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Perspectives

Build your future competitive advantage: strategic resilience

Let’s all pause for a moment and contemplate the future of our businesses and the competitive landscape that lies ahead. There is no doubt that these past several months and the uncertainty we are facing have rocked everyone’s world. It’s radically reorganized our expectations and plans, as well as many of our hopes and dreams. And the interconnectedness of our personal and professional lives has never before been so challenging or consequential. How we respond and adapt to this once in a lifetime set of circumstances, as individuals, businesses, cultures, and nations, will irrevocably determine our collective successes or failures.

Rishad Tobaccowala considers this and more in his provocative new series: The Future Does Not Fit in the Containers of the Past. The most recent post, Episode 4, is entitled Strategy. Frame. Light. and Time. In it, Rishad contemplates how we might be able not only to survive but thrive within the new normal that we now inhabit.

What is strategy?

One of the observations that most stands out to me in this series is his definition of Strategy. For Rishad, this is a “future competitive advantage”:

“Amidst these new expectations and changing competitive dynamics what advantage will your company offer? A differentiated or better product? A competitive moat of network effects, scale or some other dynamic? A better experience? Speed and value?”

It is a worthwhile exercise for us to all to contemplate how we view our own company’s strategy. We need to examine our preparedness and define our individual future competitive advantage. If we cannot do this for our businesses and ourselves, then we must be prepared for the disruption that will be inevitable from others who have identified and made a commitment to their future competitive advantage(s). 

Future proof

Companies and individuals who do this and make it a part of their DNA will have become future-proofed. This is not simply because they’ve anticipated what comes next. (Really: Did any of us have a plan for continuing our businesses during a global pandemic. For our children at home, learning remotely. Or for experiencing a national reckoning with social justice?) Rather, it is because they have prepared for uncertainly by creating strategic resiliency enabling them automatically to adapt to unforeseen circumstances.

What is extraordinarily astute about Rishad’s commentary is his choice of words to describe what is often an over-complicated and impenetrable concept. By untangling strategic complexity (the state or quality of being intricate or complicated) he has brought this within our reach and made it accessible to each of us.

Rendering complex subjects into their comprehensible elements is after all the essence of effective communication. And who among us has not experienced the misunderstandings (and the glazed looks that follow) from the increasingly mystifying language used to describe our businesses and what makes our bright, shiny object more brilliant than the previous ones?

The audience knows

If we have learned anything at all from these past months about the digital media ecosystem it may be this: Our audience knows what it wants and needs and will devote more time and attention to the content that provides the most value. This seems a self-evident concept. Yet all too often we’ve seen some in our industry gaming the system via click bait and other lowest common denominator shortcuts. This is not what the doctor ordered during a global pandemic.

The fact is that premium publishers have experienced dramatic growth in the scale of their audiences and engagement in their content. Audience Activated Engagement has emerged as a highly productive monetization model. And increased time and attention on websites has unlocked the hidden value of previously undervalued below the fold ad units.

Duration Media didn’t predict the future when it was launched in mid-2018. However, we understood that our success was going to be predicated on building a future competitive advantage. And given the way 2020 is unfolding, I’d say that this — along with strategic resilience — is something every business needs to double down on.

About the author

Bruce Brandfon is Chief Media Officer of Duration Media. Prior to that he was Executive Vice President of WebSpectator. He was Vice President and Managing Director at Publicitas. Prior to joining Publicitas, Bruce was Vice President of Sales for the Philadelphia Media Network. He has also held leadership positions at Scientific American, Newsweek, and Time Inc. Brandfon is Director of the Board of Advisors at Planet Forward. And he’s an Adjunct Professor of Media Studies at Westchester Community College. He contributes frequently to industry publications.

Advertising | Revenue

How one botnet evolved its fraud to elude detection and steal revenue

When it comes to cheating advertisers out of their ad spend and stealing revenue from publishers, fraudsters are upping the ante. By monitoring of invalid traffic (IVT) associated with digital advertising, our team tracked an unrelenting, sophisticated operation first publicly reported as 404bot.

By using a broad range of tools, our researchers were able to pinpoint the actual proxy software that had been installed on consumer PCs. This key discovery allowed us to closely track the fraud as it morphed. We found this scheme to be particularly devious for two reasons:

  1. The offending program was typically installed unknowingly through various seemingly safe entry points. (This is (often referred to as a PUP, or potentially unwanted program.) It would then turn the downloader’s computer into a botnet carrying out ad fraud in the background.
  2. Much like software companies roll out bug fixes and updates to their code, the scheme similarly evolved its mechanisms for fraud. Each adjustment was made with the intent to elude detection.

The following is a debrief on the uncovering of the scheme. We outline what tipped us off to foul play. We also discuss the steps we are taking to mitigate the activity and why it’s so important to monitor invalid traffic to protect all sides of the programmatic supply chain.

The deep dive into botnet activity

In mid-2019, our team observed suspicious botnet activity. We spent weeks investigating and tracking various suspicious identifiers surrounding this activity. Finally, we were able to pinpoint a unique signature. We then matched it to a binary of a desktop application called NotToTrack. This free VPN, readily available for any consumer to download, masked itself as software meant to secure the installer’s computer.

Our team was able to obtain the VPN’s actual malware binary. We ran it in our clean room, where we can safely download malware ridden software and de-obfuscate code. This allowed us to:

  • Record its web activity and thus reconstruct the behavior seen in impressions from the relevant time period
  • Validate that it is based on Chrome Embedded Framework (CEF), a popular framework for web based applications that can be used both legitimately and by bots
  • Develop new detection methods based on these observations

The discovery of this VPN and its executable file allowed us to see the full breadth of the operation. What we found was very persistent, targeted ad fraud.

Summary of the bot’s evolution

The VPN front was just one point of entry for the operation’s fraud. It was probably not even the most common distribution vector.

Following the newly discovered evidence, we have found forum complaints that indicate this operation has been underway since as early as November 2016. Based on evidence we’ve gathered, we also believe the origins of this bot are the same as 404bot, a recent fraud scheme made public by another verification provider.

However, our findings reveal that this bot has not ceased its fraudulent activity. And as it attempts to elude detection, it has moved from its initial domain spoofing practice onto other mechanisms.

In the graph, we see the subset of spoofed domains tracked by Integral Ad Science (blue) alongside the rest of the malware-originated activity that Moat has been tracking (orange). Where the domain spoofing ceases (blue activity falls flat), we see the fraudulent impression activity actually has continued as the perpetrators evolved their tactics.

What is the impact that we are seeing?

The question of impact always comes up when discussing the discovery of an ad fraud scheme. This is usually in relation to stolen impressions and ultimately, lost ad spend. But even as we bring the pieces of the puzzle together, the true size of any botnet is hard to measure. So, we caution against assigning too much value to a market impact analysis.

