How content publishers focus their attention on smart watches

Tencent Science and Technology March 12, news agencies have moved from the printing business to digital business and mobile business, now Apple Watch high-profile, content rendering screen becomes smaller. How should content publishers serve users and focus their attention on smart watches?

in the past one months, Jack Riley, head of reader development at the Huffington Post UK division, has been studying the question: How should the news media treat Apple Watch, Android Wear, and other new wearable devices worn on the wrist Jack Relly? What are the opportunities, risks and challenges?


The following is Part IV:

How does
publishers profit from smart watches?


Although wearable equipment is new and has limited potential for immediate impact on audiences and revenues, publishers have been focused on whether they can make a profit from the business model as the publishing industry has been changing. In view of the immediacy of the smart watch experience and the high quality of new data that wearable sensors can produce, the advertising industry is beginning to recognize the enormous commercial potential of wearable devices as marketing channels. Jeff Malmaid (Jeff Malmad) told me that Mindshare sees wearable devices and networking as a unique opportunity as important as the media in the past: "We see three stages of digital advertising." The first stage is the desktop computer, the second stage is mobile equipment, the third stage is wearable equipment and the internet of things. ”


but developing wearable devices doesn't just mean shifting the existing marketing model to a watch, Malmaid says:


We're not talking about sending a 30-second video to a smart watch or sending a banner ad. We are talking about how we can provide additional experience in a way that the consumer chooses, or in a way that is not highly intrusive.


for publishers, the risk of missing a new platform is real. "Our industry has barely figured out how to make money from mobile phones and I'm a little worried about the prospect of wearable equipment," said Michael Phelps, senior product manager at the New York Times. ”

There are several types of
wearable devices, which are different from mobile phones. Mobile data traffic usually rises in time when people do not use desktops, such as mornings and evenings. At least in the near future, wearable products are designed to match the use of mobile phones, but also with mobile content consumption at the same time. Publishers may use smart watch reminders to draw attention to their phones.


Wearable products The biggest problem with advertising is the size of the screen. (The largest Apple Watch screen height is only 42 mm.) Although many of the publishers I interviewed did not rule out the opportunity-"never say never, because advertisers can always publish their messages to every screen in the world", as some have said-but few think there is a chance of good results in the near future.


, Spritz's chief technology officer Mack Mauriel (Maik Maurer), said the transformation was a typical problem for publishers when adapting to the new platform: "People only use their customary advertising and content presentation, just as they are accustomed to using mobile phones." They will try to use smart watches, but they will think ' this is not going to work ' because the usage environment has changed. ”


Aside from the traditional display of advertising, publishers seem to have limited access to the benefits of wearable equipment-but I found three of the biggest possibilities in the interview.


first, publishers may have the opportunity to create content that works for certain brands, and then get content authorization and cooperative revenue directly from those brands. Delivering relevant content and branding may open up new opportunities. Imagine that when a user comes to a city in Friday or Saturday night, a Budweiser brand nightlife guide that uses the time out content is sent to the user's smart watch tip based on the user's location, which also includes a local bar star rating.


second, wearable equipment is a potential channel for publishers to promote mobile advertising. Even if a watch reminder does not translate into content on the phone, publishers can still build product loyalty and keep the brand focused.


Third, subscribing publishers may find that wearable products can enhance the value of multiple platforms or mobile subscriptions. The New York Times and the Financial Times have told me that their ad-charging model has some advantages over wearable platforms. "At least for Apple Watches, watch applications are tied directly to mobile apps, or watch applications need to be controlled by apps on the phone," Phelps told me. Therefore, a workable pricing strategy on a mobile phone may also be used on a watch. "For financial and sports publishers in particular, the timeliness of reminders is key, so smart watches are a bigger opportunity than traditional advertising."


The publishers I interviewed are not worried about the long-term impact that people may have from mobile platforms to wearable platforms. Direct in smart watches the traditional display of advertising has not been proven to be practical, we look at the new platform in the history of advertising can be understood:


If you go back in time, the ad agency said, "We're not going to advertise on the Web," We're not going to be advertising on Facebook, "Facebook is meaningless," Twitter is meaningless, "Snapchat meaningless." Smart watch doesn't make sense to you right now. But if there are thousands, millions of people, or even billions of people in use, then you will come up with a way to use it.

