Articles by: "Ron Silva, Director of Publisher Account Management – Nativo"

Once upon a time, product placement was not a dirty word. Advertising was an art. Ads were tasteful, thoughtful, well-designed, and created to be iconic.

During the 90s, the internet changed everything. And, for better or worse, the internet itself continues to evolve.

For a long while, data-driven advertising was every marketer’s go to. However, cookie deprecation, legi s lation and a shift to privacy have altered the advertising playbook. And while new solutions are being proposed to supplant invasive data-driven strategies, there are tried and tested approaches that will work. Chief among them are content and context, which work in tandem to engage audiences and drive advertising success. Here’s how to maximize that investment.

Context and content

Content marketing has been around for some time and has ebbed and flowed in terms of popularity. However, we’ve learned a great deal over the years that reinforces the efficacy of quality content, particularly in the right context.

Contextual targeting is privacy compliant, and consumers enjoy the results more than invasive-feeling 3p targeting.

69% of US publishers are confident their contextual targeting could replace traditional audience targeting.
At Nativo, we’ve seen a 34% lift in campaigns using contextually targeted ads in viewable CTR and a 32% lift in average time spent on branded content.

Quality content works. It draws audiences in, hits them at a time of heightened relevance, and works hard to give the consumer what they want when they want it. It builds trust with the consumer base, fosters lifelong relationships, and leads to conversions.

61% of online consumers read content on recommendations before a purchase.
Consumers want even more quality digital content, and consumption is STILL expected to rise in the next year.

Drive branded content success

Content is a futureproof strategy to reach and engage a brand’s audience. But how do you ensure that brand content stands out? Here are three simple considerations to help ensure that branded content stands out and, most importantly, drives impact.

1. How is the content being consumed?

Content consumption can be divided into location and frame of mind.

Where is the content being consumed?

Contextual relevance coupled with dynamic creative optimization can help drive success and deliver improved impact compared to traditional targeting. Both strategies should consider the site’s placement, surrounding content, and other cues to properly place and optimize content to align with the reader’s frame of mind.

What is the consumer’s frame of mind?

Are they leisurely browsing content or actively seeking trade-related information? The branded content can either be optimized or have separate branded content campaigns that meet the consumer where they are in the purchase journey. This leads to the next consideration:

2. Where does the branded content sit in the marketing funnel?

Branded content either fits closer to the top of the funnel focused on perception or lower in the funnel, trying to engage to the point of consideration.

Point of perception

Top of funnel or perception strategies can include immersive or high-impact content. Providing viewers with helpful resources that either help identify a problem or support the initial research in the form of simple stories formats to full bleed branded content experiences. Content strategies that support perception include tips, quotes, listicles, quizzes, and other high-level engagement opportunities. A brand’s social media accounts typically provide quick access to this content.

Point of consideration

Branded content suits itself well for mid to lower funnel activities and can include multiple CTAs, product highlights, product informational videos, customer reviews, testimonials, and much more. Brands typically have this content already developed and available on their corporate site and blog.

This content typically exists for publishers to repurpose in branded content campaigns and is a matter of scaling the production and delivery of the content.

3. How do you simplify content production?

The most straightforward way to simplify content production is to repurpose the brand’s existing assets. Blogs, downloadable content, quizzes, listicles, infographics, and even a brand’s social media posts can all be used as a part of a sponsored content program. Either providing a foundation for content production or lead generation activities.

To support scaling direct sales, as we covered previously, publishers should look to implement content technologies that make it easy for your organization to repurpose, build and scale a brand’s content program.

Ultimately, content and context deliver optimal results for brands and provide publishers with the opportunity to offer premium and strategic advertising offerings. However, it is important to help brands think about their content programs strategically and implement the tools required to scale and optimize campaigns.

Advertising | Perspectives | Supporter Spotlight

How to increase revenue by cutting ties to indirect demand sources

May 25, 2022 Ron Silva, Director of Publisher Account Management – Nativo

I promise this isn’t another article about the end of cookies. Instead, I want to discuss how publishers can maximize the opportunity to increase revenue as this industry shifts in the wake of their eventual demise.

