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Featured Post | Innovation

The scoop on why The Washington Post is way into TikTok

Whether it’s hurtling singles to record breaking runs on the charts, or reminding you about your own mortality, music video mashup and sharing app TikTok is now an ingrained part of the zeitgeist. 

Beyond the latest remix of Lil Nas X’s Old Town Road, the app has piqued the interest of social media managers at news publishers. Launched by Chinese tech company ByteDance in 2017, the service merged with Shanghai-based lip-syncing app Musica.ly before its popularity really took off in 2018. It became the most downloaded app in Apple’s App Store and hit one billion downloads on all mobile platforms in early 2019. 

To catch everyone up: TikTok allows users to record 15- to 60-second looping vertical video. It has a built in editor to add background audio tracks and augmented reality-inspired overlay graphics. It’s huge adoption has been buoyed by using samples of pop music as background tracks. TikTok has partnered with music studios to navigate the tricky copyright status of those tracks and music stars have used the platform to leverage viral memes to spread awareness.

Why is this news?

Why should news managers care though? “To me, the why is obvious. It’s a whole new generation. [TikTok is] basically Gen Z’s biggest platform. Not all Gen Z likes TikTok, but a lot of them love it passionately,” says Washington Post video editor Dave Jorgenson. 

Jorgenson has been behind The Washington Post’s push into the format. “There’s not a lot of news on TikTok. And, for someone who works for a newspaper or a broadcast network, that might seem kind of scary. But for me, I was like, ‘Oh, that’s amazing,’” he says. “I mean, why wouldn’t we use this app that — I think as of Friday — was number one in the entertainment section of iTunes.”

Other brands on the app include NBCNews, E! News, and The Dallas Morning News. Though Jorgenson seems to have truly tapped into the TikTok format, attracting a devoted audience to the Washington Post’s TikToks. 

A culture of its own

Users spend an average of 52 minutes a day on the app. And, for Jorgenson, it’s been a way to introduce a newer generation to the venerable newspaper brand. But that’s taken a fairly specific strategy. “I’ve been very heavy handed, you’ll notice a Washington Post literal, physical newspaper cameo and we really want that to stick in there. It is funny how many people think that my name is Washington or something,” said Jorgenson. 

The other main benefit Jorgenson sees is a pretty wide open space in the app for breaking news. There just aren’t many competitors. But he adds that anyone interested in using the platform should take some time to familairize themselves with the culture. 

“Embracing the culture is really important,” he says. Sure, a brand or newspaper can try and jump to profit off the growing platform without figuring out what that culture is. However, audiences “know when they don’t understand the app, and they don’t know what’s going on.”

The scoop on TikTok

But if a brand is considering the space, there are a couple things to understand about going viral on the platform. Similar to Instagram, there’s an algorithmically organized “For You” section where the app surface relevant content for the user. Videos appear based on the Likes given by the user’s social circle.

There’s another unique way that TikTok puts its own spin on sharing called a “duet.” Users of the platform can record their reactions to be played concurrently beside the original video. And, if an account large enough does that, it ends up being a huge boost to viewing numbers. 

“Another tip for a newsroom would be to use popular songs that everyone is using,” said Jorgenson. In fact, TikTok displays videos using the same songs together allowing discovery of content along similar themes. 

At the end of the day, Jorgenson sees others in the news space following the Post’s lead. “I’ve started to be pretty open about how I do it because I think competition is good,” he says.

“A friendly rivalry is a good thing on any social app.” 

Perspectives

DCN’s must reads: week of August 8, 2019

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

Advertising | Industry-Research

What Pew’s latest industry stats say about the media marketplace

Pew Research Center has just released its latest State of the News Media report, which provides an annual briefing of the news media marketplace. Pew aggregates data from reputable experts to produce a concise industry profile. It offers a succinct yet comprehensive analysis of the media industry.

