What’s powering Threads’ success?

mlns='> Engaged audiences are a flywheel that can add exponential value to your business [View Message in Browser]( / [Add Us to Safe Sender List]( Weekly News 7.28.23 Connect With CMI  [Revamp the Marketing Funnel? It’s Past Time To Add Empathy]( The days of the basic marketing funnel are over. Adding an overlay of empathy lets you walk with your prospects on their never-quite-linear journey. And that’s when you’ll start seeing real, long-term relationships. [Read more]( By Carmen Collins More of the week's best stories: - [This Barbie Inspired a Newsjacking Frenzy – B2B Marketers Should Study It]( Content Marketing Institute Team - [Accurate Content Checklist: How To Fact-Check Human and AI-Generated Work]( by Ann Gynn - [How a Subscribed Audience Can Draw a Crowd for Your Next Content Product]( Robert Rose - [I]( 5 SEO Content and Design Tips To Improve Your Ranking in SERPs]( Lesley Vos  What’s powering Threads’ success? The rise of Instagram’s Threads has been nothing short of remarkable. As I write this article, the app has 112 million users, and by the time you read this, that number will be woefully out of date. In less than three weeks, Threads has become the [34th largest social platform](. But what does that represent in real value? Social media platforms are often measured by their average revenue per user (ARPU) by week, month, or quarter. While Meta has said it won’t sell ads on Threads until next year, its average revenue per user would probably initially look like Twitter’s quarterly ARPU – $4.96, according to some of the last numbers publicly available. Some “back-of-the-envelope” math shows that if Threads had a quarterly ARPU of $5 at launch, Meta would have created over $2 billion in annual revenue ($500 million per quarter multiplied by four) in the two-week period where over 100 million people downloaded the app. But, more than anything, Threads’ phenomenal success speaks to the value of a subscribed, engaged, and addressable audience. For years, media companies have benefitted from the powerful connection between existing audiences and new products. Think about the history of television and the concept of a “lead-in” audience. When a network wanted to stack the promotion deck for a new series, it would schedule the show to follow its most popular series, with the assumption that it would help draw more audience attention and viewership. A related phenomenon plays out across media properties today. Movie studios create “universes” to familiarize audiences with a character and then spin the character off as the star of other movies and series across platforms. Streaming services like [Netflix and Disney+]( use audience data to guide plotlines, directors, actors, music, and even what projects to develop or license. This media company magic also forms the foundation for advertising and sponsorships. Brands pay to advertise because “renting” the attention of an audience that’s already paying attention to the media company’s content is less expensive than building that audience and attention from scratch. CMI has evangelized this model for more than a decade. Developing a relationship with an engaged, subscribed audience usually starts when a business transforms its email newsletter, blog, resource center, or digital magazine to deliver value to readers instead of sales pitches. The content champion rationalizes the role of content marketing to executives using this logic: “If we can develop X number of audience visits or Y number of subscribers, we can turn that into Z number of customer opportunities.” Then comes the difficult work of building the first audience and transforming it into a group that wants to hear from your brand, likes what you say, and trusts you to deliver value continually. Too often, that’s the end of the conversation. But media companies understand the first audience just starts the magic. Engaged audiences are flywheels that add value exponentially to your business. In [Rose-Colored Glasses]( this week, I discuss several ways a revitalized audience development strategy can enrich your business. If you're taking this approach, I’d love to hear how it's working. Send me [an email]( or leave a comment on [the article page](. Until then, remember: It's your story. Tell it well. Robert Rose Chief Strategy Advisor Content Marketing Institute Would any of your colleagues or friends benefit from Robert's weekly updates? Please invite them to [subscribe]( here.   More From CMI Livestream Playback: The Little Mermaid and AI Just like Ariel with the human world, marketers and content writers have a fascination with the AI world. But are we sacrificing too much just to be more efficient? In this week’s Ask the #CMWorld Community livestream, Jill Grozalsky Roberson, VP of digital marketing at Velir, previewed her Content Marketing World session on how to balance the use of AI to support content creation without losing your voice. [Watch now »](   Get Ahead on AI at Content Marketing World Want to dive deeper on AI? Learn to tackle AI-powered content and marketing like a pro at Content Marketing World, coming to Washington, D.C., this September 26-28. 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