Even more important is how this bot illustrates the ability for these schemes to quickly mutate. So when the conversation turns to impact, we firmly believe it should not be about size, especially as it relates to protecting our clients and doing what is right for the industry. A botnet that is “small” by our measurement today could easily evolve into a much larger threat tomorrow.

What we do know, from the portion of traffic we are able to measure, is that at its peak, this bot was clocking in at around 11 million impressions per day. And, as recently as March, it was still showing activity at just under 2 million impressions.

Further, the nature of how this bot is operating—by targeting the computers of unknowing consumers through shifty mechanisms—is particularly invasive. The distribution of malware can have severe consequences on hardware. The complaints of users who unknowingly downloaded the offending proxy software mention various, flag-raising behavior. For example, at the Bleeping Computer forum a user describes, “I have a bunch of programs running that I did not allow to start… My computer in-turn slows down due to all these programs running their bleep [sic]. Earlier today, I had 3 virus programs scanning my computer. I never downloaded, let alone installed them.”

How to protect your investments from IVT and ad fraud

Unfortunately, ad fraud is a pervasive and pesky byproduct of programmatic advertising. This is thanks to an environment that affords ample anonymity as well as produces a significant amount of profit. Having meaningful data is the first step in enabling us all to ask the right questions about these schemes that will continue to occur.

Moat has numerous methods for detecting various forms of IVT. As we identify and track fraudulent botnets, we use our findings to understand how they evolve. We continuously develop detection mechanisms that can identify and separate bot activity from human. We believe everyone in the ecosystem has a role to play in eliminating ad fraud and addressing IVT. It is through continued collaboration, information sharing, and advancing our technology that will help us build trust and ultimately, stop the cheaters from lining their pockets.

Innovation

Yes, CTV is complex. But it is worth your time and investment

On the surface, building for the connected living room looks rather daunting. The ecosystem of devices collectively referred to as “Connected TV” has an impressive amount of creative potential. But it’s also notably fragmented in terms of device hardware and software capabilities  – not to mention the array of subscription services available. 

Fully embracing all these new creative tools involves a willingness to take on a lot of complexity. This is particularly true since the output has more in common with rich entertainment media like video games than traditional video media. Driving these experiences out to viewers needs to be done in a way that’s fast, massively scalable, and highly streamlined. 

So, from a creative standpoint, where do you start? In this two-part series, we’ll first zoom in to better understand the space. Then, in part two, we’ll tackle best practices for addressing the CTV opportunity. 

Three platforms

Perhaps the most important thing to understand about CTV is that creators and marketers are building for three relatively distinct platforms. On the device end, the CTV space roughly consists of three “clusters.” 

First and foremost, there’s Roku, whose devices have been around since 2008. More than any other company, Roku defined the space that we now know as CTV. Then there’s Apple TV, a hardware and operating system combination that has more in common with Apple’s more modern iOS than its legacy MacOS architecture. Finally, there’s a whole collection of game consoles (Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch), smart TVs (Samsung Tizen, LG WebOS, Vizio SmartCast) and other connected devices (Amazon Fire TV, Android TV). These all share the ability to run HTML5, the web’s longtime connective tissue. 

The capabilities of these devices varies considerably. Some, like the Xbox One, PS4 and Apple TV, have powerful hardware that can handle high-end animation and 3D graphics, much like a pricey gaming PC. But other devices are considerably lower-end, often designed with affordability in mind. The analogy here would be that of a budget-priced consumer laptop. 

Complexity and connectivity

What’s more, CTV devices’ remote controls are often vastly different from one another. Some feature voice input or gyroscopic sensors that can detect gestures, position, and movement. And to top all this, all CTV devices are, well… connected. They can tap into web services for dynamic behavior, personalized experiences, and rich data. Collectively, this can be dizzying to reconcile and maximize. 

I don’t need to remind anyone that performance matters, too. Targeting and engagement are among buyers’ key expectations. Unfortunately, these are also tough to address on CTV. 

On the targeting side, a large portion of the device ecosystem  – for example, Apple TV and Roku  – does not support cookies at all. Even among devices with HTML5 capability, manufacturers maintain separate storage and cookie contexts for individual apps. This further silos applications and limits the effectiveness of Data Management Platforms (DMP) and the reach of device graphs and targeting audiences they sell.

Critical questions

Those of us who are building advertising for the connected TV environment have three fundamental questions we need to answer before we commit to the medium and consider ourselves prepared to address its complexity:

  • What capabilities of CTV platforms actually work to drive a viewer’s impact and brand lift? 
  • How does one effectively map an advanced CTV experience across all platforms, acknowledging each one’s strengths and shortfalls? 
  • How can one do this at scale?

All of this probably sounds a bit daunting. From both a creative and planning standpoint, CTV takes the challenges and advantages from both digital video and traditional television and adds a twist in the form of CTV’s complex fragmentation of devices. Some marketers may shy away from the current complexity and hope that things get a bit “cleaner” in a  few years. 

However, smart marketers will want to tackle this challenging environment head-on so they can help actively shape its future. Connected TV is the future, and that future is coming faster than we expected. The Leichtman Research Group estimates that 80% of American households have a CTV device or smart TV in their homes. It was just 24% in 2010. And ad spend, at $7 billion in 2019, is expected to reach nearly $11 billion next year.

Consumers’ definition of “TV” increasingly means long-form, streaming, on-demand content in the living room. And the time to build brand experiences for it is now. In part two, we’ll be looking at some strategies for tackling these challenges.

Advertising | Industry-Research | Perspectives | Video

Get your ad message right so that new TV audiences tune in

In a world turned upside down, TV – in all its current forms – serves as a vital anchor. It is a trusted provider of news and information, as well as a continual source of entertainment and comfort. It unifies families and friends through shared viewing experiences – even when they are in different locations. And it facilitates new routines, which helps people through these testing times.  

TV consumption has spiked, with a Thinkbox.tv weekly viewing report from May 2020 revealing UK viewing is up 21% year-on-year. Even as the country begins to return to a socially distanced version of normal, staying home will be the default position for many. And this will prolong consumers’ reliance on TV.

This trend is positive for advertisers. This is particularly true as 54% of consumers are paying as much or more attention to ads than they were before lockdown began, according to a recent FreeWheel survey. But to make the most of these larger audiences, advertisers need to understand the changing habits, preferences, and expectations of consumers. This will allow them to make informed decisions around messaging, tone, and delivery channel.   

Match the messaging to the moment

Ad messaging needs to relate to what is happening during current times, to be contextually relevant and to resonate with consumers.

Our survey revealed that the vast majority of UK consumers want advertising to be relevant. Three quarters of respondents feel that brands should acknowledge the present situation in their ads. Ads can be used to reinforce preventative measures such as social distancing and hand washing. They can also show customers that brands are there to help them with lockdown related challenges.   

