Analyzing theSkimm’s ad strategy for success

This week, I’ll analyze theSkimm’s Google Ads campaigns to see how they’ve made the media company a million-dollar success.

Plus tech updates from the media industry:

• WordPress Media Corps (what is it, and should you care?)

• ScarJo vs OpenAI on adding a Text-To-Speech feature

• MailChimp adds new call-analysis tool to features

• Washington Post follows NYT in voicing three of its newsletters with AI

• Amazon Publisher Cloud + Amazon Signal IQ

• Yahoo unveils new Sender Hub Dashboard for better email deliverability management

• Apple News is a new favorite platform for publishers

• IAB Tech Lab on alternative IDs and transparency & Colossus accused of fraud

• Media Company of the Week: theSkimm

WordPress Media Corps (what is it, and should you care?)

The WordPress Media Corps is a game-changing initiative from the WordPress community. It was born out of the pandemic, when the community recognized the vital but often overlooked contributions of independent media creators in the WordPress ecosystem. The Corps aims to amplify these contributions, providing much-needed support to these creators and enriching the WordPress community as a whole.

WordPress 6.5 includes a plugin that can help your SEO

The latest WordPress update, version 6.5, includes a new plugin for improving SEO. This tool helps users optimize their websites for better visibility in search engine results, making it easier to attract and retain visitors.

GenAI x Media

ScarJo vs OpenAI on adding a Text-To-Speech feature

Scarlett Johansson is upset with OpenAI after they released a chatbot with a voice that sounds like hers despite her refusal to license her voice. This strange issue started with an OpenAI exec’s idea of recreating the movie Her (2013), where she plays the voice of the first AI operating system to become conscious.

MailChimp adds new AI call-analysis tool to features

CallRail and Mailchimp Intuit have teamed up to integrate an AI-driven conversation insights tool into the ESP’s platform. This feature will help businesses personalize emails and messages based on the insights the tool gathers from their interactions.

Washington Post follows NYT in adding AI voice for three of its newsletters

The Washington Post has followed the New York Times by adding AI-generated voices to three of its newsletters: Early Brief, Health Brief, and Tech Brief. The voice-over lets subscribers listen to the newsletters via the Washington Post’s app, enhancing accessibility and user experience. 

Going with a more is better philosophy about AI, the audio version of these newsletters will introduce dynamic AI-generated audio ads integrated seamlessly into the audio content. What does that sound like? If you have checked it out already, leave a comment and let us know.

Amazon’s Ad Solutions: Publisher Cloud + Amazon Signal IQ

Amazon Publisher Cloud is finally out of beta, offering features that allow advertisers direct access to ad space with major publishers. This move is part of Amazon’s strategy to grow its ad business and improve performance across different platforms​​.

Amazon has also introduced another adtech product called Signal IQ, a solution to the 3rd-party cookie deprecation problem. At first glance, it seems capable enough.

Yahoo unveils new Sender Hub Dashboard for better email deliverability management

Yahoo’s new Sender Hub Dashboard can help you improve email deliverability for your newsletters. It provides enhanced tools for managing and optimizing email campaigns to ensure messages reach their intended audience.

Apple News is a new favorite platform for publishers

The usual online traffic sources like Facebook and Google have become less reliable. That’s why publishers are turning to Apple News as a new revenue stream. For instance, The Daily Beast saw potential revenues of $3-4 million this year from Apple News+, surpassing its standalone subscription program. This partnership allows publishers to reach a large audience through Apple’s platform without spending considerable money. Major media companies like Condé Nast, Vox, and Time have also reported substantial revenue from Apple News+.

Next week I will continue this topic with an expert interview. Subscribe if you don’t want to miss it, and refer to friends who may be interested.

Reddit strikes a deal with OpenAI

Reddit is the latest platform to announce its partnership to share content with OpenAI. Like Dotdash Meredith and Stack Overflow last week, this deal will improve OpenAI’s models by leveraging vast amounts of user-generated content​​.

