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Perspectives

DCN’s must reads: week of April 2, 2020

Here are some of the best media stories our team has read so far this week:

Perspectives

5 Ways to repurpose the same journalism to diversify revenue

As multi-channel has given way to omnichannel distribution, publishers no longer seek print readers or digital readers. Instead, they recognize that they must reach the same reader across mediums to have a real impact. Print, digital, audio, video, social media, smart speakers, connected cars – the sheer number of news mediums can be daunting. As multi-channel has given way to omnichannel distribution, publishers no longer seek print readers or digital readers. Instead, they recognize that they must reach the same reader across mediums to have a real impact.It’s official: multi-channel has given way to “omnichannel”. Publishers no longer seek “print readers” or “digital readers,” instead they recognize that they must reach the same reader across several mediums to have a real impact. Print, digital, audio, video, social media, smart speakers, connected cars – the sheer number of news mediums can be daunting. As multi-channel has given way to omnichannel distribution, publishers no longer seek print readers or digital readers. Instead, they recognize that they must reach the same reader across mediums to have a real impact.It’s official: multi-channel has given way to “omnichannel”. Publishers no longer seek “print readers” or “digital readers,” instead they recognize that they must reach the same reader across several mediums to have a real impact. Print, digital, audio, video, social media, smart speakers, connected cars – the sheer number of news mediums can be daunting. As multi-channel has given way to omnichannel distribution, publishers no longer seek print readers or digital readers. Instead, they recognize that they must reach the same reader across mediums to have a real impact.It’s official: multi-channel has given way to “omnichannel”. Publishers no longer seek “print readers” or “digital readers,” instead they recognize that they must reach the same reader across several mediums to have a real impact. Print, digital, audio, video, social media, smart speakers, connected cars – the sheer number of news mediums can be daunting.

True omnichannel publishers have recognized that repackaging the same journalism in multiple ways is the secret to keeping up and presents revenue opportunities previously unimagined. Every new platform or trendy format will ultimately rely on the same storytelling and the same six questions: who, what, when, where, why and how?

Poynter Institute fellow Mike Wendland talked about the concept of “convergence” all the way back in 2002, sharing the example of the Tampa Tribune – an early experiment in “repurposing” journalism:

“In Tampa, the TV station, the newspaper and the Website are all owned by the same corporation, Media General. On a daily basis, TV reporters do their stand-ups and then write bylined newspaper stories. Newspaper reporters write their stories and then appear before TV cameras to do “talk-back” debriefings or their own stand-ups. And everybody — reporters, editors, photographers — ‘repurpose’ their work for the website.”

Now, such a practice is commonplace for large media organizations and increasingly accessible for local media. While there are plenty of vehicles, old and new, for journalism, there are five that should be used in tandem to share the same work from your newsroom:

1. Interactive Online Articles

Enhancing print edition articles with interactive elements online is a great way to engage readers with the same journalism. The Washington Post published this Coronavirus simulator in multiple languages to help bring their other reporting to life. It’s the same data that support their other stories, but the visual, interactive elements draw the reader in, keep them engaged and encourage them to subscribe.

David Leonhardt from The New York Times commented on the unique power of interactive journalism to not only repurpose the same facts, but spur on additional content, saying: “One of the less obvious benefits of interactive journalism is the way in which it generates its own follow-up articles.”

2. Podcasts

Considering our busy lives and tendency towards multitasking, is it any wonder that more than half of US adults listen to podcasts daily? Podcasts represent a great opportunity to repurpose a story and dig a little deeper, perhaps taking readers behind the scenes or sharing more historical context.

James Rooney, VP of Revenue Technologies at The New York Times, shared with the audience at Lineup Systems’ 2019 User Conference how his team leverages The Daily in this manner:

“We publish several hundred articles a day, and one of those articles each weekday becomes the basis for The Daily podcast. During that podcast, one of our esteemed journalists, Michael Barbaro, gives the story behind the story. He interviews the journalist who wrote it and other people who were involved in that piece of content. So, from that one piece of content, that original journalism, we actually have two more degrees of revenue opportunities. And within those, we can diversify the revenue streams even more. “

3. Video

Video journalism can range from highly produced packages to simply capturing a podcast recording session on camera. You already know the benefits of video journalism – after all, it’s not new. What is new is short-form, quick packages shared across a variety of platforms (more on this in a moment), and the barrier to entry is lower than ever before.

