Category results for "Perspectives"

Viewability problems spread to video ads on social

September 17, 2015 Mark Glaser, Founder and Publisher – MediaShift

A funny thing happened on the way to social distribution domination. While publishers have started to test more and more original content on social platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and Snapchat, those platforms are still suffering from problems of viewability for ads—especially with video.

Let’s look at the statistics: The Media Rating Council and the Interactive Advertising Bureau suggests a video ad is viewable when at least half of the ad’s pixels are visible on a screen for at least two consecutive seconds. An April study by Google found the average viewability of video ads across the web (not taking YouTube into account) was 54%. When considering video ads on YouTube, that figure jumped to 91% across different devices and apps — and video ads were significantly more viewable on mobile and tablet as opposed to desktop. Non-viewable ads, meanwhile, were either scrolled off the screen or abandoned in less than two seconds.

Short Attention Span on Snapchat
Yet just because ads might be more viewable on mobile than on desktop doesn’t discount the anxiety surrounding their worth. A recent article on Digiday found a full 70% of Snapchat’s mostly millennial audience had moved on from an ad after only three seconds. Given Snapchat currently charges brands for video ads that are viewed for even less than a second, it’s not only raised discussion on the definition on viewability, but also the relative value of these ads for brands.

“Snapchat is using this measurement that just seems off from what brands and clients want and where the rest of the industry is going,” a digital marketing insider with knowledge of Snapchat’s ad model told Garrett Sloane of Digiday. “If an ad is on the screen for less than a second, it’s hard to imagine it made an impression.”

Despite the ongoing debate on the impact of technology giants becoming the gatekeepers for brands and publishers, the platforms will have to work more closely with these parties if they are all going to have long-term, stable ad revenues. Twitter, for example, offers six-second pre-roll ads. Facebook also “teaches brands how to capture attention within three seconds, using muted auto-play videos, which people can scroll right past,” Sloane wrote in Digiday.

Third-Party Verification?
Some companies are demanding third-party tools be used to evaluate which advertisements are actually being seen, to help ensure the accuracy of the information and maintain higher viewability. Complaints from Uniliver and Kelloggs are suspected to be behind YouTube’s announcement to use third-party tools instead of its own in-house measuring tool, Active View.

But this also has its negative consequences. Facebook, for instance, has argued that “third-party verification view tags often slow down consumer experience and don’t always report views consistently,” and has hinted that these third-party verification tools could compromise valuable user data. And Facebook — whose log-in can track which desktop or mobile devices people use — has access to the consumer data that is so crucial to advertisers. That data is difficult for most publishers to obtain otherwise, and generally harder to determine on mobile, because the varying size of different gadgets require different kinds of advertising.

Maintaining a quality user experience versus earning revenue from advertising seems to be the trade-off that’s happening on social platforms. Snapchat, for instance, maintains brands won’t be charged if viewers skip an ad entirely. But it also offers its users the chance to skip any advertisement they wish.

These are early days for video ads on social platforms, so there could be more standards among the major players in the near future. That could go a long way toward addressing viewability issues. Snapchat videos, for instance, take up the entire screen (so eyes can’t wander), and also use the vertical video format which leads to higher view rates.

Or publishers and brands could also try another route to better viewability: better ads, and even native ads that are creative enough for people to play through and share without skipping in disgust.

Perspectives

DCN’s Recommended Reading: Week of September 17, 2015

September 17, 2015 DCN

Our recommended reads from around the web:

Digiday: AppNexus filters 65 percent of impressions as fraudulent (2 min read)
Doc Searls: If marketing listened to markets, they’d hear what ad blocking is telling them (2 min read)
Fortune: Dear ad industry: Suing ad blockers and cutting off readers is not a great strategy (4 min read)
AdExchanger: Ad Blocking Will Keep Growing Until We Make Ads Better (4 min read)
Techcrunch: Periscope Is Secretly Building An Apple TV App (2 min read)
FT: Google under antitrust fire in Russia (3 min read)
The Awl: Welcome to the Block Party (12 min read)
Folio: Advertising’s Existential Moment (20 min read)

Perspectives | Video

The rise of live

September 16, 2015 DCN

From as early as 1953, when millions of people around the world watched the live coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Abbey in London, the need to watch an event as it unfolds has been there.

These days, live video is on the rise with news consumers increasingly expecting to see events as they actually happen. They are still looking for breaking and key news events but now they also want to see political, cultural and religious events, red carpet coverage, product launches, technology shows, sports news and more. However the television platform is far from the only place people are consuming video. Today’s digital publishers are responding to increased demand, integrating video into their websites and thereby bringing richer storytelling to their audiences.

Never before, though, has there been such experimentation in live video content. Improvements in streaming technologies and increased Internet speeds have made it easier than ever to stream live content across digital platforms, and digital publishers, approaching live video from a fresh perspective, have been quick to adapt.

It was in 2013 when digital publishers really saw the power of live video. Ahead of the birth of Prince George, AP streamed a shot of the hospital’s front door to many of the UK’s online newspaper sites. The results: a stark increase in site visitors and engagement levels that was more akin to traditional linear TV viewing times than the usual brisk online viewing. Viewers gathered online to watch and wait, be there the moment the birth was announced, and to chat with one another during this exciting event.

