importance of online communities to publishers - bowker research
DESCRIPTION
In this study conducted by Bowker Research for Publishing Technology, trade and academic publishers revealed that online communities were of increasing significance to their businesses, with 90% of publishers expecting to run at least one by 2015.TRANSCRIPT
Online CommunitiesA study for Publishing Technology
Key findings: April 2013
BackgroundIn both the UK and the US trade and academic publishers are striving to engage and build closer relationships with their audiences online. Many are discovering that building online communities is an effective, direct way to entice and maintain their interest. In order to benchmark activity in this area, and to provide information on its likely growth, Publishing Technology commissioned Bowker Market Research to undertaken a research project to investigate:
• Numbers of communities currently hosted by publishers• Key benefits of such communities• Whether publishers believe their investment is paying off• What impact, if any, such investment is having on sales• Future investment plans
For the purposes of this survey, online communities are described as: A publisher-owned website/platform that offers a common interest around which the community is themed, with interactive communication between the organisation and community members and between the members themselves. This might include online communities which use fan sites in order to help build their member base, but not fan sites themselves that are dedicated to an individual author, series or title.
This report provides the key data from this study.
3
Methodology• Online questionnaire devised by Bowker Market Research
• Survey undertaken in late March 2013
• Invitation to participate sent to broad range of trade and academic publishers in both the UK and the US
• Responses received from 49 companies: see Appendix for sample demographics
4
Two-thirds of responding publishers have some OCs now; this is likely to rise to over 90% by 2015. Trade publishers are more advanced, but A&P will be moving heavily into the market by 2015. At least two-thirds expect to have more OCs by 2015: just one respondents expect to see a decline.
Total now
UK now US now Trade now
A&P now
o Total 2015
UK 2015 US 2015 Trade 2015
A&P 2015
0
20
40
60
80
100
31 30 31
14
55
6 6 6 310
27 33
1338
10
31 30 3124
40
14
18
6
14
15
18 24
6 21
15
16
12
25
21
10
2021
1921
20
12 6
2514 10
2418
3831
15
7 or more
5 or 6
3 or 4
1 or 2
None
% Average number hosted/ expect to host 2.1 1.7 2.9 2.4 1.7 5.0 5.0 5.1 6.3 3.2
Q Currently, how many online communities does your company/division own/host now and how many might it have by the end of 2015?
5
While large companies have/expect to have the most OCs, small companies have/anticipate having higher numbers than medium ones.
Small now Medium now Large now Column2 Small 2015 Medium 2015 Large 20150
20
40
60
80
100
33 37
11 5 11
3821
1138 32
11
1021
11
2411
22
521
33
1432
11
14
3319 16
56
7 or more
5 or 6
3 or 4
1 or 2
None
%
Average number 2.3 1.1 3.9 5.4 3.6 7.1
Q Currently, how many online communities does your company/division own/host now and how many might it have by the end of 2015?
abBase: all
6
Trade publishers are much more like to have OCS currently, but A&P activity is likely to grow significantly, with only marginal movement into children’s.
Total now
UK now
US now
Trade now
A&P now
Column2
Total 2015
UK 2015
US 2015
Trade 2015
A&P 2015
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
62
61
64
76
22
51
55
43
78
11
29
35
18
8
89
49
48
50
19
94
12
13
9
16
16
13
21
26
6
4
9
4
7
3
14
11
Trade Academic & Professional Children's Other
%
Q In what areas of publishing do you currently own/host online communitiesQ In what areas of publishing will your own/host online communities by the end of 2015?
ab
All with OC in 2015
All with OC now
7
Social networking and author-reader interaction are the most important aspect of OCs for trade publishers, while collaboration, discussion groups and professional networking are highly relevant to A&P publishers.
Social network-
ingInterac-tion be-
tween au-thors and readers
Discussion groupsCollabora-
tion (e.g. between writers,
aca-demics,
etc)Profes-sional ne-towrking
Other
0 20 40 60 80 100
79
65
41
35
26
6
92
68
32
20
12
4
44
56
67
78
67
11
A&P
Trade
Total
%
Q What is the focus of the communities that you currently own/host?