From Nationwide to NatWest, financial services businesses are recognizing the current situation in their advertising. They are reinforcing their support for customers and outlining how they can still access services from home. Supermarkets have also brought the current context into their messaging, such as the Co-op’s campaign to support food redistribution charity FareShare.       

Set the right tone for the vertical   

Just because consumers want ads to relate to the current situation in some way, that doesn’t mean messaging needs to be sad or negative. In fact, humor should play a central role in advertising. True to form – the majority of Brits (58%) say they want to see ads that make them laugh. Many brands have taken a fun and light-hearted approach to messaging such as Maltesers with its “Look on the light side” campaign and Hotels.com with its humorous “Just stay home”’ messaging.   

Setting the right tone often depends on the vertical in which a brand operates. Despite ongoing uncertainty, a quarter of consumers want to see TV ads relating to travel. They also want emotive ads that make them dream, providing beacons of positivity in challenging times. Just because viewers can’t go to their dream destination right now doesn’t mean travel brands shouldn’t maintain awareness and advertisements.

Online search data reveals that millions of travelers are in escapism mode, discovering and dreaming of life without restrictions. So, reaching out to these consumers now can make all the difference in the medium to long-term. Sandals Resorts is one travel brand continuing to spend on TV ads. They acknowledge the reality of the current situation, but remind viewers that their holiday havens are ready and waiting.

Choose the right delivery channels

The term “TV” now encompasses a wide range of delivery channels. These include traditional linear TV, broadcaster video-on-demand (BVOD), and subscription streaming services. Much media attention is currently given to the rise of video streaming. However, FreeWheel’s survey found that linear TV is still the most watched type of platform, with 34% of consumers selecting this as their first choice compared with 26% for paid streaming services and 14% for catch-up TV.

In the current climate, audiences rely on broadcast TV for important updates, with over 27 million viewers watching the Prime Minister’s “road map to recovery” announcement on Sunday 10th May 2020 and almost 13 million viewers watching the Queen’s VE day address. Primetime remains a significant moment for people to connect with others. In France, primetime audiences broke the all-time viewers record on Monday 13th April 2020: 36.7 million watched French President Emmanuel Macron’s speech, on TV and online. That represents a 94.4% market share according to Mediamétrie.

Advertisers can make use of multiple channels to reach consumers when they are fully engaged in TV content. And they can use different platforms to reach different audiences or demographics. As TV content across all channels becomes more addressable, advertisers will be able to target audience segments defined by specific criteria, regardless of the platform they are using or the content they are watching.    

Tune in

In these unprecedented times, consumers are turning to TV – in all its forms – for information, entertainment, and routine. And they want to hear from brands; only 8% say that it should be a priority for brands to stop advertising. Armed with important consumer insights, brands can make use of a boom in media consumption to reach and engage TV audiences with useful, appropriate and contextually relevant messaging. Media and brands have an important role to play, they have demonstrated that they can be agile, reinvent themselves and be creative. In future, companies that listen to viewers are more likely to better match viewers’ user journey, expectations, and needs.

Perspectives | Revenue

Will we make the same mistake with CTV as we did with the web?

It’s a familiar scenario. One of the big ad tech players announces a change and we are all left to interpret what exactly it means. The only certainty is that it will take some effort to understand the full picture, the driving force behind it, and a plan of action. 

As the big players quickly and quietly expanded their walled garden ecosystems, many publishers found themselves left without a key. We all know these big players own most of the market share and also dominate most of the growth as well. By the end of 2020, it’s predicted that nearly 70% of US digital ad dollars will be spent with Amazon, Facebook or Google. 

However, publishers do have options for regaining control, especially when it comes to new growth areas like connected TV (CTV). Even before Covid-19 drove consumers to CTV and streaming in record numbers, 2019 saw a 330% rise in programmatic OTT/CTV ad transactions with CTV market advertising spend in the US valued at $6.94B last year. As you begin to build out your CTV strategy, it’s important to learn from the lessons of the past to avoid making the same mistakes. 

Own your audience relationships 

Distribution and tech partnerships often begin with great promise. When Apple introduced their Newsstand offering, it was positioned as a lucrative way to expand subscriber reach on iOS devices. Once Apple announced they would only allow single issue sales and began acting as an intermediary by keeping the subscriber data collected on their platform, the need for a business model more balanced with publisher needs became evident.

Nothing is more important than your audience and the ability to maintain control over the close audience relationships you cultivate. Effectively identifying these loyal audience segments and estimating user lifetime value is the foundation of a successful strategy. If you’re not working with an independent tech provider, it’s important to consider the potential implications and potential risks of partnering with a competitor or potential competitor and what impact that might have on your audience relationships.

Control and leverage your data

Your data is a key asset in your private garden. Controlling who gets in and what goes out is especially important as GDPR, TCF, and CCPA come into full effect. These changes have immediate impact on your revenue, but also secondary costs from the business model adjustments needed when third-party cookies are disabled.

Niche targeting, personalization, and frequency capping all depend on transparency and insights derived from data. Controlling and fully understanding your data makes it possible to hone your monetization strategy and create innovative opportunities for advertisers. When others have control over your data, it becomes more challenging. 

For example, concerns have been raised around Google’s proposed TURTLEDOVE solution and its less frequent reporting structure. This poses a big challenge around leveraging data to fully optimize and capture revenue. As publisher first-party data becomes increasingly valuable and offers more monetization opportunities, it’s important to consider whether your provider is data neutral or more interested in harvesting your data. 

Control your infrastructure  

Make sure you are the one in charge of all the tech decisions in your private garden. In a technologically nuanced space like CTV look for partners that provide the expertise and infrastructure needed to ensure data protections, but also allow you to maintain control. Be wary of partnering with players who are also competing for your audience’s attention. And ensure that you will have enough flexibility in customization and business rules.

When Google first acquired DoubleClick back in 2008, they promised it would offer publishers more tools, enhanced productivity and additional revenue while freeing up resources to allow publishers to focus more on building and maintaining a web presence. In reality, it was one of the first deals that helped Google establish dominance and affect changes in customization and control that continue to ripple through the entire industry. Again, be very careful with who you let into your private garden. 

Diversify your revenue 

The end of third-party cookies means short-term revenue losses are likely. Many publishers have already begun exploring ways to diversify their revenue streams. Meredith is a great example of strategically embracing data management and ownership. The launch of their Data Studio and e-commerce sites connected back to their brands has helped optimize revenue streams.

Engaging loyal audience segments through registrations and subscriptions is another strategy that many of you have begun to embrace. Build upon existing successes like The New York Times has done with the introduction of their stand alone NY Times Crosswords and NY Times Cooking offerings. This is another avenue for strengthening audience relationships while building more robust first-party data. 