It’s a formula that’s proven successful time and again, with events that take days or even weeks proving incredibly popular. From full coverage of the Oscar Pistorius trial, to 24/7 coverage of the Hong Kong protests, these breaking news events have proven live video’s capabilities to attract and engage an audience on an ongoing basis.

These are the kind of events where audiences can lean forward and get real insight into the story, or lean back and keep an eye on events while continuing with their day-to-day tasks. It’s a concept we call “slow news”.

In addition, streaming planned live events – like awards shows or technology events – gives publishers the opportunity to promote ahead of time on their site and across social media to attract an audience. It also gives important time to sell advertising or sponsorship around an event.

The experimentation continues as sites try to determine what works and what doesn’t—and the fact is that there is no one size fits all for live content. Digital publishers need to see what resonates with their audience while also staying true to their brand voice. In a social media world where Facebook and other platforms are becoming increasingly important to the overall news experience, staying true to the brand regardless of the medium used to tell the story has never been more important.

The needs of broadcasters are also changing when it comes to live video, along with the audiences they serve. Not only do they now have more television channels to fill, but many of them also have a digital offering. They are reaching consumers across several platforms and audiences want a different experience on each one. As a result, live video is playing a significant role in broadcasters’ strategies and they need to remain focused and flexible in order to retain and attract audiences across all platforms.

As technology continues to evolve and consumers consider watching live news unfold with video, rather than just text and images, understanding how to develop a story with live video will become more important than ever. At AP we’re offering around 400 live events a month and we’re continuing to invest in technology and newsgathering that will ensure we keep up with the continued growth in the importance of live video news.

Paul Shanley (@psshanley) is director of international business development and partnerships at AP (@AP). He joined the company in 2011, as part of the team leading the business strategy for the development of AP Video Hub which launched in 2012. Since then he has gone on to drive the global strategy for the platform as well as a number of other international products, focusing on revenue growth and customer engagement.

Perspectives

Three social media distribution takeaways from Digital Media Strategies USA

September 14, 2015 Michelle Manafy, Editorial Director – DCN

As of January 2014, 74% of online adults were using social networking sites. And it has been well-documented that people discover and consume a vast quantity of news and other types of information through social platforms. However, media brands have long had a conflicted relationship with social networks. While they amass huge, content-hungry audiences, monetization has not necessarily followed.

At the Digital Media Strategies USA conference held September 9 and 10 in New York, social distribution was a recurring theme. Speakers from a wide range of media organizations made it clear that, trepidation or no, social platforms are an essential component of a distribution strategy. And the good news for publishers it that it is becoming increasingly apparent that quality content is what fuels social media platforms—which should pave the way to a more favorable revenue proposition for premium content creators.

In the words of some of the events speakers, here are three social distribution takeaways from Digital Media Strategies:

1. Their audiences are huge, and you need to be in front of them.

We don’t see it as a loss of control, we see it as a way to reach even bigger audiences, everywhere… Core to how we think about the businesses: reaching quality scaled audiences on whatever platform.

—Marty Moe, President, Vox Media (@mtmoe1)

Social deals bring tremendous distribution.

—Troy Young, President, Hearst Digital Media (@troyyoung)

Don’t see platforms as cannibalization. You’ll just lose an opportunity to show your content to more people.

—Dorth Raphaely, General Manager, Bleacher Report (@mr_dorth)

We need to get to a place where we are truly meeting them where they are: on new platforms, devices and channels.

—Alex Wellen, Chief Product Officer, CNN (@alexwellen)

2. Tell a great story, and tell it the right way for the platform

We have editors for Snapchat, editors for Facebook… We focus our resources to ensure we are presenting not just the right content, but in the right way for the platform.

—Marty Moe, President, Vox Media (@mtmoe1)

Your phone is a reflection of yourself and you open Facebook to see a reflection of your world. It is all about fitting into that experience.

—Chris Altchek, Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder, Mic (caltchek)

With Snapchat Discover, which we recently started participating in, you are no longer thinking about what people will share. We see it as a creative canvas and just want to create great stuff.

—Pete Cashmore, CEO Founder, Mashable (@petecashmore)

A distinctive visual vocabulary is very important in how we think about being a distributed media company so that the brand travels well.

—Troy Young, President, Hearst Digital Media (@troyyoung)

3. Social media platforms need great content.

Social is such a crowded space so we’re seeing a return to the importance of quality content. The people not creating quality content will be drowned-out.

—Dorth Raphaely, General Manager, Bleacher Report (@mr_dorth)

All the platforms want quality content that people want to read.

—Pete Cashmore, CEO Founder, Mashable (@petecashmore)

The platforms will need to compete for the best content.

—Marty Moe, President, Vox Media (@mtmoe1)

Perspectives | Policy

Dear ad blocking community, we need to talk.

September 10, 2015 Chris Pedigo, SVP Government Affairs – DCN

Here at DCN, we’ve been actively engaged on the issue of ad blocking software since last year. Unlike many in the industry, we’ve focused on the consumer and what we consider long-term solutions. We don’t think the digital ecosystem can reach its full potential without consumer trust—as we’ve written about here, here, here, here, here and here. Trust is the foundation upon which consumer demand is sustainably built and we’re hard-pressed to envision a digital business that doesn’t need to be built around consumer demand.

