“Over £812,000 in e-commerce sales”: How Future plc’s PetsRadar weathered the pandemic | News in publishing

Launched by Future plc in September 2020, PetsRadar has grown into one of the publisher’s most successful launches in recent years and is now comfortably in the top 50 brands in the US Lifestyle/Pet category according to Comscore.

The launch of the new title has been met with raised eyebrows, as happened at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in September 2020, when publishers faced significant uncertainty, not least from falling advertising spend, furloughed workers and event cancellations. Twenty months later, PetsRadar is now attracting 885,000 users worldwide each month, with the next target being two million, according to Dave Harfield, PetsRadar’s Global Editor-in-Chief.

While Future plc has been better known for its string of acquisitions lately – including Dennis Publishing, WhatCulture.com and Waive – it has quietly launched a number of homegrown titles including Gardeningetc, Advnture and MyImperfectLife during the pandemic. Harfield says the launch of PetsRadar was based on trends his own in-house research team had identified: “Pandemic or not, the success of digital brands lies in meeting the needs of specialized media consumption trends.”

Every digital launch must be accompanied by a strategy that uniquely meets the needs of audiences in the target market. What information do you need? How do you shop? Are there other titles that fit their needs?

Dave Harfield, Global Editor-in-Chief, PetsRadar

A key area Future identified was the pet market. With consumers spending more time at home during lockdown, pets have had an increased importance. This is underscored by data showing that in the fourteen months leading up to May 2021 there were two million new pet owners (9% of all owners).

Uncover key market insights

Future’s research into the pet-focused media landscape unearthed important insights. Existing online content could be split into reference sites (offering pet care advice) and retail sites (selling pet accessories and food), but none combined both. Future created PetsRadar specifically to fill this gap by combining trusted pet care information with reviews of the latest pet products that could generate affiliate revenue.

According to Harfield, Future’s task was then to define core content areas. The American Pet Products Association identified food and treats, consumables and medicines, and veterinary supplies as the top revenue drivers. This information, combined with Future’s proprietary search volume analysis, resulted in five key content areas: Grocery, Health, Pet, Accessories and Toys.

Once Future identified its priority content, it assembled a team of writers including qualified veterinarians, veteran news writers, animal experts, and seasoned reviewers. The publisher’s focus has been on creating articles around its flagship shopping guides to intercept readers on their buying journey with expert advice and guide them to the right purchase for their needs.

Results to date have far exceeded the publisher’s expectations with viewership growth of 3,000% year-on-year (Q1 2020/Q1 2021). PetsRadar also achieved £812,000 ($1m) in e-commerce sales between September 2020 and January 2022 with its top-performing buyer’s guide, which sold nearly 4,000 cat toys. In fact, the most viewed shopping guides were read by 200,000 people in the months ending in January 2022.

Look to the future

Going forward, PetsRadar aims to attract interest from major retailers in the UK and US and expand its pool of authors to include pet trainers, behaviorists and nutritionists. Social media will also feature prominently as Harfield told WNIP that PetsRadar will significantly expand its social media output.

Our next goal for release is to reach two million monthly users. Social media will be an important engagement tool for our audiences and we are looking into several dedicated PetsRadar channels to increase social audience diversity.

Dave Harfield, Global Editor-in-Chief, PetsRadar

PetsRadar’s success comes at a time of significant growth for Future, not only in terms of acquisitions but also organically – interim results for the half-year 2022 show organic growth of 5% (18% on average over the last two years).

The publisher has also doubled its video output, rolling it out across all verticals on its Buyer’s Guide and Deals pages. By integrating video content into its e-commerce portfolio, Future tapped additional audiences with a ‘in-market’ mindset, which helped generate over £1bn in e-commerce sales last year.

This was aided by the integration of Video Multiple Ad Playlists (VMAP), an IAB standard, into its features, which helped boost video organic growth by 40%. Digital advertising alone now accounts for 25% of Future’s revenue, up from 10% last year.

We are pleased to present positive results for the half year 2022. By continuing to implement our diversification strategy, we have delivered robust year-over-year growth. The strength of our specialized, trusted content continues to attract quality audiences, making us a preferred partner for advertisers.

Zillah Byng-Thorne, CEO, Future plc

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