In this week’s Five on Friday, Ad Week reveals that Facebook Live will soon have a stand-alone app, Media Post and PostUp share how email newsletters can help publishers woo prospects, The New York Times monetizes NYT Cooking, an IAB study predicts podcast ad revenue will top $220 million in 2017, an 85 percent increase over 2016, and HuffPost offers four types of e-commerce business models for entrepreneurs to consider.

Facebook Live Will Have a Stand-Alone App Later This Year

If you’re a fan of Facebook Live, Facebook’s live-streaming app, you might be intrigued by a new stand-alone application. Initially, it will be an update to Facebook Mentions, an app for celebrities, public figures and journalists, reports Ad Week. Daniel Danker, product director, announced the app during a panel at VidCon last month. With the new app, creators can add introductions, stickers and frames to live broadcasts using their smartphones.

There will also be a community tab so users and creators can interact with each other on Facebook, Instagram and Messenger. Launch date? Later this year. Read more about it on Ad Week.

Email Newsletters Are a Great Way for Publishers to Woo Prospects

Earlier this month Media Post Email Insider columnist Ray Schultz wrote about ways for publishers to get in front of prospective readers. He points out that paywalls make it difficult to get new readers who aren’t ready to commit to a subscription, but publishers can work around that by offering a free email newsletter. He shares the advice offered by Keith Sibson, vice president of product and marketing from PostUp, in a recent webinar.

Once a reader signs up for an email newsletter, they’ve made a tiny commitment which moves them a little further along the path to buying a subscription. Publishers get the opportunity to share their best content while establishing a direct relationship with the prospective subscriber, says Sibson.

Sibson points out that a publisher’s email list is at the top of the sales funnel, so building a list is more important than click-throughs. He recommends growing the email list by 10 to 20 percent.

“Email list size is strategic because gains here cascade through the entire funnel, whereas other levels are constrained by performance of previous level,” says Sibson in his slide deck.

The Seattle Times is employing this tactic. While I am not currently a paying subscriber, I subscriber to a daily newsletter with the day’s top stories. The Seattle Times has a metered paywall, so after I’ve hit my allotment, I have to subscribe to read more stories. I haven’t signed up yet, but it is only a matter of time, because for some local news stories, The Seattle Times is the best possible source.

For more advice on how publishers can use email newsletters to woo prospects, read Schultz’s July 3 column here.

The New York Times to Monetize NYT Cooking

The New York Times is monetizing its NYT Cooking website and app, adding a metered paywall and turning it into a subscription service at $5 every four weeks. Users can get some content for free, but they’ll have to subscribe to get the NYT Cooking iPhone app that’s exclusive to subscribers. Users of non-iOS devices can access NYT Cooking on their mobile website, http://cooking.nytimes.com.

Subscribers will have access to more than 18,000 recipes, access to a personalized Recipe Boxes to store NYT recipes as well as import them from other sites, how-to guides and editor-curated collections. The subscription is available as a stand-alone product, but current subscribers to The Times get access to NYT Cooking with their subscription. Subscriptions can be changed or canceled at any time.

NYT Cooking is currently offering new and existing users a one-time 28-day free trial which gives them full, unlimited access to NYT Cooking. A credit card is not required to try the free trial.

Will it work? According to Straits Times, NYT Cooking has gained 10 million monthly readers since starting in 2014. Even if only a 1 percent of readers subscriber, The Times will come out ahead. They’ve developed a product that readers clearly want. The question is how much will they make from it. Read more about NYT Cooking here.

IAB Study: Podcasts Estimated to Generate $220 Million in Ad Revenue in 2017

According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s (IAB) Podcast Advertising Revenue Study, podcast ad revenue is supposed to hit $220 million this year, based on self-reported estimates, reports Tubefilter. This figure represents an 85 percent increase over recorded revenue of $119 million in 2016. In 2015, podcast ad revenue was $69 million.

Other highlights from the report include:

• Podcast ad revenue has increased steadily, growing 228 percent quarterly, between the first quarter of 2015 and the fourth quarter of 2016.
• In 2016, dynamically inserted ads earned 56 percent of total revenue. The remaining 44 percent came from integrated, edited-in and baked-in ads.
• In 2016, host read edits generated 60 percent of total revenue, while 40 percent came from pre-produced ads.
• In 2016, direct response ads made up 73 percent of all ads, brand awareness ads represented 25 percent, and branded content – new to the category in 2016 – represented 2 percent.

“The IAB Podcast Advertising Revenue Study proves two things – the whole world is listening, and brands are taking notice,” said IAB president and CEO Randall Rothenberg in a statement. “From the remarkable growth of podcast ad revenue, we’re seeing an ancient axiom being proved yet again: great rewards go to those who surprise and delight their fellow humans.”

Thanks to Tubefilter for sharing the highlights of this study. Read the Tubefilter story here, and see the PowerPoint summary of the study here.

4 Types of Ecommerce Business Models to Try

In a June 30, 2017 article on HuffPost by entrepreneur Richard Lorenzen, the author explains the many benefits of e-commerce, particularly how it has evened the playing field for smaller retailers. Even entrepreneurs with little capital or experience can open an online storefront using a number of different e-commerce business models. Lorenzen suggests that entrepreneurs consider these four types of e-commerce business models, each with their own advantages and disadvantages.

1. Subscriptions: Subscriptions are a convenient way to address consumer objections (e.g., “I don’t want to shop,” “I don’t have time to shop,” etc.) while allowing the business to bring in predictable recurring revenue to maintain and grow a business.
2. Service products: No longer is a storefront needed to provide services like copywriting, consulting, digital marketing or publishing.
3. Drop shipping: Even a one- or two-person operation can ship products anywhere in the world with the drop shipping e-commerce model. You can sell products online that are made, stored and shipped by someone else. You earn a profit without doing the bulk of the work. This doesn’t mean it is easy, but it can be done.
4. Wholesaling: With wholesaling, you purchase products in bulk, add in a profit margin and sell them on your own site. Unlike drop shipping, you’ll be responsible for purchasing the items, storing them and shipping them to customers, so there is a financial and time investment involved, but it is an e-commerce model to consider.

Read the original article on HuffPost here.

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