot in the social media and chose a more interactive communication strategy with the customers.
“We’re not living in a world in which our revenues are going to come from cover price and advertising,” said Alan Rusbridger, ex-CEO of the Guardian.
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Patrick Kibale [ID: 1451823]
Digital Marketing
BA (Hons) in Management
Newspaper circulation goes down
The newspaper industry is changing slowly to digital. But each publisher knows it is risky to go to digital without thinking about it deeply. But there is still an important fact: the digital business model for newspaper isn’t profitable yet. The most revenues come from the advertising placements in the printed edition.
But printing newspaper cost money! So the publishers like The Guardian chose new way to reduce the cost printing, as the choice a smaller paper size. They took the Berliner format, a little wider than a tabloid. It was a solution to encourage the reading in the public transport with a flexible and light newspaper. They invested into new presses which use the newest technologies for printing. They can print across two pages and in full color on every page.
Each improvement was rewarded with a circulation rise. But it wasn’t sufficient to offset the losses of the company. The fact that the readers move slowly to newer ways to get the information is not recent. The ex-CEO of the Guardian, Alan Rusbridger, said that “The
Guardian can envisage a paperless Guardian in five to ten years or to print on only certain days”. It’s means to know better the consumers interests and how they want to consume the information. It’s why the company revisited their website design and approach to fit with the expectation of the readers. They keep a classic model for the paper version and switched for a new approach for their website.
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Patrick Kibale [ID: 1451823]
Digital Marketing
BA (Hons) in Management
Digital policy
“The Guardian has revamped its website, as the newspaper looks to reflect how readers consume news rather than how journalists categorise it.”
They want an open news company. They built a incredible digital audience through all social network. And they invest in the personalization of the information. And they don’t want to charge reader for getting information online with system like the paywall. Some other news player put a paywall on their site and saw a big migration of their readers to alternative solution. Readers assume Internet is free, so the information too. The Guardian is certain that if the information is good, reader will subscribe without aggressive sales method.
They articulate all of social media around their main website. But The Guardian lets some liberties to certain mini department. As the YouTube channel provide genuine content of video, not always related with the main news feed. The reporters can give their opinion on the different blog or with their Twitter account.
They orient their digital content to push users to react.
Website
"Our last site was from a time when the majority of readers still didn't use websites as their primary source of news," explained Wolfgang Blau, the
Guardian's director of digital strategy.
The new website is based on containers. More the story is popular, bigger it will be. With the container method, they made the site responsive, so it adapts to all size of screens.
For a better immersion, the users can move and personalize the container structure (like with
Windows 8 tiles system). That will provide a more relevant feed for each. They could see some push notification as in the mobile app, to keep their attention to a live event or news which can interest them.
They emphasized the comment part for pushing readers to react. The new system highlight the best comment for avoiding to scroll to the bottom.
They build the website and the design with the reader’s community. They received more than
130,000 feedbacks already.
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Patrick Kibale [ID: 1451823]
Digital Marketing
BA (Hons) in Management
Blogs
The Guardian created lots of blog about many subjects. They want to provide a good quality of information on specific subject. Furthermore, The Guardian allows its reporters to add their opinion. It’s a really important point of differentiation between real feed of information and the blog sphere. The readers fell the reporter more involved by the subject and that tends readers to engage the discussion and to comment, to share the article.
They try to go further with the section “Opinion”. The editorial chooses a subject on their main feed and asks to the reader to send photos, messages, or videos. For example, after Prue
Leith’s article saying that patients deserve better meals, they asked to the readers to send their pictures of food in the hospitals (see “Your pictures of hospital food: the good, the bad and the ugly” on The Guardian, 4th March 2015). This feed results to a hundred of comments and more than five hundred sharing.
Podcasts
They tried to stimulate the audiophiles with a weekly podcast posted on ITunes. They took a look on the hottest news of the week. But as it showed on the website, they did it between
2010-2011, with a last try in 2014. But it was a failure because the listeners weren’t ready (or enough educated) for this kind of digital media.
Nowadays, they have integrated more they podcast. They didn’t outsource the service but it’s a part of the whole website. And it’s working better.
Apps
They launched apps on different platform: ITunes, Google Play, Windows phone market, and
Amazon. As the website, the apps are free and allow the user to personalize their content approach. Put forward the favorite subjects and hide the others. The personalization boosts the interests for The Guardian because the reader doesn’t waste his time with irrelevant content.
The ads are based on the interests of the user. More adapted the ad is, more interested will be the user.
They set a whole system of API. They allow a third part system to operate with their data.
