Articles by: "Research Team"

DCN’s Distributed Content Revenue Benchmark Report

January 25, 2017 Research Team

As many of our members know, recently Digital Content Next undertook a members-only study on the revenue impact of distributing content on social platforms. The 30-page private study was released last week to the 17 participating member companies. However, excerpts of the report have since been leaked to the press (see below) so we’ve now made an abridged version available to all DCN members.

Here are excerpts from several media outlets’ coverage of this research:

Business Insider | Leaked @DCNorg report shows how much money publishers make from Facebook, Google & Snapchat

Publishers are receiving far less money than might have been expected from placing their content on the third-party distribution platforms owned by companies including Facebook, Google, and Snapchat, according to a new report.

The report, from premium publisher trade body Digital Content Next (DCN), claims that the (mean) average premium publisher generated $7.7 million in revenue from distributing their content on third-party platforms in the first half of 2016 — equivalent to around 14% of their overall revenues in the period…

Bloomberg | Facebook, Snapchat Deals Produce Meager Results for News Outlets

Newspapers and other media outlets are struggling to make money from their partnerships with tech giants like Facebook and Snapchat, raising concerns over their business models in a news landscape increasingly dominated by social media platforms.

Some publishers are scaling back on Facebook Inc.’s Instant Articles program, in which they host stories directly on the social-media company’s platform instead of their own websites so they load faster on phones, according to a report by Digital Content Next, a trade group…

Quartz | Betting on Facebook and Snapchat hasn’t paid off big for publishers, a study shows
If journalists were betting on third-party apps, like Facebook and Snapchat, to revitalize their businesses, they may be disappointed. Early signs show that the giants of online social networking and messaging aren’t huge sources of revenue for publishers.

Content on third-party platforms—where the work is hosted on services like Facebook Instant Articles, Snapchat Discover, and YouTube rather than on their own URLs—account for a small share of publishers’ overall revenue, according to Digital Content Next, which analyzed data provided by its partners, which include TV and cable networks like ESPN and NBC News, and publishers like The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Business Insider…

Digiday | Publishers made only 14 percent of revenue from distributed content

Publishers are only making 14 percent of their revenue from distributing their content on third party platforms, according to a new report from Digital Content Next, the premium publishers’ trade group. The Distributed Content Revenue Benchmark Report, which reflects revenue in the first half of 2016, is based on a limited sample — 17 members — but offers a rare look at how much publishers are making from social distribution. The majority of publishers’ distributed revenue came from YouTube, as newer platforms and features have failed to turn into meaningful revenue streams…

Advertising Age | Facebook, Snapchat Deals Produce Meager Results for News Outlets

Some publishers are scaling back on Facebook Inc.’s Instant Articles program, in which they host stories directly on the social media company’s platform instead of their own websites so they load faster on phones, according to a report by Digital Content Next, a trade group…

Cheddar | DCN Report on Publisher Revenue from Social Media Distribution

To generate revenue on social platforms, publishers must offer more ad opportunities and embrace subscriptions, @DCNorg says. #CheddarLIVE pic.twitter.com/sdN8dAbY5j

— Cheddar (@cheddar) January 25, 2017

To access the abridged Distributed Content Revenue Benchmark Report, you will need to a member of DCN and to be logged into the site.

Industry-Research | Video

People are watching more video on mobile, but not on the go

December 19, 2016 Research Team

The Streaming Video Alliance (SVA) examines the role of the smartphone in the transition of television viewing experience in its study The Mobile Video: Exposed. According to their research, consumers are using their smartphones consistently to watch more video content. Whether it’s user-generated content (YouTube), how-tos, or news, consumers seem to enjoy watching on their pocket-sized computers.

The dominant location for watching video on the phone is at home. It is interesting to note that consumers are opting to watch video on their phones rather than watching it on TV. This might suggest a time constraint or it might be a conscious decision to watch content that isn’t available on broadcast channels. Whatever the case, SVA suggests that the mobile phone is becoming a surrogate for broadcast television most likely because of the kind of content it can provide.

