Key findings
The total score
Between July 2023 and 2024, the telecoms companies we analysed published 137 long-form assets. The number of published outputs was amongst the lowest among the tech B2B sectors we reviewed, ranking second to last, but all brands published at least one piece every quarter.
On average, each brand produced around one long-form content piece a month. Every active brand (those who published more than five pieces during the year) published around 18 assets during the year.
Key findings
The favourite
Podcasts were the most dominant long-form content type for this sector.
These accounted for over 34% of all the assets produced by the ten telecoms brands we researched. Reports (every fourth long-form piece was a report), whitepapers, and webinars were the remaining three top content types for the segment.
Each telecoms B2B brand published an average of about five podcasts and 3.5 reports per year.
Key findings
Attitude towards gating: Against
Telecoms B2B brands are not keen on gating long-form content. Only 20% of the assets they published were gated, the lowest of any sector we researched. Eliminating podcasts, which are never gated, telecoms brands gated 31% of their content.
Key findings
Interactivity quotient: Low
Telecoms brands are slowly embracing interactivity. While most long-form pieces were classic PDFs with a linear reader journey, a few brands experimented with interactive tools that allowed readers to navigate their own journey through content.
Key findings
Multimedia
Telecoms has the largest share of podcasts among all the sectors we looked at: every third asset was of this type.
While every brand released at least one podcast during the year this total was heavily weighted by one brand. The remaining nine brands published approximately 2 podcasts each over 2023-24.
Takeaways
Brands in telecoms B2B are helping their customers navigate a rapidly changing landscape. While undergoing advanced digital transformation themselves, adopting new technologies and processes, are enablers for collaboration in optimised digital workspaces, 5G, the Internet of Things, AI and more. In such a landscape, there is intense competition for the thought-leader position.
And that’s exactly where the potential lies for innovative telecommunication brands to stand out. Brands seeking to differentiate need to move beyond conventional whitepapers, case studies, webinars, and reports. Exploring more innovative content formats can yield better recall and engagement.
Telecommunications brands generally avoid gating their long-form content assets. This strategy can increase reach and broaden awareness, but the judicious use of gating is essential for lead generation.
Podcasts are popular for a variety of reasons but need to be systematic and sustained to yield results.
One brand in particular has made podcasts a very successful content channel over the course of the year.
