The 2016 Olympics are approaching and elite athletes from around the world will be traveling to Brazil in hopes of taking home gold. But athletes aren’t the only ones that should be excited. Publishers have benefitted a lot from past Olympics events and can expect tremendous opportunities from the upcoming summer Olympics in August.
With over 4 billion people tuning in to at least some part of the Olympics, there is a huge amount of interest in the games. Publishers that take advantage of this astounding interest can expect higher site traffic, more user engagement, and ultimately, increased ad revenues. In fact, Associated Newspaper, which owns the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, Mail Online, and Metro saw a 7% ad revenue boost during the 2012 London Olympics.
As August approaches, publishers need to be asking themselves how they can maximize the huge opportunities the Olympics can bring them. In this article, I will offer some key strategies publishers can use to see the best results possible in the lead-up to and during the games.
Write compelling content
I know, easier said than done. There is no question that excellent content will drive traffic to your site, but how do you create great content? Understand your audience and make sure you write content about the Olympics that is particularly relevant to them. If your site appeals to a business-oriented readership then perhaps write content about the Olympics and its effect on Rio’s economy. And if your site is more health focused then discuss the fitness regiments of Olympic stars, like this piece by Men’s Health.
Use relevant images
The Olympic Games is a very visual event and your content should be accompanied by relevant and compelling images. According to Jeff Bullas, content with relevant images gets 94% more views than content without relevant images.
Images from the Olympics often go viral and many from past Olympics have become famous worldwide. Here are some great examples of images from past Olympics that became iconic around the world.
Not only are images crucial for creating great content, but they offer an opportunity to optimally monetize your website using in-image advertising. Images dramatically improve ad viewability and by using ads on this space, you can ensure high click-through rates for your advertisers and an additional revenue stream for your site.
Take advantage of live video tools
Internet users today are increasingly visual and expect content to include video. In particular, live video tools are an increasingly necessary medium to reach and engage readers. This year’s Olympics will be the year of live user generated video content. Tools such as Facebook Live and Periscope are extremely important for generating reach to your social media profiles and ultimately, increasing traffic to your site.
Here is an example of a Facebook Live video made by the Cleveland Cavaliers during the NBA Finals. The video went viral and shows Lebron James and his team celebrating a big win:
Use effective monetization tools
Having great content that drives high site traffic isn’t sufficient unless you have the right tools to monetize your website. By using effective monetization tools you can increase engagement with your ads, ensure an optimal user experience, and ultimately, increase your revenues.
The Olympics appeals to a very broad audience. It’s important to make sure that the monetization tools you use understand your audience and target them individually based on factors such as online behavior and site context. Monetization tools such as in-image and native advertising use Big Data, behavioral analysis and contextual analysis to ensure that ads are relevant and personalized to each user.
Here are a couple more articles we wrote that we hope you find helpful as the Olympics approach:
Interesting
Thank you!