To do this, publishers must align demand strategy with their strategic and revenue objectives.

More than 60% of publishers expect digital revenue to grow in a post-third party cookie era. Few have articulated exactly what this will look like, what strategies will be put in place, and how publisher operations can and will play a role in establishing a stronger foothold in the industry. The path to success ultimately involves optimizing demand leveraging new perspectives and data such as focus on revenue compared to fill rate, and quality ad executions with higher margins compared to adding placements to a site.

Uncertainty in how to capitalize

There is still some uncertainty around how organizations can capture new revenue as the industry evolves. In a recent study by DoubleVerify, 45% of publishers stated they are turning to private marketplaces, 40% believe first-party data will be the best solution, and 34% are leaning on contextual. The study shows an even distribution between the options. Really, each could play an important role in the new age of advertising.

Balance data and demand strategy

Given that many publishers are building out robust first-party data ecosystems and taking a renewed refreshed emphasis on private marketplaces, it appears that they are transitioning away from indirect revenue sources to more premium and direct relationships with advertisers. Research finds that 60% of publishers forecast growth in preferred deals and private marketplaces, and 88% of publishers believe selling direct will become more important.

While direct demand is only a small percentage of demand, it is starting to account for a large portion of revenue. On average, direct-sold inventory accounts for 39% of publisher revenue, with (digital) programmatic accounting for 28% of overall publisher revenue. Advertisers are expressing interest in more direct relationships with publishers. This means more ad dollars spent on advertising with publishers versus on “tech fees.” (Remember that each time an ad call passes through a new system in the tech stack, the budget is siphoned away from publishers to pay for various fees.)

Developing a direct or premium-first demand strategy will require differentiation. Each publisher can rely on their first-party audiences. However, they can strengthen their stance by partnering with their publisher operations and content teams to deliver unique value in content production and optimization.

These teams have the expertise and insights to support data-driven optimization. That said, it will be essential to go beyond dynamic creative optimization and incorporate format and page placement. Look at the data and create tailored packages combining placement and formats to meet campaign KPI objectives. This unique combination of data, placement, content, context and site value will drive differentiation between publishers.

Three strategies operations can support

Beyond supporting the development of these packages, operations can support these initiatives in three categories: Demand optimization, ad quality analysis, repurposing and backfilling unsold demand with alternative revenue strategies.

Beyond fill rate

Operations teams need to have the ability and autonomy to control demand to optimize not only performance but revenue and margins. Publisher platforms should provide transparency into demand revenue by source and the power to waterfall demand sources to support revenue and corporate objectives. A direct and premium-first approach to demand will generate higher CPMs and more favorable margins, offsetting the loss by removing or deprioritizing indirect demand.

By coupling this with a premium-first site experience, meaning highly integrated ad executions, publishers can start to improve the site experience while improving revenue.

Ad quality analysis

With high-impact ad executions and content-led advertising, direct demand could drive more premium revenue, meaning publishers can remove ad placements that rely heavily on indirect sources or 3rd party targeting. The shift to prioritizing quality placements over quantity gives publisher operations the ability to focus on page placement and its impact on meeting client campaign goals.

Drive alternative revenue

As publishers continue to build out their first-party data programs, including free and paid newsletters, they have an opportunity to use the valuable real estate reserved for advertising. They can also repurpose the removed ad placements to drive engagement and program adoption. Developing and running “house ads” enables site owners to use their ad placements to strategically support these initiatives and improve the site experience for viewers. The pennies lost in low-quality ad placements and indirect demand are an opportunity to support other corporate objectives.

The takeaway

Ultimately, open marketplaces should be a last resort in the waterfall. Direct demand, private marketplaces, premium demand, and house advertising should be prioritized over these open exchanges. This strategy gives publishers the direct relationship advertisers seek while equipping publishers with the best opportunity to grow revenue and still provide options to scale and backfill inventory easily.

Advertising | Perspectives | Supporter Spotlight

How publishers can differentiate their sponsored content initiatives

March 16, 2022 Ron Silva, Director of Publisher Account Management – Nativo

Sponsored content is making a comeback. In fact, according to a recent study conducted by the World Media Group, advertisers plan to increase or maintain their budgets in content-led advertising through trusted digital media channels. The study also revealed that brands are pursuing a “more sophisticated approach to brand integration in content.”

