Login
close
Login is restricted to DCN Publisher Members. If you are a DCN Member and don't have an account, register here.
Search

Digital Content Next logo

Menu

Category results for "Perspectives"

Perspectives | Revenue | Supporter Spotlight

What’s ahead for ecommerce? 3 trends for publishers to watch

If we’ve learned anything over the past few years, it’s that almost anything is possible. For better or worse, the future is highly unpredictable, which can make long-term planning difficult. One of the best ways to prepare for the future — whatever it may bring — is by keeping up with industry trends.

That said, one looks to be a sure bet: ecommerce. Undoubtedly, this is a revenue trend that will only grow in importance for publishers. According to GroupM, “By 2024 retail-focused ecommerce will amount to $7T in annual sales activity or 25% of all retail sales.” And the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic have only continued to accelerate the adoption of online shopping and the move away from traditional brick-and-mortar retail.

For publishers, creating an ecommerce strategy that is optimized for impact is more important than ever.

If you’re looking for expert perspective on the trends that are shaping ecommerce and their implications for publishers, take the time to read Ecommerce in Publishing: Trends and Strategies. Published by What’s New in Publishing, the report offers deep insights into the ecommerce space to help publishers deliver an exceptional shopping experience and maximize revenue.

3 trends to watch

Ecommerce is evolving rapidly, as new technologies emerge, and consumer expectations continue to rise. We’re already seeing the impact of these three trends, but they are likely to become increasingly more prominent.

1. Friction-free experiences

Publishers and retailers alike are focused on creating smooth, seamless ecommerce experiences. That means empowering consumers to complete a purchase quickly and easily, in as few steps as possible.

For example, an inefficient ecommerce experience might send readers from your content to a merchant page where they must search for the featured product, visit the product page, add the item to their shopping cart, and finally check out. Shoppable technology can streamline the process, allowing consumers to go directly to the desired product page — or even add merchandise to their cart from a link in your content.

Reducing friction is beneficial for both publishers and merchants, as it lessens consumer frustration and increases conversions. And consumers increasingly expect this type of functionality, so they can shop whenever, wherever, and however they prefer.

2. New payment methods

The practice of buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) is growing in popularity among major retailers, who are eager to provide consumers with easy payment options. This trend is beginning to catch on among publishers as well — especially with those who already leverage ecommerce as a core part of their business.

BNPL is essentially a type of short-term financing that allows consumers to make a purchase now and pay for it in the future — often in multiple, interest-free installments. As consumers get accustomed to this type of payment option in the retail world, it’s likely that publishers will need to follow suit to avoid missing out on valuable ecommerce revenue.

On the outskirts of the payment method trend, a few publishers are experimenting with purchases using cryptocurrency or even text-to-buy — although these are far from common.

3. Social commerce

A frictionless experience is integral to social commerce, which allows consumers to make purchases through apps and social channels. This segment of the ecommerce market is growing rapidly, from $89.4 billion in late 2020 to a projected $604.5 billion within seven years.

With numbers like these, it’s no surprise that publishers are exploring new ways to monetize user engagement on social media. Ecommerce opportunities are the next logical step for influencer-focused channels like Pinterest and Instagram, so users can immediately purchase the products they see.

Channels like Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and Snapchat are rapidly expanding their shopping tools and functionality, which can help publishers tap into this trend. After all, research shows that finding inspiration and products to buy is cited as one of the main reasons today’s consumers use social media.

The continued growth of ecommerce has become a potential revenue stream that is too big for many

publishers to ignore. By partnering with platforms, retailers and other service providers publishers can create rich ecommerce experiences, offering the type of online shopping experiences that consumers now demand. Those that don’t risk being left behind, leaving much of ecommerce’s potential unrealized.

About the author

Rebecca Cole is the Director of Content and Communications for Sovrn, a publishing technology platform that provides advertising tools, technologies, and services for content creators to build their businesses, remain independent and thrive on the Open Web. Rebecca has more than two decades of experience driving increased attention through purpose-driven content. She has held communications positions in tech, energy, and consumer brands and was a journalist and editor. Rebecca has an undergraduate degree from The University of Iowa and a master’s degree in journalism from The University of Colorado Boulder.

Perspectives

DCN’s must reads: week of March 10, 2022

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

DCN’s must reads: week of March 3, 2022

Advertising | Perspectives | Supporter Spotlight

Why privacy fuels possibilities for publishers

The time is ripe for publishers and advertisers to embrace privacy as an opportunity to fuel new possibilities.

As consumers, we value our privacy and want to control what, where, and with whom we share our personal information. With rising concerns and a lack of trust in brands, consumers are now taking various measures to take back control. Research shows that 63% of North Americans would rather purchase from organizations that protect their privacy.

Regulators have a sharper focus on privacy in advertising too. The UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) issued a release stating: “A healthy market is one built on data protection by design, enabling privacy-respectful innovations focused on the individual’s interests, rights and freedoms. Meaningful choices benefit individuals and underpin effective competition between businesses. Proposals looking to replace the use of cookies and similar technologies need to ensure they raise the standards of data protection and privacy, and not dilute them.”