Jon Savitt from Huff Post explored the impact of video on journalism, and neatly explained that the reduction in time from an event occurring and a smartphone user reading the story means “we all need to get better at being multimedia producers.”

4. Social Media

“Social media” is a huge category with many separate platforms and formats, making it a great tool for repurposing other content. Add images over podcast audio for a quick, easy to produce video. Share individual packages or user generated content. As many ways as your team can slice and dice other content, social media platforms are a great way to experiment.

Looking for inspiration? Here’s how other news media organizations dominate on:

5. Voice Search

By the end of 2020, voice searches are expected to make up half of all online searches. Currently, 65% of smart speaker owners between the ages of 25 and 49 speak to their devices at least once a day. Knowing that voice technology will become the primary way the next generation of consumers will search for and buy products means publishers must prepare their web content to rank for organic voice search.

Voice queries are longer than traditional text-based searches, and most are questions. According to Search Engine Watch, the top questions people ask their smart speakers are who, what, when, where, why and how – the foundations of journalism!

To take advantage of this channel, make sure your online articles clearly and concisely answer these questions in layman’s terms, and you’ll be killing two birds with one stone.

Perspectives

DCN’s must reads: week of March 26, 2020

Here are some of the best media stories our team has read so far this week:

Innovation | Perspectives

How blockchain can – and can’t – help advertisers navigate TV and video

The global blockchain market has seen rapid expansion, with investment expected to exceed $60 billion by 2024. This technology is not always the best option for all use cases – particularly those where high-speed data transmission is key. However, blockchain does have a number of characteristics that make it highly suited to TV and video advertising. Fortunately, the use of blockchain-based systems is not an all or nothing proposition.

What most people don’t realize is that blockchain is not one technology, but a comprehensive system of several interconnected technical capabilities. An immutable ledger, distributed databases, cryptography, consensus rules, and peer-to-peer networking all contribute to blockchain’s functionality. By assembling these base technologies into blockchain-based systems, engineers and entrepreneurs worldwide have just begun to scratch the surface of potential applications.

Within the advertising ecosystem, blockchain can be applied across a number of interesting use cases. Peer-to-peer networking and cryptography can be incorporated into the workflow as a way of reducing costs, removing friction between data owners and those who wish to benefit from such data, and creating more scalable, automated supply chains. Use cases extend throughout the media buying process, from planning and execution, to measurement and attribution. 

One use case where blockchain is particularly applicable is enabling data-driven TV and video advertising in a secure and privacy efficient manner. This is achieved through peer-to-peer data matching using encryption techniques and without reliance on third party providers.

Enabling addressability at scale

Linear TV advertising reaches large audiences with engaging content in a trusted, brand safe environment. And digital video advertising offers sophisticated data-driven targeting. As the two parts of the ecosystem converge, advertisers want the best of both, and are expecting 40% of total TV advertising to be data-enabled by this year. The ability to apply data to accurately target relevant prospects and customers at the desired frequency, and then effectively measure business outcomes, will prove the value of TV advertising and ensure it has a healthy, competitive future. 

Today’s viewers can access premium video content via a seemingly infinite variety of channels and devices, including linear, video-on-demand streaming, direct to consumer, connected TV and mobile. These various touchpoints produce billions of gigabytes of data, but it is difficult to use this information at scale to build a comprehensive view of the advertiser’s target audience, generate insight and inform media buys.

Advertisers are keen to activate their customer data by matching it across different distributors, inventory owners, or TV networks, enabling better ad targeting, measurement and reporting. But the process of audience resolution currently relies on third parties outside of the supply chain, which adds friction in terms of expense and turnaround time, as well as limiting data control. Almost two-fifths of marketers cite data matching or identity resolution among the top three barriers to using data for building TV advertising segments.  

Blockchain-inspired peer-to-peer technology is making addressability at scale a reality by establishing a safe identity layer for advertising. By recognizing and connecting cross-channel data points to target audiences, it allows advertisers to match their customers with inventory partners across the TV and video ecosystem, without revealing any of their proprietary data. Advertisers can identify their audiences and reach them via multiple channels and devices, without being reliant on third-party services. The technology also enriches the viewer’s experience by making it more relevant and engaging. It also adds business value for publishers who can augment their video inventory with valuable audience insights.

