?Content Farms?: Threat or Menace?

By: Jennifer Saba There’s a creeping fear taking hold among traditional media types that young buck start-ups that have perfected the art of content creation on the cheap with SEO (search engine optimization) magic are moving in to displace the news and the journalists who produce it. But perhaps it makes more sense to reach out to these upstarts like Demand Media and Associated Content and think of them more as partners than as threats. There are differences between Demand and Associated Content, but they both aggregate content from thousands of contributors who are willing to write simple but useful items – such as how to straighten your hair – for chump change. Demand and Associated Content use proprietary platforms that mine that content for the most searchable data and then sell advertising against it. USA Today sees the benefit in partnering with these so-called “content farms.” The Nation’s Newspaper put Demand in charge of powering the Travel Tips section on USAToday.com. The section that has a small Demand Media logo features articles and videos on such topics as how to treat unfiltered water abroad or finding the least crowded times to visit Disney World. USA Today and Demand split ad revenue sold against that content. Victoria Borton, general manager for travel, says the paper is trying to expand the section’s offerings and aggregate as much content as ever. Demand’s “snackable tips,” she says, are complementary to USA Today’s own content. USA Today launched the co-branded section with 4,000 articles, with at least 6,000 more in the works. It is also, Borton points out, a way to generate more page views and ad inventory — thanks to Demand’s SEO ability. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is also teaming up with Demand, which provides a travel feature for the Sunday edition. Dave Panos, Demand’s chief marketing officer, told the Los Angeles Times’ Alex Pham that future deals like this are an important part of Demand’s future: “It’s an opportunity for us to get in front of an audience that’s already congregating around very well-known brands.” At Associated Content, CEO Patrick Keane is quick to bat down any suggestions that the company is itching to take down Big Media. “We don’t care about news or local, it’s more about evergreen [content] that is useful to everybody,” he says. To drive home his point, he adds: “We are not a news site. We are not about journalism.” Instead, Associated Content lets through the door just about any informed party interested in creating content. “We are elastic on content we accept and index,” he says. Associated Content counts some 400,000 contributors who feed the site with roughly 3,000 items of content a day, such as “developing dating charm” and what to expect in the next nine episodes of “Glee.” Keane says that contributors can be loosely categorized in three groups: experts and professionals looking to be discovered, “mercenary” contributors interested in gaming SEO and making money, and social media enthusiasts. A staff of 60 manages contributors who are tracked by homegrown “clout” scale of 1 to 10. A contributor’s score determines how they are compensated. If Associated Content “assigns” a story, a person can receive $7 to $14 on top of a $1.50- $2 CPM against page views. Associated Content attracts between 20 million to 30 million unique visitors per month. Over 90% of the content is viewed at least once and 80% of the traffic originates through search. Because so much of that traffic is driven by search, Associated Content’s platform organizes and tags content so it can efficiently sell advertising — brand advertising — against it. The five-year old company says it has grown ad revenue 100% year-over-year, though Keane declined to reveal any numbers.