Base: all with OC now
8
Approximately 30% started over 5 years ago, and there has been entries into the market every year since then. A&P publishers started much earlier than trade, with little difference between the UK and US.
Total
UK
US
Trade
A&P
0 20 40 60 80 100
18
17
18
24
18
22
9
20
11
12
13
9
12
11
18
13
27
20
11
29
30
27
16
67
6
4
9
8
2012 2011 2010 2009 Before 2009 Don't know
%
Q In what year did you launch your first online community? Base: all with OC now
9
The larger the company, the earlier it started, and in general the more OCs the company has the earlier it started
Small
Medium
Large
1 or 2
3 or 4
5 or 6
7 or more
0 20 40 60 80 100
36
8
31
14
17
21
17
13
38
13
0
25
13
14
25
17
14
17
25
8
43
25
0
14
33
50
15
29
38
50
14
8
17
2012 2011 2010 2009 Before 2009 Don't know
%
Q In what year did you launch the first online community?
Base: all with OC now
10
By far the leading benefit is seen as increased engagement with audience/members, followed by increased direct relationship with customers. There are no differences between those who have and have not got an OC at present.
Increased engage-
ment with audience/members
Increasing direct re-lationship with cus-tomers
Increasing our
knowl-edge and
under-standing of cus-tomers
General marketing to support
other sales
channels
Increasing loyalty
Increased content usage
Works as a direct
sales channel
Greater integra-tion of content with the reader’s
workflow
Faster peer-to-
peer review-
ing
Obtain feedback from cus-tomers on particular
issues
Experi-mentation to inform
future strategy
Authors like to get involved
Other benefits
0 20 40 60 80
73
53
35
33
18
18
16
14
10
8
8
6
4
%
Q What do you see as the 3 most important actual or potential benefits of online communities? Base: all
11
US publishers are much more likely to mention increased direct relationship with customers, with both US and UK publishers most likely to mention increasing knowledge/understanding of customers.
Increased engagement with audience/members
Increasing direct relationship with customers
Increasing our knowledge and understanding of customers
General marketing to support other sales channels
Increasing loyalty
Increased content usage
Works as a direct sales channel
Greater integration of content with the reader’s workflow
Faster peer-to-peer reviewing
Obtain feedback from customers on particular issues
Experimentation to inform future strategy
Authors like to get involved
Other benefits
0 20 40 60 80
73
48
45
30
21
15
15
12
12
9
6
6
6
75
63
13
38
13
25
19
19
6
6
13
6
0
US (16)UK (33)
%
Q What do you see as the 3 most important actual or potential benefits of online communities?
Base: all
12
Trade publishers are particularly likely to mention increased direct relationship with customers and general marketing to support other sales channels; A&P publishers show considerable interest in content usage and integration
Increased engage-
ment with audience/members
Increasing direct re-lationship with cus-tomers
Increasing our
knowledge and un-
derstand-ing of cus-
tomers
General marketing to support
other sales
channels
Increasing loyalty
Increased content usage
Works as a direct
sales channel
Greater integra-tion of content with the reader’s workflow
Faster peer-to-
peer review-
ing
Obtain feedback from cus-tomers on particular
issues
Experi-mentation to inform
future strategy
Authors like to get involved
Other benefits
0 20 40 60 80
76
72
31
45
17
3
10
0
14
10
10
10
0
70
25
40
15
20
40
25
35
5
5
5
0
10
A&P (20)Trade (29)
%
Q What do you see as the 3 most important actual or potential benefits of online communities? Base: all
13
The main differences between those with and without OCs at present perhaps reflect the fact that the latter have a higher proportion of A&Ps, and thus show more concern for content-related benefits
Increased engage-
ment with audience/members
Increasing direct re-lationship with cus-tomers
General marketing to support
other sales
channels
Increasing our
knowledge and un-
derstand-ing of cus-
tomers
Increasing loyalty
Faster peer-to-
peer review-
ing
Works as a direct
sales channel
Authors like to get involved
Obtain feedback from cus-tomers on particular
issues
Increased content usage
Greater integra-tion of content with the reader’s workflow
Experi-mentation to inform
future strategy
Other benefits
0 20 40 60 80
82
56
35
35
21
15
12
9
9
9
9
6
3
53
47
27
33
13
27
7
40
27
13
7
No OCs (15)With OCs (34)
%
Q What do you see as the 3 most important actual or potential benefits of online communities? Base: all
14
Two-thirds feel the investment is already paying off, and most others feel it will do so; none were not convinced it would.