This industry shift towards CTV offers another consideration for diversification. It also provides a prime opportunity to take back control and build your own private garden. Learn from the past in order to make careful choices around who you partner with and how you protect your investments from the start. This will give you the key to your own private garden and bring success in expanding into new growth areas.  

Perspectives | Revenue

Is the events industry dead? Not by a long shot.

Periods of intense crisis often lead to innovation, and 2020 is no exception. In the year of the Covid-19 pandemic, the media industry faces a new threat to revenue: the disappearance of in-person events and the need to rapidly pivot to protect revenue. 

The cancellations of industry conferences and trade shows between March and May resulted in a loss of at least $2.3 billion in show organizer revenue, according to the Center for Exhibition Industry Research. The total impact to the economy was at least $14 billion.

While that’s true, audiences have shown they are ready to engage with digital communities and premium content. Sponsors and exhibitors also recognize the value of digital data. While the shift in the events model is daunting, it presents new opportunities for subscription-based revenue and memberships and alternative sources of revenue with digital innovation. In fact, media companies may actually have more paths to revenue as they emerge from the crisis. 

We work with some of the biggest names in media, entertainment, technology, retail and information services on digital transformation and product development. One thing we do is help them pivot to a virtual events model. That includes improving their conferences sites, and enhancing their digital ecosystem (the technologies that connect their community with content and data). 

These companies are redesigning their events to accommodate travel restrictions, social distancing, and new virtual consumers. Virtual events have become a necessity in the near term, whether for trade shows, conferences or entertainment, and they have also become a long-term strategic opportunity for industry leaders. But the solution isn’t just shifting the venue to Zoom. Premium, memorable, and customized experiences are more important in a virtual world.

The future of events

Here is our vision of what the future of events could look like in the coming months and years: 

In person and online

The events industry is already pivoting quickly in response to new demands and trends, and the industry will be led by software and data-driven companies that connect people, both in person and digitally. As different areas reopen, physical events will regain their importance. However, in-person events will be only one important part of a continuous conversation with audiences. Value will be provided to the community throughout the year, empowered by digital experiences and engagement. 

Value and pricing

The events of the future will deviate from single ticket purchases to membership, tiered access, VIP content, and online certifications and learning opportunities. Post-pandemic events will be multi-platform, multi-device, and simultaneously virtual and in-person. They will be supplemented by micro-events, curated content experiences, and educational and training opportunities.

Monetization

Data monetization and digital products are critical to future events revenue. By now, every leading company in the world is either a native software and data company. Or, like Fortune, GE, Disney and the NFL, they are evolving to become one. As these companies have found, digitization has the opportunity not just to reclaim lost revenue but to create new revenue sources and diversified revenue streams. 

The “digital venue” is unconstrained by scale and opens up new and lucrative opportunities. Those that will succeed  in the events space will be the ones who seize the opportunity to build new digitally empowered business models that drive more predictable revenue for events companies, sponsors, and exhibitors.

Membership

Consider Fortune’s membership model. Community members pay for different levels of content access, virtual, live events and other networking experiences throughout the year. Fortune hosts exclusive in-person conferences annually, like the Most Powerful Women Next Gen Summit for rising women leaders, which has traditionally featured curated dinners and digital content supporting the event. The company has a similar model for aspiring CEOs. 

Fortune also hosts a number of regular, smaller virtual events, by industry and topic. By hosting weekly micro-events for its audiences, Fortune can create over 100 opportunities for sponsorship during a given year. Nothing replaces the value of gathering in person. However, digital venues and premium content support continuous conversation with audiences and create enduring value for sponsors. This is a model that will provide media and events companies with amplified value in the years to come. 

Sporting chance

Or consider the sports industry. The NFL makes money through ticket fees, certainly. However, it drives a majority of its revenue as a content company. Disney is also inspiring. A consumer pays to attend a Disney movie or gain admission to a theme park. But that same consumer also pays a regular fee for educational tools, online games and digital streaming services. Disney+ exceeded $20 million in revenue in just its first month of release. 

As we look to an events future that leverages the power of combining both digital and in-person offerings, companies will profit from data licensing and creating actionable data and sponsorships for audiences curated by demographics, purchasing power, and interest. 

Community

Event companies that build valuable micro-communities will thrive. With increased virtualization, there will be a greater need for people to have personalized and premium experiences in digital channels. Companies like Bevy are already capitalizing on this need by helping brands build and scale their digital communities. Bizly has pivoted from helping its clients plan and manage physical events, to planning and managing virtual events. Cameo enables celebrities to deliver personalized messages to fans. Crowdcast hosts interactive, live online conversations at scale. 

The future of events will be hybrid. A single physical event will be amplified by data and content experiences, all within one digital ecosystem. This is especially important when we consider younger, digitally native audiences. They are adept at navigating Fortnite, TikTok and Twitch. They are not confined by physical venues and expect seamless digital integration and community. This allows event companies to offer premium access to unique experiences and content.

It’s possible that some things will be lost in the transition – like the spontaneity of an in-person event, running into the right person at just the right time. Companies like Grip are trying to recreate this kind of spontaneity with intelligent event matchmaking software to develop lasting business relationships. It can certainly work: online dating companies have been using similar algorithms for years.

Value proposition

All this being said, the fundamental value proposition of what the events business is has not changed. Organizers still want to monetize the experience. Attendees want inspiring content, and they want to forge the connections that will help them and their businesses grow. Sellers still want to connect with buyers. 

But how these goals are accomplished will be different. Leaders will be the ones that understand these emerging trends and transition their models toward digital content, data and design. They will combine big events with curated micro-events. They will work with experienced digital partners to deliver content seamlessly across platforms and channels, and monetize data and insights with machine learning. The digital ecosystems that empower digital content, marketing, and premium experiences across platforms will become a source of competitive advantage. 

The media events industry is not out of business. In fact, it is already finding more lucrative, scalable opportunities. The challenge is deciding where to start, because the temptation will be to want to pursue all of these opportunities. The companies that succeed will be customer-focused. They will build for a narrow set of business outcomes. They will experiment. They will have the wisdom to know when to sustain or pivot. And they will manically focus on minimizing the time it takes for them to realize value. With these goals at the forefront, the media events industry could undergo a remarkable transformation. 

Perspectives | Revenue

Countering the revenue loss caused by ad blockers

In the last few months, ad blocking has taken a backseat in industry conversations and in the minds of publishers as they grapple with more immediate concerns, such as the revenue disruption caused by Covid-19 and Google’s decision to block third-party cookies by 2022.

Even though it doesn’t feel quite as pressing, ad blocking is probably a more persistent threat to publisher’s revenues than either of the aforementioned. In this article, we’re going to review the current state of ad blocking, see how publishers can estimate their revenue leakage, and discuss the pros and cons of the commonly available ad block countermeasures.