Optimizing security and privacy

Of course, the use of data for audience resolution and ad targeting is complicated somewhat by data regulation, with all participants in the ecosystem having to ensure they use and share data in a privacy compliant manner. With protecting data privacy currently a top priority for advertisers, any use of personal information for targeting must be respectful of user preferences.

Again, blockchain-based protocols like peer-to-peer networking and cryptography answer many of these needs by enabling data connectivity without exposing underlying data. Raw data never leaves the owner’s environment. And participants of the network can securely link audiences without having to centralize data or expose it to third parties.

These tools enable advertisers to respect their customers’ right to privacy by keeping any identifiable information safe from third-party access and providing full control over which queries from other network participants they answer. Therefore, advertisers can make the most of their customer data, using it to generate insights and make media buying more efficient.

After a couple of years of hype and experimentation, blockchain technology is now becoming understood for what it is – a complex interplay of technologies, which can be unpacked for use cases to which its individual properties are best suited. By enabling data connectivity across the converging TV ecosystem, while at the same time maintaining data control and protecting customer privacy, blockchain-inspired protocols are helping to realize the promise of audience-based, data-driven TV and premium video buying at scale across all channels and devices. 

Marketing | Perspectives

Data-driven digital content is key to brand success

Every company today, regardless of industry, is a digital company. This has to be the case for a company to survive in the connected age.

What this means is that every company has an abundance of data. However, some just aren’t using it to the fullest advantage. That’s one of the reasons many companies choose third-party partners to help them wade through it and strategize a path toward stronger customer engagement.

So what have you got?

The first step to successfully reaching new customers and retaining current ones is by analyzing the data you have. What are current customers interested in? Does one age group, gender or economic background dominate the current customer base? What values and features appeal to them, and which ones don’t? How do they want to receive their information, and why? 

One thing that insights provided by data analysis can do is help a company better tell its story. For example, when Proctor & Gamble’s Febreeze originally launched, it was a failure. So P&G hired a researcher from Harvard Business School to help them sort through their data and create new data by interviewing potential customers.

They discovered that the people who needed the product most had no idea they needed it, because they had gotten so used to their odors. With this knowledge, they adjusted their messaging, promoting Febreeze as a kind of “finishing touch” product you use after cleaning a room. Their new advertisements were incredibly successful.

So what do you need?

In other instances, new data forces companies to completely overhaul their digital infrastructure and find new ways to engage their audiences. This was our experience working with PBS in 2009. The data showed the company that users were moving away from broadcast television and towards web-based programming and content.

This posed a particular problem for PBS: The organization was spread out across 187 different member stations, and many of those stations had started to build out their own online viewing experiences. PBS needed a backbone – one strong enough to keep together different kinds of content, different mediums and different platforms.

So that’s what we did. We created a fully digital ecosystem that incorporated content from PBS and PBS Kids and built APIs that transmitted that content to iPads, set-top boxes, and smartphones across the country. As a result, PBS saw a huge spike in engagement. The PBS and PBS Kids app boast over 58 million downloads and their platforms stream hundreds of millions of videos each month.

Significantly, this new digital-first approach enabled the organization to generate even more insights that drove content and strengthened programming. But these huge changes all emerged from that core, data-driven insight. Without it, PBS would have floundered.

Real insights drive results

It’s important to note that not all data is relevant – it’s about knowing what the right data is in a data-saturated era. Data only matters if it gives insights into the people a company is trying to connect with. Then, this data has to be leveraged to communicate with customers in a memorable way. Too many people find their attention divided among multiple phones, laptops, channels, and platforms.

As we enter this new decade, take advantage of these key digital tools, but remember that even the most cutting-edge innovations aren’t what make a sale. It’s knowing who people are and helping them envision who they can be.

About the author

Jessica Hall is vice president of product strategy and design at 3Pillar Global and the co-author of The Product Mindset: Succeed in the Digital Economy by Changing the Way Your Organization Thinks.

Perspectives

DCN’s must reads: week of March 19, 2020

Here are some of the best media stories our team has read so far this week:

Featured Post | Perspectives | Revenue

We need the news. And the news needs us.

