Media publishers benefit the most from the rise in branded content budgets.

Every year, for the past 14 years, the Custom Content Council (CCC) holds a survey that draws a fairly accurate picture of the current state of content marketing and branded content.

This year, one key finding was clear: Content marketing is viewed, more than ever, as more effective than traditional methods.

To be even more precise:

  • 73% of respondents said branded content is better than magazine ads
  • 63% said branded content was superior to TV advertising
  • 62% favored branded content to direct mail
  • 59% said it trumps public relations

As a branded content agency, we at Toast couldn’t be happier to read these figures of course, and it is the exact reason I recommend you spend a couple minutes to read both the linked article below (over at AdWeek) and the CCC post you’ll find linked in it.

The numbers above reflect what we have been saying for some time now but do not answer the million-dollar question we get so often: How to measure the exact impact of content on the brand, its sales or overall change in consumer behaviour.

This is something we put a lot of thought into, trying to link channels and data to validate as much as possible the efforts and budgets brands put in branded content.

One such channel and key actor in the content arena is media publishers. They have the capabilities for content production AND content distribution. This is the reason they are the actor who is getting the biggest share share of the pie in branded content (36%).

This is a good time for branded content and content marketing. All this being said, we will be sharing our findings here, that’s for sure.

In the meantime, enjoy AdWeek’s article.

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