Advertising now requires a clearer, transparent, and fairer ecosystem that will benefit advertisers, publishers, and consumers.

Privacy is no longer a nice-to-have

News UK is one of many media owners keeping an eye on privacy changes ahead. Bedir Aydemir, Head of Audience & Data, said: “I’m keen to start to see some real clarity with regards to what’s required for ICO and how the GDPR is interpreted. I think what we’ve been doing up to now is sticking plasters. We’re trying to make what’s happened in the past possible in the future, and that’s not going to be allowed: the ICO made clear.”

In an FT article, it was reported that Meta was suffering the impact of Apple’s privacy policies that “make it harder to track users and target advertising.” The data that was once available to deliver personalized advertising on the web is disappearing. The mobile ecosystem is also disrupted, only 21% of users worldwide have opted into ATT, which requires opt-in consent from users to track them across apps. 

The changes we’re seeing in advertising is about more than third-party cookies, it’s about data privacy. Aydemir added that we would see “some real-world changes with regards to how data is parsed into the open market, how it’s valued, how it’s activated” and that publishers will be at the forefront because they have consent data, identity and scale.

If advertisers want to rebuild trust with consumers via responsible marketing and safeguard themselves from the impact of privacy regulation, the key is to work collaboratively with publishers. Many advertisers are already working in this way. They’re moving away from their reliance on a complex system of third parties towards more direct way of buying.

Publishers, and their wealth of first-party data, are valuable because they can build nuanced audiences for advertisers to target, aligned with target audience definitions. This gives advertisers the ability to reach new audiences and achieve marketing goals without compromising user privacy or unnecessary exposure to risk.

First-party data cohorts offer a solution

Advertising is still about reaching relevant audiences at scale on the right channels. With increased privacy concerns, addressability tactics will shift away from reliance on third-party trackers to an increased focus on publishers’ first-party data and publisher cohorts, which groups people with similar characteristics and behaviours without identifying them. 

Visitor-based rankings publisher, Ranker saw a 25% increase in RFP win rate within six months of taking their first-party data strategy to market and demonstrating the value of their unique first-party cohorts. Ranker can tell advertisers what their users are doing and their other interests and likes, this includes data designed to inform planning, optimization, and future targeting.

According to Ranker’s senior director of sales operations and planning JR Hoffman, “As the industry figures out the privacy piece, it helps our clients feel confident that we have a strategy in place for dealing with the ongoing changes around third-party cookies and privacy regulation.

Working directly with publishers and targeting via publisher cohorts alleviates challenges caused by privacy because they use consented first-party data. In this way, publishers and advertisers work towards a more responsible web, using privacy-compliant and sustainable approaches to engaging high-value audiences.

Don’t be afraid of the challenges ahead

It’s an exciting time for advertisers and publishers. But it’s also challenging, as have other major shifts in advertising. There are over 100 post-cookie solutions, according to continuing analysis by MMA Global and Prohaska Consulting, but all differ in regards to how data is used.

Publishers and advertisers need the infrastructure to connect safely with multiple publishers at a global scale, in a brand-safe environment where no data is leaked, and personalized advertising at scale is possible for first-party data owners.

Rethinking privacy as an opportunity to fuel possibilities will help publishers and advertisers emerge from the cloud of confusion that has shrouded them in 2021. Critically, it will also put people back into the decisions we make in advertising.

About the author

Elizabeth Brennan is the Head of Advertiser Strategy for Permutive, which powers the future of targeted advertising on the Open Web. With over a decade of experience in digital advertising, Elizabeth is a champion of women in business and a strong believer in the power of coaching. A graduate of The University of Reading, Elizabeth is a former winner of the prestigious NABS Fast Forward award and has gone on to achieve Code First certification as part of the organization’s initiative to increase the number of women in tech.

Perspectives | Supporter Spotlight

The real big 3 to watch in adtech: CTV, publishers, and identity    

The digital advertising world is no stranger to innovation and agility. As we know, the ecosystem has evolved significantly over the past year, highlighting opportunities for the future as well as challenges that need to be addressed. As the big tech players inch closer to their deadlines to address privacy concerns, here are some trends that advertisers and publishers should keep an eye out for in 2022.

2022: The year of CTV. And 2023, 2024, 2025, etc.

We all remember the “year of mobile” in the ad tech world – since it lasted more than a decade. Well, we can expect Connected TV (CTV) to continue to dominate the headlines for the foreseeable future. And why not? After getting a considerable boost in adoption thanks to consumers’ pandemic behavior, it is predicted to grow quite a bit more over the next five years.

More companies are seeing the value of one of the fastest-growing channels in digital advertising. Therefore, we are likely to see even more innovation in the space. More CTV inventory will become available to marketers as identity resolution and connectivity solutions come to the forefront to address the fragmentation in the channel.

