Closing a print daily and switching to weekly print plus daily digital is a big step for any publisher, let alone one with a 100 year history and a church as its owner. The story of the digital transformation of the US-based Christian Science Monitor(CSM), now reaching the biggest audience in its history, provides some useful lessons for publishers in the US and UK. Publisher, Jonathan Wells, and Editor, John Yemma, jointly presented a keynote at SIPA in Washington DC. Here’s what we learnt from the session…
Christian Science Monitor – Premium B2B products
Quick history of CSM for non-US publishers
Established in 1908 by Mary Baker Eddy, founder of the church of Christ, Scientist, CSM is now an international news organisation with a predominantly secular agenda, with a reputation for objective reporting on worldwide politics. Since ending daily print publication and focusing on the web for their news service, their page views have grown tenfold in the last 5 years.
Bringing analytics into the newsroom
Focussing on the website meant journalists looked harder at what stories were most read, and used this insight to develop their coverage. Adding quizzes, lists and working on on-page optimization doubled traffic over 2 years. But it did take time for staff to adapt to the culture of SEO.
Building new products around popular sections
Assessing the performance of key content areas led to a focus on new product extensions. DC Decoder is a premium product that provides quick explainers on political jargon, concepts and issues. This now reaches 1 million politically engaged citizens a month, with 50% higher loyalty than the main site.
Creating a reader feedback loop
DC Decoder regularly asks its readers which tricky political debates should get the Decoder treatment. Polls and surveys lead to articles, and readers get emails with customised content.
Replacing the broken ad model with sponsored content.
CSM has also developed sponsorable content around another popular topic, energy and environment. The also work with advertisers to find ad placement in relevant subject areas.
Launching premium B2B products based on key expertise
Using their understanding of the political situation worldwide, CSM has launched segmented premium products: World Report for senior executives, Risk report for risk and operational managers and Global Security forecast.
Empathising with journalists through transition, but don’t stop
Editorial teams had to learn SEO, use analytics to refine their content, and collaborate more closely with publishing to develop partnerships with sponsors. Yes there was resistance, but the publishing teams remained persistent, and the CSM is now achieving historic levels of profitability.
The story of this quiet revolution at CSM is inspiring for other publishers, and shows the value of analyzing popular content niches and using these to develop paid services.
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Carolyn Morgan has launched, acquired, grown & sold specialist media businesses in print, web and events. She launched the Specialist Media Show in 2010 and grew a community of ambitious publishers keen to grow their digital activity. SIIA acquired the Specialist Media Show in 2013 and Carolyn is now Programme Director for SIIA UK. Follow Carolyn on twitter at @siiauk.