The state of ad blocking

According to the Global Ad-Blocking behavior report by GlobalWebIndex, 47% of users globally use an ad blocker today. There are many reasons why users choose to install ad blockers, such as constantly being bombarded with ads, the ads being annoying, irrelevant, or intrusive, and ads taking up too much screen space. There are also region-specific drivers of ad block usage. For instance, the mobile ad blocking rate is especially high in the APAC region. That’s because many users access the internet using 2G networks, and saving data bandwidth is a priority.

According to predictions made by Ovum, the revenue loss to publishers could be anywhere between $16 billion to $78 billion in 2020, depending on how actively publishers adopt (or don’t adopt) ad block countermeasures. Industry groups such as the Coalition for Better Ads help stakeholders in the ad tech industry align towards the long-term goal of making ads faster and less intrusive. But for now, most publishers are left to their own devices when it comes to figuring out how much revenue they’re losing and what they can do about it.

Estimating revenue loss

Once you have some basic information about your website, it’s actually pretty straightforward to estimate the revenue loss that you may be currently incurring. Here’s what you need:

  • Monthly pageviews
  • Average ad density (number of ads per page)
  • Average eCPM
  • Ad block rate (in percentage)

There are both free and paid JS scripts and analytics tools available in the market that you can use to track the percentage of ad block users among your visitors. If you just want a rough estimate, you can also review your country-specific traffic data and then apply the regional ad block rates to calculate the average adblock rate for your entire inventory.

Let’s assume a publisher receives 15 million monthly pageviews, with an average eCPM of $2.8, ad density of 3, and ad block rate of 28%. In this case, the revenue loss can be calculated as (28/100)*(5000000*2.8*3/1000) = $35,280/month or $423,360/year. (Here’s an adblock recovery calculator we designed to make this easier.) 

It’s important to note that revenue loss due to ad blockers grows in direct proportion to traffic. So, it may not be worth the effort for a publisher with less than 1 million monthly PVs to implement ad block countermeasures. However, larger publishers cannot afford to ignore the opportunity.

Countermeasure strategies

Messaging

Have you ever visited a site that asked you to turn off your ad blocker? That’s an example of a messaging-based ad block countermeasure. Whitelist requests are another example of this category of ad block countermeasures. Other variations include calls-to-donation, offering an ad-free pass, or selling a paid subscription with metered or unmetered paywalls. All of these are intended to offset the revenue loss caused by ad blockers. Messaging is a great way to establish one-on-one communication channels with your visitors. You can educate them about your business needs, and ask them to take specific actions to support you.

Circumvention

As suggested by the name, ad block circumvention solutions focus on trying to identify and circumvent ad blockers. Or, in simpler terms, they try to block the ad blockers. Ad block circumvention vendors essentially play whack-a-mole with ad blockers. They find loopholes in their scripts or delivery and exploit them. 

In response, ad block vendors frequently update their code to bypass circumvention. This makes ad block circumvention less reliable as a technique than other forms of ad block countermeasures. Circumvention also ignores the underlying problems that cause users to install blockers. And, for this reason, the vendors that provide this technology have fallen out of favor in developed markets.

Ad recovery via Acceptable Ads

Almost half of all internet users who use ad blockers use AdBlock and AdBlock Plus. The German company that makes these products, eyeo GmbH, runs a program called Acceptable Ads that allows publishers to serve less intrusive ad formats to a segment of opted-in users of participating ad block extensions, browsers, and content blockers. Ad recovery was envisioned as a middle ground between the legitimate needs of internet users and the business needs of advertisers and publishers. In terms of effectiveness, ad recovery usually beats messaging. That’s because it allows publishers to recover a larger part of their inventory, instead of just relying on the users who agree to grant their whitelist request or buy their ad-free pass.

Continued experimentation 

If there’s one thing that we can all agree on, it’s that ad blocking is here to stay. Users have more choice than ever when it comes to installing an ad blocker, whether that’s in the form of a native feature of privacy-focused browsers, third-party extensions, or mobile apps. The specific usage patterns on different devices may wax and wane over the years. But as a fundamental choice, ad blocking is now a permanent fixture of the ad tech landscape.

When ad blocking usage first took off, publishers did not have a lot of options to protect themselves against the cost of ad blocking. However, over the years, different forms of ad block countermeasures have emerged, which work with varying degrees of efficacy. The long-term solution to ad blocking still lies in respecting user choice and making advertising simpler, faster, and less intrusive. Until that happens, publishers need to keep experimenting with ways to protect their revenue by educating users and delivering better advertising experiences.

Advertising | Perspectives

Advertising’s great unknown: Why audience intent matters more than identity

Today’s publishers are leading the way when it comes to reimagining advertising in a world without third-party cookies. They started thinking about a future based on first-party data long before Google announced that it would discontinue support for third-party cookies.

But now, publishers have an opportunity to reshape the industry for the better by focusing on relevant audiences and intent rather than identity. 

Advertisers don’t need to know the identity of an individual that they are targeting; they just need to know that they are reaching a relevant group of people for their brand. And individuals will be able to retain their right to privacy.

Aiming for the right target

How has identity become such a hot topic??

Publishers have been hit by an onslaught of restrictions about the way they use data, with regulations such as GDPR and CCPA, and browser changes from Apple’s Safari and Mozilla Firefox barring third-party cookies by default.

After these browser changes, publishers were no longer able to target their audiences with third-party data in Safari and Firefox. Publisher CPMs are lower in Safari compared with Chrome because these users are not able to be tied to a record or matched to a third-party identity. This has negatively impacted publishers’ advertising revenue. 

With Chrome still in play, many advertisers have simply shifted spending and seen reasonable returns. Although as much as 40% of traffic falls on browsers where tracking cookies are blocked, they are currently able to monetize and measure their campaigns on Chrome. However, that will soon change. Before the end of 2021, advertisers will have no option but to find a new way of targeting users.

Attention has turned to the thorny issue of identification. Without third-party cookies marketers will struggle with audience targeting, frequency capping and attribution. They require new ways to measure their campaigns that are not blocked by browsers or inhibited by privacy standards.

Key considerations

As advertisers, publishers and ad tech providers start to reimagine the entire ecosystem, there are three key things to consider:

Are identity solutions privacy compliant? 

Ad tech vendors are developing solutions to replace cross-site tracking with third-party cookies. Many of these solutions are still based on third-party cookies or probabilistic matching. This approach is a band-aid solution, not the answer. The IAB’s solution through DigiTrust had to shut down because of its very reliance on third-party cookies. For authenticated solutions where an email (or similar ID) can be leveraged to match users, there is the issue of scale.  