Total UK US Trade A&P0
20
40
60
80
100
64 64 64 64 63
24 23 2720
38
9 99
12
3 5 4
Don't know
No, and not convinced it will
Not yet, but see it as a longer-term investment, beyond 2015
Not yet, but expect it to by the end of 2015
Yes
%Q Do you feel your investment in online communities is paying off?
Base: all with OCs
15
Overall ebooks are the format that appears to have benefited most from the use of OCs, though A&P publishers particularly mention online resources
Eboo
ks
Pape
rbac
ks
Onl
ine
reso
urce
s
Har
dbac
ks
Non
-boo
k pr
oduc
ts
Mem
bers
hip
Onl
ine
jour
nals
Non
e: n
o in
crea
se i.
..
Not
sur
e
0
20
40
60
80
32
26 26
18
129
6
12
2122 22
30
139 9 9
1722
55
36
18
27
18
9
18
40
32
12
24
12 128
28
11 11
67
11
22 22
Total UK US Trade A&P%
Q In which, if any, formats have you seen increased traffic/sales because of your communities? Base: all with OCs
16
Two-thirds use the OCs to sell products, though fewer A&P publishers do so
Total UK US Trade A&P0
20
40
60
80
100
62 61 64 6456
38 39 36 3644
NoYes
%
Q Do you online communities to sell products directly through the community site?
Base: all with OCs
17
84% think spending on OCs will increase a lot (27%) or a little (57%) between now and 2015, with relatively little difference between the groups*
Total UK US Trade A&P With OCs No OCs0
20
40
60
80
100
27 27 2531
20
32
13
57 61
50
62
50
56
60
14 925
7
25
9
27
2 3 5 3
Stopped spending
Decreased somewhat
No real change
Expect to spend a little more
Expect to spend a lot more
%
Q How do you expect your annual spending on online communities to have changed by the end of 2015?
Base: all * Just 1 (UK A&P) publisher thinks spending will decline – none say it will stop.
The sample – 1: Turnover Numbers Total UK US Trade* A&P Company Division
Under £1m 5 5 4 1 5 0
£1m - 5m 8 8 5 3 6 2
£6m - 10m 5 5 3 2 4 1
£11m - 50m 9 9 6 3 3 6
£51m - 100m 4 4 1 3 2 2
£101m - 500m 2 2 1 1 2 0
£500m - £1bn 0 0 0 0 0 0
Over £1billion 0 0 0 0 0 0
Under $1m 4 4 4 0 1 3
$1m - 5m 4 4 2 2 3 1
$6m - 10m 0 0 0 0 0 0
$11m - 50m 5 5 1 4 3 2
$51m - 100m 1 1 1 0 1 0
$101m - 500m 0 0 0 0 0 0
$500m - 1000m 0 0 0 0 0 0
Over $1billion 2 2 1 1 2 0
TOTAL 49 33 16 29 20 32 17
* Trade includes Children’s
The sample – 2: Areas of publishingNumbers Total UK US Small* Medium* Large*
Main
Trade 27 18 9 14 9 4Academic & Professional 20 13 7 6 9 5
Children's 2 2 0 1 1 0
Other 0 0 0 0 0 0
Any
Trade 33 21 12 17 10 6Academic & Professional 26 18 8 8 12 6
Children's 13 8 5 4 6 3
Other 2 1 1 1 0 1
TOTAL 49 33 16 21 19 9
* Responding companies/division grouped by turnover, with no distinction between £ and $.Small = Up to 5m: Medium = 6-50m: Large=Over 50m
Bowker Market Research, the leading provider of market research information and business intelligence for the book industry, was formed in March 2012 by combining BML (Book Marketing Ltd), originally established in the UK in 1990, and RR Bowker’s consumer research business in the US. Bowker Market Research monitors the US and UK book markets through Books & Consumers, the premier resource for understanding consumer book buying behavior, as well as undertaking adhoc, customised research projects for a wide range of clients.
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© BMR April 2013