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Innovation | Perspectives | Supporter Spotlight

How media innovators leverage the product mindset

With the rapidly changing media landscape organizations must constantly evolve or die.

In a recent BCG study, only 35% of companies achieved their digital transformation objectives.

Where are you?

Companies in the media ecosystem, including publishers, broadcasters, streaming platforms, and ad-tech providers, are under ongoing pressure to keep pace with the speed of innovation and new market demands. Many are struggling to sustain their business, which may support millions of users, while still innovating to stay ahead of the next technology wave. 

This task has been exacerbated by conflicting priorities of executives, value vs velocity, which leaves CPOs and CTOs in need of a desperate alignment to build an optimal foundation for an ecosystem of digital products.

You must build for outcomes

Fortunately, the path to solving these issues is achievable, albeit one that requires a fundamental change in thinking and execution. By taking a product mindset philosophy across the entire business, media leaders are able to design for outcomes such as: changing consumer behavior, making informed decisions, and growing top- and bottom-line revenue. This holistic approach for all stakeholders helps align priorities with outcomes to achieve results. 

The product mindset helps define individual product launches and conflicting stakeholder priorities. When applied to the entire enterprise, it can help media companies adapt for the future while also still serving their current customer base. 

How to achieve the product mindset


Defining the product mindset 

The product mindset establishes a link between product principles and company characteristics. It provides a shared experience that connects people at every level of an organization and allows them to communicate and make data-driven decisions. Central to the product mindset are three core concepts:

  1. Digital products must be self-funded.
  2. Digital products need to be chosen by the customer.
  3. Digital products are never done.

Thinking about products along these lines can help a company clear away some of the roadblocks and challenges of maintaining pace with media evolution. But putting them into practice can be a challenge. The following five steps can help make the product mindset the core philosophy across a media enterprise.

1. Define the vision 

Every product needs to create and communicate a clear vision that addresses a market problem, and every company needs a vision for what it aims to do. Does every product unite under a single vision that the company wants to push forward? If a product doesn’t fit the vision, then CTOs, product leads, and even CEOs need to have the discipline to say “no” to a new idea. 

2.  Prioritize customer needs

User-informed products solve specific problems for specific target customers. The more a business knows about its target customer, the better it can define its overall business strategy and, specifically, its product strategy. This requires careful research into questions that may seem obvious, but aren’t asked often enough in the development process. Who is the customer? What are we solving? What’s the best design to achieve the goals? Solid research ensures companies solve the right problem in the right way.

To fuel this line of inquiry, media companies must develop a strong user feedback loop that tests assumptions early, often, and regularly, through the use of analytics, UX testing, and user surveys. These are repetitive, quick, and inexpensive methods that will point the way forward for product development and revenue opportunities.

3.  Practice a lean and agile mindset

The goal of any organization is to practice its core values to the point that the process becomes invisible. The agile mindset requires predictable development and deployment processes. When all products have to unite under the umbrella of a single vision, serve a target customer, and are built on predictable processes, then everything starts moving like clockwork. 

The lean build process operates similarly. Products are built in the smallest, fastest way possible, without being tied to specific commitments. That helps spot failures early, resulting in less time lost and fewer wasted resources as companies move to evolve.

4. Excel at change

The need for the product mindset is ultimately about the need to get really good at the constant change within the media industry. The companies that will define the future can quickly reinvent themselves based on how their users and market change. 

When assessing a change, ask, “does the benefit generated from change outweigh the cost?” Again, everything should be based on data and serving the end users, not chasing shiny objects. The more an organization can justify the change to match the vision, the easier the change will be.

5. Employ strong, skilled, empowered teams

The best way to apply the product mindset across an enterprise is to build cross-functional teams that open the door to wide-scale innovation. Encourage smart failure, where ideas are tested well in advance. Sometimes the data shows that a product may be needed, but the development doesn’t quite match the need. That’s OK, as long as the red flag is raised early in the process. By empowering teams, media companies make it quick and easy to change, ensuring that they can maintain their current position while building for the future.

Navigating the future at the speed of change

Media is evolving at a breakneck pace, shifting because of changes in consumer and customer behavior and needs. Even with all of the disrupting factors at work, most enterprises should be able to maintain – if not grow–their audiences in the future. 

Maintaining the product mindset will help media businesses find new revenue opportunities, but also excel at change in the future, ensuring that they are ready to embrace the next evolution of media.

Industry-Research | Supporter Spotlight

How publishers are building connections with young audiences

For publishers and media companies, the need to focus on younger audiences for future growth, especially Gen Z (16-25) and young millennials (26-32), is well documented. Most publishers have put significant resources and effort into engaging and staying relevant to the newest generations of readers, viewers, and listeners. But are their tactics working? 

Digiday and Arc XP surveyed 116 publishers and 114 Gen Z and young millennial consumers to understand the tactics publishers are currently using to attract these generations and how they match up with the preferences of these audiences.

The good news is that, according to our State of publisher audiences report, publishers are already attracting and engaging with Gen Z and young millennial audiences. Nearly half (47%) of publishers say Gen Z makes up 41% or more of their digital audience, and more than half (50%) say young millennials consist of 41% or more of their audience.

Challenge

However, the survey results indicate that publishers might be missing opportunities to  build long-term, loyal relationships with them.

For example, when asked which content channels are the most successful in driving young millennials and Gen Z audiences to their website, publishers said they are seeing positive results from Facebook (66%) and then a tie between Twitter (48%) and YouTube (48%).

That said, when we asked Gen Z and young millennial respondents what channels they prefer, Facebook came in fifth place, and Twitter in seventh. YouTube was the number one preferred channel by a substantial margin.

What causes these differences? Why are publishers so enthusiastic about Facebook, while younger consumers have a significantly different short list of go-to channels? One answer may be in how publishers analyze the data that is telling them which channels work. Their analytics capabilities and data sources may not have caught up with where the consumer is now.

Opportunity

The survey also uncovered an opportunity for publishers to create content formats that better match Gen Z and young millennial preferences. Publishers say that short-form video (78%) and a combination of text and video (62%) are the best formats for engaging younger consumers, with short-form text (40%) and a combination of text and audio (40%) tying for third place.

Gen Z and young millennial consumers named short-form video (61%) as their most preferred content format, matching publisher expectations. They also appreciate short-form text (40%). However, long-form text (32%) came in third in their preferences. Contrary to popular wisdom about their extremely short attention spans, Gen Z and young millennials like to read and even don’t mind long-form content. That’s good news for publishers, especially those publishing words over video.