Before considering investing in an identity solution, publishers should ask:

  • Does  incorporate techniques that could be fingerprinting? Is the user being probabilistically matched to target them in a new environment without their knowledge?
  • Has consent been accepted in all areas where user data is being leveraged? Are you able to provide data on a user or delete it easily if the user requests access?
  • Will this solution work without third-party cookies?
Are you prioritizing user trust?

On publisher sites, users typically fall into three distinct segments: authenticated, recognized (via a 3p cookie) and anonymous. To ensure scale for targeting, publishers need to address each.

Authenticated users are logged in or have a common identifier; recognized users are based on third-party cookies or device IDs; anonymous users are not associated with an ID but their behavior or contextual data can be viewed by publishers. 

Across the majority of publishers, the number of authenticated users will be limited. They are typically loyal readers that trust the brand enough to form a relationship. On average, less than 10% of a site’s traffic will be authenticated and even with driving efforts it’s unlikely that number will rise above 25% for all but a few.

Publishers should be thoughtful around how and who they share this user data with in order to retain that trust. 

There are some great solutions for authenticated audiences however it is important to recognize that when you factor in match rates to advertisers data is going that scale will be limited.

Considering the type of identifier that a vendor is asking the publisher to release is important to evaluate. Once an identifier leaves the publisher’s environment, whether in hashed form or not, it is susceptible to many different types of nefarious activity, including fingerprinting which is aggressively being blocked by browsers.

The most pertinent considerations for publishers are:  

  • Is an identifier being shared in the bidstream that can expose user identity without their knowledge? Are you protecting your most valuable and unique audience by sharing an identifier that can be probabilistically matched? 
  • What is the long term impact of sharing identifying information on your revenue and business? Who benefits from the data?
  • What percentage of your audience can be reached through this tactic? What is the plan for non-authenticated traffic? Is there unique first-party data that can be used for campaigns instead of third-party data?
How will you target anonymous users and scale your audiences with first-party data? 

When Chrome starts blocking third-party cookies, the only companies that will be able to collect and process data on these “anonymous” users will be those with direct relationships, such as brands or publishers. In order to view data on these users, companies must have both a legal relationship (i.e. ability to collect consent) and a technical relationship (own the inventory). 

Publishers will essentially become their own walled gardens and will hold the keys to audience data for advertising because they gain legal consent directly from users on their site and serve ads on the same domain. They will be the gatekeeper of that audience data on behavior or context for these anonymous users and should ensure that this unique data retains value. Publishers must focus on collecting first-party information on both anonymous and authenticated users, including browsing behavior and contextual data.

For example, Entrepreneur Media, a large business-focused publication, was missing out on valuable revenue opportunities because it was unable to target users in real time on Safari and Firefox with third-party cookies. 

Working with Permutive, Entrepreneur Media was able to segment and target users across Safari and Firefox without third-party cookies and immediately benefited from a 7.6x increase in targetable inventory. Entrepreneur’s ability to provide advertisers with rich first-party audience offerings allowed the publisher to drive an impressive 11x (1094%) ROI within just two months.

Publishers should look at their existing data and understand:

  • Are they collecting first-party data on anonymous users?
  • What can they do to prepare for the time when Google blocks third-party cookies?
  • What should they be offering advertisers today to start the transition away from third-party data targeting?
  • Are their sellers able to communicate the value of their own data? What steps can be taken to make teams more operationally ready to be successful in leveraging data?

Trust and transparency will help build the bottom line

There has been little transparency around the fidelity of third-party data. And, frankly, the industry has done too little to change – until now. Publishers have an opportunity to ensure that their data is the cornerstone of a new currency. But we must have honest, collaborative conversations about the framework needed.

There are paths in place with the IAB data labels and consistent taxonomy. But for it to be successful, publishers need to build a long-term strategy.

An advertising industry, built with privacy in mind, can deliver what users expect. True targeting and personalization connects with an audience in the moments that matter, and you don’t need a name (or an email address) for a marketing campaign to be successful.

Advertising | Revenue

Don’t drive blind: Use benchmarks to navigate digital advertising

A day in the life of Advertising/Revenue operations may sound monotonous, but no challenge is solved in exactly the same manner. Today’s redirects and malvertising attacks are very different from tomorrow’s inflammatory content or phishing schemes. It’s time to change course in ad operations, and take a route guided by a publisher-specific benchmark.

Privacy regulations and increasingly sophisticated attacks are becoming ever more prominent in digital advertising. So, publishers must shut down risks that negatively impact monetization efforts, or worse, drive regulatory penalties.  Industry benchmarks allow you to assess your digital property’s distinct risk profile.

Understanding the risks

Raising awareness of these risks across media publishers is imperative. During the past six months, continuous scanning of dozens of B2C websites across a variety of industry segments uncovered the third-party code risks dwelling in their respective digital ecosystems.

For U.S. Media publishers, here’s what The Media Trust discovered during the past six months:

Security risks:
  • 92% of executing code is attributed to third-party code, up from 81% in 2019
  • 18% domain variability, reflecting the percentage of new domains to the publisher’s site compared to the previous month
Privacy Protection risks:
  • on average, ~1,500 cookies are dropped on user devices every time they access a media site, a factor that should be included in assessing CCPA compliance
  • 37% of those cookies have a lifespan greater than 12 months, a violation according to existing regulatory regimes, including CNIL’s “French Cookie Law”
  • We find decades-long lifespan cookies from reputable partners every day across these properties, some approaching an 8,000+ year lifespan 
 Performance risks:
  • 1.6MB is the JavaScript file size, approximately 60% more than the generally recommended 1MB polite limit
  • 5.66 seconds is the aggregate total load time; if you’re experiencing page latency issues you should look at the contribution from third-party code 

Addressing the issues

Publishers can no longer ignore the risks associated with unmanaged third-party code. Unfortunately, investments in resources to build the perfect customer experience and drive revenue often lead to unacceptable malware attacks, redirects, unauthorized collection of personal data, and more. Benchmarks provide a clear means to pinpoint and remediate issues out-of-sync with industry peers.

Brand integrity, regulatory compliance, and the bottom line are at stake. Ad operations must implement strategies that will control unmanaged third-party code. In the same way that brands exercise supply path optimization (SPO) efforts to understand pathways that impact performance and drive revenue, publishers should focus on identifying those vendors that cause problems.

Using these industry benchmarks, publishers can pinpoint which code and which corresponding vendors disrupt your customer experience. The ability to distinguish between what will cause security, regulatory, and performance issues (malware, data breaches) versus what will annoy your users (redirects, PII scams, and poor ad quality) is the first step. 

The dangers of driving blind are self-evident. With benchmarks, ad operations teams can change their processes to focus on the vendors that cause problems, and better navigate a path to success.

