When revered Internet sports columnist Bill Simmons branched out from the confines of ESPN in 2011 to go out on his own (albeit ESPN-owned) with Grantland, mainstream media scoffed at his goal to prove long-form content has a place on the Internet. At the time, most media and marketing efforts were moving in the direction of shorter, visual-based content.
Today, Grantland currently brings in a relatively modest 5 million unique views a month four years later, but it may have been ahead of the curve in understanding that marketing and media are shifting from eyeballs to engagement.
Although most marketing folks have long thought that the click was an adequate measure for having a viewer’s attention, research by Chartbeat last year found that 55% of viewers who click-through to content pages on Websites spend fewer than 15 seconds there…
Your Customers Like Long-Form Content Much More Than You Think They Do
