Generating Ad Revenue With Your Digital Publications

Selling ad space has been a staple for print publications and is how most newspapers and magazines earn most of their revenue. As more and more publishers are switching to digital publications, there’s a new market for digital advertisements. The beauty of digital publishing is that there are more options for ad space than there are for print. Plus, the power of the internet improves the quality of advertisements and gives you key information that you can leverage to increase your rates. Keep reading to learn more about how you can generate ad revenue with your digital publications.

Types of Ads

Traditional page ads
One way to sell ad space is to use the same method as print publishers. Allow companies to purchase space within your digital editions – full page, half page, quarter page, etc. It’s essentially the same thing as with a print magazine or newspaper but instead is in a digital publication. This has been a tried and true method that publishers have been using for decades.

Web & email links
Digital has many benefits over print publishing, one of them being the ability to enhance advertisements with hyperlinks. Your advertisers can buy ad space with web and/or email links. They’ll love this because your readers can click the link in the ad to visit their website or contact them via email. Readers will appreciate the convenience of being able to reach or learn more about the companies that have piqued their interest. Advertisers will see an increase in web traffic, leads, and sales. Linked ads are much more effective than print ads, which require an interested reader to take the effort to search for the company online. Creating a convenient experience is crucial to maximizing sales, and providing links in advertisements does just that.

Digital Publishing ads

Video ads
Video is quickly becoming one of the most popular forms of content marketing. Companies are putting time and money into growing their YouTube channels, posting videos on their social channels, and regularly posting Snapchat and Instagram stories. Take advantage of this trend by selling video ad space in your digital publications. Your advertisers can have their YouTube and Vimeo videos embedded in your e-editions. All readers have to do is click the video link and it’ll display in a pop-up. It’s an especially attractive feature for companies that are trying to grow their video presence.

Digital Publishing - Video Ads

Skyscraper & leaderboard ads
Like websites, digital newspapers and magazines have the capability for leaderboard and skyscraper ads. These advertisements can have links, allowing advertisers to drive traffic to their websites. Impressions and click-through rates for these types of ads tend to be high since the reader sees them before they even start reading the publication.

Digital Publishing - Skyscraper & leaderboard ads

Leveraging data

Digital publications provide you with valuable data about how they’re viewed and consumed. Take advantage of traffic reports or Google Analytics to see the number of visits, page views, and clicks your digital editions receive. Leverage this data to negotiate higher prices for your advertisers. When acquiring new advertisers, you can share the average number of clicks, views, and click-through rates ads receive to win their business. Since print magazines and newspaper can’t provide you with this information, it can be harder to successfully negotiate higher ad rates. You can only give estimates of the number of readers, and you don’t have a way of knowing how many print ads are actually seen. Leveraging analytics about your digital publications and advertisements can help you generate more ad revenue than you ever could with print.

To learn more about advertising in digital publications, contact us today.