Here at DCN, we haven’t focused on how to wage a protracted tech arms race or destroy ad blocking companies. We recognize the value in having the open development community address inherent consumer concerns. In this case, consumers don’t want ads that are annoying, intrusive or drain their device’s battery – and who can blame them? We’re talking about their data plans, their phones, their computers and, of course, their valuable time. Without a doubt, we need to give them great experiences in exchange for their investment. And that applies to advertising too, as Univision’s Kevin Conroy pointed out: better advertising experiences may be exactly what’s called for to stem the tide of ad-blocking adoption.

This is an industry-wide issue and we all need to step up to address it just as we enthusiastically embraced the progression of digital media and marketing. Unfortunately, the race to invest billions of dollars in ad technologies has focused on following consumers all around the web. Instead, perhaps the industry should focus on developing features and tools in ad tech that assist advertisers and publishers in creating consumer-friendly ad experiences (e.g. warnings for excessive animation, latency/heavy load, too many ad calls and hops). To date, consumer privacy and user experience haven’t been given proper consideration. Now consumers are speaking up with software.

It can’t be denied that blocking all advertising could lead to a world where publishers can’t monetize premium content or experiences. This isn’t just an issue of profitability (though certainly that’s why the vast majority of content companies are in the business), it is also a question of supporting the creation of the content people love—and need. Some content companies are trying an approach that appeals to consumers on that basis—often it’s a reminder message on site entry about ads funding the content they are about to—something those combatting content piracy have tried in the past. And while educating consumers is a valuable piece of the puzzle, it fails to address the systemic issues that got us here in the first place. Long term, the industry must clean up the user experience and provide more transparency and controls for consumers.

As ever, our focus at DCN is on solving issues for our valued consumers and working with the trusted brands that comprise our membership, to seek solutions to this significant challenge. We don’t yet know precisely where the line should be drawn, but we’re talking with anyone and everyone about how to continue to create premium content and delightful user experiences in this new world of ad blocking.

One thing that we are sure of: When third parties cut out our messaging to our customers, that’s crossing the line. When a consumer decides to block advertising and visits sites, we need a way to communicate with them so that we can ask for feedback to solve whatever their issue is that ad blocking addresses. If it is an issue of load time, we need to know. If it is offensive or intrusive ad content or ad experiences, we need to know. If it is due to privacy concerns, we need to know. If they’d prefer an ad-free experience, we need the ability to offer them options, such as subscriptions. It’s beneficial to content companies as well as the consumers. Ad blocking tools cut off the ability for content companies and consumers to engage in a healthy, open dialog and search for solutions – principles that the Internet was built upon.

We are the brands consumers trust. We are the content creators, the publishers, the sites they choose to visit. If a consumer is uncomfortable or unhappy with the experience we provide, they can (as ever) go elsewhere. As the first party that not only creates the content experiences these consumers seek out and spend their valuable time with but, in many cases, have developed long-term relationships with—we certainly have the right to educate and engage in a constructive discussion with these customers.

So let’s be clear: blocking messaging from a site to its customers is wrong. Instead of blocking messages that inform consumers about their options for consuming content on the site, let’s work together on long term solutions that will provide our shared consumers with a better experience, thereby building an even stronger digital ecosystem. Give us a ring to discuss– we promise not to block your call.

Perspectives

An Opportunity with Native Advertising

September 10, 2015 DCN

In his new book, Content Inc., Joe Pulizzi explores the ways in which entrepreneurs use content to build audiences and build their businesses. A pioneer of content marketing, Pulizzi provides insights into how businesses can harnass “the power of content in a world where marketers still hold fast to traditional models that no longer work.” Content Inc. explores a range of content types and tactics. Following is an excerpt from the book (edited for our format) in which Pulizzi discusses native advertising.

———————-

An Opportunity with Native Advertising

Sharethrough defines native advertising as a form of paid media where the ad experience follows the natural form and function of the user experience in which it is placed. In simple terms, the advertisement looks like the content. This could be paid content that looks like an article on a media site, or it might be a post on LinkedIn that looks exactly like all the other updates from the people you follow.

There is probably no term that is getting greater play in the marketing space right now than native advertising. Even the largest media brands in the world, like the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, are trying to figure out how to generate revenues from sponsored content.

There could be a great opportunity for you to “dip your toe” into the sponsored content game, but it’s imperative to understand all the moving parts.

Native advertising is growing as a part of the larger advertising sector for a few reasons:

Media brands (including Content Inc. models) and social platforms (like LinkedIn and Facebook) are aggressively offering native advertising products.
Brands now spend approximately 25 to 30 percent of their budget on content marketing initiatives. Brands have started to make this a priority, so native advertising is seen as a viable opportunity.
When done right, it can work. For example, the majority of BuzzFeed’s revenues are through native advertising, and this strategy has been so successful that the company has been able to generate revenues at a substantial premium over traditional online advertising.
There is a renewed passion in the advertising community around native. This “new advertising” (even though it’s not new at all) has given hope to media buyers around the world that something can perform better than a banner ad.

