lonely planet - from guidebook publisher to global media company: roundtable 2014 belinda lush

From Australian travel guidebook publisher

to a global media company

Lonely Planet’s digital assets

• 7M UV’s per month

• 20M ad impressions per month

• 200k Twitter

• 100k Facebook

• 500k Email

• 35% of revenue from advertising

• 60% eCommerce

• 5% partnerships & affiliates

The diagnosis

• ‘Vanity metrics’ looked good

• Monthly visits up

• Gross revenue up

• Revenue per user in decline

• Costs and investment high, relative to total revenue

• Resulting in a loss-making digital division

The diagnosis

• Are we building the right things?

• Are our existing revenue streams optimised?

• What revenue streams present the greatest opportunity in

the long term?

Key Insights

Key Insights

Strategic Intent

Recommend the best travel experiences on Earth and

make sure they are bookable.

Doing it all in the most engaging, effortless, timely &

relevant ways.

All with the individual traveller in mind.

How we did it

What we did

• Advertising

• Brand campaigns

• Content marketing

• Behavioral targeting

• Tiered approach to advertising automation

• Open marketplace

• Closed marketplace

• Direct selling – global presence in key markets

What we did

• eCommerce

• Minimal platform development

• Behave like a retailer

• Leverage audience – email, social, use customer behaviour to

predict product demand

• Maximise product offering within platform limitations – ebooks

• Improve cost per order by optimising PPC

What we did

• Affiliate sales

• Commercial review

• Significant development focus – embed 3rd party content in the site

What we did

• Platform re-engineering

• Content into a search engine – enable editorial curation for digital

• AB testing technology embedded in website to test UX & design

• Capture real time user date

Results

• 10M UV’s per month

• 100M ad impressions per month

• 1M Twitter

• 1M Facebook

• 1M Email

• $10M profit turnaround

• 20% topline revenue growth

• 50% of revenue from advertising

• 40% eCommerce

• 10% partnerships & affiliates

Some things we didn’t do

• Video

• Mobile optimised

• Connected CRM & content