Konstantin Amirakyan, the Director of Pradix, thinks that our media is lagging behind in attracting alternative financial sources compared to the industry leaders.

According to Amirakyan, Armenian editorials face an unequal competitive position compared to English or Russian-speaking ones. This is because they publish content in Armenian, limiting their audience to at most 4 million people worldwide. As a result, the advertising market also shrinks.

Konstantin Amirakyan

However, he believes there are ways to tap into new financial streams.

Konstantin Amiraky suggests three effective ways to overcome financial crises

A. Not to view media solely as a tool for sharing and consuming information. In addition to their primary role, media outlets can provide a range of other services, such as writing industry-specific texts, translating content, and creating promotional materials for businesses on social media. Amirakyan suggests journalists can create content, while translators can provide licensed translations; this means the editorial office can expand and offer its services as a business content provider.

B. It is essential to use SEO (search engine optimization) tools for any web or mobile product. According to Amirakyan, just as there are specific formats to maintain for the printed press, there are also critical formats to consider for online media that can attract traffic.

“Frequently, editors instruct journalists to publish articles on the website fast to be the first. However, publishing it first does not ensure it will be read first on the site. Only a minority of users visit the website directly. Most of them enter relevant keywords into a search engine to gather information about the topic and read the content on the first page. To improve your search engine ranking, it is important to focus on SEO.” he elaborates, noting that the increase in traffic will result in a bigger audience, hence attracting more advertisers.

C. The expert also recommends utilizing AI tools. According to Amirakyan, some tasks can be delegated to tools like ChatGPT. “By doing this, the media professionals will have more time to dedicate to creating valuable and marketable content. As a result of competent media management, work will be redistributed. The specialist will handle more significant tasks for the media and produce a higher quality product,” says Konstantin Amirakyan.

Trinity in media

According to the expert, For any mass media outlet, it is essential to have a marketing department that maintains direct communication with the editorial and technical staff. These three departments need to collaborate and work together.

“Ultimately, the media is a business project that revolves around selling content and generating revenue. It’s important to realize that creating a product alone is not enough to generate revenue. You also need salespeople and technical experts to showcase the product on your website. When this connection is disrupted, problems arise,” he says.

Advertising formats

According to Konstantin Amirakyan, focusing on gadgets in use is essential for understanding advertising market trends. He believes that the use of PCs is declining and is mainly limited to online game enthusiasts and designers. On the other hand, the number of users relying on phones, smartphones, and laptops is growing.

“70% of Internet users worldwide access the web through their phones. It’s important to optimize your website for mobile use and ensure that all visual content is designed with mobile devices in mind. Otherwise, attracting advertisers who want to feature their products on your platform is difficult. Remember, the key to success is treating your media creation as a business,” says Amirakyan.

According to the expert, the absence of media management has led to a situation where people have stopped following news outlets and read unverified content on social media pages.

Tigranuhi Martirosyan