Native Advertising is an Excellent Solution for Small Mobile Screens

The drastic upturn in mobile usage has left publishers scrambling to find advertising revenue. Contrary to earlier expectations, Americans have warmed to mobile, leaving laptops in the dust. Between 2013 and 2015, total time spent on the mobile-adjusted versions of newspapers and magazines jumped from 25 billion minutes to 49 billion minutes.

This rapid change poses a serious challenge to publishers who depend on digital advertising revenue to compensate for deteriorating print ad revenue. Regrettably, smartphones and tablets do not take easily to advertisements. On the small screen, it’s difficult to fit in the same number of ads that appear on publishers’ pages when displayed on a desktop or laptop. Furthermore, banner ads that run across larger screens are irrelevant to mobile screens. Continue reading →

Are E-books Overpriced Compared to Print?

Ebook sales have slipped yet again, according to the most recently released figures. So far, 2015 figures have shown a significant drop in sales from 2014 figures. Most pointedly, the big publishers who signed price-setting deals with Amazon have reported declining revenue from ebooks, leading to questions about the wisdom of having made those deals in the first place.

Those deals were meant to stem the tide of Amazon’s price cuts. Before these deals were made, Amazon would regularly slash the cost of ebooks that they had purchased from big publishers. Driven by an effort to win more ebook readers, Amazon would willingly swallow the loss of profits. Continue reading →