“In a pandemic good info saves lives.”  

– Dr. Marc Lipsitch, professor of epidemiology at Harvard University

Like much of America, I was introduced to Dr. Lipsitch in the early weeks of our education on COVID-19 when he became a fixture of news coverage. His credentials are certainly impressive. However, it was also significant that Dr. Lipsitch was being presented as an expert by some of the most trusted news brands – from CBS News to The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and CNN.

On a normal day, I probably wouldn’t have been quite so attuned to his CV. (Hey, a Yale->Oxford->Harvard resume isn’t what it used to be!) But this was different. It was late February 2020, a period in which rumors and false information were running rampant across social media and our President was well, being our President, while the actual experts were warning about the seriousness of the pending pandemic. I was growing more and more uncertain and feeling vulnerable. Like many people, I was trying to figure out who I could trust to provide the closest thing to the truth in a rapidly evolving situation. In this case, Dr. Lipsitch earned my trust.  

“It is universally recognized that trust can only arise under conditions of uncertainty and vulnerability, i.e., when the trustor encounters risk, and when there exists a state of dependence between the trustor and trustee.”  

(Kelton, Fleischmann and Wallace, 2008, Trust in Digital Information, p. 3)

Big picture 

Most people have a favorite news source, be it their local news brand, syndicated news outlet, or a national news organization. And really, regardless of our personal preferences, they each have different strengths.  

For national and international news brands like The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, BBC, and their ilk, consumer trust is anchored by their reliability, consistency, and reputation established over time. This includes taking accountability when they fall short. Even the finest media brands occasionally make mistakes and self-correct as they pursue the truth. (“The truth is hard to find” and “worth it” ad campaigns from The New York Times brilliantly remind us of this.)  

In local news, an area hit hard over the past decade, the journalists are part of the same community as their customers. They overwhelmingly share the same impact as their readers and viewers when they report the latest news and work to get to the truth.

For Seattle news reporters covering the ongoing tragedy in Kirkland, the risks are real in a way that is akin to working in a war zone. There is no doubt that the public appreciates the work they are doing, now more than ever. If it weren’t for the need for social distancing, it would definitely be “hug a local journalist day.” We’ll save these hugs for another time and deliver them when we can. 

A higher mission

But today, we need much more than hugs. We need this trust to turn into funding for the costly work being done across the news industry. While these reporters are dealing with the same issues as the rest of America – shelter-in-place, vulnerable family members, work-from-home mandates, job and financial insecurity, and personal health risk – they’re not missing a beat in making sure we all stay informed.  

At no time in the past century has the news industry been more vulnerable, for both the humans and the news organizations informing the body public. Trust has value. And we need to support the individuals and organizations in which we place our trust.  

There is hope, signaled by the impressive growth of trusted brands’ subscription numbers over the past few years. Even in a world ruled by the attention economy, in which low quality and false information proliferates according to algorithms, the public’s willingness to invest in reliable valuable information is growing steadily. 

We applaud the choice of so many media organizations to drop their subscription gates during times of crisis when getting trusted information out to as many people as possible takes precedence over the bottom line. The choice to make critical information freely available once again demonstrates how news providers feel compelled to inform the public, full stop.  

It is heartening to see signs that subscriptions are coming in, despite publishers lifting these gates. However, publishers have made this move knowing full well that the likelihood of a widespread international recession may force difficult choices for everyone needing to reduce their expenditures in the near future.

Missed opportunity

However, the subscription model is far from the primary revenue source for news organizations. Most digital publishers still heavily rely on advertising support. And right now, there is a great deal of uncertainty in the advertising business. That said, we know that people are turning their attention to news at record rates. And we know that people need to make decisions about how and where they are going to spend their scarce resources of both time and money. 

Normally, advertising follows audience attention. So, a surge in interest around a particular subject would lend itself to a nice uptick in advertising placements. News, unfortunately, does not always work this way. Overzealous, often blunt, keyword blocking, and avoidance have long been an issue around news content, particularly as automation and advertising exchanges delivering “blind programmatic” have taken off.

Advertisers are wise to be wary of the company their ads keep and should remain vigilant about the impact of context. However, now is not the time for advertisers to hide from so-called “hard news.” The fact is that news – now and always – is a critical component of consumers’ media diet. And right now, it is literally a lifeline. 

