Beyond pageviews: 3 metrics every digital publisher needs to pay attention to

Since the very beginning, online publishers have measured the success of their editorial departments primarily by the number of pageviews and unique visitors they receive each month. To some extent, this makes sense: the more traffic a website receives, the more ads it can serve, and the more revenue it can generate.

But while traffic metrics are important, relying on them as the end-all, be-all of performance measurement can be problematic. Pageviews alone cannot tell a publisher whether visitors enjoyed the articles or videos—or whether they even stayed long enough to consume the content. If users don’t have a positive experience, they may not return—and advertisers may leave with a negative impression.

To build strong, sustainable businesses, publishers need real-time, holistic metrics. Here are three engagement metrics every publisher should monitor and optimize.

1. Engagement Time

Engagement time measures how long users spend consuming content on your site.

For publishers, it’s a powerful indicator of whether people enjoy your content. Studies show that the more time a user spends reading or watching a piece of content, the more likely they are to return. Optimizing for engagement time also makes your site more valuable to advertisers, as higher engagement correlates with increased brand recall.

With the right real-time reporting platform, you can:

• Identify which topics generate the most engagement time
• Produce more content around high-performing subjects
• Break down engagement by traffic source, tailoring content to audiences (e.g., Facebook users)

2. Video Completion Rate

Video completion rate measures the percentage of viewers who watch a video to the end.

As video content continues to grow, this metric helps publishers understand whether their multimedia content is connecting with audiences. Completion rates also guide how you should present content:

• Analyze rates by video length to determine optimal duration
• Test across time, platform, and device variables
• Adjust content delivery (e.g., text and images for audiences less likely to finish videos on mobile apps)

3. Visitor Loyalty

Visitor loyalty tracks how often readers return to your site over a week or month.

This metric reveals which content is creating dedicated fans, who provide more data and increase the site’s value to advertisers. Loyal visitors can also be targeted for premium subscription offers.

Using this metric, publishers can:

• Identify top-performing articles and videos
• Produce similar content to retain and grow audiences
• Promote high-performing content through paid media to convert new or occasional visitors into regular readers

If you’re a publisher looking to deepen your understanding of audience engagement, the Domo business cloud is an ideal tool. With real-time data, intelligent insights, and intuitive visualizations, Domo helps you understand your audience on a much deeper level.

Ready to learn more about how real-time data can help you create irresistible content? Click here to see what the Domo business cloud can do for your media or entertainment company.