Future focus

Publishers who reflect Gen Z and millennial audiences’ views and values will have a better chance of keeping them and growing new segments of younger readers, viewers, and listeners. Fortunately, 88% of Gen Z and millennial consumers surveyed say that publishers are somewhat to extremely aligned with their values and opinions.

Yet respondents indicated that publishers still had some work to do to on representation. Only 21% said that their political views were well represented in news and entertainment content channels. Representation of ethnically diverse demographics and LGBTQ+ demographics were graded even worse, with only 11% and 5% of respondents saying those demographics were well represented.

When asked how their editorial teams are learning about the values of young millennials and Gen Z audiences and the topics they’re interested in, 31% said they are hiring more employees from these generations and 31% said they are monitoring comments from younger users. Only 4% said they aren’t taking any specific steps. So, despite some disconnects, the survey found that, given publishers’ tactics for engaging younger audiences, it’s clear that they continue to make real investments in understanding these consumers.

Advertising | Perspectives | Supporter Spotlight | Video

Technology moves fast. Automation helps publishers keep up

Technology is an essential tool for enabling efficiency in today’s fast-paced media landscape. This is especially true of new media platforms—including retail media networks, connected TV (CTV), and streaming services—whose rapid growth has left publishers with little time to reevaluate and optimize their ad monetization processes. Most of these platforms are utilizing legacy ad ops processes as a result, the majority of which are highly manual and not suited for the pace of digital media.

The consequences of this trend have led to mounting challenges for publishers, including delivery delays, higher error rates, increased makegoods, and slower revenue recognition processes. To eliminate these inefficiencies and enable growth at scale, publishers must leverage automation. If your business struggles to keep pace with the rapid evolution of new media and ad revenue models, here’s how automation can help you streamline your manual workflows and future-proof your ad ops processes.

Out with the old, in with the new

The ad ops processes that have worked for long-standing, traditional publishers cannot meet the needs of today’s modern digital media players. They need to be run continuously to keep up with rapidly evolving ad revenue models, which is challenging because they employ time-consuming manual processes such as audience targeting and data analysis.

Unfortunately, many media players continue to adopt these legacy workflows because they have been the norm for so long and are the path of least resistance. But this is simply not sustainable. The demand for targeted audience reach, coupled with the speed at which these platforms are growing, means that workflow inefficiencies will only increase. At the same time, ad ops teams are put at a major disadvantage because they typically work on parallel campaigns across multiple platforms and ad servers. This creates siloed and fragmented data and makes tracking and analyzing campaign metrics extremely difficult.

Automating manual processes is the key to eliminating workflow inefficiencies and increasing productivity. It’s also essential for enabling career growth and professional development. When ad ops teams use automation to relieve members of repetitive and menial tasks such as data entry and reporting, they can turn their attention to the higher-value jobs that require strategic thought and therefore can only be carried out by human beings. Rather than seeing automation as a threat to job security, it can be viewed as a tool for skill expansion and professional growth.

Using automation to support the foundational needs of media companies

The benefits that both new media and traditional publishers can gain from automation are plentiful and help support three foundational needs:

  • Unity. Automation can integrate internal platforms, improve communication between teams, eliminate data silos, and enhance data visibility.
  • Performance. Automation can streamline manual tasks to reduce errors, makegoods, and delivery delays. It can also boost campaign performance and improve client satisfaction by allowing campaigns to be optimized in flight.
  • Guidance. Automation can be used to develop user-friendly systems that improve internal knowledgeability, as well as create platforms that notify teams of potential errors so they can troubleshoot before mistakes occur.

Automation also helps increase profits by allowing teams to focus on revenue-boosting activities like business growth strategy and client management. It frees them up to run more campaigns, which is a win-win for everyone: Advertisers appreciate the maximized brand exposure, and publishers benefit from the incremental revenue. Finally, automating order-to-cash processes allows for quicker invoicing, which means faster revenue recognition and more cash to reinvest into new business initiatives.

The time to automate is now

While the current economy has forced all industries to do more with less, efficiency has always been a necessity for publishers. Now that advertising has become a key revenue model for new media players, it’s essential for them to leverage technology to enable productivity and scale. The time to automate is now, as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and automation tech become more accessible and affordable. Publishers — especially new media players like retail media networks and CTV companies — must take advantage of this time to implement automation or risk getting left in the dust.

Innovation | Perspectives | Supporter Spotlight

3 tools to make media companies stand out in the age of AI

Artificial intelligence chatbots such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Microsoft’s BingGPT have generated lots of buzz lately, much of it centered around how helpful or harmful these tools might be for media companies. While the helpful camp welcomes the benefits of assisting reporters with initial research, aggregating data and performing basic copy editing, others argue that these programs may also accelerate the spread of misinformation and fake news sites, which can compete with legitimate publishers for readers’ attention and advertising.

While newsrooms have been using AI tools to some degree for years, the technology has recently become more advanced and widespread, making it harder to determine whether copy was written by a human or generated by a bot. Publishers committed to industry standards and best practices need to find ways to stand out from lesser quality websites.

Oddly enough, even ChatGPT agrees that publishers need to find ways to distinguish themselves from non-human creators. When asked how digital publishers can stand out from AI-generated content, it responded:

“As AI-generated content becomes increasingly prevalent, media companies must find ways to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. While AI can produce articles and other types of content at a rapid pace, there are certain aspects of digital publishing that only a human touch can provide.”

What are those human touches? Fact-checking, vetting sources and objective reporting, to name a few. As a legitimate digital publisher, you already do these things, but do you get credit for them?

Here are three initiatives designed to help media companies stand apart from artificial content and get more credit for their good work.

Showcase your commitment to journalism standards and ethics

As more publishers use AI tools, questions may arise about whether they followed journalistic standards during the content creation process.

The Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI) is a certification program launched by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) to help quality media outlets demonstrate their commitment to creating transparent, ethical journalism. The program includes certification against the JTI Standard – a set of transparency standards developed to measure media outlets’ production of trustworthy content.

“It’s really important to be able to distinguish between trusted news and misinformation,” said Beth Potter, Ph.D., U.S. regional manager for JTI. “We as journalists are not marketing ourselves well enough. We need to stand up as a group and let the world know we have rules and policies in place that lesser-quality content providers do not have.”