What Are the Benefits of Native Advertising?
If you approach a company that has direct access to its entire audience through e-mail or another connection, it probably will have no need for native advertising (or any advertising for that matter). Most organizations are not in that position, which is why native advertising can be valuable (they are trying to steal audience, as we showed you in Chapter 16).

Other considerations:

On the smaller mobile screen, the stream itself is the entire user experience. More and more, display advertising is not available. In the future, advertising options on mobile may only be native advertising. If a potential sponsor wants to reach your audience via mobile, native advertising is a possible revenue stream.
Traditional banner ads generally do not perform well. According to Adweek, the average click-through for traditional banners is 0.12 percent. That means you are more likely to get hit by a bolt of lightning than click on a banner ad.
Rent-to-own strategy. Native advertising can be a core strategy for sponsors to borrow your credibility and then transfer that good faith over to their own brand. At the same time, they are trying to make your audience their own. You need to be careful here as well.

The Best Way to Use Native Advertising
If you pursue native advertising as part of your Content Inc. strategy, consider the following:

It cannot sell. The content needs to be educational, informative, helpful, or interesting. If it’s just about your sponsor’s products and services, it probably won’t cut the mustard. In addition, most media brands have quality teams to ensure that the content is good enough. They can also assist you in producing the content (for a fee). Remember, bad content on your site can destroy the credibility of your brand. That’s exactly why the New York Times has a division that only creates sponsored content for brands. The Times will not allow brands to create the content themselves for fear that they won’t get it right.
Clear labels. As of this printing, the FTC is not going to get involved with any guidelines, in the hope that the industry will police itself. I believe that will happen—and is even happening now. Using terms like sponsored, promoted, or even advertorial is appropriate. Just make sure it’s clear to visitors that the content is a paid placement. Use your common sense.

Why Native Advertising Might Be Neither
Content Marketing Institute chief strategist Robert Rose believes that native advertising, in the purist sense of the term, is neither native nor advertising.

Rose on why it’s not native:

With few exceptions, my aim is to create content that stands out so well that you can’t help but notice the ironic, inherent pitch in there. I’m leveraging the fact that it’s in context with the brand to draw a certain reaction from the audience. So . . . the less “native” content is—and the more I can creatively leverage both brands in context with each other—the more powerful it can be.

Rose on why it’s not advertising:

The point is that if we are going to successfully utilize contextually placed content to achieve a marketing result, we have to think about it differently than we would an advertisement. . . . We, as marketers, must rethink what kinds of goals we want to achieve with contextually placed content. It is, quite simply, different than our goals with advertising.

Overall, some are concerned about the way that the lines between editorial and advertising are blurred with native advertising. In all likelihood, those concerns will continue to linger as native advertising continues to grow.

Regardless, as you grow out your content platform, native advertising is a possible tactic to diversify your revenues and support the platform.

Joe Pulizzi is founder of Content Marketing Institute, a leading education and training organization for content marketing, which includes the largest in-person content marketing event in the world, Content Marketing World. Joe is the winner of the 2014 John Caldwell Lifetime Achievement Award from the Content Council. Joe’s fourth book Content Inc. will be released September 2015. His third book, Epic Content Marketing was named one of “Five Must Read Business Books of 2013” by Fortune Magazine. You can find Joe on Twitter @JoePulizzi. If you ever see Joe in person, he’ll be wearing orange.

Perspectives

Dear Abby: I don’t mind advertising but I do mind tracking. What do I do?

September 8, 2015 DCN

The scene: You are driving along Interstate 87 up to Albany (NY) and pass a billboard on the right side of the road.

In the early days of the Internet, the billboard was a sign on the side of the road: static and there rain or shine. To change the billboard, a crew had to go to the location and with a few tools and time, remove the sign and replace it. The billboard was technically dumb. It had no idea who you were, your car, or your license plate number.

On the Internet today, the billboard is still a sign on the side of the road but this time, the billboard is a bit smarter. Based on the time of day, day of week, or some other signal such as weather, it could rotate. You might see a billboard for Howe Caverns if it is nice weather but it might change to a Wyndham Mountain advertisement if it is snowing. As you pass the billboard in your Jeep Grand Cherokee, the billboard takes note: it records your vehicle model, your speed, and extra signals exhausted by your SUV. On your return trip, the billboard notes you passed it with 48 hours between trips. And maybe, the billboard knows you visited Howe Caverns so instead of wasting an impression to advertise Howe Caverns again, it shows an ad for Wyndham Mountain.

I am using the above examples to outline two complimentary but distinct areas: advertising and tracking.

Advertising does not need tracking and tracking does not need advertising. Often we think of these as together and dependent. They are not.

Advertising
A paid-for placement on some form of media (billboard) by an advertiser or agency (on behalf of advertiser). (my definition)

Tracking
The components where the billboard starts to know it is a Jeep Grand Cherokee, the speed, names of people in car, and the time in between passing the board. Collecting and logging data with or without permission. (my definition)

There is a solid conversation happening right now around ad-blocking. Howard Stern is even talking about the subject. Users are blocking ads (and tracking) and this could lead to a complete break of the Internet economy. Ad agency execs are even blocking ads. I recently wrote about a lot of this here.