And praise be, there are no third-party cookies to battle over in CTV. The explosive growth of CTV will only continue to eat away at linear TV’s share. This year, brands will refine their strategies and unlock incremental linear reach with CTV spend.

Small and independent publishers will finally be heard

Even though third-party cookies will disappear, that doesn’t mean third-party data will. The reality is that third-party data will stick around because the alternatives that will crop up in its absence aren’t feasible options for smaller publishers.

There is a misunderstanding about third-party data in the industry where people believe that it can’t be privacy-compliant. It absolutely can: it just requires checking the source of the data. As my colleague said: “advertisers should hold [third-party data] providers accountable by asking whether they use and how they use privacy by design.”

Simply put, first-party data or contextual targeting can’t be the solution for publishers who don’t have enough data to scale. Contextual data works only inside one’s own domain, which for small publishers is, well, too small. Plus, marketers are less willing to engage with sites that don’t have as many monthly visitors as the larger ones. Context remains a useful tool — as it has always been. Lotame findings show that 52% of publishers and marketers are testing or planning to test contextual solutions. But can it stand alone once again?

The industry as a whole needs to come up with solutions that will work for everyone, especially for publishers as they build their post-cookie strategies. Publishers will need a plan B for the billions in lost programmatic ad revenue. McKinsey estimates $10 billion is at risk for U.S. publishers alone In 2022, the screams of these smaller publishers will be better heard and addressed.

Dear identity partners: Stop the infighting!

With 80 identity solutions in the market today (and counting), industry professionals may very rightly feel overwhelmed and confused. A multitude of tech vendors and more are throwing their hat in the identity ring — from media companies to DSPs, agency holding companies to TV manufacturers. And their interest is justified: Identity is big business for digital advertising. Research and Markets reports that the global market for digital identity solutions is projected to grow to $49.5 Billion by 2026, up from $23.3 Billion in 2021.

ID solutions for the open web are going to be invaluable for publisher monetization. So, we’re going to see collaboration will dramatically increase. ID partners in 2021 operated in the identity arena like a circular firing squad. Everyone claims their privacy is better than others, and everyone who has a solution wants to say theirs is the only one that works. In reality, all have to work together. Our global survey, “Beyond the Cookie: The Future of Advertising for Marketers and Publishers,” reports that both marketers and publishers overwhelmingly agree that digital advertising relies on a connected ecosystem that supports the open web and diverse, ad-supported content.

Put down your arms, identity vendors, publishers, and marketers. Instead, let’s focus on our common goal of giving the consumer transparency and control while making everything more efficient. The end result will be better for everyone involved.

Consumers are forever changed by the global pandemic but have proven resilient in adopting new habits the world over. Marketers and publishers, too, have proven flexible in the face of enormous change in their personal and professional lives. The major industry changes afoot present us with two options: we can either work together to ensure the ecosystem thrives or we can just look out for ourselves in silo. I believe that working collectively this coming year will bear the most fruit for all involved. And I hope you agree.

Perspectives

DCN’s must reads: week of March 3, 2022

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

DCN’s must reads: week of February 24, 2022

Innovation | Perspectives | Supporter Spotlight

Three key trends in digital media product development

Digital media companies face fierce competition for the eyes, ears, and wallets of customers. But those who succeed have the potential to win big. With the rise of new content platforms and the emerging promises of web3, media companies have to evolve faster than ever to deliver the right experiences to the right people at the right time.

The pace of critical transformation has been accelerated by the global pandemic. Audiences have always been fickle media consumers. However, Covid-19 drove a massive, rapid change in consumption habits. People have become more demanding and expect better digital experiences to meet those demands.

In conversations with media executives, we’re hearing three major trends that savvy organizations should consider before launching new initiatives. 

Data-centricity

The first trend is around data-centricity. Companies are awash in data, and the differences between sinking and swimming hinge on developing a strategy that leverages their customer (reader/viewer/subscriber) data. By gathering all of the information they have—from multiple first-party sources, as well as financial and operational data—into a single repository (which may be a data lake, data warehouse, or other cloud-based platform) companies can effectively manage and use their data. 

With a data platform in place, organizations can begin to unlock insights from every angle. Internally, the data can be used to aggregate customer-level insights to create models that achieve acquisition, growth, and retention goals. 

Externally, the insights can be used to develop better user experiences that incorporate learnings from across the customer journey. This enables media companies to provide unique experiences that align with the brand. Data also allows products and services to operate more effectively, particularly personalization, recommendations, and the like.

Improving customer experience

The next trend is a focus on providing optimal customer experiences. According to McKinsey:

“The CX programs of the future will be holistic, predictive, precise, and clearly tied to business outcomes. Evidence suggests that the advantages will be substantial for companies that start building the capabilities, talent, and organizational structure needed for this transition. Those that stick with the traditional systems will be forced to play catch-up in the years to come.” 