The three-step JTI certification process includes a self-assessment, a public disclosure in the form of a Transparency Report and a third-party audit to confirm the organization’s adherence to the JTI Standard. Once certified, media outlets can display the JTI mark to let advertisers know they are committed to following industry standards that lead to the creation of trustworthy content.

Recognize your industry connections and memberships

Quality media outlets often take an active role in the industry and participate in groups like Digital Content Next and the Alliance for Audited Media to promote quality media and industry standards.

Trust.txt is a framework developed by non-profit organization JournalList to help organizations earn recognition for their relationships with trusted industry organizations and associations. Similar to Ads.txt, publishers place a Trust.txt file on their websites that publicly lists industry memberships, owned domains and social media accounts. Industry organizations are also encouraged to create a file listing their members. The goal is to help search engines recognize the legitimate connections between media companies and industry associations.

“A great many of us depend on unreliable mechanisms to find reliable news online,” said Mark Stencel, executive director of JournalList. “Tech companies shouldn’t be the ones who decide what is and what is not ‘news.’ Journalism organizations should. JournalList’s Trust.txt files are a simple and efficient way to make that possible.”

Get certified for creating balanced, reliable content

Brand safety has been an increasing concern as advertisers find ways to prevent their ads from running on websites that don’t align with their brand values or create misleading content.

Ad Fontes Media developed its interactive Media Bias Chart® in response to increases in misinformation and media polarization. By creating a methodology to rate sources for reliability and media bias, Ad Fontes offers a tool to help advertisers and consumers find trusted sources of news and information. The group rates everything from websites, linear and connected TV, YouTube channels, podcasts and newsletters. 

“When people say they don’t trust media, they lump quality news sources with those that create questionable content,” said Vanessa Otero, CEO and founder of Ad Fontes Media. “We want to elevate quality publishers and showcase their good work and commitment to transparency.”

The Alliance for Audited Media recently partnered with Ad Fontes to create a custom media bias chart featuring AAM-audited publishers, which Otero says tend to be among the most reliable, trustworthy sources Ad Fontes rates across the news landscape.

“Advertisers use the chart to create inclusion lists based on media bias and reliability ratings,” Otero said. “The chart helps advertisers support reliable and trustworthy sources while safeguarding their brands.”

Advertisers also use our AAM Audited Domain List, a list of digital publishers who have completed the AAM Digital Publisher Audit, to create inclusion lists and direct more of their investment toward publishers that have been vetted by a third party. The audit gives media companies another tool to help stand out for their adherence to industry standards and best practices for sourcing website traffic.

The future is in publishers’ hands

As AI technology continues to evolve, it will only continue to become more challenging to separate content written by humans from articles generated by chatbots. It’s even challenging for ChatGPT, which when asked about its ability to identify AI-generated content, replied:

“As an AI language model, I can analyze and generate text, but I cannot determine with 100% accuracy whether a piece of content was generated by a human or an AI system.”

While publishers may not be able to prevent the spread of chatbot-sourced content, they can control how their websites appear to readers, advertisers, and search engines. By implementing industry initiatives, publishers can do something the chatbots can’t do: prove that they are committed to standards and best practices and provide transparency about how their content was sourced and developed.  

Marketing | Supporter Spotlight | Video

The benefits of bringing maps and weather data into your video content

Sometimes the weather is the story. However, weather also impacts many of the stories journalists tell –  from sports events to celebrity weddings, groundbreaking ceremonies, and more. Maps and weather data can be powerful tools to create more memorable and impactful videos. Digital publications and platforms can leverage these elements to illustrate location, specify routes, and provide predictions regarding the potential impact of current and upcoming weather to create more engaging content.

There are many benefits of incorporating maps and weather data into video content, and all it takes is adding this capability to the existing software stack. Let’s take a look.

Why maps and weather enhance storytelling 

When it comes to video content, it’s important to have tools that make it easy to enhance coverage of breaking news quickly. Maps can make it easier to visualize stories, such as election news and big-city races. Creating custom maps for breaking stories helps your viewers feel like they are involved rather than just passively watching. As a result, digital publications can increase engagement and viewer loyalty. 

They can even provide coverage on a street level, which helps personalize a reporter’s video stories. By offering street-level viewing, your publication can go beyond generic maps. This personalization adds a level of depth to your storytelling that many other publications lack, making your stories unique and compelling for your viewers. 

Additionally, weather data can be used to provide further context and insights to stories of all kinds. Companies can use weather to illustrate the role wind may have on a football game or how the path of a storm might affect an outdoor event. Since weather impacts almost every decision, this content has immense value for audiences.

5 ways map and weather content improves video storytelling

By bringing maps and weather data into video stories, journalists, reporters and content developers can provide more comprehensive, engaging videos. Here are just a few of the ways that maps and weather data can improve your digital video content:

  1. Generate maps for specific stories.
    Maps can be generated for specific stories with the right tool. They can be customized to support the story with stunning visuals.

    For example: Local digital publishers may choose to cover a 5K race or marathon. Incorporating maps into the story would allow teams to graphically showcase the route, and bring in “guests” at certain points along the map.
  1. Illustrate the impact of weather on the story.
    In the case of a big event such as the Boston Marathon or New York City Marathon, publications might include commentary from elite athletes. Since weather can influence the outcome of races, content creators could showcase the impact of tailwind and humidity and include commentary and predictions about how the weather conditions will impact the race.

    Weather was a major factor in the Ineos 1:59 Challenge, in which Eliud Kipoge broke the 2:00 marathon. Kipoge noted that “One of the biggest factors in running a fast marathon is the weather – temperature, humidity, precipitation, wind speed and direction will all have a significant impact, even the air pressure has some effect.” The addition of this unique perspective on how the weather impacts potential outcomes – and makes reporting more engaging.  
  2. Display live conditions. 
    Content producers can illustrate the impact of weather on all sorts of current events such as outdoor sports games, state fairs or festivals, graduation ceremonies, holiday community events, and more. (For example, check out this bike race coverage.
  3. Bring stories to life with guests & visuals.
    Display the impact of weather for upcoming event stories and bring in local meteorologists as expert guests. With weather graphics, teams can discuss the impact a hurricane will have on a community or how snow will affect the morning commute.
  4. Drive revenue with weather-related ads.
    In addition to providing context and engaging more viewers, this form of storytelling can also be used with sponsors to drive revenue. For example, an owner of a tire company can sponsor the video and provide tips on what type of snow tires are best to buy when winter weather is approaching. Local advertisers – such as hardware stores during BBQ season or local caterers during graduation stories – will also find that the weather tie-in makes their advertising more relevant.