They want to boost the homemade application. They will analyse what the reader want and that the company doesn’t provide.
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Patrick Kibale [ID: 1451823]
Digital Marketing
BA (Hons) in Management
Social media
Facebook
With a billion of users, Facebook is an important way of communication. The Guardian publishes the most attractive and interactive news on their page. And they encourage the followers to react and to share the content. They use the most sensational news to increase their community. They have more than 4 million followers who liked their page.
Twitter
Searchmetrics reveals that the Guardian website drives an average 392,358 tweets per week, so 39 tweets per second are generated with the twitter feed of The Guardian. Searchmetrics said that The Guardian is the most tweeted news provider in UK. That means that The
Guardian can use this advantage to send flash info on this canal and they can be sure that it will have an certain impact on Twitter, maybe on Facebook and other social networks. They have more than 3.5 million followers on this network.
But the strategy with Twitter is different than Facebook feed. The publications on Twitter are just links to switch on the main website. The goal is not to react on the Twitter. And the proof is that even if their 3.5 million of follower, they haven’t no much retweets or involving of the users. Youtube
“Searchmetrics, also found that a Daily Mail story about a YouTube TV show that teaches dog-owners how to make homemade pet food was the most tweeted online newspaper article of 2014.”
Youtube is the second most important search engine on internet. To be on this channel is relevant if The Guardian want to complete their integrated marketing approach.
They have around 140,000 followers on this network. It’s not as good as Facebook or Twitter.
But they create along the main news feed, interactive information and documentaries which generate thousands comments and reactions.
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Patrick Kibale [ID: 1451823]
Digital Marketing
BA (Hons) in Management
Instagram
They are using Instagram like Twitter. Another way to attract more readers to their main website. They have more than 48,000 followers and thousands of likes. They are very active on this platform and post the most beautiful picture from their news feed. The community is quite involved by tagging their friends on the funniest or most sensational pictures.
Pinterest
They did a great job for the Election coverage on Pinterest. They created a genuine content, different than the main website. They reached more than 600,000 users. The frequency of publishing is slower than Twitter or Facebook, but they are focused on the humour and cultural British subjects.
LinkedIn
They have a classic use of this network. They publish some job offers. With 60,000 followers, or possibly applicants, they have a good base for get some skilled people. Currently they are looking for people for their sales and marketing department.
Tumblr
The Guardian uses this network like a main official blog, where they can add more details about an important subject appreciated by the user on the other platforms. They succeeded to gather a community of bloggers, who reblog their favorite post to theirs and increase the visibility of The Guardian as a valuable and trustful source of information.
Flickr
The Flickr account has been replaced by the Instagram account in 2013. But it is still opened for the prosperity.
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Patrick Kibale [ID: 1451823]
Digital Marketing
BA (Hons) in Management
Recommendations and conclusions
“Now, veteran journalists must learn new ways of gathering and delivering news, and salespeople must figure out how to sell digital ads, which includes mastering an entirely new jargon.” In my opinion, they can go further in their digital approach and integrated marketing.
The website has a great potential but they have to increase their social media notoriety. The share buttons for their articles are quite good positioned. But there is any clue of Twitter feed, or Facebook box, even not enough YouTube videos. They can consolidate all of them on their website. And it won’t disturb the readers because they can hide this part if they don’t want to see it. I could be interesting to have more video from the publisher in the blog section. Not a professional video but a simple stand-out camera, minimum HD, with the comments or reactions of the blogger. The content can be publish on the blog post, and promoted on
Twitter, Facebook…
They can integrate more the paper version to the digital sphere with some social media references in the newspaper. For example, if there is a hot case as Snowden and the CIA spying, they can add at the end of the article, a simple sentence and the social media logos:
“Further and live information on FB, Tw, YT”. Most of people have a smartphone or a tablet.
Even if they prefer to have a paper version, after reading they can go checking the digital page of their favorite subject and stay tuned on it, share it or comment it.
To conclude, The Guardian digital strategies are really well implemented on internet. They succeeded to become a leader in innovation of providing premium quality information through most of popular digital networks. They said “Digital First” but the paper version remains important and is the biggest source of revenues.
