Wild Ride For Publishers; ANA Seeks CCPA Delay

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News You Can Use

Many publishers face a tough choice with their COVID-19 coverage. A mix of anxiety about breaking news and being stuck at home means page views are way up, but the traffic surge goes to coronavirus stories that many advertisers wish to avoid. Publishers are also juggling whether to open up content if they have a paywall – capturing the short-term boost in ad revenue and potentially filling up a pipeline of new readers, but also potentially missing out on new subscribers, the key overall metric. There has been a spike in subscriptions for newspapers, Digiday reports. And those publishers are also thinking about how to retain new subscribers, who signed up because of coronavirus news, and at a time when many expect a recession. The Wall Street Journal may offer lower-than-usual renewal rates to people who sign up during the health crisis, Digiday reports. “I’m conscious not to be celebratory about this,” said the Journal’s GM of membership, Karl Wells. “But I’m pleased we can offer something people need.” More.

Extension Please

Citing the copious amount of FUD related to the ongoing coronavirus crisis, the Association of National Advertisers sent a letter to California Attorney General Xavier Becerra this week asking him to delay enforcement of the California Consumer Privacy Act. Enforcement is supposed to start on July 1. Specifically, the ANA claims that the current health crisis will hinder businesses as they attempt to develop compliance processes for CCPA. It’s hard to get your privacy regime in order over Zoom. Not to mention that the AG’s implementation regs still aren’t finalized. A third draft of the regs is out for comment until March 27. The ANA has been pushing for an enforcement delay for a while without much luck. COVID-19 has the potential to change that. Read the letter.

Layoff Fears Are Real

Sixty-five percent of people working in advertising at marketing services firms are worried about layoffs due to the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. That’s based on a recent survey by Fishbowl, a professional networking app, with responses from 17,000 executives at companies such as IBM, Deloitte, Ogilvy and Accenture, Campaign reports. For comparison, between 32% and 58% of people working at these firms in accounting, law, finance and consulting were afraid of losing their jobs. Agencies and marketing services firms are particularly vulnerable to economic downturns, since belt-tightening for clients tends to mean cuts to marketing, nonessential vendors and ad budgets. More.

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