One of the most effective ways media companies can improve the customer experience is through personalization. Countless studies have shown that personalization not only drives better engagement for media brands, it is welcomed—even demanded—by consumers. As audiences continue to expect more relevant experiences, media companies require more proficiency in data science to deliver on those expectations. 

Diversifying revenue streams

The final trend is the disruption and diversification of revenue streams. In the past two decades, media companies have built strong digital products and services yet relied on traditional monetization paradigms such as advertising and indirect distribution channels. However, ad-based business models are no longer a sufficient primary revenue strategy for many media companies. This has triggered a shift to monetize their content in other ways, particularly through direct audience-based revenue.

Take The New York Times, which has focused on subscriptions as the key driver of growth. They leverage news, as well as additional content and channels (including cooking, audio, and games) to drive engagement and ultimately readership and subscriptions as well. 

Disney has been a master at diversifying revenue streams. If you merely look at their Star Wars franchise, Disney has taken advantage of opportunities to cultivate new fans, deepen customer experiences, and generate new revenue streams. They’ve licensed the brand to Lego to produce Star Wars-based kits; built out new in-person experiences like Galaxy’s Edge at Disney World in Orlando; and added new fans and their subscription revenues by producing the Mandalorian series exclusively for their streaming service Disney+. Disney proves that quality content leveraged omnichannel drives business outcomes. Last quarter, their parks business reported a $2.45B operating profit and streaming added 11.8 million new subscribers. 

The future: bumpy but bright

The evolution of digital media may be bumpy, in part because there’s an array of forces at play, such as developments in the web3 sphere, like the metaverse, NFTs, and blockchain, among others. Despite that, we expect the ventures that survive will continue to recognize the primacy of their audiences, by keeping an eye on and leveraging data-derived insights. 

As digital businesses diversify their revenue streams, and adopt and adapt to new distribution and delivery mechanisms, the players must think differently and broaden their perspective and knowledge of their customers. Those that invest the time and effort to foster innovation will be the ones that thrive, no matter what changes come their way. 

Perspectives | Supporter Spotlight

Community is good for audiences—and great for publishers’ data strategies

You know this already, but it’s worth repeating: The third-party cookie is on its deathbed.

Luckily for publishers, first-party data––data collected directly from users––is waiting in the wings. Far from a consolation prize, first-party data presents a tremendous opportunity. Beyond the obvious advertising implications, it offers a chance for publishers to learn more about, and grow closer with, their audiences.

Right now, Google is pushing Topics as an alternative to the cookie, which it’s phasing out of its Chrome browser in 2023. (This is after scrapping their previous cookie alternative, the Federated Learning of Cohorts API.) But Topics, as presently configured, can’t offer the kinds of granular data that publishers can acquire with a robust first-party strategy. All Topics offers publishers is a list of three recent interests possessed by each user. That can tell you something, certainly––but nowhere near as much as a user’s on-site behavior.

By working proactively to meet the demands of the first-party era, publishers can take back power from Big Tech. Along the way, they can also forge a new bond with readers tired of the noise on social media. If you’ve neglected first-party data strategies to this point, don’t fret: There are simple steps you can take to unleash its full power. 

First things first: get the conversation flowing

Since the dawn of Web 2.0, social media companies have been siphoning off the discourse surrounding publisher content. A juicy expose gets published, or an ultra-quotable takedown occurs, and people turn to Facebook or Twitter to talk about it. But there’s absolutely no reason why that content can’t be discussed on the publisher’s site itself. 

The publishers who get ahead in the first-party era will be the ones who create the conditions for that to happen. They’ll foster vibrant, owned communities around the content they publish. When the conversation stays in-house, you inevitably come to know your readers better. And your readers, in turn, come to value lingering on (and returning to) your site––for the content, and for the community that content generates.

Conversation is, in fact, the richest source of first-party data available to publishers. The right moderation tools can help publishers ensure the conversation flows freely, unimpeded by hate speech, personal attacks, and other forms of disruption. They help to create the kind of environment that people want to linger in, and return to. And the more time readers spend on-site, the more valuable first-party data you’ll acquire.

Deep, actionable insights via first-party data 

So how can first-party data bring you closer to your audience?

Let’s start at the level of content. Moderated conversation, and other tools like polls, quizzes, and reporter-reader AMAs, generate all kinds of signals about what your readers are responding to. Equipped with that knowledge, publishers can produce more of what their readership wants. This, in turn, boosts engagement and time spent on-site.

What we’re describing here is a paradigm shift. For much of the social media era, readers were viewed as, effectively, interchangeable. The point was to attract as many of them as possible, while paying little to no attention to who they actually were. In the new media environment taking shape––in which, for many outlets, paid subscriptions play an ever-growing role––things have to be done differently. 

Today’s ideal is an engaged reader who returns frequently and trusts a brand enough to share meaningful information about themselves in the comments. This kind of information takes first-party data to a whole new level. Suddenly, you know not only what a reader clicks on but why they find that particular kind of content appealing. You gain a clearer sense of who they are. The best part is that no one has to feel icky about it, because they’ve voluntarily entrusted you with that information. In this environment, you can tailor content and target subscriptions with a precision that was previously unimaginable.

