The metrics for success in online publishing have changed. What are the implications for advertisers and publishers when performance is measured, not by clicks, but by attention?
Illustrations by Rosa Van Heusden
In 1994, a former direct mail marketer, Ken McCarthy of the Internet Gazette, organised Silicon Valley’s first seminars on internet marketing. These conferences were essential to the internet’s success as they were responsible for some of the first initiatives to bridge the then separate worlds of the multimedia industry and the nascent internet phenomenon.
The premise was simple. The internet, like any other information medium, could become a platform for content, an outlet for marketing, and a source of revenue. McCarthy covered subjects that are pervasive today, but were then unheard of, such as applying direct marketing principles to e-mail, monetising off banner advertisements, and, perhaps, most importantly for the internet of today, implementing the clickthrough rate as a metric of content engagement an ad performance.
It’s important to consider that the multimedia industry has always been competitive, and it’s always been such that content creators were responsible for writing attention- grabbing headlines, (see: sensationalism). The difference, however, lies in the end goals that determine a media company’s viability. The print publication model requires that direct newspaper or magazine sales serve as the main key performance indicators (KPI). As a result, a skilled writer was one who was able to write catchy headlines and deliver meaningful content that would bring readers back to the kiosk to purchase another issue.
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