However, the SVA has not found the smartphone to displace other, larger screens. That said, they report that it is playing an increasingly important role in how people consume video content. Not only are people watching more video on their phones while at home (displacing attention from the television), they are also using the smartphone to watch video more because of the ease in being able to share the experience with others.

The Mobile Video: Exposed study is part of the Streaming Video Alliance’s series of annual surveys that explore consumer perceptions and behaviors around watching video on mobile phones.

Key findings of this report include:

25% of consumers watch more than 2 hours of video on their smartphone each week.
iOS is the dominant mobile operating system through which consumers watch video, but Android is a close second.
When it comes to watching video on their phones, consumers opt for web streaming versus using an app.
Consumers are most often watching video on their phones at home.
Despite the growth of premium OTT providers, YouTube is the dominant source for video on mobile phones.
When watching video through social networks, Facebook is crushing the competition.
Buffering and data usage top the frustrations for mobile video watching.
Consumers love the convenience of mobile video,
Despite growing in popularity, mobile video still plays second fiddle to most other video sources.
Although broadcast television still holds its sway, the mobile phone is encroaching on the experience.
On mobile, consumers like to watch on their mobile phones? UGC, How-Tos, and News most.
Consumers prefer to watch video over WiFi but will use cellular data to get the content they want when WiFi is not available.
With more data, consumers would watch more video on their phones but they won’t pay for it.

Industry-Research

Most young adults pirate content and many don’t even know it’s wrong

September 21, 2016 Research Team

Sixty-nine percent of young millennials use at least one method of piracy (download, stream or mobile). Even more alarming, however, is the finding that 24% of those surveyed believe that both downloading and streaming piracy are legal, according to the report Millennials at the Gate from creative advertising agency Anatomy Media, which looks at the streaming, piracy and ad blocking behaviors of young (18-24) adults.

Other key findings include:

2 out of 3 young adults use an ad blocker
3 out of 5 young adults who stream content use a shared password or cable log-in
60% stream content without paying for it
While more than half say they share their parents’ log-in (58%), only 13% of those actually live with their family

According to the report, millennials use ad blockers “to assert control over their user experience, reduce their data usage and get access to their desired content faster.” However, they believe that millennials will accept advertising as long as it is “restrained, targeted and relevant.” Thus, Anatomy urges a focus on user experience overall.

Industry-Research

European consumers demand better online video advertising experiences

September 13, 2016 Research Team

Nine out of 10 (92%) European consumers think that changes need to be made to current online video advertising in order to improve the viewer experience, according to a new survey of 4,000 consumers in the UK, France and Germany, which was commissioned by online video solutions provider, Brightcove Inc.

According to the report, The Ad-Verse Consumer: European Video Advertising Tolerances in a Digital Age, when asked to pinpoint their specific objections to video advertising, consumers cited irrelevancy, volume and poor delivery – with 67% choosing to stop watching their selected content as a result of one of these issues.

The majority (82%) of respondents claimed to know what an ad blocker is and more than half of the consumers surveyed (51%) said they have downloaded, used or are currently using an ad blocker, with 23% reporting that they are contemplating using one. The top reasons given by those who had downloaded an ad blocker were that ads are too long (56%), not targeted and irrelevant (45%), and not interactive (20%).

About three-quarters of respondents felt that any online video ad shown on a smartphone or tablet should be no longer than 30 seconds, with this figure edging closer to 45 seconds if the viewing was taking place on a smart TV or laptop.

Other key findings about European consumers’ experience with digital video advertising include:

73% have experienced poor video ad delivery (i.e. buffering, failing to load)
More than half (51%) are frustrated by the number of online video ads
74% have had a negative experience with the content of an online video ad
Over a third (36%) rarely or never see an ad relevant to their personal interests
Two thirds (66%) of surveyed consumers reported that the length of the content that they want to view affects whether they are willing to watch an online ad in order to get it
50% of consumers say that they are not willing to pay for any type of online video content

According to Brightcove’s findings, the good news for publishers is that the majority of consumers said that they understand the necessary trade-off between online ads and free content and — here is the crucial bit — feel that it is fair. This was especially the case in the UK where almost eight in ten consumers (76%) agreed with the ad-supported model.