The trust “halo”

There is a significant body of research to support how association with high reputation and trusted news experiences creates a “halo effect” for the advertising brands funding it. There is also the inverse, which shows the damage to a brand that can come from association with low-trust environments, like social media newsfeeds. DCN’s subsidiary, TRUSTX, was built entirely on the concept that trust must be married to transparency, simplicity, scale, and automation for real success. 

On the local level, advertisers supporting their local news outlet is perfect karma. Local advertisers tap into the trust established by journalists who bring personal interest and community knowledge to important issues. (Contrast this with the “absentee ownership” of tech platforms with little direct experience or accountability to the local communities they serve.) Truly local advertising also helps keep these valuable publications alive and well to support communities and the businesses in them. It is a virtuous circle if ever there was one. 

On the national and international level, advertisers that garner the public’s attention in the context of valued, authoritative media will accrue trust in a way that is only possible at moments like these. These opportunities are uniquely offered by news outlets such as the Associated Press, USA Today, NBC News, Vox Media, and the many dozens of other DCN members.  

Step up, news matters 

I was struck by a statement earlier this week from an executive at one of the “big four” advertising agency holding companies on the planet, in response to advertising technology companies marketing their capabilities to block hard news and coronavirus reports.  

“I will say this again. Please, don’t block or harm news sites during this time under the pretext of brand safety. The Coronavirus topic is unavoidable, news impressions are increasing, and responsible brands should be there in respectful and meaningful ways.”  

– Joshua Lowcock, Chief Digital Officer at Universal-McCann 

I wasn’t being facetious earlier this week when I called on Google, the largest gatekeeper of advertising on the planet, to turn off the ability to block advertising against Coronavirus for the next six months in order to maximize funding of news organizations. Yes, by doing this Google could lose advertising business to their so-called competition. But a monopoly like Google could show the same sort of leadership for which Mr. Lowcock so beautifully advocated. We must support quality independent journalism because, as Dr. Lipsitch stated, “in a pandemic good information saves lives.”  

Perspectives | Uncategorized

DCN’s must reads: week of March 12, 2020

Here are some of the best media stories our team has read so far this week:

Perspectives

The truth about scroll and swipe: The real value of mobile’s most famous features

The world of mobile is built on scroll and swipe actions. Addictive and habit forming, infinite scroll became the defining characteristic of social media networks for a time. Clicking is making a decision. Scroll is an everlasting stream of possibilities.

Readers do love to scroll. However, it is also a better way to read and digest long content. Usability studies by the Software Usability Research Laboratory show that users can read long, scrolling pages faster than paginated ones. And they absorb the same level of information from the content.

‘Participants using the paging condition took significantly longer to read the passages than either the full or scrolling conditions. They stated that they found the Paging condition to be “too broken up,” and that they had to “go back and forth” quite a bit to search for information.’

Publishers, hoping to establish the kind of enthralled readership seen on social media, built infinite scroll and swipe navigation into their UIs, expecting readers to drip through page after page of their content. Scroll and swipe seemed to be purpose-built for news and entertainment sites.

Unfortunately, the results of scroll and swipe for publishers didn’t hit the mark. 

A bottomless pit

Infinite scroll gave readers a bottomless pit of publishers’ content. But dig into the data and you can see that most readers are still only skimming the surface of the content. According to the readership data studied here at Marfeel, we find that 75% of readers never get beyond 10% scroll depth in an article.

Here you can see how ‘content chunks’ are added to the scroll to give readers escape points to new content. These cues are easy to digest, understandable, and have a simple navigation.

Content may have infinite depth. But even engaged readers are unlikely to ever stray from the shallow-end.

When it comes to publisher content, if a reader is not engaged, they are unlikely to continue scrolling. So, if your recirculation strategy relies on readers scrolling past the bottom of an article, you’re losing out on 80% of your audience.

With swipe, the results aren’t as damning but still deeply flawed. Swipe has been shown to potentially increase page views per session by over 400% for some publishers. However, only about 20% of readers ever discover it.

Infinite scroll needs structure, variation, and novelty

Infinite scroll works so well on social media because the content and the formats change on every swipe. You’re rolling the dice for another chance at entertainment. On a publishers’ site, a swipe may just lead to another few paragraphs of content.