To illustrate this, let’s compare first-party data with the kind of data you can (for the time being, at least) get from a third-party brokerage. Third-party data is often frustratingly imprecise; users are lumped into broad ranges (of age, income, education level, etc.) whose accuracy is often questionable. 

With first-party data, by contrast, there’s no questioning the accuracy of the information. You are, after all, acquiring it firsthand, directly from the reader. This allows publishers to target readers with a depth and reliability that third-party data could never offer.

All of this is to say that, as we wait patiently for the third-party cookie to finally pass, we shouldn’t worry ourselves too much. Publishers have everything they need to get along––to thrive––without it. And what they just might learn, as they take their first tentative steps into the first-party future, is that cookies were actually getting in the way––preventing them from really getting to know their audience. 

In the first party era, it’s that relationship––between reader and publisher––that matters most. Cultivate it, and the rewards will be great.

Perspectives

DCN’s must reads: week of February 24, 2022

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

DCN’s must reads: week of February 17, 2022

Advertising | Perspectives | Supporter Spotlight

Publishers push past the cookie and take control of their data destiny

The start of 2021 seems like a lifetime ago by any measure. But if you work in the world of digital advertising, the landscape certainly looks very different today than this time last year. Back then we were expecting 3rd party cookies to be removed from Google’s Chrome browser imminently resulting in a rush to prepare for this new world.

Google may have postponed their deprecation timeline. However, the reality is that – thanks to updates from Apple and existing policies from the likes of Firefox – the online digital landscape globally is already 40% cookieless, rising to 60% in markets such as US and UK*. Last February, we surveyed of 419 of the world’s top publishers to see how they were preparing for the cookieless world and we recently conducted the survey again to see how much had changed.

Over the past month, 449 of the world’s best publisher brands, representing a cross-section of both small and medium sized publishers and the largest media companies, responded to questions about their plans for the deprecation of the cookie and which industry initiatives they’re looking at implementing and the results are illuminating.

Education progressing but confidence isn’t high

The number of publishers who have limited to no knowledge of cookies and the cookieless future has fallen from 10% to 6% and those who have a strong understanding of new initiatives has risen from 24% to 31%. However, those in the middle who are unsure of new solutions and how they affect their business are still far ahead in the majority at 63%, relatively unmoved from 66% 12 months ago. While it is good to see there’s movement in publishers’ education, there’s a long way to go if they are to thrive in today’s cookieless world.

Google can wait, media can’t

What’s plain to see is that 12 months of changes have sent a clear message to publishers: The time for action is now. Do not delay. When asked how platform and regulatory changes in 2021 impacted their planning for the cookieless future, 78% said that such changes either had no impact or had accelerated their plans.

While this might seem counterintuitive at first glance, it’s fantastic to hear that publishers are not waiting for others to dictate their future when it comes to 3rd party data. Media titles need to move quickly to create clear and sustainable offerings for advertisers that aren’t susceptible to changes. They must lean into their strengths vs social platforms, which currently have the lion’s share of digital budgets.

Ain’t no party like your 1st party

The most encouraging outtake from the survey however is that publishers are doubling down on sustainable revenue practices that are within their control. We asked: “Do you see the deprecation of 3rd-party cookies and/or IDFA/Device IDs as a threat or an opportunity for publishers?” The good news is that we’ve seen a 100% increase year on year. Half of all respondents now say such changes “…give us the opportunity to differentiate through our 1st-party data and the quality of our content”. 

In similar fashion, when asked about which data/targeting solutions are they likely to adopt, only 27% said that a privacy sandbox would be considered. Most (63%) see 1st party data as an answer, 59% appropriately see contextual within their offering, with unique ID seeing a good percentage at 43%. 

This focus on owned data and content may not be revolutionary for those who’ve been fighting the battle for quality journalism for a long time now, but it’s exciting to see it within this context. Indeed, many of us in media have played this record before. However, 3rd party cookie deprecation changes this landscape dramatically.

Publishers’ who have stayed the path, developing deep connections with their audiences and building trust (at a journalistic and UX level) will have significant advantages as we move into this new world. And while the exact “how” might not be worked out, it’s fantastic to see the digital media landscape increasingly bullish as the privacy debate plays out.

The goals are set, now it’s about execution

While this all sounds great, there are some visible hurdles that need to be cleared. Logins could be an opportunity to develop sophisticated targeting solutions for brands. However, only 45% say they have a strategy for increasing the use of logins and 93% of global publishers say 50% or less of their users actually do so. Logins pose questions across the publisher journey. In fact, 45% worry about the impact on user experience and 49% are worried about the impact on traffic.