Real-life examples of combining weather data and map overlays

Wondering how to combine weather data and map overlays in videos? Here are a few use cases:

  1. Election coverage
    Election coverage always draws a large number of viewers. It risks falling flat however, if high-quality graphics are not incorporated. With the right tools, journalists can enhance their election coverage by showing counties graphically. Digital publications and channels can bring reporters in at different polling locations, providing on-the-ground coverage for a more comprehensive and detailed viewing experience.
  2. Marathon, parade, or other coverage of big events
    Marathons and races cover a large area, which can be difficult when there are only a few available team members. With advanced video tools, however, teams can use a distributed workforce, which allows reporters to create, publish, and live stream content at any time from any location along the race route. The same goes for parades or any events that would be enhanced by maps and weather data. 
  3. Telethon coverage
    The right video tools allow team members and sponsors to create and publish videos without requiring them to use specialized skills, complicated hardware, or expensive equipment. As a result, publications of any size can have the ability to host telethons or fundraising events. With the right tool, guests can easily participate from a remote location. Maps can then be used to showcase which areas have contributed the most and to set goals across a specific demographic.

Final Thoughts

Scaling video production with maps and weather can make videos more engaging since these provide more context to the stories already being told. They can also help audiences understand the scale of a story, or make it more personal through localization. By combining live map and weather data, digital publications and channels can provide real-time, up-to-the-minute coverage to viewers, with all the insights, credibility, and professionalism consumers expect. 

About the Author

Jim Politis is part of the Max Weather solutions product management team at The Weather Company, where he focuses on Max Velocity, Max Engage, and Max Social. He was first part of the Max Quality Assurance team, and over the last decade at The Weather Company, Jim has been involved with nearly every product within the Max ecosystem. Prior to joining The Weather Company, Jim served as a broadcast meteorologist in Iowa, where he experienced many extreme weather events, from blizzards to record floods to tornadoes. One thing Jim appreciates about working at The Weather Company is that he no longer needs to present important information while hearing a tornado siren through the building walls! He has a bachelor of science degree in meteorology and an associate’s degree in computer science from Northern Vermont University-Lyndon.

Advertising | Supporter Spotlight | Video

Maximizing audiences’ unique relationship with TV

Consumers appear to be more engaged with media than ever before. Social platforms, podcasts, and games have found their way into consumers’ daily lives. However, TV’s place at the heart of the household lives on, appealing to the masses and capturing audience attention for almost 3.5 hours a day.

That said, TV no longer just occupies one screen. Advanced TV channels such as video-on-demand (VOD), and free ad-supported streaming services (FASTs) are accessible on many devices. While this proliferation of distribution channels has changed how brands connect with audiences, viewers’ relationship with TV and Advanced TV is unique. Here’s why.

1. It’s grounded in high quality content

The period since the turn of the millennium has been dubbed the “Golden Age” of TV, which is characterised by the growing choice over not only what viewers watch but where, when, and how they engage with TV. Advanced TV (comprised of VOD, CTV, OTT, and addressable linear TV) is home to premium, long-form video content that — due to its strong entertainment value — will always attract highly engaged audiences.

It is, in fact, viewer demand for premium content that is the driver of the diversification of the TV landscape, as new platforms and services are launched to capture eyeballs. Although Ofcom’s Media Nations (2022) report found that UK viewing habits have been readjusting after their peak during the pandemic, it highlights that broadcaster video-on-demand (BVOD) services are bucking the overall trend and the time audiences spend with them per day is rising. So, how do consumers feel about maturing Advanced TV channels?

2. Linear TV’s reputation is preserved by Advanced TV

According to 36% of CTV viewers who participated in FreeWheel’s 2022 Connected Viewers: All Eyes on Streaming study – which surveyed consumers in the UK, Italy, France, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands (EU6) – ad-supported Advanced TV services give them access to an appealing mix of quality video content. To reach these audiences, who are increasingly adopting VOD and FAST services, industry players are implementing ad-funded models, but viewers’ expectations for quality extend beyond the content and apply to advertising as well.

That’s because linear TV, alongside setting the standard for premium content, has also established advertising as an expected part of the viewing experience. Research indicates that TV advertising creates memories among audiences due to its long-form video formats, giving brands strong storytelling opportunities and the chance to boost ad recall. In line with this, two-thirds of respondents to Freewheel’s study who watch CTV find its TV-like ad experience to be the most attention-grabbing.

Furthermore, audiences are not the only ones with high expectations for Advanced TV. Ad buyers have become familiar with TV’s standards for high impact creative and competitive separation. The benefits of TV advertising go further than delivering impressions, and this is underscored by the latest iteration of measurement tools that enable marketers to gain insight into how TV affects audiences in the mid- and lower-funnel. TV advertising can encourage consideration and drive traffic to websites and apps, increasing sales opportunities.

3. Audiences trust broadcasters and media owners

Since viewers generally consider broadcasters and media owners to be the source of quality video content, they tend to have a close connection with providers in the TV landscape — one grounded in trust. On the basis of these relationships, broadcasters and media owners have access to valuable first-party data, which lays the groundwork for informed and highly effective audience-based targeting.

Advertisers and agencies depend on this information to reach desired audience segments and boost engagement. However, it also helps sellers improve the advertising experience for their viewer bases. If broadcasters and media owners can ensure they serve relevant, contextualised ads, they can meet audience expectations for a quality viewing experience. Over one-quarter of audiences surveyed in Freewheel’s study claim they have a preference for ads which align with the content they are watching, 24% value ads informed by geolocation, and 20% prefer ads relate to their interests.

As a result, the ability to create a relevant viewing experience can be a key differentiator for media owners in the competitive TV landscape. It will capture viewers while also maximizing the appeal of their media offering to ad buyers. This creates a positive feedback loop, as uplifts to ad revenue can further improve advertising operations and help fund the production of quality video content, which in turn attracts bigger audiences, making premium video inventory even more valuable. Media companies are responsible for communicating this trade value to viewers, so they understand that by sharing their data they are unlocking a better experience in exchange.