Advertising | Perspectives

Breaking the chain: How to optimize digital advertising in the coming election

This time last year, the industry and consumers alike were already thinking about how to navigate the upcoming U.S. presidential election. But with the new decade came new and unexpected challenges. The coronavirus pandemic understandably shifted attention away from the election and toward the devastating, evolving global situation. 

As the world slowly begins to heal, the advertising landscape is once again shifting. In May 2020, IAS reported a 48% decrease in overall coronavirus content online. The nation, and likely the world, will turn their attention back to the presidential race, and will again face the challenge of sorting through seemingly infinite sources of information. With less than 100 days until the election, can the industry work together this time around? Publishers and marketers alike have many issues to address in order to ensure that consumer trust and brand safety are ensured.

The chain reaction 

With unprecedented rates of content creation, the digital landscape has become increasingly difficult to navigate. Consumer perception is seemingly more changeable than ever. Advertisers, concerned about consumer perception, are quick to adjust or halt campaigns in response to sensitive topics. And publishers feel increased pressure to  maintain editorial integrity while supporting their bottom line. 

This chain reaction has been especially apparent in the last four years. The prevalence of fake news and foreign interference in the 2016 election created mistrust among consumers. Advertisers reacted accordingly, growing weary of news publishers and in some cases, shifting ad dollars away from them. 

Since then, advertising spend has bounced back, but consumers remain concerned about misinformation. Prior to the Covid-19 outbreak, IAS asked consumers how they were feeling about the upcoming presidential election. The results showed that 77% of respondents were still concerned about fake news online, and 80% were concerned about the proliferation of misinformation. 

Then, news of the coronavirus pandemic flooded the internet. In the beginning, IAS found that content related to the virus reached a sentiment of about 60% negative and 40% positive or neutral. But by late March, negative content spiked 15 percentage points, reaching 75%.

As a result, advertisers swiftly changed campaign initiatives or halted them completely. Publishers experienced the shift firsthand: 77% of non-news publishers said they were asked to stop digital ads on their sites. This number grew for news publishers, 88% of whom reported being asked to cancel all digital ad campaigns.

At the same time, consumers started to check out. At the end of April, the Pew Research Center found that about 7 in 10 Americans said they needed to take breaks from news about coronavirus. With fewer ad dollars and consumer attention to news, publishers have been working overtime to remind both their audiences and partners of their value, especially in times of crisis. 

The path ahead 

The pattern is abundantly clear: Controversy divides the digital advertising industry. Sensitive storylines, trending topics, and clickable content all have the power to launch a chain reaction that starts with changes in consumer perception, followed by shifts or decreases in ad spend, leaving publishers in the lurch. 

Of course, marketers  should continue to be diligent about protecting their brands from unsuitable content. This not only means responding to evolving, endless news cycles but also recognizing that premium news sources create relatively safe advertising environments. Still, there’s undoubtedly room to be more proactive and more collaborative, especially in the face of a highly anticipated presidential election. 

It is critical for publishers to get ahead of election season by proactively connecting with agency and advertising partners. At IAS, we’re dedicated to facilitating transparency and communication to support all members of the ecosystem. We’re continuing to advise advertisers to leverage inclusion lists, and scrub their exclusion lists frequently to avoid overblocking. 

We’re also recommending that marketers take a look at their campaign KPIs and ensure these goals have flexibility to adjust. Creating space for adjustments across all campaign parameters will ensure that quality publishers remain eligible players. 

Finally, we’re reminding advertisers about IAB’s Ads.txt initiative, which increased transparency of inventory flow in the online advertising ecosystem. Taking steps to identify and reduce threats will increase advertiser confidence, buoying relationships to better weather the tides of unpredictable election season content.  

Breaking the chain

The impact of coronavirus on the digital landscape extends beyond shifting attention away from the election. It has the potential to shape the results. When asked, 85% of consumers believe that the coronavirus pandemic will influence the outcome of the 2020 election. While the sentiment of coronavirus content has become significantly less negative, consumers are right to remain concerned about fake news. In 2016, engagements with fake news articles on Facebook alone reached 8.7M, surpassing those with mainstream news. 

If the past is any indication of the future, advertisers will likely be cautious about appearing next to political content. And they’ll try to avoid fake news and misinformation at all costs. To that end, quality contexts have never been more important. Break the chain and align in support of journalistic integrity during this pivotal time in American history.

Advertising | Revenue

Server-side tech will drive the future of publisher digital advertising revenue

Every war produces collateral damage. And the browser wars are no exception. 

For years, publishers reactively adjusted their monetization strategies based on browser changes to accommodate a rapidly changing landscape in the name of revenue preservation. Many publishers rely on client-side bidding via web browsers to monetize their sites, despite lackluster performance and unpleasant side effects. These include clunky, slow loading sites, personally identifiable information (PII) vulnerability, and interruptive, obtrusive ad experiences.

The resulting situation is driving new publisher approaches – including server-side technology – that have a tremendous impact on their business. The industry is reeling from the economic impact of Covid-19, reacts to CCPA enforcement, and readies itself for the next phase of digital advertising. Yet at the same time, publishers must address certain fundamental technology blockers in the name of reclaiming their monetization strategy and futureproofing their ad revenue through server-side technology.

Let’s assess how investment in server-side solutions will catalyze greater autonomy, sustainability and innovation for publishers in the long run.

Client-side vs. server-side bidding

In client-side header bidding, also known as browser-side header bidding, publishers take their inventory to multiple demand partners as impressions become available. Ad requests are sent to demand partners to place their bids. The highest bid is selected and the winning bidder’s ad is displayed. Code, or JavaScript (JS), lives on the publisher’s page and is executed on users’ browsers when they visit the website.

With server-side header bidding, auction logic is executed on a server. The user’s browser makes a single request to the server, which sends and receives all bid requests. Once the bid is sold, the ad is displayed without affecting page load time.

The browser is not your friend

Many publishers rely on client-side bidding for site monetization through digital advertising. However, the dynamics aren’t always in their best interest.

  • Poor User Experience Due to Latency: JS and ad tags are notoriously slow. That’s because they’re dependent on the number of ad slots and prioritization of when and how they load. Slow load times result in jumpy, inconsistent content, poor browsing UX, and attrition as a result of reloading or exiting the page.
  • Non-Data Regulation Compliance: Ad tags in and of themselves are not inherently non-compliant. However, the tag, not the publisher, determines what data is sent to a partner. If code sends data to another partner without explicit user consent, publishers are susceptible to substantial privacy legislation enforcement. Publishers that do not own all of the code on their page are at risk for non-compliance.
  • Browser Overreliance: Browsers serve as a home base for publisher audiences, auctions, rendering and more. With continual shifts in browser dynamics, there’s escalating opportunity cost associated with publisher over-reliance on an environment in which they exert minimal control.