Others also show concerns about monitoring inventory monetization capabilities (33%), technical implementation of logins (31%) and conflict with subscription models (18%). The directive here? While logins should be part of publishers’ solution for a cookieless world, it cannot be the only tool they use. They must also adopt solutions such as a cookieless tag to supplement this to provide greater scale for advertisers. That there’s no time to waste, cookieless is here and digital media can press home their advantages, but there’s a lot of work to be done before they’re ready. 

In 2021, we said that publishers need answers in order to be fully ready for a cookieless world, and while a lot of those questions still yet to be answered, the question about whether publishers can thrive in a sustainable data world does seem to be resolved.

It will require more tests, increased implementation of technologies and a press to find concrete answers today that can resolve the questions being asked. There are already viable solutions in market and it’s time for publishers to properly get started, if they have not already done so. But once those challenges are overcome we should be left with better user trust, better media outcomes and better monetization opportunities for publishers – which sounds like a sustainable media ecosystem to me.

*Source: Teads global platform data (October 2021)
Advertising | Innovation | Perspectives | Supporter Spotlight

Struggling to implement advertising automation? Here are three critical factors

Across the publishing, media and streaming industries, ad supported revenue models remain a central source of income, despite the growing popularity of subscription models. As we look to the future, we know that ad supported revenue models are here to stay, but to remain profitable and scalable they must evolve. Automation offers the ability to optimize processes and future-proof these models at scale. But implementation can be challenging for organizations that have long standing manual processes tied to revenue models.

Through the past few years, shifts in consumer behaviors have compelled many publishing, streaming, and entertainment brands to focus on optimizing their current ad models. To stay competitive, many concluded they would need to innovate their current strategies by leveraging automation as a tool to streamline processes.

Additionally, many organizations had to take a hard and fast look at their current business models and make changes that enable scale and ensure success in current and future markets. Let’s face it: This would be no small task at any time. However, it is particularly challenging these days given the impacts of the pandemic across all industries and the tremendous growth of digital marketing initiatives fueled by the shifts in consumer behavior.

The act of developing new ad modeling formats to engage with evolving consumer habits does involve innovation and proper management. Organizations going through these pivots can be vastly different in terms of structure, size, and strategy. However, their goals and the path to achieve them are the same: Streamlining processes and future-proofing business by automating the processes that enable advertising campaign deployment and successful ad model revenue streams.

Implementing automation is worthwhile, but it can be challenging. When implementing automation strategies into your organization, you should focus on three critical elements: managing the human element, enabling effective change order, and enhancing data analysis and utilization. These must be addressed to allow you to effectively implement automation, to optimize for today and build a foundation for the growth of tomorrow. 

Managing the human element

Advertising is both an art and a science. The art piece is the element in which human creativity is necessary for innovation. The science is the technology that can be leveraged across repetitive elements to increase bandwidth in terms of scale and reduce the time required of teams.

For many, balancing the human element within their technology and automation implementations can be a challenge. Optimization of redundant tasks through automation is necessary to streamline internal processes, which enables scalability and business growth. But developing an automation strategy cannot be done without the human element of the business. 

No matter what type of challenge you facie, and changes you are working to implement, one critical element of balancing the art and science of it all is transparency. Encouraging teams to embrace changes through open communication and collaboration and building a structure based on accountability is key.

The human element of your business is necessary part of the technology and automation implementation. The only way to succeed when implementing an automation strategy is to enable buy-in to the process by way of transparency from the start. It is critical that you involve you team in every step of the automation implementation process—and the earlier you involve them the better. 

Enabling effective change management

Business optimization and growth at scale are a constant process for all organizations. It is impossible for any business to implement organization-wide changes to strategy and process, like automation of order-to-cash, without a heavy focus on effective change management. Ensuring that the entirety of the business has buy-in to the pivots in strategy and the new workflows that are being implemented is paramount to success, and effective change management practices will get you there.  

Effective change management requires leading with empathy. To succeed, you must understand your teams, their fears, wants, and needs. The best way to do this is to establish internal feedback loops, encourage collaboration and develop a baseline of accountability.  

Change can be intimidating for teams, especially in terms of automation, but it doesn’t have to be. Creating stability through large business shifts like automation implementation is critical. The key to effective change management is involving your teams throughout the change process, creating clear roles and responsibilities, and establishing a baseline of accountability for individuals, teams, and the organization as a whole.

Enhancing data analysis and utilization

Data is at the core of all organizations. Data analysis is the thread that ties the art and science of business evolution together. To successfully manage the human element of your business and enable effective change management, you must lean into your data. It is vital to thoroughly understand your audiences to better serve your brand clients and make insightful decisions when it comes to creative and logistical elements of your business. Significant innovations like automation implementation cannot be successful without leveraging your data and enhancing your data utilization strategies across your business.

The ability to enhance data analysis and utilization is critical for publishing, media, and streaming brands as it correlates directly to keeping brand partners in the know, for both existing initiatives and future planning. More than ever before, brand partners look to their media partners to provide real-time data insights to inform campaign optimization and ensure success.