I want to dig into this subject a bit more as I believe what users are doing on the Internet might have unintended consequences.

There are three types of users:

Users who want to block ads
Users who want to block tracking
Users who want to block both (ads + tracking)

I am not convinced that blocking of ads (ad-block) on the Internet is a good thing. I am convinced that blocking of tracking on the Internet is a good thing for people who do not want to be tracked.

Ad-blockers have been playing the default role of both: blocking ads and blocking tracking.

I do think there are opportunities for publishers, ad-tech, advertisers, and the ecosystem to take a responsible role for letting users know when they are being tracked.

I am not going to outline every single idea here but I’ll toss one out that we’ve been noodling:

One of the ideas that surfaced from my team was around highlighting the advertisement (or the URL [awesome] bar) with a specific color so the user knows something is happening related to tracking.

Example: If ad + tracking is rendered to user, URL bar turns yellow. If yellow, the user can click and see why.

The user can then click on the advert or URL bar to turn-off or add the site/tracker to a white list. A derivative white list idea was talked about recently by my pal Eric Franchi.

I don’t want to deal with managing every company who is tracking me.

I don’t think most Internet users want to manage each tracking platform: the good ones, the bad ones, and the not-so-bad ones. For users who do want to manage their own list, then they can do so. Similar to how I’ve learned how power-users of Firefox tweak every little thing to optimize their own experience.

I do think that it is rationale for a user to do one (or more of the following):

Subscribe to a curated list. Is there a person (i.e. Doc Searls) or company (i.e. Mozilla, Digital Content Next) to whom you would subscribe to in order to use their trusted list?
Subscribe to a brand. Since brands are the ones advertising, would you sign up to receive that respective brands tracking? If you subscribe to Nike, then you receive whatever Nike chooses to use for their tracking and ad-tech.
Or none. Which is fine too.
Or something else that I’ve not listed here, of course.

The content business is in for a nuclear winter if we don’t find a way to directly and/or indirectly compensate publishers and creators.

Advertising is a natural form of content subsidy but there are other direct methods of subsidy as well such as what the folks at LaterPay, Flattr, and others are doing.

I am biased and want to believe that advertising can still exist online but we need to give users control of how they (not) want to be tracked. You can still show an advertisement to a user who doesn’t want to be tracked: show the ad, with respect. More on respect and trust here.

This post is written by Darren Herman, the VP of Content Services at Mozilla. While not skiing with his family or on cross-country flights to Mountain View (CA), Herman thinks about the future of content and it’s convergence with Madison Avenue. This post, which originally appeared on Medium, is his thinking and not one that is reflective of his employer. You can follow him on Twitter @dherman76.

Perspectives

In Memory of Curt Hecht

September 3, 2015 Jason Kint, CEO – DCN

The team at DCN is saddened to hear of the passing of Curt Hecht. He was a close member of our community and the entire digital media world. Curt made significant and lasting contributions on behalf of advertisers, agencies and programmers that have changed the business. We will miss him and send his family and colleagues our deepest condolences.

Those who would like to make a donation to the Hecht girls’ education fund, can do so here.

—-

A Personal Note from CEO, David Kenny, to The Weather Company Family

Dear Weather Company Family,

I am incredibly sad to share the incomprehensible news that we have lost our dear friend and colleague, Curt Hecht, to lung cancer. Curt was battling lung cancer over the last five months, something that is almost impossible to believe given what an amazing athlete he was and that he never smoked. Life is neither fair nor predictable.

I have known Curt for at least one third of his short 48 years, and I can tell you that his life mattered in countless ways. His life mattered most to his wife, the love of his life, and his two beautiful, young daughters.

Curt’s life mattered to the digital advertising industry, as he pioneered countless innovations with his clients at Starcom MediaVest, VivaKi, Publicis, and The Weather Company. Curt was an early pioneer in search, “native” advertising, localization, social-informed ads, and retargeting. Curt created the first agency trading desk.

Curt’s life mattered to The Weather Company. He recruited and developed an extraordinary team. He strengthened our relationships with key partners, including Google, Twitter, Facebook, and Hearst. He had the vision for WeatherFX, which has totally changed the value of our audience to advertisers. He championed the best programmatic operation in the industry.

Curt’s life and friendship mattered to me. Curt and I had breakfast in Las Vegas during CES 2012, and he encouraged me to take the risk and realize the potential of transforming The Weather Channel Companies. A few months later, he took his own risk to join us. In every tough situation, Curt kept me anchored on what matters — family first, our people second, clients and audience third, and the money will take care of itself. Curt and I both dream big, but he is the one who could turn the dream into a reality. When daily pressures created chaos and drama, Curt would prioritize and keep us focused on the most important and critical matters.

Curt only shared his cancer battle with a few people. He did not want a fuss, or pity, or distraction. Those of us close to him developed an aspiration to be “just half as tough as Curt.” To him, cancer was like a challenging bike ride. He attacked it with grit and determination, and fearlessly agreed to clinical trials so that others could also learn from his fight.

