Amid speculation about the way Google should assess white label solutions, including coupon platforms, the real story has fallen by the wayside. These popular collaborations provide a highly-prized source of revenue for media houses in an industry that is continuing to evolve in the digital space.
Over 31 billion eCoupons were redeemed worldwide by some 1 billion mobile coupon users in 2019, and that is only set to grow. By offering coupons on their sites, publishers can reach new audiences and further integrate into e-commerce while enhancing the readers’ user experience. This incremental source of revenue helps publishers focus on journalism while diversifying their revenue streams at the same time.
Securing Trust and Brand Safety
In an environment where brand safety is more important than ever, publishers’ approach to vetting, selecting and featuring advertisements, such as coupons and offers, provides consumers with easy-to-find, reliable and credible settings in which to browse commerce content. With quality at the fore, we don’t see any contradiction between such collaborations and Google’s mission to surface the most useful, relevant information for users.
After all, reputable media houses choose their content partners carefully through a tested and intense process. Their main goal is to provide users of the newly created content section an experience that matches their brand DNA, which means working in sync with editorial guidelines and producing the highest quality commerce content every step of the way.
Many of the notable publishers that have adopted this approach have proven track records. They have worked hard to earn the trust of readers, big platforms and brands over the years by consistently delivering first-rate content.
Diversification: The New Normal
Nobody can foresee whether a business diversifying will have an immediate positive or negative effect, so the question that many in the industry have been asking is: why has there been a push to decide prematurely? Why not leave it up to the users to make the decision whether such solutions are useful to them, as would be the case with any other type of content on the web?
It should be noted that the speculation has not borne fruit. The leading couponing sites in many markets are still those that are run in collaboration with media sites. In fact, over the last months, we have seen publishers really embracing the commercial content aspects of their websites. These sections are increasingly part of their identity, and publishers have made commercial content topics their own. Publishers continue to develop these solutions in order to ensure the quality of their products and uphold brand and consumer safety. Ultimately, whether editorial or e-commerce, the readers come first.
Given the move from print to digital, publishers have explored a number of new ways to generate revenue in a bid to secure a sustainable future. At a time when media industry layoffs abound, consumer coupon offerings on their sites have proven for many to be a winning strategy, generating meaningful revenue. In a continually developing market, it’s unlikely that any business can thrive long term with only a single product or revenue stream.