Traversing this dead-zone is cognitive work. There’s a lower dopamine response from making a judged evaluation on a longer article or piece of content. Faced with a paragraph of dense analysis on Euribor inflation before the next crumb of content is offered up, a reader’s first instinct will be to leave the page, not continue.

A Chartbeat report found only “slight evidence” infinite scroll contributes to deeper scroll depth, but no definitive evidence that infinite scroll improves depth of visit.

For infinite scroll to work for publishers, varied and exciting content is key. It needs to be digestible as single-scan content chunks. Users must be able to look at once and make a decision about whether they want to read or not.

Grouped titles, images, and instantly understandable content give readers more bursts of information they can use to make quick decisions. These atoms make up a proposition that a user can decide to delve into or keep scrolling. Publishers need to spot scroll-stopping points and introduce alternative exits at these points to keep readers engaged. Writing in Psychology Today, Susan Weinschenk explains, ‘If there is a small, specific cue that signifies that something is going to happen, that sets off our dopamine system’. UI/UX cues that more content is available become a dinner bell that connects to a Pavlovian response inside us.’

Without these cues, infinite scroll becomes an endless litany that unengaged readers will choose to leave rather than find the end. With these tools, publishers can reconsider scroll depth as their most crucial metric and start focusing on recirculating readers, which techniques such as ‘inline articles’ as seen above can increase recirculation by an average of 60%.

Take a lesson from Tinder on swiping

Swipe removed pagination from the mobile experience. However, not every reader discovers it in mobile publishers’ content. Imagine a world where only 20% of visitors to Tinder realized they had swipe for more content.

Apps such as Tinder and TikTok are built around swipe because they make it explicit. Publishers’ audiences are not expecting to swipe, rather follow the sections and pagination of traditional news sites. Publishers that have managed to make swipe work for them use clear and simple UI cues that make swipe a logical and intuitive cue.

Another major difference in what swipe offers us – compared with clicking new content, changing pages, or switching apps – is that we’re unsure of risk/reward ratio. And this can deliver higher rewards than evaluating decisions.

Provided we have some information about a user’s tastes, such as broad interests, swiping to a new article in a relevant or category or similar topic can even be more rewarding than choosing a new link based on rational decision-making. To do this, swipe needs to be integrated with cues to show that swipe is the intended action. As it is not yet a natural motion on content sites, this behavior needs to be taught and established.

By re-working these born-mobile techniques, publishers can re-define swipe to make it a more natural and established action. This will help publishers turn swipe and scroll from well-intentioned but ineffective tools into powerful and essential components of any content-based UI.

Perspectives

DCN’s must reads: week of March 5, 2020

Here are some of the best media industry stories our team has read so far this week:

Perspectives | Revenue

Why zero-party data is publishers’ secret weapon in a post-cookie world

The clock is ticking on third-party data.

The death of third-party cookies — courtesy of Google, Apple, GDPR and CCPA — also means the accelerated fade of third-party data. And from ad tech companies to marketers and media companies, the shift has left many wondering how they’ll proceed. Many fear the effect the changes could have on their business.

At Piano, though, we see opportunity where others see threat. And we think the shift away from third-party data is an opportunity to thrive. It puts new emphasis on first-party data. It also enables those companies to draw on something even more powerful: zero-party data.

Every day, users provide media companies with the type of explicit, accurate, data other businesses covet. Consumers willingly volunteer this data as they register or subscribe in order to unlock more content or build a deeper relationship with their site of choice. And it’s exactly this type of information that, if used right, can push those companies ahead in this new data landscape. 

The problem with third-party data 

To understand their audience and find new users, companies in and outside of media have long been relying on third-party data. This type of data, sold by data aggregators, is available in huge (if shrinking) volumes and can potentially shed light on many different consumer types. However, there are three primary problems with it:

  • The rising consumer concern around online privacy. Consumers are becoming increasingly aware of tracking and privacy. And that’s driven government privacy and consent regulations like GDPR, as well as the changes in browser cookie policies. This has reduced the reliability of third-party data. 
  • It can be out of date and unreliable. This is why consumers are often targeted for a product they’ve already purchased or decided against, only to have ads “follow” them around the internet for weeks. If you’re building a strategy around data that’s two months (or even two weeks) old, it’s likely already outdated. And the trend towards limiting third-party cookies only means third-party data will become even less reliable in the future.
  • Sourcing is often hazy. How third-party data is collected, aggregated and then sold is generally a black box. User consent isn’t always known or verifiable. As the industry moves to tighten rules around data transparency, the value and utility of third-party data will continue to decline.