This year’s highlights include:

  • Newspaper circulation decline. News outlets today offer several digital options to reach consumers, including apps, newsletters, podcasts, and aggregation platforms like Apple News. Unsurprisingly, the majority of U.S. adults now get at least some of their news online. As a result, compared to 2017, total daily newspaper circulation declined, revenue from print circulation was flat and ad revenue from print declined 13%.
  • Digital revenue growth. Overall, digital advertising registered strong revenue growth year-over-year. Reflecting on the total digital ad market, revenue grew 23% from $88 billion in 2017 to $109 billion in 2018. Driving this revenue growth was mobile advertising revenue’s increase from $57 billion in 2017 to $71 billion in 2018, comprising almost two-thirds (65%) of all digital advertising revenue. Digital ad revenue for news publishers also grew and closely resembled the total digital ad market.
  • Cable news revenue growth. Cable news (Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC combined) continued to experience revenue growth this year. It’s one of the only sectors, outside of Local TV, to register a revenue increase (4%) in 2018. Further, since 2015, cable news revenue grew 36% and ad revenue grew 58%.
  • Usage flat for news sites. For the second year, both newspaper sites and native news sites usage remained flat (4Q 2016, 4Q 2017 and 4Q 2018). Time spent also declined on news sites (newspaper and native). It appears consumers now engage with news brands offsite using apps, newsletters, podcasts and aggregation platforms like Apple News or Flipboard and other platforms.
  • Local news viewership decline. Local news audiences are on a decline across multiple dayparts. According to Comscore StationView Essentials data, the average audience for local news declined 10% for morning news and 14% for late night and evening news. However, over-the-air ad revenue for local TV rose 12% to $19.3 billion in 2018, on par with a midterm election year.
  • Digital native employee growth slowing down. In 2018, reporters, editors, photographers or videographers in the newsrooms of digital-native now equal 13,500 employees  with a median annual salary of $62,000 according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Employment Statistics (OES).  

The key data points included in Pew’s State of News Media point to the continued shift in audience consumption of digital news and information and the challenges of monetization. With mobile now the access point for 24-hour news coverage, it’s no wonder that print and local news usage declined. Further, digital is no longer limited to onsite consumption, which creates new opportunities and challenges. News publishers have several touchpoints – including newsletters, podcasts and their content on aggregation platforms to – reach and engage consumers.

Perspectives

Tear down the funnel and build a pyramid: The shift from purchase funnels to mobile customer journeys

In a market where the cost to acquire an app user is rising through the roof, and the increase in app abandonment (the number of users who quit an app after one use) is alarming, it’s clear that the traditional focus on top-funnel metrics is fatally flawed. Our focus on a linear journey is completely out of line with user lifecycles. Mobile had forever altered the consumer path to purchase and funnel models no longer fit.

Architecting campaigns and strategies that prize acquisition over retention doesn’t just force marketers to burn considerable cash. It blinds them to the key engagement activities and metrics that are the sure-fire indicators of highly valuable and deeply loyal consumers who are primed to engage with content—and more.

It doesn’t matter whether the goal is to drive registrations, encourage consumers to volunteer information such as personal preferences that will allow you to deepen the customer relationship, or sell subscriptions: Ensuring a predictable and sustainable cash flow quality trumps quantity every time. In the App Economy, success isn’t a numbers game. It requires strategies that get the right users into your app—and keep them coming back.

A strategy that harnesses AI and machine learning to connect with customers in a relevant way based on an analysis of the millions of data points and signals that communicate their context via mobile and in-app can be a bonus. But even the best mix of analytics and analysis will miss the mark if marketers segment their audience by static demographics, not dynamic actions.

Embracing the engagement pyramid

First and foremost, marketers need a firm grasp of the hard data around the “who” of their customer base. However, they must also command the soft skills around the “why.” They need to understand what motivates their audience to take action in the first place. Effective app marketing engages with users throughout the lifecycle based on these two inputs.

But an ongoing data investigation by Phiture, a leading mobile growth consultancy based in Berlin, and CleverTap, a full-stack customer retention platform, ads a third dimension. They’ve built a framework to measure and analyze the user engagement we observe.

Published for the first time last month, Phiture’s framework offers marketers a more nuanced view of user engagement and a roadmap to increase retention. The authors of this must-read resource (Andy Carvell, Kevin Bravo ,and Tessa Miskell) present the Engagement Pyramid, a model that breaks engagement down into three layers:

  • Acknowledgment, where users show an appreciation for the app, but not high intent. (For example, opening the app or reading a push notification.)
  • Interest, where users deliberately interact with the app and demonstrate a willingness to do more. (For example, tapping on items in a feed, consuming content and initiating search queries.)
  • Conversion, where users follow through and complete a core action that is aligned with the purpose and value proposition offered by the app. (For example, booking a trip with a travel app or managing money with a finance app.)