Audiences’ trust, familiarity, and high levels of engagement with TV is what makes it such a valuable ad environment to build brands. TV’s evolution will undoubtedly demand advances in measurement, standardization, and tools that can connect the dots between fragmented audience segments. However, every development in these areas from, both buyers and sellers, must keep viewers at the heart of the innovation process. Doing so is absolutely critical for preserving audiences’ unique relationship with TV.

Advertising | Perspectives | Supporter Spotlight | Video

It’s time to modernize Advanced TV. Here’s how

Online video offers tremendous reach and growth potential for advertisers and publishers alike. But disparate technologies and fragmented metrics have been longtime pain points. There’s a clear need for a solution that can bring standardization, interoperability and improved efficiency to the industry.

That solution might finally be on its way with the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s unveiling of their ambitious Advanced TV initiative. Built alongside standards that have already been approved by the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC), the IAB’s work could prove to be a significant step toward universal addressability, both for the myriad of devices and online services that make up the ATV ecosystem, and for the elusive bridge to linear TV measurement as well.

Standardizing and unifying all these different outlets of buying and selling ads in a way that allows everyone to compete means that everyone can win, including consumers. We have seen in the past that these types of issues are resolvable when the industry comes together and comes up with a solution that works for everyone. This could be the start of something truly transformational.

Advanced TV explained

Before diving into the IAB’s plan, it’s important to understand what Advanced TV is.Namely,Advanced TV is an umbrella term that refers to any TV device or service that isn’t part of traditional broadcast channels (or Linear TV, with some exceptions). Those products and services are often distinct from one another in subcategory, but they’re all considered a part of Advanced TV as a whole.

From an advertising perspective, the key divide between Advanced TV and traditional broadcast is addressability, which isthe ability to serve targeted ads to viewers based on their individual data, and track the success of whole campaigns based on various observable metrics. Standardizing and streamlining that process across Linear and Advanced TV is the crux of IAB’s initiative.

The grand plan for Advanced TV

The IAB released a three-year roadmap that outlines the implementation of their vision. In it, they listed five key objectives that they will use to chart its success:

  • Interoperability for frame accurate ad delivery and ad break management
  • Universal addressability and reconciliation for audience measurement
  • Full auditability for advertising campaigns delivery
  • Ad measurement for delivery and viewability verification
  • Omnichannel sales management for programmatic buying and selling of upfronts as well as spot buys

To accomplish these objectives, the IAB outlined the technologies that they will be deploying over the next three years to modernize the medium.

Standardized Video Watermark Signal Utilizing OM SDK

Working within digital standards like OM SDK, the IAB’s open watermark signal will collect vital measurements like viewability verification across the breadth of ATV’s services and devices. It will also allow for universal ad break management and frame-accurate ad insertion or replacement for video publishers. This is all in hopes of achieving a better ad experience for consumers who are otherwise forced to view the same ad many times over due to poor targeting capabilities.

Universal Asset Identification (Ad-ID)

In conjunction with IAB’s watermark, a universal ad identification system will be key to auditing campaigns and creatives. This will provide the much-needed ability to track both throughout the supply chain, so any ad can be identified and attached to its respective campaign. Ad-ID will also be a crucial component of bridging the tracking gap to linear channels.

2+ Impression Currency

This technology and methodology will reconcile audience measurement based on data from multiple delivery channels, including linear ones. In the future, this will standardize tokenization and reconciliation, improving universal addressability.

Programmatic Upgrades via OpenRTB

To ensure scalability on a programmatic level, IAB’s watermark will integrate with OpenRTB signaling over the next three years. This will also include developing live streaming ad break management and publisher safety guidance.

Conclusion

If IAB’s initiative can deliver on its objectives, the Advanced TV landscape could be on the verge of a sweeping evolution. One that will turn the current disparate jumble of technologies and metrics into an interconnected, holistic, and truly universal measurement system across both linear and non-linear channels. The task is great and the days are early. But it’s hard not to be excited about the possibilities, and we’ll be among those watching the IAB’s progress – and the evolution of Advanced TV – with keen interest over the next few years.

Advertising | Perspectives | Supporter Spotlight

How media companies can protect addressability

As we look toward the rest of 2023 and beyond, it’s clear that respect for consumer privacy will continue to greatly impact digital advertising as a whole. But this shift does not need to negatively impact publisher revenue.

Platforms blocking third-party tracking and new data privacy regulations give users the tools, awareness and the choice to protect their information by opting out of data sharing. With this, when we look at the open web as a whole, addressability has collapsed to 30%. But while big tech solutions continue to threaten to commoditize publishers, consumer privacy actually gives publishers an opportunity to reclaim data ownership.

Traditional adtech and legacy platforms aren’t equipped to solve this addressability crisis.  And without addressability, publishers aren’t able to effectively monetize their audience. The good news is that media companies have the power to identify and solve addressability issues. Here’s how publishers can check their own addressability, step-by-step.

Step one: cookie-blocked platforms

The first step in assessing overall addressability is to determine where your users are. In the U.S. alone, nearly half of all of users are browsing in Safari, Edge, Firefox, or other cookie-blocked browsers. Further, about half of all iOS users have opted into Apple’s App Tracking Transparency framework, which also impacts audience monetization in fast-growing environments such as streaming apps. When consumers use these platforms, publishers lose the ability to target these audiences with traditional programmatic advertising.

Ad impressions that don’t have a cookie or identifier attached can signal a problem for marketers. It might even cause them to pay less for these impressions or spend elsewhere. Publishers who don’t have the ability to retain audience addressability and become a data source that advertisers need will run the risk of losing budgets.

By starting with determining how much traffic originates from one of these environments, publishers can begin to understand what percentage of addressability is lost. If we take the U.S. national average and apply it here, a publisher would be left with approximately 55% audience addressability after step one.

Step two: user-disabled cookies in Chrome

Despite Google delaying third-party cookie deprecation in Chrome until 2024, 40% of Chrome users are already browsing in incognito windows or disabling tracking cookies on their own. In the U.S., more than half of users are browsing in Chrome.

Continuing with our example, the combination of audiences choosing cookie blocking-platforms and users opting out of tracking on Chrome means that only 30% of publisher audiences are addressable. Today, 70% of the internet is effectively invisible to adtech.