Curt’s life mattered, and he is simply irreplaceable. His spirit is still with us, and we will continue our success if we are only “half as strong as Curt.” I miss you already, Curt. I am sure we all do.

-David Kenny

Perspectives

Mobile Use: Simply Spectacular. Mobile Ads? It’s Complicated.

September 3, 2015 Mark Glaser, Founder and Publisher – MediaShift

The attention surrounding mobile is old news now — as more people spend time with their handheld gadgets, content is becoming more streamlined for these devices. But mobile advertising? That’s a whole different story. It’s messy, inconsistent, dominated by tech platforms and not functioning well for most publishers. In the words of a Facebook status update: It’s complicated.

The raw numbers for mobile advertising tell us of a thriving, growing business. A recent report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau showed that mobile ads brought in $32 billion in 2014, a 65% increase from 2013, when it was estimated at $19.3 billion. And global ad spending is expected to reach $69 billion this year, according to eMarketer.

Yet a new report from the Wall Street Journal suggests the hype surrounding mobile advertising may be more about the talk and less about the show. Although mobile advertising is now a multi-billion dollar business, the profits aren’t keeping pace. A “mobile gap,” according to industry executives, is now at play with a great deal of money going to ad platforms and networks. And industry experts fear Apple’s upcoming release of ad-blocking on Safari with the new iOS 9 will threaten this already precarious scenario.

“In the short-term, ad-blocking is disruptive for almost everybody,” DCN’s Jason Kint told TheStreet.com. “The entire ecosystem should be aware of ad-blocking. It’s a topic too many companies are ducking and it’s time for the industry to come together to find solutions.”

Platforms Dominate
The blessings mobile devices have offered users with their size and convenience have actually become curses for publishers and marketers.

“That’s because mobile devices have small screens — making traditional display advertising all but useless — and user behavior on a mobile device is even less conducive to interruptive ads than desktop browsing was,” Mathew Ingram explained in Fortune.

Forget the fact that banner ads don’t work on mobile devices. Mobile users also typically spend less time on a website than desktop users, using apps more. So they also just don’t see — and therefore don’t click — on as many ads as desktop users do. This makes tracking and targeting advertising according to user behavior much more difficult for publishers.

But online behemoths Facebook, Google and Twitter are able to sidestep many of these issues. Facebook accounted for nearly 40% of mobile display advertising in the U.S. in 2014 and earned $3.5 billion from mobile display advertising in 2014. Google alone earns about half of all global mobile advertising revenue. These tech companies can profit as much as they do because they know their users in a way no other platform or publisher does. Given the Facebook log-in can track which desktop or mobile devices people use, for example, Facebook can access consumer data that is so crucial to advertisers — and difficult for most publishers to obtain otherwise.

More Ad-Blocking Coming
This also could have rough consequences for publishers looking to maintain control over their content and reap the profits of mobile advertising, especially with ad-blocking coming to iOS 9. Most media companies have offered their users horrible experiences in their attempt to generate as much revenue as possible, because ads get in the way of web browsing and slow down page loading. The availability of ad-blocking on iOS 9 will certainly generate a more positive user experience — but it will make it even more difficult for advertising. Ad-block usage grew by 41% in the last year, according to Pagefair, a company that sells tools to fight ad-blocking, and there’s no doubt usage will increase.

Apple Poised to Profit
“Blocking ads on the web means it’ll force publishers toward the ‘News’ app which also happens to be included in iOS 9, where it’s not possible to block ads and Apple gets a cut of money made from advertising shown via its iAd network,” Owen Williams wrote in The Next Web.

The page loading/user experience/consumer tracking/mobile profiting trade-off is not dissimilar from what’s happening with Facebook, where its “Instant Articles” also load much faster, look better and offer publishers the chance at ad revenue — on the condition that publishers use Facebook to post and share their content.

The flipside, of course, is that Facebook maintains control. But at this point, disengaging from Facebook, Apple, or any other giant media company for that matter, may not be a realistic option. A mobile gap exists. Now is the time to close the gap and figure out how to reap the profits — quite possibly in partnership with platforms. And it is also likely that publishers and brands will be focused on native advertising, which won’t fall prey to ad-blockers, and better creative in order to stem the tide of increasingly negative consumer sentiment about online advertising.

Perspectives

DCN’s Recommended Reading: Week of September 3, 2015

September 3, 2015 DCN

Our recommended reads from around the web:

NYT: The Virginia Shooter Wanted Fame. Let’s Not Give It to Him. (8 min read)
Doc Searls: Will Content Blocking push Apple into advertising’s wheat business? (10 min read)
Re/Code: Netflix Is Losing More Hollywood Movies, and Says You’ll Be Okay With That (3 min read)
WSJ: Apple’s Ad Blockers Rile Publishers (5 min read)
MondayNote: Life After Content Blocking (7 min read)
USAToday: Wolff: Maybe Murdoch should sue (2 min read)
Medium: The Mobile Video Ad Lie (7 min read)
AdExchanger: Content Blocking In iOS 9: Where Some See Doom, Others See Opportunity (6 min read)
NYT: European Publishers Play Lobbying Role Against Google (9 min read)
HuffPo: Bloomberg Editor Lays Out Newsroom’s Vision (17 min read)

