Growth in digital media—three strategies that work in any economic environment

It was a challenging year for much of the media industry but not one that was unexpected.  History said a downturn was inevitable. It could’ve been a cyclical recession like the ones we’ve seen in previous decades, but it turned out to be triggered by a global pandemic. Yet, despite the turmoil of a tough year, Industry Dive grew considerably in 2020. We’ve done this because in building the company, we focused on three digital media truths that this year has only reinforced.  

A digital audience is durable and the true foundation of any revenue strategy

It's no secret that the media businesses that were hit the hardest over the past year are those that had grown to rely on in-person events to drive revenue. The lucky ones had pandemic insurance and have lived to fight another day. Others were left scrambling to make up lost revenue. The nimble ones were able to find new revenue streams - most commonly virtual events.

The common thread for executing this transition was strong digital audiences. Today, any effort to diversify revenue or pivot business models starts with the audience. In every case, that means email. Newsletters are the workhorse of media companies not just because they are profitable but because they provide flexibility and optionality.  Want to launch a new virtual event? Want to launch a new online learning course?  Or sell subscriptions?  You’ll need to start with a digital audience.   

Great content is what attracts a digital audience

Industry Dive started as three co-founders sitting in an old corner grocery store. Even in those days, content was at the core of what we have done. Today, our newsroom has grown to more than 80 full-time journalists who cover the trends and issues shaping the most dynamic industries in the world. More than any other factor, this focus on content was what created a durable connection between us and our readers during this past year.  In 2020, we  hired journalists throughout the pandemic and invested  in new publications including Cybersecurity Dive and Transport Dive.  This week, we added a premier publication to our platform with the acquisition of CFO, a staple in financial media that will now serve as a complement to CFO Dive.

But great content can’t be limited to just the editorial team. We've long recognized that our marketing partners have complex stories to tell.   By combining great content with real audience insights driven by first-party data and direct distribution to owned audiences, a media company can create an offering that can’t be matched by a stand alone studio.  This summer, we acquired what would become studioID (formerly Newscred’s content marketing studio). It’s already proven to be a powerful platform to help our marketing partners connect with our audiences and is among the fastest growing parts of our business. 

The key is making these content investments regularly. It has to be part of the plan each year.

There is still treasure in niche markets

When we launched in 2012, the conventional wisdom was to build as large of an audience as possible. It never fully resonated with our team. True scale doesn't mean doing something that isn't valuable on its own millions of times. Scale means doing something highly lucrative multiple times. Value has always been found in hard-to-find and hard-to-convene audiences -- the difficulty is what makes it valuable.

Thankfully, the scale for scale sake trend has abated today. People see value in niches but, as you grow, you need to penetrate them even more. This month we split Education Dive into two markets - K12 and Higher Ed. Both publications are focused on education, but the markets are so different that they deserve dedicated focus.  Similarly, we recently added a gene therapy weekly newsletter to the BioPharma Dive portfolio.  BioPharma is already a niche topic to most media companies but by going even deeper, we’ll be able to mine a new level of audiences and unlock even more value.

Relentlessly looking to go even deeper is the key to real success  in niche media.  

On the surface, these three lessons might sound obvious but it’s easy to be distracted and lose focus. Industry Dive’s successes over the last several years can be directly attributed to our team’s approach to combining first-class content with niche audiences -- and that’s a commitment our readers can always expect from us.