As user choice increasingly becomes the default, this number will continue to grow. Google’s prominent “reject all” cookies button in the Chrome consent banner is scheduled to be implemented in more countries, as directed by GDPR. In the U.S., lawmakers are mulling over the American Data Privacy and Protection Act (ADPPA), which would have all users opted-out by default. The result is a future where users will have to take minimal action, if any, to opt out of sharing their data for advertising purposes.

Step three: first-page-view targeting

The next step in determining total addressability is evaluating publishers’ ability to target users on the first page view. Passer-by traffic varies greatly by publisher, but it stands that publishers who can’t serve an ad on the first page view then lose the ability to monetize that bounced audience.

Adtech solutions that rely on cloud-based data processing are handicapped in their ability to target an ad on first page view. However, by processing data at or near the source, media companies are equipped to capture this crucial audience. To continue our example, if a bounce rate is 30%, a publisher’s total addressability is now only 21%.

Step four: data longevity

Finally, publishers need to assess their ability to store data against particular cohorts via unlimited lookback windows. The average cloud-based platform (e.g. traditional DMPs, CDPs) relies on cookie-based lookback windows. This means that publishers can only lookback 30 days on a particular cohort, inherently capping the scale of the audience.

A longer lookback window enables publishers to build cohorts for users over an extended period of time. By building user profiles over a longer period of time, publishers can create cohorts that are reflective of seasonality, for example back-to-school shopping. This allows publishers to provide advertisers with highly relevant audience segments that rely on specific time pegs.

Maximizing addressability

Media companies that build a direct-sold business built on the unique relationships and trust they have with their users will command advertiser media spend and be well-positioned to succeed in this new era of digital advertising.

As evidence of this, Penske Media Corporation was able to realize a 46% increase in revenue from first-party data in 2022. Further, their rich audience data insights were able to deliver advertisers a 5x increase in performance (CTR) in campaigns that only used only first-party data.

As we look toward a future of digital advertising where publishers have control and users have a choice, adtech built for marketers and based on third-party data will no longer be sufficient. Publishers who take action to maximize their addressability with first-party data are able to differentiate their data offerings, prove value to buyers via insights, win RFPs, and ultimately grow revenue.

Advertising | Industry-Research | Supporter Spotlight

Publishers vs. walled gardens: Can your data tech compete?

Google’s deadline for deprecating third-party cookies has been looming on the horizon for the digital industry for a while now. But at this point in 2023, even with the continued delays by Google, it’s staring us in the face. According to the IAB, digital media has lost up to 60% of the signals that were accessible for targeting and measurement just a few years ago. And while publishers have always been more restricted in resources and spending than advertisers in general, publishers are feeling the heat. And we can see that in how they’re investing in their tech stacks. 

The publisher community has long feared third-party cookie deprecation would lead to a bifurcation in the digital ad marketplace. On one side would be the walled gardens, with their large volumes of verified first-party data – not to mention advanced tech stacks. On the other would be the entirety of the open web, which would require collaboration and a scalable identity solution to hold its own. 

Top priority in the publisher ad stack: making data work

In the latest installment of Lotame’s Beyond the Cookie report, our survey of publishers and marketers indicates that there really is a sense of urgency for open web media outlets to up their game. In the near future, 37% of marketers plan to increase spending in walled gardens, and 54% expect to reduce programmatic spend. Publishers know they need to onboard the right tools to compete – that is, to build audiences, and to analyze, enrich, and activate their data. 

Fortunately, publishers are taking action. While strategizing about how to invest in their tech stacks, tools for managing and processing data top the list of priorities. In the next six to 12 months, our research finds that 35% of publishers will be looking to adopt a data management platform (DMP), 35% will be considering a customer data platform (CDP), and 32% will be exploring identity resolution tools. Not only that, but publishers cite DMPs and CDPs as the tools they would be least likely to retire from their tech stacks.

In the drive to process first-party data from as many sources as possible, CDPs have progressed through their hype stage and have demonstrated real value. Today, 44% of publishers and marketers alike use a CDP, and similarly, 45% say that they plan to build or buy technology to perform CDP functions in the coming year. 

Don’t believe the hype. Believe the results

Unfortunately, the hype we heard around CDPs in 2022 admittedly created some confusion about their best use cases. A CDP shouldn’t necessarily be treated as a simple replacement for multiple other tools in the tech stack. For marketers, CDPs deliver value by helping improve customer experience. However, for publishers, it’s about experience and data consolidation. 

To maximize their investment, publishers need to put CDPs to use collecting data from all possible online and offline sources. (As opposed to relying too heavily on, for example, data from logged-in known users, at the exclusion of other sources such as unknown users that can provide scale.) These use cases explain why publishers are investing in both CDP and DMP technology. 

The rush to gain meaningful data insights that will attract advertiser spend has also driven a great amount of interest in clean rooms – despite reports that there’s still some lingering confusion about how they’re best implemented. At this point, 48% of publishers are using clean rooms. That means they’re more likely to use them than marketers (37% of whom are doing so). 

A focus on balancing privacy and identity

Publishers remain concerned about the level of privacy provided by clean rooms. They’re also concerned about the reliability or actionability of the data – which they fear may be compromised by outdated emails or limited scale of authenticated IDs. Publishers do need to keep in mind that clean rooms are helpful in gaining more value from their data, by allowing participants to compare their data sets. But they’re not intended to effectively replace third-party cookies. 

Publishers are also increasing their exploration of and investment in identity solutions. For a while, it may have seemed to some publishers that Google’s delays in deprecating third-party cookies put the task on a lower priority level. But interest in probabilistic solutions grew 50% YOY in 2022, while interest in contextual targeting and authenticated or email-based solutions both held steady over that same time period. 

In 2023, digital ad spend is projected to continue rising, though not as rapidly as in 2021, when consumers’ digital behavior was also changing rapidly. Publishers are compelled to make wise, well-considered investments, to keep up with the industry’s evolution while keeping the business’s bottom line strong. Those who have been lagging need to step on the gas. It’s time to start testing and implementing the tech that suits their goals and advertiser partners, empowering the open web and putting their data to work to compete with the walled gardens.

Innovation | Perspectives

How to transform content distribution with AI

Any publisher will tell you how costly it can be to create innovative, attention-grabbing content that resonates with audiences and moves them to engage. But the stakes are even higher when it comes to distributing this content: failing to deliver content effectively can mean depriving it of the attention it deserves, undermining the utility of your initial content investment.