Perspectives | Research

Preparing for 2020: Getting to Know the Millennial Woman

September 1, 2015 DCN

Are we ready for the year 2020? In only five short years, the millennial generation will be the largest, most influential generation we’ve encountered. They will represent the majority of the work force, account for two-thirds of all first-time home buyers and represent over $2.5 trillion in spending. While leading millennials have already embraced this “adult” life, trailing millennials will be following in their footsteps by the year 2020. What will this mean to publishers and marketers? Will millennial women follow their Gen-X and Boomer parents in their buying behavior and decision-making? Or will the advancement of technology – including smartphones, social media in the ‘always on’ world – dramatically change how we engage with them?

This is an important question for Meredith where our cornerstone content has been home, health, family, food and lifestyle for women inspired by our brands. For generations – including the Boomer’s sexual revolution of the sixties to the excess of the eighties and the Gen X generation who grew up alongside the progression of the online world as a mass media – Meredith content has evolved to meet her needs for the milestones and moments in between. We are constantly seeking new ways to help them search our recipes, get inspired by our home decoration ideas and share our parenting tips. Our “Women 2020” research initiative was designed to deliver targeted, data-driven insight on key audiences for both us and our marketing partners and brands through the lens of life stages and the influence of technology.

Here are a few key takeaways from this year’s Women 2020 report:

The Millennial Mindset
Millennial women are optimistic about their futures and, not surprisingly, are focused on issues close to home, i.e., themselves. The majority feel they will be happier, more fortunate and have more opportunities in five years. According to these millennial women, the most pressing issues facing women today are weight acceptance (27%) and wage equality (25%), very different than the more worldly boomers who see wage equality and domestic violence as the top issues facing women, with weight acceptance of much less importance (9%).

The Mobile Generation
Given the technology at their fingertips – literally – it’s only logical that smartphones and laptops are the millennial women’s chosen device to access the internet. Gen-Xers and Boomers also choose laptops as their #1 go-to device, but less than half of Boomers claim that their smartphone is the primary device to connect. This is especially evident when it comes to shopping. More and more women – led by millennials – are going online prior to shopping to look for sales, coupons and price comparisons and staying on line in the store. Specifically, when shopping for food, more than a quarter of millennial women are looking for coupons and using a grocery list app. Clearly, engagement with women as they prepare to shop is uniquely different than the Boomer’s we have helped navigate for years. Meredith’s recent acquisition of Qponix (a Grocery Server technology) allows us to serve her all of the content she is looking for in one place on our sites. We will be rolling this out to other categories, including beauty, as a result of this growing trend.

Media Sources & Roles
The list of media options and information and entertainment sources seems to have no limit, but that’s not an issue for millennial women (concurring with recent MomTrak research from Meredith’s Parents Network) who continue to add to the list of sources they turn to. No wonder it’s hard to get their attention! Each media fills a unique role. The primary reason women turn to online sources is as “a good source of learning” and a way to get “detailed information.” However, when focusing on millennial women, the #1 reason they go online is to keep them “informed and up-to-date”, in other words online is a key information source. When it comes to TV, all generations agree: it’s “pure entertainment” and TV “relaxes them.”

Women of all ages also agree on the main reason they rely on magazines. Magazines offer a sense of control (“can glance through quickly or read through thoroughly) and allow them to “unplug and disconnect from technology.” Perhaps the fear of missing out (FOMO) is being replaced with JOMO (the joy of missing out) and printed magazines are the solution.

Social media continues to grow as an integral part of women’s lives with nearly all women visiting Facebook at least once a week. Millennials and Gen-Xers also rely regularly on YouTube, Instagram and Pinterest, offering a constant reminder to marketers to be sure to share relevant content everywhere she is, when she wants it. Trailing millennials are always on the lookout for the next new social sharing platform, with video-based offerings, such as Vine and Snapchat, playing a starring role. Blurring the line between content and marketing is accepted by these younger women, but authenticity and transparency is key – they will be skeptical otherwise (in fact 65% of millennials told us that they believe their friends & family have lied on social media – brands, watch out).

In line with their optimistic focus, they appreciate a playful tone and are more likely to share when the content is delivered with humor and a realistic reflection of themselves. Women in general are known to be “sharers” but due to the growth of social networking, sharing, recommending, reviewing and posting is a natural next step for millennials after buying or using a product. But social networks aren’t the only place where women share – in person or on the phone remains the dominant mode of sharing in the three categories covered in this study (beauty, food and home). Meredith takes this eagerness about sharing to heart. In fact, it’s the driving reason behind the relaunch of Allrecipes.com as a social media network for foodies, rolling out this fall.

Are we ready for 2020? We are already using insights from “Women 2020” continue to inform our editorial content strategy, our acquisitions and the products and programs we bring to market. As a company with over a century of engagement with women on what matters most to them, we know that it is critical to continually evolve to meet the next generation’s needs.

