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Omeda releases industry-first State of Audience Report

Last updated: June 7, 2024

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CHICAGO – MAY 21, 2024

81 percent of media and audience teams plan to maintain or increase their audience development investment in the next year, but two-thirds of them lack a formal, top-down audience development plan, according to new research conducted by Omeda, a professional audience data and SaaS platform for media companies.

And despite using 4+ audience management systems on average, most media companies (85%) don’t feel they have the technology they need to reach their goals.

These findings are part of Omeda’s State of Audience Report, the industry’s first research report exploring how media and audience professionals are approaching audience development, engagement and technology in the post-platform era. Published May 21, the report surveyed more than 110 media and audience professionals across business, consumer, niche and city/local publishers.

Omeda conducted this research to help media and audience companies, which are struggling to engage their audiences and build sustainable businesses in the midst of declining social and search traffic, complicated workflows and technological bloat. 

“With platforms becoming less reliable, the publishers with the best connection with their audiences will rise to the top,” said James Capo, CEO at Omeda. “We hope that this research gives media teams both the insights and game plan they need to create specific, organization-wide audience development plans, make audience tech investments that support those plans, and ultimately secure their businesses for the future.” 

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Here are the report’s key findings: 

• Media companies report increasing (27%) or maintaining (54%) audience investment. However, most lack a documented audience development strategy, as nearly two-thirds do not have a formal audience plan.
• Most media companies prioritize audience and database size and growth (70%), with less emphasis on developing deeper engagement with their audience. 
• Audience engagement is hard. Some culprits cited include disconnected workflows, disjointed systems, and/or an organizational bias toward quick wins over gradual audience growth tactics. 
• Converting unknown visitors (60%) and disconnected workflows (52%) are keeping teams from connecting with their audience, and respondents named these as their top challenges.
• Engagement is directly tied to monetization and revenue, but the research shows that the definition of engagement varies by organization. 25% of respondents said they do not track engagement. Just 20% of the survey respondents reported having an audience with more than 75% of their audience as engaged.
• More than half of respondents rely on their websites for valuable first-party data. 64% and 52% of respondents said newsletter sign-ups and gated content were top data sources, respectively. 
• Many media organizations focus their audience strategies on imprecise, surface-level measurements rather than accounting for engagement across every channel. Respondents were twice as likely to prioritize breadth metrics (email opens, email clicks, and website visits) over depth metrics (like time on site and subscriber renewal rates) when defining audience engagement metrics. 
• Despite using 4+ audience management systems on average, most media companies (85%) don’t feel they have the technology they need to reach their goals. 

About Omeda:

Omeda is a SaaS provider delivering the platform and expertise required to maximize the value of media and publishing businesses’ most critical asset — their audience. The platform of choice for B2B and B2C media professionals, Omeda’s integrated solution, which includes a customer data platform, workflow automation, email automation, and subscription management, provides the professional tools and controls required to maximize a media business’ diverse revenue streams, power 24/7 audience development, and orchestrate precise targeting for measurable results. Our platform is built by passionate audience pros, workflow masters, and data nerds who partner with our customers to grow and thrive in a disruptive media world. 

Learn more about Omeda: Website | LinkedIn | Vimeo

For comment or more information, contact: 

Kathleen McAuliffe
Content Marketing Manager, Omeda
kmcauliffe@omeda.com 

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