Distributing content is a critical step for publishers and media organizations of all types in delivering quality news and entertainment to audiences and driving revenue through advertising or subscriptions. Yet the channels most often used are noisy environments where user attention is limited and competition is boundless. When not approached strategically, using data as a guide, content distribution can be a laborious, frustratingly inexact science with erratic results.

But publishers are increasingly adopting an effective solution: Artificial Intelligence (AI). Providing immense value in many operational aspects of the newsroom, AI is also transforming how publishers distribute content to maximize reach and performance. Below we’ll look at four key ways in which AI is driving this transformation.

1. Automate content delivery workflows to save time

Frequent and repetitive processes can often be broken down into discreet actions which can be automated to save time. 

Consider the example of social media publishing:

Despite the significant changes underway at social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter in recent times, social media is still one of the preeminent means for publishers to distribute content to audiences, offering an efficient way to reach billions of people of all ages across the globe. 

Publishing content to different social platforms is a manual, time-consuming process. It involves selecting the best content to share, creating posts, writing adapted share messages, selecting hashtags, choosing images, analyzing performance and extracting insights for your publication’s social media content strategy. And, of course, all this should be done with specific social platforms in mind (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and a growing list of newer platforms). By applying AI, publishers are able to automate this entire process, saving immense time while ensuring content is optimally delivered to audiences across social media platforms. 

Another increasingly common example is with email newsletters, a burgeoning area of investment for many publishers. Where applications of AI were previously restricted to send time recommendations, AI is now transforming the entire process of delivering content via email by fully automating the creation, sending and optimization of emails. Publishers are now employing AI to automatically curate, build, send, test and optimize their newsletters, all without requiring human input. The time gained from this level of automation is evident, and can be reinvested into the creation of new, engaging content.  

2. Optimize content performance with powerful machine learning

Determining which content will perform best at any given moment, in any given channel, is something that arguably exceeds human ability. But unprecedentedly powerful algorithms can now integrate audience data and real-time trends. This offers the ability to pinpoint which content will attract attention and engagement, and the best time to publish to capture this attention.

By applying AI in this way across key channels, publishers are maximizing their content’s performance: 

  • Machine learning algorithms deliver newsletters with personalized content, sent at optimal times determined by machine learning, to achieve higher open rates and click rates.
  • AI determines which content is most likely to go viral on social media, and determines the precise optimal post time to gain higher visibility and more user engagement.
  • Machine learning systems identify which creative elements are likely to generate the most advertising clicks, and tailor ads to viewers on the fly.
  • AI understands visitor behaviors and personalizes website content for a tailored user experience. 

There are many other examples of how AI is transforming the content distribution strategies of publishers and media groups, with exciting new applications of AI surfacing every day.

3. Automatically maximize your content’s lifetime value

A key aspect of any content distribution strategy is knowing when, on which channels, and how often to redistribute existing content. In addition to planning and managing the distribution of new pieces, publishers must also constantly think about opportunities to recycle and redeploy content from their archives, whether these are evergreen pieces or seasonal features that can be reused each year. Republishing content in this way is an effective strategy for maximizing the value it can drive across its lifetime. 

Publishers can use AI to fully automate this republishing process and ensure that relevant content is reused at the opportune time. One example is the automated resharing of content on social media: AI algorithms monitor current social audience data and trends on each platform, then check a publisher’s content archives to determine which existing pieces should be republished, and the precise moment to generate a new wave of traffic and engagement. Leveraging AI to effectively and automatically manage content redistribution can help publishers squeeze the most return from content over its entire lifespan.

4. Test and learn with AI-driven insights  

Running tests is a critical practice to optimize performance over time. But planning and executing tests, collecting and cleaning data, and analyzing results, then transforming them into action has traditionally been laborious. Publishers are now using AI to gain efficiencies with the testing process on various content distribution channels. 

Email newsletters are a prime example, given that they have multiple elements available to test such as layout, font, colors, image size, content order, subject line and more. Implementing tests on each email blast, then collating data and identifying trends and larger patterns can be expertly handled by a machine. And in most use cases, AI can be employed to not only collect and analyze test data, but also to automatically iterate and implement improvements based on test results, ensuring content achieves continuous increases in performance.

Unlock content’s full potential with AI-powered delivery

Distribution is a decisive stage of the content life cycle, with the potential to make or break the performance of a piece of journalism. Getting distribution right – and across an increasing number of channels – is time-consuming and requires data and strategy to execute properly. 

Fortunately, with AI technology, publishers and media organizations can bypass much of the cumbersome, manual work involved in delivering content at scale. Adopting AI for content distribution can mean more accuracy and consistency than a human can provide, and this enhanced intelligence can have a significant impact on your  publication’s bottom line.

About the author

Ashley Kibler is the Marketing Director at Echobox, the leading solution for publishing automation used by 1,500 publishers and media groups worldwide to automate and optimize content curation and distribution.

Perspectives | Supporter Spotlight

How America’s top publishers are approaching 2023

It might be a cliche, but this year really is looking like a pivotal moment for the media industry. As we enter 2023, America’s top publishers face a rapidly changing landscape. To survive and thrive through increasingly uncertain times, many publishers are working hard to upskill their talent, reorganize their priorities and teams, and implement new campaign management technologies. In this article we will take a closer look at these strategies, exploring how leading publishers are adapting to the most pressing challenges and opportunities of our time – and whether they will be enough.

Upskilling employees and poaching tech talent

It’s an undeniable reality that media jobs are evolving so that they increasingly resemble tech jobs. The digitalization of publishing has made it increasingly difficult for individuals to succeed without a base level of tech competence—from search engine optimization to content management systems, and analytics to automation.

Publishers can no longer afford to be slow to learn or implement new technology. Market-leading publishers have two options: either upskill their existing workforce or seek out new talent with strong technical credentials.

In our circle of clients and partners, we’ve seen both. And, when it comes to finding new talent, there is a growing trend for traditional publishers to poach from the tech industry. The benefit is that not only do they bring the competences desired, but also a fundamentally different, digital-first mindset that many publishers recognize will be invaluable this year. E-commerce, for instance, is increasingly of interest to publishers who are embracing self-serve ad sales. Understanding the basic mechanics of cart abandonment, checkout optimization, and prospect nurturing are great ways to make ad sales more profitable and reduce manual workload.