Unlike third-party cookies, third-party data probably won’t necessarily vanish completely — though it will certainly diminish in value. Even so, there are better alternatives available, especially to media companies.

If third-party data is finished, what now?

Some important questions still remain unanswered in this post third-party cookie world. However, what’s not unclear is that the more reliable the data, the higher the value for publishers’ marketing partners and the more they’re willing to pay for targeted ads. And for that, third-party data falls short next to the other options:

Zero-party data is intentionally shared with a business by its customers. This could range from customer relationship management (CRM) data, such as the email address or gender filled out in a registration form, to preferences selected during website customization. As data explicitly shared as part of a value exchange or to improve the customer experience, it’s the most valuable data a company can collect. Critically, it belongs to the customer, not the business. It can’t be used without consent and must be carefully protected. However, it is highly accurate, reliable, and transparent in sourcing.

First-party data is often thought to encompass zero-party data. However, it also includes behavioral data collected by observing customers as they browse your website or app, or visit your store. This type of data is implicit, rather than explicit, but is still considered premium for many reasons. It’s collected by you so is more likely to be accurate. And any insights drawn from your own audience are likely to truly reflect their preferences and behaviors. This means that campaigns and strategies are more likely to succeed. Crucially, there are fewer concerns over data misuse and GDPR non-compliance as you control the conditions in which data is collected and stored.

Second-party data is when first-party data passes through a second set of hands. In other words, second-party data is someone else’s first-party data. It occurs in like-minded publisher alliances, when suppliers exchange data with their retailers for mutual benefit. It also happens when agencies strike exclusive deals with major publishers to empower programmatic buying. Gaining explicit consent to use and share second-party data isn’t always an easy feat, but can be handled reliably with the right technology setup.

Media companies are in a unique position to take advantage of these data sources . This is particularly true for first-party data and the gold standard of all user data: zero-party data. 

Maximizing your zero-party data 

In the media landscape, companies can use zero-party data to both benefit their advertising partners and personalize the experience they offer users themselves. All while finally aligning the interests of their subscription and advertising teams — something many media companies have been striving to do for years. 

Zero-party data is already available through registration and subscription sign-ups. But the savviest companies will maximize their store using many of the same techniques subscription companies have already implemented to optimize their business. That starts with quality content that puts users at the center of the audience experience. It continues in the form of exclusive content, personalized recommendations and customized offers that engage the user and personalize the experience. Only when a true value exchange is in place will users be incentivized to provide their data to improve their experience even further.

A data management platform, or DMP, can then help companies use that data to understand and segment their users. Lookalikes will also allow them to extrapolate the data to cover their entire audience. In doing so, they’ll be able to target ads to relevant users and engage more effectively with their chosen demographic. 

Take Piano customer Mediahuis, for example. One of the largest publishers in Europe, they built a substantial base of 4.4 million registered users. They then used the zero- and first-party data collected to create a significant, audience-based advertising business across Belgium and the Netherlands. Audience campaigns grew to 27% of total ad revenue, with clickthrough rates 26% higher than non-targeted campaigns.

That’s the power of zero- and first-party data. Combining your advertising and subscription businesses through a focus on known users leads to a stronger and profitable monetization model, drawing from multiple revenue streams.

And that, as far as we’re concerned, is hardly something to be afraid of.

About the author

Michael Silberman, SVP Strategy, leads Piano’s Strategic Services team. He helps clients develop reader revenue strategies and drive success and revenue on the Piano platform. He joined Piano in 2018 after 10 years building the digital media business at New York magazine, and earlier, as one of the top editors launching and growing MSNBC.com in the early days of the consumer Internet. Visit piano.io to find out more about Piano Zero, an end-to-end solution that  empowers zero- and first-party data.

Perspectives

DCN’s must reads: week of February 27, 2020

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