Today’s media universe is forcing companies, but also the communication agencies, to surf in a sea of complexity. New channels, new influencers and online services have been added to the traditional landscape in recent years.
Nevertheless in Italy, the TV sector remains strong. Printed press is weak and declining, with consumers increasingly using the web and smartphones as sources of information. This is the current state of the Italian media landscape according to Digital News Report 2016, published by Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.
Considering the overall decline in revenues of traditional media in Italy (-12% from 2010 to 2014), the printed press has been the most affected sector. Digital earnings are growing, but still represent a marginal share.
According to figures provided by Agcom (the Italian authority for the communication industries) in 2015, the contribution of media digital activities grew from 5% in 2010 to 10% in 2014, but unable to offset the losses of the traditional press.
Editors need relevant content
In this difficult context, PR plays an increasingly crucial role. So with investments in advertising plummeting, how do companies ensure their brand visibility? To answer this question, let’s put ourselves on the side of the editor, who needs to talk to his readers and generate interest. Editors need relevant content to reach readers that are increasingly evolved and tired of reading approximate articles that remain superficial. The content that we are able to offer editors should really make a difference to readers; the more the content we provide is “spendable”, the bigger the chance that our ideas and those of the brands we represent fly high. And this is true in both traditional and digital scenarios.
In Italy, we have recently experienced a successful use case of content syndication for our client Houzz, a leading platform for home remodeling and design. We offered journalists pre-packed content (infographics, images, texts) related to the design world asking the publication to publish the content on behalf of an Houzz editor (e.g. the Italian Huffington Post). This proved to be a win win tactic both on the side of the media side (relying on many pieces of attractive content), and on the client side (reinforcing its positioning in the design industry).
Have a look at the LEWIS Global Media Guide in which you will find information of regions LEWIS operates in such as top news outlets, most popular business publications and online browsers, fun facts, PR and marketing tips and more.