Reorganizing priorities and teams

The second strategy we are seeing implemented across leading publisher brands is reorientation across multiple levels of the organization. For a long time, the business model of publishers has supported extensive, high-cost sales teams. With increased competition from everything from new social platforms to streaming television—and an uncertain economy—sales will never be the same. The traditional seller of print ads is quickly becoming a thing of the past. Many digital-first publishers are skipping sales teams altogether, where others are upskilling and redirecting focus to self-serve processes.

We’re already seeing major layoffs from the likes of CNN, NBC, the BBC, Vox Media, and more. But at the same time, publishers cannot afford to sacrifice growth. So, they are looking for new and more efficient ways to bring in revenue, and to design teams and projects that prioritize profitability. Buzzfeed for example, who laid off 12% of their workforce in December, saw their stock rocket upwards by 150% when they announced that they would be integrating AI into their core business, using generative text models to create new content.

New technology and automation

As ad sales teams come under increasing pressure and reduced headcount, publishers are looking for new, more cost-efficient ways to capture ad revenue and streamline their ad operations. At the same time, hyper-localization, made possible by new technologies, is pushing publishers to reconsider how they interact with audiences, and what targeting options to offer to advertisers. One growing area of interest is self-serve campaign platforms. Designed to allow publishers to sell ad inventory directly to advertisers (as opposed to the opaque supply chains of programmatic, and the labor-intensive processes of direct sales), self-serve platforms are on the rise.

Leading publishers that have launched new advertising projects recently include The Wall Street Journal, McClatchy, and Rogers Sports & Media. All of these publishers, regardless of their specific audiences or heritage, share one pressing concern: to re-establish quality publishing as an alternative to Big Tech’s advertising dominance of the past decade.

At the same time, brands like Disney have led the way in developing proprietary ad technology, giving themselves greater flexibility and control over their ads business. Disney’s Audience Graph for example, based on first-party data, offers advertisers access to over 1,800 segments with visibility into 100,000 audience attributes. Having control over that aspect of the process allows the company to have more freedom and command, which enables them to focus on fulfilling the advertising needs of their clients and their own business objectives.

Where do we go from here?

All of this to say that publishers are looking ahead at a year full of uncertainty, rapidly evolving technology, and a shifting landscape that will see many tried and tested revenue models becoming outdated. From our experience with clients and partners, we can only offer this advice: be bold, but not reckless. Experiment, but be cautious not to get swept up in new trends without due diligence. And above all, keep your eyes and ears open – too many publishers are focused on their own internal struggles rather than framing them within the industry at large.

Innovation | Marketing | Perspectives

Brand content will explode with AI. Are publishers ready to capitalize?

As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to evolve, we see more and more examples of AI-generated content in our daily lives. It is only a matter of time before brands start to adopt these tools to scale their content creation and power their content marketing strategies. This trend will continue to accelerate as AI gets better at producing quality content.

For publishers, this presents a huge opportunity. Brands will need help distributing the influx of new content, and publishers are in a prime position to provide that assistance. But are we ready? Do we have the infrastructure in place to handle the increased demand?

Only time will tell. But one thing is for sure: the world of brand content is about to get a whole lot bigger, and publishers need to prepare by focusing on strategies to scale their sponsored content programs.

Content is about to get a whole lot bigger, thanks to AI creation

Companies will no longer be limited to having just a few people write their content. Instead, with automated content creation, brands can scale their content quickly and easily – and leverage their content resources to refine the messaging. This means less time spent creating individual pieces of quality content, allowing for more ideas and creativity to be explored on a grander scale. Companies may find themselves communicating with consumers in ways they never thought possible before.

This dynamic change in how brands approach content creation will undoubtedly open up new opportunities and heighten engagement between brands and customers. The content marketing problem will shift focus from resources required to generate impactful content to finding distribution partners that can prove a shift in brand consideration. We expect big changes on the horizon as AI-written content takes on an increasing presence in the market.

Brands will need help distributing all this new content to drive consumer consideration

With the ever-increasing influx of content, brands are truly facing a looming challenge. How can they keep up with the speed and quantity of new content while making sure it has an impact and drives consumer consideration? How will they know which content connects most with consumers?

The answer lies in strategic partnerships with publishers. For brands to be successful, they must find reliable partnerships that allow them to reach their target audiences quickly and efficiently.  Brands need experts and strategists who understand how to reach their customers and how to leverage optimization technologies to ensure the right brand content is served to ensure that readers are guided through the buyer’s journey. Reporting will shift from traditional advertising and attribution metrics to content and consideration insights such as lift studies, engagement, and audience insights.

Publishers are uniquely positioned to capitalize on this trend as they have a captive audience

This shift to AI-written content presents an opportunity for publishers to act as mediators between the content and its audience. Publishers have a captive audience and the expertise and experience necessary to ensure that all content reaches the right people in the most efficient manner possible. They can help brands successfully scale their content distribution quickly, efficiently, and accurately so that their message gets out loud and clear. Moreover, leveraging first-party data about their audience enables publishers to provide critical insights into how content is being consumed, as well as its impact on moving readers through their buyers’ journey.

But they’ll need to find innovative ways to scale their operations

We can expect content to explode around us, and for publishers to capitalize on this trend, they need to find effective ways to run their ad operations and make their sponsored content programs scaleable. That means if a publisher relies on manual processes, custom codes, and complex CMSes to run these premium programs they won’t be able to keep up with the sheer volume of sponsored content campaigns thrown at them. To meet the demands of our new digital landscape, organizations must figure out how best to automate their processes to scale sponsored content for brands.

How can publishers prepare for this explosion of content?

To meet the needs of brands adopting AI technology to scale the production of their content, publishers should focus on streamlining in a few key areas:

Campaign setup

Implement their own AI Content tools to suggest variations on existing content that can continually feed into optimization and reporting providing invaluable insight into content performance.

Also, with many publishers running sponsored content through their website CMS, we have found that programs run in this manner cannot meet high demands when sponsored content is sold at scale.

Campaign optimization

Machine learning optimization technology: AI will help draft the content, and publishers can provide content variation recommendations. When you feed this data into an optimization engine, campaign performance will inevitably see a lift and deliver valuable metrics into the type of content that resonates with a brand’s audience.

Opportunity awaits

Taking these steps now can give publishers a major edge in the rapidly changing landscape of brand content distribution. As AI-generated content becomes more prevalent, publishers can capitalize on this trend by finding innovative ways to scale their operations and become strategic mediators between brands and audiences.

Disclaimer: This article was written in part by AI.
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