Leveraging robust data utilization and analysis within your internal decision-making initiatives enables internal teams to develop content that serves the interests of the modern consumer, creating an audience pool with higher engagement levels for brand partners to reach. Implementing robust data collection methodologies and enabling both internal teams and brand partners to tap into that data in real-time is a key element to optimizing and building future growth. 

Growth ahead

Regardless of your business model, developing a methodology to ensure your business can grow at scale for years to come is critical. Publishing, media, and streaming companies have encountered a host of different challenges over the past few years as they work to optimize and scale their businesses. Automation is central to future-proofing your advertising strategies. These three core implementation strategies will help you get there.

These elements are at the heart of the evolution of ad supported revenue models for streaming, media, and publishing brands. Understanding the necessity and building a strategy with these elements as the focal points will ensure successful innovation for scale in the modern competitive market.

Advertising | Perspectives | Revenue | Supporter Spotlight

4 Ways publishers can invest in accountability to build revenue in 2022 

Spending on programmatic advertising is set to hit $133.04 billion in 2023, representing over 90% of display advertising, according to eMarketer. This rise in programmatic advertising presents publishers with a new challenge. While spending increases, so do the estimates around the cost of ad fraud. Publishers must exert more control over inventory than ever before if they aim to maintain customer trust while being a part of the programmatic marketplace. The good news is, providing a trustworthy, fraud-free environment for advertisers can be what sets you apart from the competition.  

Certainly, achieving transparency with advertising partners remains a persistent industry challenge. However, there are also few ways that publishers can maximize their opportunity for monetization while building audience trust and meeting the needs of advertisers. Let’s look at a few and what they may involve. 

Pay attention to bad actors and ensure fraud-free experiences  

It seems like an obvious criterion, but advertisers and agencies need to ensure real people see their ads. Delivering quality impressions and identifying any invalid traffic is table stakes for publishers who want to build trust with advertisers. 

In the past, attempts to prevent invalid traffic (IVT) have been tedious at best, and, at worst, horribly ineffective. To be genuinely effective at blocking IVT, publishers need intelligent solutions to identify patterns associated with malicious bot activity. Your solutions should do this without slowing download times or exposing consumers’ personally identifying information (PII). This is how you truly stay ahead of the game.  

Commit to responsible media  

We can all agree that getting brand safety right is essential—that value transcends across the ecosystem. The right technology needs to be in place to safeguard brand reputation while also being nuanced enough to allow access to quality inventory. Having the right tools in place will instill advertisers with confidence that working with you is an efficient and responsible investment decision.  

However, brand safety is about so much more than avoiding inappropriate or non-brand-aligned content.  Establishing a marketing strategy that brings brand values into the equation has increased importance, especially when it comes to reaching younger audiences. Curating packages in line with advertiser values (such as diversity, social initiatives, and environmental impact) will make you a more attractive partner overall. Publishers that support and maintain responsible media practices demonstrate integrity and care for audiences by doing what they can to avoid potentially damaging exposures. 

Work with reliable tools you have now 

Faced with an economy overwhelmed by COVID-19 and web traffic spread across a variety of devices and channels, more than 70% of advertisers feel they need to simplify management of programmatic budgets to have more inventory control. To meet the challenges of rapid declines in revenue during pandemic-caused turmoil, publishers cannot wait idly for the next technological innovation. In fact, conditions like these create opportunities to plan how to lower expenses and optimize value.  

For example, take a look at the tools you currently have at your disposal and determine if you are truly getting the maximum value. Connect with your partners, revisit best practices, and uncover new features that you may have missed or metrics you may not have paid much attention to before. Measuring attention meaningfully goes beyond simple verification metrics—such as valid, safe, and viewable—to more nuanced metrics that can provide deeper and more tailored performance metrics that can set you apart from your competition. 

Moving targets: establish dynamic pricing to deal with flux 

When the average cost of an ad impression falls precipitously due to high supply and low demand, as they did in early 2020, ad revenues creep lower as well. In January and February of 2020, the price of an impression fell by almost 28% compared to 2019. To cope with these changes, effective publishers employ dynamic pricing methods that incorporate bid analysis.  

By leveraging learnings to set minimum pricing rules per device, content category, type of bidding, advertiser, and other parameters, publishers can address growing demand and fierce competition. Even under the most challenging circumstances, ad revenue can rise if publishers continuously analyze the bids they receive for ad space and create opportunities to set minimum prices—between fill-rate and revenue—that reflect customer demand. 

New measures of success 

As an industry we are increasingly looking toward new measures of success and a commitment to the responsible media strategies that inform them. Human, viewable, and brand-safe data still sets the baseline for core measurement, but true brand effectiveness requires further evolution. 

Featured Post | Perspectives | Policy

Magic wand meets crystal ball: My digital media predictions

It’s the start of a new year. So, two of the most popular questions I get are: 

“If publishers could wave their magic wand, what would they change about media?”  

“If you look into your crystal ball, what do you see for the future of publishers?”  