Some of the browser-based workarounds publishers leverage today likely won’t be viable tomorrow. To extricate themselves from the dynamics of client-side bidding, publishers should invest in server-side technology that will lay the groundwork for monetization innovation in the future. 

The solution is server-side

Server-side technology will ultimately be a catalyst for publishers to reclaim autonomy, sustainability, and control of monetization today and well into the future. There are three chief benefits of server-side technology that pave the road for publisher success:

  • Optimal User Experience: Server-side technology, like content distribution networks (CDNs), preserves the user experience by enabling publishers to optimize sites for faster load times and lower latency. The result? Improved UX and prioritization of when and how ads load. The faster the pages load, the better the user experience will be. And better UX translates to persistent, returning audiences that can be monetized. The introduction of CDN edge computing transitions decisioning around each ad unit – how auctions are managed and when units load–to publishers themselves. This results in optimal monetization and UX. 
  • Identity Solutions: The end of third-party cookies on Chrome is less than two years away. Server-side solutions position publishers for their next phase of innovation: solving for audience and attribution. With the decline of the 3rd party cookie, identifying, targeting and attributing actions to website visitors becomes increasingly challenging. Newfound autonomy will extract publishers from the browser wars. It will also facilitate implementation of identity solutions like publisher first-party identifiers or LiveRamp’s Authenticated Traffic Solution (ATS). This improves addressability across the open web by matching known users to a persistent identifier and enabling marketers to target users in a privacy-first manner.
  • Control: With client-side bidding, publishers are beholden to decisioning they can’t control, like browsers blocking third-party cookies or the introduction of a new algorithm. But with server-side logic, publishers are empowered to build their own valuable walled gardens, where they determine the rules, dynamics and monetization strategy.

Long-term goals

Server-side solutions – like a prebid server – might result in temporary revenue decline due to a departure from third-party cookie targeting. But that revenue is short-lived. Publishers are wise to play the long game. The innovation and revenue growth of server-side platforms like Amazon suggest the short-term inconvenience is far outweighed by the long-term reclaim of revenue control. 

To extricate themselves from browser dynamics, ensure data regulation compliance, build groundwork to preserve UX and preserve tomorrow’s monetization, publishers are wise to look to the server: Investing in server-side innovation today is the ultimate future-proofing for publishers’ businesses tomorrow.

Advertising | Innovation | Perspectives

As identity solutions evolve, smart publishers see an opportunity

As Chief Revenue Officer of BritePool, I am on the front lines every day talking with publishers, agencies, SSPs, DSPs, and advertisers about our identity resolution service. As you can imagine, Chrome’s announcement that it will end support for third-party cookies comes up in every one of those conversations.

My non-scientific sample of these conversations finds publishers fall into three distinct groups. The first group talks about “Chromageddon,” and the “identity crisis.” The second group is preoccupied with managing the current business during this pandemic and tells me “we will deal with the issue in 2021.” The final group sees this shift as the “identity opportunity.”

As a salesperson, it’s my nature to be optimistic. It’s also my nature to make things happen, with determination. My goal is to shape the future, by identifying problems and offering the best possible solutions. Of course, my position also makes me inherently biased. Nonetheless, I believe the future belongs to those who accept the dimensions of the new cookieless world and shape their business to grasp this opportunity. Where some see lemons, they see lemonade.

Those who see an “identity opportunity” seem to share five beliefs or approaches:

1. They have a strategy and they are not complacent.

At this moment, there are many reasons digital publishers are putting off addressing the identity issue. The most common reasons I hear for “call me next year,” are: (1) The IAB will develop an industry response, (2) The Google Sandbox will solve our problems, (3) Google won’t really do it, or (4) My plate is full as I try to remotely manage a business that should be run in-person.

On the other hand, publishers who see opportunity recognize that all solutions will require a long-term effort, which must start now. I have met with publishers who tell me, “no matter what happens with the IAB or Google Sandbox we have an internal goal of increasing self-identified visitors,” often “by 5X or 10X in the next 18 months.” The phrase that most sticks in my mind was from the publishing executive who said, “If we know our visitors, everything else will fall into place.”

As part of their strategy, this group also has a clear sense of how identity targeting with their properties fits into the marketing needs of clients, and the distinct benefits these publisher offer as compared to CTV services, mobile apps, social media, and a myriad other digital alternatives. This guiding purpose informs the questions executives at these publishers ask me, and ultimately their choices for solution providers.

2. They plan to grab share from Google and Facebook.

In an earlier article for DCN, BritePool’s CEO, David J. Moore, argued that Google and Facebook dominate digital advertising for a simple reason: They know the identities of their users, who log-in to use their services. In contrast, most web publishers know the identities of a fraction of their visitors.

Inaccurate and inefficient third-party cookies created the illusion of effective identity targeting. Now, publishers have realized that accurate, 1:1 identity verification leads to far higher CPM’s, a better experience for consumers (through true ad frequency caps) and the opportunity to compete effectively with the walled gardens. They also believe that advertisers want to reduce their dependence on Google and Facebook.

These digital publishers are actively looking for providers of identity resolution services that will help to fulfill this promise.

Many advertisers believe the walled Gardens are far too opaque in their reporting. Thus, in addition to precise 1:1 ad delivery, digital publishers are looking to solve the problem of attribution,

3. They are strategically skeptical.

The many issues associated with brand safety, transparency in the supply chain, inaccurate delivery of cookie-based campaigns, and bidding issues in programmatic buys have justifiably led publishers to ask that vendors demonstrate they can deliver on their promises.

Moreover, I have yet to meet a publisher who plans to rely on a single identity resolution vendor. As a strategy, digital publishers who plan to win will ensure they have multiple options for ad delivery in a cookieless world.

4. They want simplicity.

The potential complexity involved in identity targeting is high. PII (personally identifiable information) may need to be securely and safely exchanged. Data sharing agreements may need to be negotiated. And, the list goes on.

Web publishers seek solutions that make their lives easy, simple, secure, and safe, as they approach and realize the cookieless future.

5. They look for indications of credibility.

Recently, Adweek noted that “Identity is one of the fastest-changing and most competitive spaces in digital advertising.” For this essential but highly competitive space, publishing executives know that many solutions will be marketed, but few will survive. Moreover, these executives recognize that their time is a precious resource and allocate it thoughtfully.

As a result, as I work to schedule initial meetings, many publishing executives effectively ask: “Why is meeting with you a good use of my time?” This is a critical component and we need to have good answers. (I have several, but most compelling is the fact that two of the nation’s largest advertisers are testing BritePool’s service.)

Conclusion

I have always believed that in business, and in life, we create our own opportunities. Luck is a factor. But luck will not decide whether the demise of the third-party cookies leads to success or failure among digital publishers. In this case, I’d say luck favors the strategic optimists: those who recognize that success will require a long-term effort, one that cannot wait.

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