With Donald Trump’s presidency upon us, marketers, advertising agencies and media buyers, as well as those looking to invest in media companies, may be wondering how the new administration will affect them. After all, never before have we had a president so outspoken about the media and news coverage.
While it’s probably not Trump’s intention to boost the popularity of the media he frequently accuses of being “fake” or “failing”, the result is actually positive for the outlets in question.
Known as the “Trump Bump”, when Trump attacks the media, their numbers actually go up. For brands and companies in the investing, marketing and advertising business, take note. With traffic and subscriptions increases, these outlets are becoming more profitable and primed for your advertising campaigns.
Newspaper and Magazine Subscriptions on the Rise
Subscriptions in newspapers and magazines are rising thanks to Trump’s attacks on publications like The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, The LA Times, Vanity Fair, and others.
When Trump declared that Vanity Fair’s readership was “…way down, big trouble, dead”, he gave the magazine 13,000 new subscribers the next day. According to a Condé Nast spokesperson, this was the highest number of subscriptions ever sold in a single day, from any of their publications.
Subscriptions to The New York Times increased by over 130,000 in the weeks after the election. The Wall Street Journal had a 300% increase.
More subscribers mean more eyeballs, and advertisers need to be aware of where their audiences are looking. Still putting together your marketing budget? Both print and online newspaper advertising might be a smart use of ad dollars in 2017. Not to mention, investing in these types of media, may also be a good choice for investors.
Publisher Sites
Traffic that’s driven through content marketing strategies on publisher sites, especially those with political content, are also enjoying the Trump Bump. As websites like Buzzfeed and Politico push stories about the latest Tweet from Trump, the public clicks it right up.
After an election, the political rumblings typically dies down, but not this year. Trump stories are driving heavy streams of online traffic, and traffic equals money.
Advertising platforms like Google (GOOG) AdWords, Facebook (FB), Outbrain and Taboola that specialize in PPC, retargeting, native advertising, and display ads, are poised to reap the benefits as advertisers come to them looking to engage that traffic.
If you are an advertiser thinking of developing a content strategy for your product or service, understanding the rise in traffic, the type of consumers being driven, as well as the triggers to engage them, presents a golden opportunity.
Speaking of Golden Opportunities
Despite the initial controversy about to Buzzfeed and CNN for reporting on the now famous dossier that allegedly gives details of Trump’s connections with Russia, the traffic to these sites hasn’t been impacted, at least not yet.
Quantcast shows that Buzzfeed took only a slight dip after the reporting, but was still well above the monthly average. By January 16, the traffic was moving back up.
Alexa shows CNN’s website ranking as #20 in the United States, and its search visits are up 10.70% since last month.
Let’s Look at Everyone’s Numbers
Though Trump insists that the media outlets he attacks are losing their audience, we can see the reality is just the opposite. Here are some numbers from 2016 that were presented to Media Post from Jumpshot, the media analytics company.
A quick look at twelve sites that were labeled as “failures” by Trump are actually enjoying year-over-year traffic increases:
Politico — 145%
National Review — 30%,
Vanity Fair — 26%,
The New York Times — 25%
The Wall Street Journal —23%
CNN — 21%
Union Leader — 20%
Fox News — 20%
Glenn Beck — 15%
USA Today — 12%
New York Daily News — 10%
Love or hate the man, Trump is a provocateur and that means he’s stimulating controversy. Since he is the President of the United States, it is the media’s job to cover him. As a marketer and a media expert, it is my job to understand how this impacts our advertising investments. Whether you are looking for advertising or investing insights, being aware of how his voice impacts media outlets is valuable and has the potential to impact your bottom line.
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