While this is encouraging, the report points out that “this goodwill will only stretch so far before it snaps,” with many consumers opting to look elsewhere for content rather than tolerate poor ad experiences. Given the growing specter of ad blocking, the findings suggest that publishers need to carefully consider their approach to monetizing online video content or risk losing out on viewers and associated revenue.

Advertising | Industry-Research

Marketers increasingly favor viewability and third-party verification

August 2, 2016 Research Team

The majority of advertisers chose viewabilty as their campaign objective, followed by click thru rate and view thru rate according to a study by data software company Videology. Of all campaigns that ran on the Videology platform in Q2 2016, 43% used viewable rate as an objective KPI. Of those campaigns, 89% chose to measure viewability using the MRC standard (50% of pixels on screen for at least two consecutive seconds) while the additional 11% chose to use their own custom standard for determining if an ad was viewable.

Advertisers continue to emphasize demographic, geographical and behavioral data to target their campaigns. Over half of all campaigns Videology analyzed used behavioral targeting, while TV Viewing accounted for 14%, with advertisers looking to add incremental reach to their TV buys. It is interesting to note that more marketers are emphasizing the need for in-demo delivery of campaigns, a metric originating from the traditional methods of non-programmatic TV buying; Videology has seen a 115% year-over-year increase in the number of campaigns using Nielsen or comScore to measure in-demo targeting success.

Cross-screen advertising saw a 20% year-over-year increase (compared to Q2 2015), with the bulk of the activity consisting of combined PC, mobile, and connected TV placements. Campaigns using PC alone made up just 12%, a fraction of where this was one year ago when they made up a quarter of all placements.

Advertising | Industry-Research | Revenue

Video is a big ad opportunity, but it is not without challenges

July 12, 2016 Research Team

When asked to name the biggest trend in digital, publishers responded with one word: video. According to The State of Digital Advertising for Publishers, a new report from Mixpo, this clearly presents both challenges and opportunities. The gap between advertiser demand for video ads and publisher supply of video inventory is notable. This seller’s market has made video a valuable ad product for publishers, but it has also created pressure to find new ways to deliver video and take full advantage of 2016’s video boom.

In April of 2016, Mixpo surveyed over 250 digital advertising professionals employed by U.S. publishers, and conducted personal interviews with 30 digital advertising executives in a variety of functions from eight of America’s leading media companies. The State of Digital Advertising for Publishers highlights the top ten trends that emerged from Mixpo’s research along with insights on how publishers can think about, and tackle, the most pressing issues in digital advertising.

While video is front of mind for respondents, Mixpo also found that programmatic has evolved from threat to revenue opportunity. In fact, for the majority of publishers interviewed, programmatically-powered audience extension is their fastest growing revenue source.

Attribution and measurement, along with viewability, top the list of publisher concerns followed by ad fraud and bots, the increase of mobile consumption and ad blocking.

Other key findings of their research include:

More than a third (36%) of publishers use or plan on using Facebook video ads, with 13.6% using or planning to use Instant Articles.
Publishers ranked pre-roll, interactive pre-roll and in-banner video as the digital ad formats with the highest perceived ROI.
Facebook Dominates: 50.2% of those surveyed have run video ad campaigns on Facebook, compared to only 31.1% on YouTube, 17% on Twitter, 13.2% on Instagram, and 1.7% on Snapchat.
Video Growing Beyond O&Os: In the past year, 61% of publishers have sold video ads as a part of their audience extension packages.
Mobile is still a challenge, but for new reasons: 48% of publishers are ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ concerned with the increase in mobile consumption, while device fragmentation was among the least disconcerting issues.
Ad blocking is a threat, but publishers are unsure of what to do: Nearly half of publishers (46%) said ad blocking is either “extremely” or “very”concerning, but on the long list of publisher concerns, ad blocking isn’t at the top.
In the age of rich data, publishers stick to basic metrics: Nearly 54% of publishers surveyed work with at least four ad tech vendors, and 5% work with more than 16, making consolidated metrics difficult.