Google vs. Publishers, a new round

Google CEO Sundar Pichai addressed some of publishers’ concerns, but the answers were not 

He acknowledged that AI-powered search results, including the new AI Overviews, worry publishers who depend on organic traffic finding these AI features helpful, providing more engagement and CTR.

Will Google punish publishers for not opting for its Privacy Sandbox?

There are concerns that Google might punish publishers who don’t join its Privacy Sandbox initiative. This could lead to reduced ad revenues and limited access to important audience data​​.

IAB Tech Lab on alternative IDs and transparency after Colossus accused of fraud

The IAB Tech Lab has introduced new standards to improve transparency in the use of ID bridging, a method where publishers link user identities across different environments. These standards clarify the use of the buyeruid and Extended Identifiers (EID) fields in bid requests. The buyeruid field, traditionally used for third-party cookies, will now only contain identifiers agreed upon by both buyers and sellers. All alternative IDs, including those used for ID bridging, must be declared in the EID field. This change aims to ensure that demand-side platforms (DSPs) are aware of the identifiers they are bidding on, which will help prevent fraud like the Colossus case.

Ad tech company Colossus is facing scrutiny after being accused of mismanaging user IDs, which led advertisers to target the wrong audiences. It seems the adtech vendor mislabeled IDs, causing ads to be shown to unintended groups and affecting ad performance

Media Company of the Week: theSkimm

Last week I analyzed 1440’s Google Ads copywriting strategies, trying to find out how they use paid traffic to drive their $15 million revenue. This week, let’s take a look at theSkimm and its similar strategy of driving paid traffic to power its growth and ad arbitrage.

TheSkimm’s Strategy Overview

TheSkimm’s advertising strategy focuses on integrating their service into the daily routines of their audience. Their ads frequently use action-oriented words like “sign,” “start,” and “get” to encourage immediate engagement. They emphasize the daily nature of their updates with keywords like “daily” and “day,” which appear prominently in their ad copies. This approach aims to make theSkimm a regular part of their users’ mornings. They also highlight the relevance and impact of the news they provide, with words like “affect,” “biggest,” and “stories,” suggesting that their content is essential and engaging.

Additionally, theSkimm builds trust and credibility by frequently mentioning “trusted,” “millions,” and “free.” These words suggest a reliable and popular service without barriers like price, making it accessible to a very broad audience. Their ad copies often stress the convenience of their service, with terms like “minutes” and “quick,” indicating that users can stay informed without investing much time. Overall, theSkimm’s strategy is to create a habit-forming, trustworthy, and time-efficient news source that fits seamlessly into the daily lives of its readers.

theSkimm vs. 1440

We know that theSkimm is targeting roughly the same types of users as 1440. It offers general news instead of focusing on any specific niche, which makes it harder to succeed but very profitable if you do make it. The language and style theSkimm uses is also more or less the same as 1440, with some small changes that can be interesting. 

theSkimm:

• Tone: Informal and engaging, aiming to make news a daily habit.

• Style: Uses a lot of action verbs like “sign,” “start,” and “connect,” emphasizing routine and necessity. It also focuses on the impact and relevance of news, with words like “affect,” “biggest,” and “stories.”

• Themes: Promotes the daily aspect of its service (“daily,” “day”), and social proof and trust (“trusted,” “millions”).

1440:

• Tone: Informative and trustworthy, focusing on unbiased and comprehensive news coverage.

• Style: Uses terms like “scour,” “sources,” and “facts,” highlighting thoroughness and reliability. It also emphasizes large readership numbers with words like “million,” “readers,” and “join.”

• Themes: Emphasizes the breadth of coverage (“business,” “sports,” “culture,” “science,” “politics”), the time-efficient nature of its service (“minute”), and, again, trustworthiness and social proof (“millions of readers”).

Now let’s look at some comparisons between theSkimm and 1440, mostly about the keywords they use on Google Ads campaigns and what position they land.

It seems theSkimm ads land better positions on Google’s search result pages for similar keywords.