Customer stories: Emerging Market Views

Please note that this post was published before SpeechKit rebranded to BeyondWords.

Emerging Market Media is a New York-based digital media firm.

Founded by Dawn Kissi, an award-winning journalist, and entrepreneur, the firm publishes news, analysis and opinion pieces on the world's emerging economies on its flagship website Emerging Market Views.

Serving a global audience, Emerging Market Views chose to implement Speechkit's technology to offer its community a new option of digesting news.

We recently sat down with Dawn to learn more about the platform, and how Speechkit has helped Emerging Market Media leverage its brand.

Why did you choose to add audio articles to your publication?

Today, it seems more and more our media diets are overflowing. Between newspapers, magazines, blogs, podcasts and of course social media feeds there is a massive deluge of information hitting us every day. Rather than add a totally new vertical at this point in time, we felt an easy to access and easy to use product would be a better fit for us right now. The audio option allows us to keep offering our coverage free of distractions while keeping our dedicated readership on the page, and in many cases, looking for more while engaging with a particular item.

How does the behaviour of a listener differ to that of a reader?

Our readership and audience are really global. And for the most part, they are busy working professionals within financial services--namely asset management, family offices, private banking, hedge funds and more. They have access to some of the most real-time, market-moving and in-depth data available today. Our position has always been to offer deep analysis, spotlight issues in some under-reported economies that are of interest to our communities and of course, relevant news with some editorial flair. Those reading, for the most part, know what to expect. Audio is a big compliment for both the reader and us, as publishers. Those that listen, tend to linger longer--the jump to the next article and once there again listen. Our longstanding, loyal readers at this point know what they are looking for, those running audio tend to be newer, and ultimately convert.

How will you quantify the success of an audio strategy?

We are small, and we are niche. That said, any offering that we present must be not only relevant, but worth it for both the reader and user, as well as us. Our investments in audio have paid off, far more than we had hoped or expected.

Where and how do you see the audio format developing at EM Views?

Audio will for sure remain part of our editorial offering, and there are plans to increase and enhance how we offer it. Today we are looking to implement audio articles within our newsletters and special editorial sections.

For niche publishers, audio articles are a smart and simple option for diversifying an editorial product, and ultimately, a revenue-generating one.

Visit Emerging Market Views to experience a rich, audio offering from this emerging global publisher.