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Patrick Kibale [ID: 1451823]
Digital Marketing
BA (Hons) in Management
Sources
Boag, P. (2014) The Guardian's agile processes showcase digital best practice [online],
Econsultancy, available from: https://econsultancy.com/blog/64975-the-guardian-s-agileprocesses-showcase-digital-best-practice#i.1a826b8gwadsgp [accessed 20th April 2015]
Rudin, A. (2014) Where Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants Must Collaborate [online],
The DigitalFA, available from: http://www.thedigitalfa.com/aprilrudin/where-digital-nativesand-digital-immigrants-must-collaborate/ [accessed 20th April 2015]
(2015) Top newspaper sites on Twitter: Guardian stories most shared [online], NetImpresive, available from : www.digitalstrategyconsulting.com/netimperative/news/2015/01/top_newspaper_sites_on_tw itter_guardian_stories_most_shared.php [accessed 21th April 2015]
Jackson, J. (2014) Guardian CEO: 'This is about following how people consume media in a digital world.' [online], The Media Briefing, available from : http://www.themediabriefing.com/article/guardian-ceo-andrew-miller-open-advertisingknown-membership [accessed 21th April]
(2010) Newspapers adopt strategies to counter trends [online], Amas, available from : http://amas.ie/online-research/reports/digital-advertising-and-its-impact-on-traditionalpublishers-2010/newspaper-strategies/ [accessed 21th April]
O’Reilly, L. (2015) The Guardian Just Unveiled a New Global Website to Take on
MailOnline and the New York Times [online], Business Insider, available from: http://www.businessinsider.com.au/guardian-2015-digital-plans-2015-1 [accessed 21th April]
Mackenzie, E. (2014) The Guardian: „Brilliant Journalism Is Our Marketing Strategy‟
[online], Bandt, available from: http://www.bandt.com.au/marketing/needs-marketing-budgetyouve-got-journalists [accessed 21th April]
(2012) CAN THE GUARDIAN SURVIVE? [online], More Intelligent Life, available from: http://moreintelligentlife.com/content/ideas/tim-de-lisle/can-guardian-survive [accessed 21th
April]
Evan, J. (2015) The Guardian's redesign sets new benchmark for news sites [online], WAN
IFRA, available from: http://blog.wan-ifra.org/2015/01/29/the-guardians-redesign-sets-newbenchmark-for-news-sites [accessed 21th April]
(2015) Your pictures of hospital food: the good, the bad and the ugly [online], The Guardian, available from: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/gallery/2015/mar/04/yourpictures-of-hospital-food-good-bad-ugly [accessed 25th April]
Sutcliffe, C. (2015) 'It's not a repackaging, it's a new Guardian': The commercial benefits of the Guardian relaunch [online], The Media Briefing, available from:
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Patrick Kibale [ID: 1451823]
Digital Marketing
BA (Hons) in Management
http://www.themediabriefing.com/article/guardian-david-pemsel-wolfgang-blau-newhomepage-commercial-opportunities [accessed 22th April]
Andrews, R. (2012) Guardian hires first digital strategy director to grow online business
[online], Gigaom, available from: https://gigaom.com/2012/10/16/guardian-hires-first-digitalstrategy-director-to-grow-online-business/ [accessed 22th April]
Edge, A. (2015) Key principles behind the new Guardian website [online], Journalism.co.uk, available from: https://www.journalism.co.uk/news/key-principles-behind-the-new-guardianwebsite/s2/a563921/ [accessed 22th April]
(2012) 4 Survival Strategies For Struggling Newspapers [online], NPR, available from: http://www.npr.org/2012/03/05/147956695/4-survival-strategies-for-struggling-newspapers [accessed 22th April]
Greenslade, R. (2014) ABC figures show papers' efforts to stem circulation decline [online],
The Guardian, available from: http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2014/oct/10/abc-figures-show-papers-effortsto-stem-circulation-decline [accessed 22th April]
Fraser, N. (2013) Guardian CEO: my newspaper can‟t survive in the UK [online], The
Spectator, available from: http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2013/09/guardian-ceo-thenewspaper-cant-survive-in-the-uk/ [accessed 23th April]
(2015) Guardian launches new website to complete multi-platform redesign[online], Digital
Strategy Consulting, available from: http://www.digitalstrategyconsulting.com/intelligence/2015/01/guardian_launches_new_webs ite_to_complete_multiplatform_redesign.php [accessed 23th April]
The Guardian Social Media:
Google+: https://plus.google.com/+theGuardian/posts
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theguardian
Twitter: https://twitter.com/guardian
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/theguardian/
Instagram: https://instagram.com/guardian/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheGuardian
Blogs: http://www.theguardian.com/tone/blog
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/guardian-news-&-media
Tumblr: http://guardian.tumblr.com/
Flickr (abandoned) https://www.flickr.com/photos/guardianonflickr/with/8968352548/
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