What should
push notification be?


because it is difficult to read any reasonable length of content on smartphones, the focus of content products on wearable devices is likely to be push notifications. Since the introduction of notifications in the IOS3 system in 2009, the use and impact of notifications has become increasingly widespread. The Andrew Phillips of the New York Times is mainly about its specificity as a media:


New York Times's sudden news announcement was pushed to 15 million devices, which is a crazy number. There is no other communication medium in history that allows us to connect to so many people at the same time, perhaps except television. Even if we have 15 million followers in our Twitter account, only 2% of them will see a tweet at the same time. We are now able to transmit to them immediately whatever we want to say, and of course our responsibilities are significant.


is not like TV, push notification can at any time let you drop what you are doing. Every person I interviewed thinks that notice is the main form of user interaction on a smart watch.


Apple Watch will have two forms of notification. One is Shortlook, it will jump out when something needs to be notified, you just glance at it, the second is longlook, it triggers when you get the alert, and it shows more about the notification. On the Android Wear, the notice is either on the background, you can view it anytime, or it will remind you that you can click Expand, or you can swipe the finger to switch to another option.


Lets notify personalization


Most news organizations use push notifications to send bursts of news. Every person I interviewed said that the form of notification affected their work and life. BBC Product director Pembroke describes the BBC News application in this way:


Push notification One of the current problems is that we cannot personalize the notification. Every BBC News reminder I send will be communicated to everyone-whether at night or during the day, wherever they are, and whether or not they are interested in certain topics.


Apple highlighted the "personalization" side of Apple's Watch, which it used 19 times to introduce its products. The focus of this topic, of course, has also been posted to publishers, who emphasise that personalized content and more personalised customization are key to successful development of smart watch content. "Since Apple Watches are personal devices, it makes sense to push more personalized notices," Phelps said. ”


Custom Content


Many publishers will face technical and resource challenges in customizing content for wearable products. In addition to relying on a user's iphone or Android phone to create detailed user profiles, smart watches also have a full set of sensors that can be used to assist the process. The most important of wearable devices are sensors, such as Fitbits and jawbones, which use sensors to track the user's fitness activities. Most smart watch poster microphones, ambient light sensors, accelerometers and heart rate monitors. There are also built-in GPS and mobile reception functions, and some rely on the bundled phone to get the data.

Richard of
, USA Today, found these devices are built into a series of sensors that understand the details of a user's life. These devices can tell you how to act and change sedentary lifestyles. "Pembroke found that location information is more useful to the BBC than personal body information, and the BBC can use location information to push breaking news and local news."


location information is important, wearable devices can provide the real mobile experience we have been looking forward to on mobile phones.


Apple Watch just launched, only the developers can access its hardware, so in a moment we will not see the use of the Apple Watch sensor news products. However, Courtes Moulles Kurt Mueller, the National Geographic and the United Nations Development product, said in an interview that Apple would unlock the sensors after the product was ripe. At that time, developers can use news products to send users more information they think is useful to users. That means that these apps can send you a workout recipe that will refresh your interest when you're in the gym, and you won't be able to push a breaking news alert when you're running or working.


the last examples are the key, because these examples are based on the concept of "negative space" in news publishing. Today's digital products do not know when to disturb the user. Markowitz, in his research on mobile addiction, has pointed out the harmfulness of equipment addiction in the contemporary knowledge worker economy, he explains this problem:


The next important function of the phone should be to make me less capable of taking out the phone. That kind of cell phone will let me put the phone aside. I am a knowledge worker, the way I feed my family is to think, I do not want to be disturbed.


will be more likely to switch to new models by personalizing publishers who have used active or passive information from readers. Circa's CEO, Matt Garigan, believes that the user's choice of journalism will be beneficial to developing wearable products.


but developing products according to user preferences is also a challenge. Phelps said:

There are many problems with
personalization itself. You use algorithms to recommend them, but when they don't like your recommendation, you lose those users. We are always careful because users may permanently disable your alerts.


the right sound


to BuzzFeed news website Noya Chestenath (Noah chestnut), the notice represents the opportunity: "This is a new form." This kind of notice may seem boring, insignificant, and personal, relative to SMS notification. "The solution is to make the notification more like the content on the platform. Regardless of the manner in which they are addressed, maintaining relevance, personalization, and brevity is the three key factor in creating the wearable content of the results.