You may be surprised to hear this, but I don’t own a magic wand or a crystal ball, although I’d find either quite satisfying.  Despite my lack of magic tools, I do have predictions about the future: Publishers have never been closer to having many of their key needs being addressed in the market. I see a steady march towards meaningful change. And now, publishers only need to maintain the drive to follow through on what they’ve wished for.

All Posts

Market power of the “gatekeepers”  

On both sides of the Atlantic, legislation is emerging that limits the potential for, and real abuse of, market power. This will specifically impact “gatekeepers” like Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon, and Apple. The EU’s Digital Markets Act, which is expected to pass by summer, will put heightened obligations and constraints on gatekeepers. Meanwhile in DC, antitrust reform legislation has gained serious bipartisan momentum. 

In particular, two bills are front and center: the American Innovation and Choice Online Act and the Open App Markets Act. These seek to limit platforms “preferencing” – highlighting or promoting – their own products and services, whether in advertising or content discovery and limit app stores in their ability to capture unfair profits. For many years, DCN has played a leading role in documenting the clear imbalance in market power. And now, for the first time, DCN has chosen to endorse legislation in our support of these two bills.  

Prediction #1: By the end of 2022, we will have the first laws passed that limit gatekeepers from abusing their market power.  

The emperor has no clothes  

Years ago, Facebook taught the market that it couldn’t be trusted as a business partner. And it has reinforced this fact again and again and again and yet again.

These days, most publishers treat Facebook as any other marketing channel in which the business value needs to be proved – it’s no longer the new, sexy test bed for marketing ideas. Of late, we see this in the lackluster performance of long-form video on IGTV, causing Facebook to once again pivot to short-form video with Reels. Long gone are the days in which Facebook would say “jump at this shiny new object” and publishers would respond “Yes! How high?”  

Through various lawsuits, Google finds itself in a similar situation. Publishers are finding out that the promises made by Google’s external ambassadors often differ wildly from the company’s internal ambitions. We see this in many ways, from how it conducts advertising auctions to its abuse of consumer data or the way it positioned Accelerate Mobile Pages (AMP). DCN recently surveyed our members to understand their thoughts on AMP and learned that more than half were re-evaluating their use and expect to stop participating because it significantly under-delivered on the revenue and promised value by Google.  

Prediction #2: Google and Facebook feel significant pressure for the first time to truly appease publishers through their commercial deals.   

Value of direct relationships with consumers and advertisers      

Facebook’s record one-quarter-of-a-trillion-dollar stock drop last week should signal optimism for publishers. There is significant movement in technology and public policy to align the value of data and attention with the sites and apps we trust — and actually choose to use. The downturn in Facebook’s fortunes is a sign that their core surveillance advertising business model no longer passes muster. 

Apple has played a leading role by cutting out much of the tracking done by companies with which consumers aren’t even interacting. This move led to a reduction in Facebook’s revenue expectations by $10 billion, a whopping number that represents more than half of our membership’s annual advertising revenues.  

Counter to the sky-is-falling-rhetoric posited by Facebook and Google’s trade bodies, this advertising investment won’t just “vanish into thin air.” Expect further market realignment as regulators flex in the EU and as California’s new law comes into enforcement in January 2023.  

Prediction #3: By 2023, the tracking of consumers and the use of third-party data to target them will have changed significantly under the pressure of legislation, lawsuits, and consumer preferences. 

Premium means premium  

We’ve long established that brands are proxies for trust and, in turn, value for both consumers and advertisers. As the advertising market continues to accelerate away from the 2020 slowdown, there is a noticeable shift appearing – validated in our DCN Benchmark Report – towards premium environments where advertisers can create desire and demand for their products. Often this entails instructing their agencies to be more focused on where their ads appear, a strong advantage for professional media over user-generated content.  

Additionally, consumers are speaking with their wallets louder than ever. DCN members are setting new highs for subscriptions across the board – from streaming services to news brands and from local to international. And as our Gen Z research showed, the kids are alright and more likely to put their money behind services that speak to their own values.   

Prediction #4: Although 2020-21 was an atypical growth period for subscriptions, expect steady growth in 2022 and beyond.  

The future we deserve 

If I did indeed wield a magic wand, I would curb data collection and limit it to the services people actually choose to use. I would also wave away the fear of giant gatekeepers, triggered by the sense that we can’t avoid them. They are not unassailable. What we see in terms of policy and public sentiment suggests exactly the opposite. 

Right now, the battle for a competitive, thriving, and plural publisher ecosystem sits at the integration of data and competition policy. For media brands to retain value and ensure that their news and entertainment isn’t seen as an interchangeable commodity, we must continue to push against unscrupulous data collection. 

Predictions and pressure prevail over magic. I see the power of the progress that has been made from the growing alignment of concerns globally and the education of those charged with regulating and policy making and maybe more importantly consumers and advertisers seeking out the trusted brands of the future.  

©2024 Digital Content Next. All Rights Reserved.