Maslow and measurement

The framework gets high marks on several counts. It bravely questions the practice of monitoring DAU (Daily Active Users) or MAU (Monthly Active Users), or employing performance metrics that simplify engagement into binary terms (counting users as engaged or not). It also gives the concept of a purchase funnel a rehaul, literally turning it on its head in a hat tip to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

Maslow’s theory in psychology divides our human needs into five levels, placing the most basic needs at the bottom of the pyramid and elevating our most complex needs to the top of the pyramid, the Engagement Pyramid inspires marketers to aim high—and be highly focused on outcomes.

Above all, the authors open our eyes to the model and the mindset marketers must embrace to increase meaningful engagement and stop churn before it starts. “It’s important to understand that engagement is a continuum, ranging from low-value to high-value actions,” they write on their latest blog. “A user may traverse this spectrum rapidly within the space of a few sessions, or remain stubbornly stuck in a low-engaged state for days, months, or years, without necessarily abandoning the app.”

Tracking events and asking questions

Applying the framework doesn’t just equip marketers to analyze key user actions and assign them to the proper layer in the Engagement Pyramid. It enables marketers to assess the value of user engagement and the potential impact on the business. “Observing how layers grow or shrink over time gives an indication of how well the app is performing,” the authors write.

Are more users performing actions that demonstrate Acknowledgement at the bottom of the pyramid than are striving to complete events associated with Conversion at the top? Review your app onboarding strategy and double-check that your user acquisition campaigns are designed to attract the right users from the get-go.

Is there a high correlation between the number of users who belong to the Acknowledgement layer and the number of users who progress to Conversion? Read that as a signal that you can scale campaigns, increase spend and aim high—because you can.

Courtesy of Phiture

Piecing together the retention puzzle

While the authors don’t specifically address it in their framework, insights into how users engage and how much it’s worth also empower marketers to enhance the user experience and—ultimately—increase customer lifetime value.

This was the focus during Cutting-Edge Retention Strategies, a recent webinar and fireside chat where I was a guest along with Jessica Osorio, Lead, Mobile Growth at Mozilla. While she doesn’t formally apply the AIC framework (our discussion preceded its release by roughly two months), her analysis of engagement metrics and their impact is just as rigorous.

“All apps face a really steep drop in retention on Day 1, just 24 hours after the app install,” she told me. To plug this “leaky bucket” and deepen user engagement with the app, Mozilla has improved the onboarding experience, adding what it calls the “welcome journey.” It’s during this stage that Mozilla delivers a series of automated push notifications and in-app messages to “walk users through all the things to do with the app that we know will drive the most value for them.”

Osorio is also realistic about the “natural usage frequency” and the importance of setting reachable targets for how (and how far) her company can drive app engagement. “We want users to come back and enjoy the app, but it’s not a target we miss if the users don’t come back on a daily basis,” she said. “For us, it’s not DAU or WAU. It’s about building products that meet users’ needs and journeys that surface that value from the start.”

Audiences evolve, and marketers must keep the pace with app messaging, ad creative and the value proposition tailored to match with the needs of users as they move through the app journey. Whether companies embrace new frameworks to assess engagement or architect customer journeys to boost loyalty, the increased interest in retention marketing has profound implications. It also demands marketers master the capabilities to reach and segment users based on what users do (and don’t do) in-app with messaging that motivates them throughout the customer lifecycle and the life span of the app.

Perspectives

Trust in Facebook is at an all-time low: Here’s how media companies can use that to their advantage

Facebook is addictive — for both consumers and advertisers. With over 1.5 billion users accessing Facebook on a daily basis, the social media giant has become a major source of advertising for brands worldwide. However, little by little, the community standards of Facebook have been dropping — and people are noticing. 

The Cambridge Analytica scandal, where Facebook leaked data from millions of people to a company that used it to promote political ads, was only the beginning of the platform’s trust fall. Netflix’s documentary, The Great Hack, offers an in-depth view into the scandal.

The social media giant’s sudden and strict algorithm changes have also affected businesses in a negative way. These changes drastically reduced the reach of Facebook posts from publishers, which dropped to as little as two percent of followers.

