Publishers promote play
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Illustration: Gabriella Turrisi/Axios
Publishers are playing games with their strategy.
Why it matters: The media industry's push to create more puzzles and other games comes as companies seek to boost engagement when attention and ad dollars are fleeting.
Driving the news: Last week, three media outlets released games-related announcements.
- BuzzFeed launched a redesign for BuzzFeed Arcade, home to Pyramid Scheme, AI generators and other games.
- Vulture released an archive of Cinematrix, its daily movie trivia game.
- Mashable announced its partnership with Arkadium to offer games like Mahjong and Sodoku.
The big picture: The New York Times has shown what a boon games can be, spurring publishers to take note.
- "A lot of these publishers know that their audience is playing games, but they're playing games someplace else. Why not keep them there?" Arkadium CRO Neal Sinno says.
- Daily Mail global affiliate director Paul Tipper says games are major drivers of repeat visits and time spent for the outlet, which partners with Arkadium.
- Games serve as an entry point and create habit, says Vulture editor-in-chief Neil Janowitz, while aligning with its readership's pride for knowledge and the outlet's "whimsy" nature.
How it works: Some publishers have partnered with game developers. Arkadium requires little investment unless publishers want bespoke games.
- Vulture's 10x10 crossword is powered by Amuse Labs. Vulture began building Cinematrix itself, but later shifted to partnering with Movie Grid. The outlet recently hired its first staffer dedicated to Cinematrix.
- BuzzFeed creates many of its own games as it aims to react to pop culture, says publisher Jess Probus. It also offers daily mini games through Lil Snack, a startup backed by Lerer Hippeau and others.
- BuzzFeed's games investment deepened in recent years to grow its owned and operated properties, Probus says, and boost programmatic ad revenue.
Follow the money: Sinno says most Arkadium partnerships are revenue sharing through programmatic ads and micro-transactions. He says users, on average, stay for about 30 minutes.
- Revenue also comes from sponsorships. Hulu and Neon have sponsored Cinematrix.
- For subscription publications like Vulture, games can attract and retain subscribers.
What's next: Probus says BuzzFeed aims to inspire more repeat engagement by launching leaderboards and creating tools for users to make games.
- Sinno says Arkadium is releasing a redesign next year and growing its network of third-party developers.