Publishers are suited to capitalize on this significant change and take more control within the ecosystem resulting in more direct sales revenue.

The (re)rise of sponsored content

In the new age of privacy-first advertising, leveraging content as part of campaigns will hold an even higher value. With many targeting strategies up in the air, advertisers must shift from seeking customers to attracting them through authentic content.

Many publishers offer sponsored content to deliver high-impact integrated programs through their direct and trusted relationships with readers. In fact, many publishers are in a powerful position because they have the behavioral data, such as time on content and content consumed, to understand their reader’s frame of mind while on their site.

Empowered with this knowledge, they can build deep partnerships with advertisers by acting as a consultant on how to take their readers through a customer journey that helps tell the brand’s story while delivering on performance. From titles to imagery and ad placement, publishers have the audience intelligence to provide strategic direction for successful content production and execution.

In the end, publishers can deepen their relationships with brands by consulting on sponsored content. The proof can be found in Forbes’ success; the company attributes 40% of their direct revenue to their content solutions.

Future success requires evolution

However, as World Media Group’s research revealed, it isn’t enough to offer sponsored content anymore. Advertisers have become more sophisticated. And they expect more from their partners.

Publishers must evolve and provide differentiation in these strategic areas:

Driving audiences to the content
Tracking beyond the pageview
Scaling efforts

First point of differentiation: owned and operated traffic

Leveraging 3rd party sources to drive audiences to sponsored content has worked well for years. But as advertiser expectations rise, so will the need to evolve the way publishers attract traffic.

Publishers will need to scale their audiences and drive traffic from their owned and operated properties in this new era. It is a critical component of a publisher’s differentiation. That’s because consumers trust your brand, and advertisers are inclined to invest more into trusted media sources.

Publishers that don’t have the scale within their owned and operated properties can create strategic partnerships with other publishers or networks to help drive traffic to sponsored content. And for those who have the means, the best option is to acquire new titles which offer greater control, profit, and scale of 1st party data.

But getting your audience to the page is only a third of the battle.

Second point of differentiation: thinking beyond pageviews

The next phase is measuring and optimizing to ensure the content drives engagement. We all know the importance of measurement. However, it has gotten more complex as privacy moves to the forefront of advertising. Pageviews will not suffice. So, onsite conversions offer an opportunity for publishers.

Integrating elements such as forms for downloadable content, newsletter sign-ups, and calculators (to name a few) are ideal tactics to build an engagement tracking system. By coupling these engagements with content-based metrics such as scroll depth, publishers can optimize the placement of essential design elements to inspire engagement with the brand. And by maintaining these opportunities within the publisher’s ecosystem and leveraging 1st party data, publishers can provide their advertiser’s deep insight into campaign performance and even attribution with these onsite conversion events.

Third point of differentiation: scale execution

The final phase is scaling efforts to grow revenue through sponsored content. The tactics outlined traditionally require a hefty investment or impact labor resources. And from what we see, this is often the biggest roadblock to implementing these integrated advertising programs.

Publishers need to embrace technology to scale these integrated advertising programs considering the full breadth of campaign management. This includes:

Content Creation – strive for simplicity yet flexibility to enable creative, operations, and sales to build an integrated program quickly without sacrificing quality. Simplicity empowers pre-sales efforts and streamlines the content production process.
Campaign Management – should be seamless. In the new era of content-led advertising, sponsored content should integrate with publisher CMSs and serve sponsored content seamlessly into the site.
Optimization – Beyond DCO, operations will have more elements to optimize. Thus, they will find the tools that can deliver optimization across the integrated program and which will enable operations to focus on campaign and client strategy.

Just as sponsored content evolves, so will the need for strategies and solutions to support its growth. Advertisers expect audience addressability, trusted partnerships, and ultimately an opportunity to tell their story. Today’s publishers need to focus on innovation to capitalize on sponsored content’s renewed opportunity in addressing advertiser expectations.