Industry-Research

Native advertising and the news media

May 9, 2016 Research Team

An ever-growing number of publishers are offering native advertising as part of their digital advertising mix. By its nature, this sponsored content is designed to mimic the look and feel of the content around it. Michele McLellan undertook a study on native advertising for the Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism. The Rise of Native Ads in Digital News Publications examines the native advertising offered by 14 U.S. news media organizations — ranging from prominent publishers such as Forbes and the The New York Times to community newspapers and digital news startups.

The study describes and evaluates the best practices that have emerged for producing native ads and attempts to measure the success (financial and otherwise) of native advertising programs. It also carefully examines how media organizations are dealing with concerns from government regulators that native ads sometimes deceive news audiences into thinking that the ads aren’t ads at all.

Among key findings of the study:

Creation and publication of native advertising has grown significantly in recent years as traditional display advertising comes under increasing pressure on a variety of fronts, including growing adoption of ad blockers.
While native revenue is expected to continue to grow, it accounts for a small fraction of revenue for many news publications. Most of the organizations in the study put it at 5 percent or less of total revenue. (Exceptions overall are young, born-on-the-web publications such as Buzzfeed and Quartz that have focused on native from the outset.)
News publishers in the study generally focus on creating sponsored stories rather than offering another native product – in-feed promotions that are more typically seen on social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook.
Sponsored content is designed to mimic or blend in with editorial content and it takes as many forms as editorial. Examples range from sophisticated story packages to sponsor-written posts. The publications use a variety of media, including text, interactives, videos and photos, and extend the reach of the content via social media and e-newsletter promotions.
Best practices for creating sponsored content include meeting craft standards that are consistent with editorial content and that is designed to be relevant, useful and/or entertaining to the publication’s readership, and avoiding an overly promotional pitch.
Clear labeling is also a best practice. However, a disconnect exists in labeling the content. While publishers have typically used labels such as “sponsored content” and “promoted post,” studies have found users do not always understand that this signifies paid content. The Federal Trade Commission issued guidelines in December that call for using the word “advertising” in the label.
Costs associated with creating and deploying content across digital and social platforms are higher than those for creating traditional advertising. Larger publications command rates in the five or six figures for sponsored campaigns while smaller organizations command much lower fees.

Advertising | Industry-Research

Advertisers direct ad spending towards higher-quality inventory with better targeting

January 25, 2016 Research Team

Industry leading stakeholders have set out to eradicate suspect impressions on a global level throughout the past year, and premium publishers and advertisers have begun to feel the impact of this industry shift to quality. Our Q4 2015 Quarterly Mobile Index (QMI) report, released today, shows that advertisers are directing ad spending towards higher-quality inventory with better targeting capabilities, especially through more transparent mobile private marketplaces (PMPs). As a result, premium publishers are garnering higher prices for their inventory and attracting more mobile ad spending.

This past holiday season, major brand advertisers looked to target mobile consumers with relevant advertising messages through mobile private marketplaces (PMP). This dynamic caused a 45 percent increase in weekly mobile PMP volume from the first week of the quarter through to the week of Black Friday. Looking ahead, the volume spikes in mobile PMP during Black Friday and Cyber Monday suggest similar rises in mobile ad prices and spending around this year’s landmark events, including the 2016 presidential election and major sporting events. Agencies looking to effectively execute on their advertiser clients’ strategic plans around major events should look to PMPs to buy timely, premium inventory, at scale.

The market opportunity in PMPs is significant, as eMarketer estimates that ad spending on PMPs in the U.S. will reach $3.65 billion this year, up from just $80 million in 2013. Globally, MAGNA GLOBAL projects that programmatic spending, which includes open auction, PMP and automated guaranteed, will rise to $37 billion by 2019.

