{"id":27842,"date":"2021-02-12T10:39:34","date_gmt":"2021-02-12T16:39:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/?p=27842"},"modified":"2025-12-02T11:02:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T17:02:15","slug":"how-grow-me-helped-the-hollywood-gossip-make-100000-already","status":"publish","type":"case_study","link":"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/case-study\/how-grow-me-helped-the-hollywood-gossip-make-100000-already\/","title":{"rendered":"How Grow Helped The Hollywood Gossip Make $100,000. Already."},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
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Back to Case Studies<\/a><\/p>\r\n<\/header>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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How Grow Helped The Hollywood Gossip Make $100,000. Already.<\/h1><\/section>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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We spend a lot of time talking about Grow as Mediavine’s first-party data solution for the coming decade, as Google phases out third-party cookies and the entire world shifts toward a privacy-first web.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What we don’t talk about enough \u2014 and publishers may not even realize \u2014 is that in addition to building up your first-party data, Grow<\/a> can help you increase your earnings today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

We know this because we’ve seen it on Mediavine’s owned and operated<\/a> site, The Hollywood Gossip, where Grow is driving more traffic and making THG more revenue right here in the third-party cookie<\/a> era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below, we\u2019ll tell you how we did it and how you can do it \u2014 complete with a cool Google Analytics Dashboard link so you can follow along at home and model this on your own site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What is Grow?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Grow is a toolkit that provides a value exchange \u2014 a series of ways for websites to encourage readers to log in and consent to the website collecting first-party data<\/a> in return for a better user experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mediavine sees the collection of first-party data \u2014 and the ability to serve personalized ads in a cookie-less world<\/a> \u2014 as the path forward for our industry which is why we created Grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s the thing though: The same features which provide a superior experience and encourage audiences to log in also drive traffic and revenue. Today, tomorrow, next month and next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We’ve seen it happen with The Hollywood Gossip, thanks to an aspect of Grow that might seem familiar to internet \u2014 and Netflix \u2014 users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Content Recommendation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One of the coolest features of Grow is its content recommendation<\/a> feature, powered by artificial intelligence algorithms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a basic level, it’s not unlike the algorithms all your beloved streaming apps use when curating “Recommended For Eric” content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If a user logs in, they\u2019ll receive personal recommendations based on things they\u2019ve read, shared and favorited on your website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, logged-out users will receive recommendations based on what other users have clicked on and the content they\u2019re browsing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again, think Netflix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a celebrity gossip<\/a> site in an era where there are more actors, singers and reality stars than an individual reader could possibly know, manual content recommendation just doesn’t work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Machine learning, however, is working freakishly well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether you\u2019re reading about Tom Hanks, Kim Kardashian or a Z-list celebrity in air quotes, Grow instantly finds and recommends related content on THG that other users are clicking on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re seeing a 2-4% CTR (click-through rate) whenever an inline content recommendation is shown. What\u2019s more impressive is The Hollywood Gossip uses infinite scroll and auto-loads the next post, which means (currently) only the first page gets content recommendations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These numbers are only going to improve as we continue to roll out new features for Grow. Even with those limitations, what does a 2-4% CTR actually mean for a publisher’s traffic?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Hollywood Gossip Results<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Combined with carousel and sidebar recommendations, social, search and bookmarks, Grow has already provided an additional 5.1% pageviews to The Hollywood Gossip since enabling Grow. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although that is a lot of pageviews at THG’s size \u2014 and a big improvement over other recommended content options \u2014 the most amazing part of Grow’s impact is the value<\/em> of those views.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The increase in time on site, or session duration from Grow traffic, is how we’re defining value in this case. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The average user on The Hollywood Gossip spends 1:45 on site, according to Google Analytics. Not bad, but users who interacted with any Grow widgets spend an average of 4:38! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s an astonishing 164.25% more time on site! Either 90 Day Fiance is really that compelling or machine learning knows what it’s doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But seriously, folks: Whatever your content is about, longer sessions from readers browsing that content means \u2014 you guessed it \u2014 more ads viewed and increased RPM<\/a> per session as a result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you\u2019re talking about a site earning millions per year in THG’s case, that means hundreds of thousands of dollars<\/strong> in extra views. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But no matter the size of your audience, such robust increases in session duration and CTR can make a material difference immediately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Measuring Grow Success<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Grow doesn’t have its own Dashboard (yet), but for now you can use Google Analytics to measure how your website benefits from it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By default, as users interact with your website through Grow, it will automatically output Google Analytics Events. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Events include when users click on recommended content, as well as when they share, favorite and search your content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It will also append UTM tracking codes for Bookmarks so you’ll see Grow as a traffic referral source when users click through to a second pageview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We know that Google Analytics may feel confusing, even intimidating to dive into, so we’ve created the following Google Analytics Shared Dashboard<\/a> to help you track your site’s performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To install it, just click the link above, select the Google Analytics view you usually use and name your Dashboard. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"dashboard<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Once you do this, it will be saved on the left hand side under Dashboards for you to access any time. Simple as that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our hope is that this Google Analytics Dashboard will help you see the events Grow (f.k.a. Grow.me) is producing, as well as the traffic it’s providing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"grow<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Using these charts, you can quickly observe the increase in traffic and the impact on session duration as we discussed above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Get Started With Grow!<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We’re not going to beg or guilt you but seriously \u2014 just do it okay? Please? You’re all out of excuses NOT to grow your site with Grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did we mention Grow is free for Mediavine publishers, including the content recommendation feature we just described in all its glory?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not only will you get a head start in collecting first-party data, which will be incredibly important in the coming year(s), but it can also lead to more pageviews, user engagement and revenue immediately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It will be worth your while now and down the road. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As always, please reach out to us anytime with questions or if you need assistance.<\/p>\n<\/section>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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