The State of Custom Content Publishing 2013

Content Marketing

April 2013 – According to Characteristics Study: A Look at the Volume and Type of Content Marketing in America for 2013, custom content spending on production and distribution rose to $43.9 billion, the second highest amount to be recorded in the 13 years the Custom Content Council study has been performed. All forms — print, electronic and other — experienced growth; a 9.2% rise over last year's $40.2 billion,

The annual study, which compares usage of content marketing among all different formats from 1999-2012 including print, web, email, video, virtual events, white papers, podcasts and digital magazines, finds print still captures the majority of money spent on content marketing.  

In addition, of the average overall marketing, advertising and communications budget, 39% of the funds of those surveyed were dedicated to content marketing.

• Social Media: 81% of respondents are creating content explicitly for use in social media.

• SEO: Four out of 10 respondents expect to create content for the specific purpose of search engine optimization.

• Video: Companies use of video continues to rise; three years ago 37% of respondents said they used branded video. In 2012, the number  was 68%, with 57% of marketers planning to do more video in 2013.

• Email: Email content marketing was used by 74% of companies in 2012.
   

• Internet: Web-based content marketing was done by 85% of companies (who update their websites with fresh content an average of more than three times per week). 

• Print: 81% of companies made use of print content marketing in 2012.

• Titles in the Market: The number of unique printed custom publication titles decreased to 85,586, an all-time low. The decline corresponds to the reduced number of titles produced by organization.

• Primary Audience: For the tenth year running, titles targeting external audience exceeded those targeting internal audiences. This CCC states this trend is most likely a result of the effectiveness of printed custom publications as external marketing vehicles, and effectiveness of electronic solutions as internal marketing vehicles.

• External Audience: 73% of printed custom publications are targeting external audiences, of either B2B or B2C. Out of those two audiences, the majority (63%) are B2C versus B2B.

• Unique Titles Per Company: The number of unique printed custom publication titles per company has dropped to an all-time low of 1.3—a general trend over the last five years toward fewer titles per company.

• Circulation in the Market: The total number of printed custom publication copies distributed dipped by 2.5 %, to 26.6 billion units.

• Frequency: The average annual frequency rose slightly to 6.1 times per year — or roughly speaking, a bi-monthly frequency. The average page count per issue rose to 30.2 pages, the largest in the history of the survey.

• Circulation Per Issue: The average for printed custom publication rose slightly to 50,943 per issue. The trend toward higher circulation, first seen four years ago, remains steady.

• Annual Circulation Per Title: Since the outset of the survey, annual circulation per title has grown more than 150%, although growth has leveled off in recent years. For 2012, the average annual circulation per title was 310,752 copies.

• Distribution Method: US Postal Service still dominant with gains from 'other paid delivery' options and internal distribution methods. This may mark as the very beginning of a shift away from the USPS.

• Presence of Ads: In 2012, 37% of custom publications carry advertisements. The past year has seen an 8% increase to 45%.

The Custom Content Council is a professional organization representing custom publishers in North America and is focused on promoting the growth and vitality of custom publishing.


About:  The research was conducted via an emailed survey targeting a random sample of companies across all industries. Eight thousand survey invitations were emailed and approximately 339 were completed and returned, producing a +/-6% degree of accuracy at a 90% confidence level.

Source:  Custom Publishing Council, At Nearly $44 Billion, New Survey Shows Rise in Content Marketing Budget, April 4, 2013.