Britta Cleveland (@minibcw) is the Senior Vice President of Meredith’s Research Solutions group, a position she has held since 2004. She is responsible for all of Meredith’s National Media Brands, including three of America’s top 10 in terms of circulation: Better Homes & Gardens, Family Circle and Parents and the Meredith Digital network which includes leading women’s websites, such as allrecipes.com and parents.com Prior to joining Meredith, Britta was the Director for Advertising Research at Reader’s Digest, and for the 15 years prior she worked on the advertising agency side of the business in the NY offices of Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising and held media planning positions in the San Francisco offices of Foote, Cone & Belding and Dancer, Fitzgerald, Sample.

Perspectives

Change is the Name of the Game in Digital Sports Media

August 27, 2015 Jason Kint, CEO – DCN

I have to admit last Friday was a bit of a time warp for me. I attended the inaugural Digital Media Summit launched by The Knight Foundation and digital upstart SportsManias. Although I ran major sports properties for much of my former life, most people in the room now know me as the head of a digital media trade association. Not nearly as sexy to this particular audience (or maybe any audience for that matter!) but, as always, it afforded me an opportunity to bring a broader context to the discussions.

Remarkably, in my nearly 20 years in sports media, I never attended a sports conference from start to finish. But this time, I was able to sit back and take notes. I experienced a lot of déjà vu in the themes, and left with a few important takeaways. Most of all, I was reminded why sports is the ultimate playground for digital media: It constantly brings with it the opportunity to take on risks and to innovate without many of the barriers in other categories.

Here are three of the themes at the SportsManias Digital Media Summit that stood out for me:

Sports is the ultimate reality television
Long before we had Big Brother and Survivor, we had sports media. It’s well-documented that sports is the most defensible media on television because it’s immune from time-shifting: Much of the value comes from watching it live and sharing in the thrills and surprises that fuel watercooler conversations the next day. The difference? Today those same moments fuel the real-time watercooler that is social media. Long ago, Nielsen research documented that sports TV programming accounted for nearly 50% of TV tweets while only representing about 1.2% of TV programming. That’s not too surprising: Sports is full of entertaining characters cast in an unpredictable drama for passionate fans with insatiable appetites. Consider that more than 70% of NFL fans are on Twitter and you have live, 24/7 the stuff of which Ellen-selfie-legends are made.

Sports reporters are walking, broadcasting, fully-interactive Apple Stores
There was much agreement on the importance of new and old tools of trade. Gone are the days of reporters scribbling notes with pens and paper dashing back to their hotel to file 750 words. The modern sports journalist has to be fluent not only in his or her topic and the craft of writing, but also multilingual on social and video. At the Summit, Pittsburgh Pirates beat reporter, Rob Biertempfel was pretty much a live case study on the modern journalist: He tweets, posts on Facebook, writes, shoots video, and Periscopes all in the course of performing his usual duties–from filing his notes and analysis to tweeting the line-up card in real-time.

This year’s Red Smith Award winner, Bob Ryan, has more than 40 years of experience but constantly reinvents himself by using the latest tools to stay engaged with his audience. That being said, he emphasized the importance of being able to take good notes and provide context and historical perspective. Again, this ability applies well beyond sports and it brings to mind digital innovations like Vox.com’s card stacks. You’ve got to wonder why someone hasn’t rolled out explainer cards on a sports property.

Tools are only effective if they are used well, of course. Woody Paige kept it simple with an elegant rant on the (declining) art of writing, “Learn to write and you’ll learn to communicate.” However Biertempfel provided hints of The Cluetrain Manifesto when he described his role as a balance between providing information and relating to people–which is an essential piece of today’s content-community connection. (They don’t call it social media for nothing.) In a similar vein, ESPN NFL writer Coley Harvey described his role as one of personalizing to his audience. As he pointed out, one-way streaming video has now been replaced by interaction with tools like Periscope. Pete Vlastelica who runs FOX Sports Digital, made a related point: The moment you see yourself above your audience you’ll end up losing that audience.

Sporting News deputy editor Chris Littmann and ESPN columnist Jemele Hill both commented on how sports has strengthened their games by forcing them to be less complacent and more accountable in real-time. As sportswriter Dan Le Batard put it, “You can shake your fists at blogs but the marketplace has spoken.”

Sports media plays moneyball
Lastly, although the event was focused on the content side, there were hints of the monetization struggles still to be solved. As Le Batard eloquently pointed out, most newspapers “are charging you money to throw yesterday’s news into your bushes. Getting real-time news for free seems like a much better deal.” That said, digital sports is a constant chase for the latest “front porch.” Yesterday’s AOL anchor tenant deals are today’s Snapchat Discover and Facebook Instant Articles. Despite questionable business terms, there’s a need to stake out an optimistic position that monetization will follow. Yet sports has proven many times that a beloved brand can be monetized in many ways. Yes, consumers will even pay for sports content if it’s well packaged: ESPN Insider, MLB.tv, Rivals, 247 Sports, Rotowire and the entire fantasy sports business are proof it is possible to generate revenue beyond advertising.

The rules of the game keep changing for all of us and sports media is no different. The front lines of socially-mediated interactive journalism is exciting to watch, from the classic moves to the risky plays that keep this business of media interesting and innovative.

contact me: @jason_kint