PubMatic’s Q4 2015 Quarterly Mobile Index (QMI) report found five key trends that demonstrate mobile monetization growth:

Advertiser demand shifts towards higher-quality mobile PMP inventory to target mobile-obsessed holiday shoppers. Advertisers increasingly sought higher-quality mobile inventory to target holiday shoppers on mobile devices, as evidenced by mobile private marketplace volume spikes. Weekly mobile PMP monetized impression volume increased 45 percent from the start of the quarter through the week of Black Friday (Nov. 27).
By vertical, retail and technology spending drove PMP growth. Within mobile private marketplaces, the retail and technology verticals showed major volume gains ahead of Black Friday shopping, demonstrating that e-commerce and consumer technology sales likely drove ad spending. The increase in weekly PMP volume in retail and technology over that period was even higher, at 106% and 285%, respectively.
Opportunity for mobile growth remains strong on a global scale. The Americas and Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) represented the largest opportunities in terms of volume, but the Asia Pacific (APAC) region was the fastest-growing mobile opportunity.
The Android app ad awakens. Android app ads increased the most in terms of both price and volume, while CPMS increased across all mobile platforms, including IOS app, mobile web and tablet web.
Mobile gap remains closed. Mobile CPMs are still higher than desktop CPMs, and both mobile and desktop CPMs grew a healthy 36% year-over-year.

Industry-Research

On-Demand Streaming Audiences Signify Opportunities and Challenges

March 12, 2015 Research Team

According to Nielsen’s newly released Total Audience Report (Q4 2014), consumers’ time and attention around media is in flux. Increased video viewing on digital platforms to both native digital content and TV-produced content, as well as the rise of subscription-based video on-demand (SVOD) across all platforms, are changing the way we look at the consumption of traditional media.

Neilsen finds that increased consumer time and attention creates opportunities for content owners, though the economics in digital remain challenging for all but a few, particularly given the raft of new competitors in the space (they liken it to a “modern day gold rush”).

Nielsen reports that:

Over 40% of U.S. homes had access to an SVOD service as of November 2014, and 13% of homes boasted multiple streaming services. Homes with subscription streaming services have both a penchant for TV-connected technology and, perhaps more importantly, display the greatest usage of these devices—nearly 50 minutes more than a typical TV home.

Homes with subscription streaming services have both a penchant for TV-connected technology and, perhaps more importantly, display the greatest usage of these devices—nearly 50 minutes more than a typical TV home. These homes average 10 more minutes daily watching time-shifted TV and double that in terms of time spent using a multimedia device (such as Apple TV and Roku) than a typical TV home.

New York Times Analysis of the research:
Nielsen Charts Reach of Video Streaming

Industry-Research | Video

Digital Dominates Millennial Content Consumption

March 4, 2015 Research Team

DEFY Media has announced findings from its third annual ACUMEN Report: Constant Content. The report, conducted in partnership with Hunter Qualitative and KnoWhy Research, focused on teens and young adult Millennials to examine their content consumption.

According to the report, digital dominates their content consumption with 13-24 viewers revealing a considerable 11.3 hours weekly watching “free” online video and 10.8 hours of subscription online video weekly – nearly twice the time reported for free online TV offerings from broadcast and cable networks (6.4 hours) or 8.3 for regularly scheduled TV. And, while 96% of those surveyed say they watch online video, only 57% watch free online TV and 56% watch recorded TV with no differences across the age range.

This segment also finds online personalities to be the most relatable and influential. For the millennial set, YouTubers are the today’s role models. Among the younger 13-17 segment, 32% responded they are more likely to look up to a YouTube personality over traditional celebrities, while the older 18-24 set reported a slightly higher affinity towards TV and movie stars (36% vs. 26% for YouTubers).

Industry-Research | Perspectives

Agencies Find Digital Video Effective, Particularly for Targeting

February 20, 2015 Research Team

For the past several years, The research team at BrightRoll (a vendor of video ad automation software) has surveyed agencies to reveal trends and topics that deserve more attention. They look at how agencies are allocating media budgets, how RFPs are changing, frequently used success metrics, etc.

According to BrighRoll’s 2015 Advertising Agency Survey, agencies report that:

Digital video is becoming mainstream.
Online video advertising is effective.
Confidence in programmatic is growing.
Completed views, conversions, and brand lift are the metrics that matter most.
Targeting tops the list of digital video benefits.
Mobile and tablet spending are poised for growth.