Even as Facebook races to protect its users, their moderation solution still leaves a lot to be desired. And let’s not forget that one of Facebook’s co-founders penned an article about everything wrong with the company

Tips to capitalize on Facebook’s trust deficit

To help your brand use this mistrust between Facebook and its users as an opportunity to gain loyal community members, we put together a few of our top tips.

Invest in your own platform

With trust in Facebook at such a marked low, there’s never been a better time to start building your brand’s reputation as a trusted media source… on your own domains.

Sure, Facebook can be used to promote content and events —  but only to an extent. You don’t want to be stuck relying entirely on a platform that decides how to promote your content without your input. Thankfully, you have other options. Better options.

Instead of struggling to build your brand on Facebook, invest in tools and strategies that bring engagement back to your domains. You don’t need to stop using Facebook completely. But you also don’t need to give a portion of your revenue away to a platform that doesn’t give you enough exposure for your content. After all, Facebook prioritizes posts from family and friends over posts from advertisers.

If you can invest in building a safe and engaging environment on your own domains, individuals will no longer associate your content or brand with the abundance of misinformation on Facebook.

Infographic: Americans Do Not Trust Facebook with Personal Info | Statista You will find more infographics at Statista
Give the people what they want

Have you ever wondered what it is about Facebook that seems so attractive to users? 

People are social creatures. Consumers continue to use Facebook despite our trust issues with the platform simply because we crave socialization and engagement. In fact, an analysis of the media industry shows that engagement is key to building loyal brand followers. 

A Salesforce report also found that “84% of customers say the experience a company provides is as important as its products and services.”

Facebook, along with other social media platforms, offers many opportunities for users to engage with one another as well as with publishers and their content. However, attaching this immersive social experience to a brand is no longer exclusive to social media platforms. 

Consider integrating tools directly on your platform that allow your users to discuss your content, chat with one another, follow their favorite authors and receive content-related notifications based on their preferences. 

By generating engagement on your domains, your visitors will want to stick around and subscribe. 

Nurture safe conversations, not toxic comments

Many media professionals find commenting counterproductive to a brand’s development — especially with the rise of trolls, harassment, bullying, misinformation and spam in the digital world. At the end of the day, it’s probably more effective to avoid commenting altogether, right? 

Wrong. 

To foster a good relationship with your digital community away from social media, you need to craft a solid set of community guidelines and enforce them. According to a new study by the Center for Media Engagement, individuals are more likely to have a negative impression of a domain when 75% of its comments are uncivil.

While it is important to engage your visitors in a social experience, they will only enjoy the experience in a non-toxic environment. This means that on top of providing a social layer for your community, it is essential to thoroughly moderate comments and keep user data secure. 

Enforcing a safe environment will help your community members feel comfortable engaging in, and returning to, your domains. 

Produce targeted, reliable content

In the digital age, knowledge is always power. Capturing data on your own domain is, therefore, crucial to your success. More specifically, you can leverage data insights from your community to inform your content strategy. By understanding your community members’ interests as you learn about and track their behavior, you can predict what types of content will perform best.

If you create valuable content that maintains a consistent tone and is highly relevant to your readers, they will view your brand as a reputable source for trusted media. 

While Facebook can target content based on people’s interests on its platform, your posts are hidden behind the noise of fake news and algorithms in a potentially unpleasant environment. 

Publishers are also beginning to realize that success in the media is no longer just about directing visitors to your domains — it’s also about keeping them. For too long, publishers and consumers have flocked to Facebook in search of content and community. Unfortunately, both have become problematic on the platform. So, the time is right to create a protected social space around quality content and reclaim your community.

Advertising | Featured Post | Industry-Research | Perspectives

The halo effect is real: New research confirms that ads perform better in quality contexts

Media companies have long declared that it matters where advertising campaigns run. Unfortunately, when the ability to micro-target users at scale became available, particularly on massive social media platforms, it was simply too attractive for advertisers to ignore.

Despite countless media reports on the risk for brands running alongside toxic, user-generated content on YouTube or Facebook, behavior has never changed for the long-term. Instead, many advertisers used unsophisticated keyword blocking strategies or stopped advertising in the news category and considered themselves “safe.” Regrettably, that something amounted to little more than throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Last week, however, two new research studies released last week clearly demonstrate why this short-sighted strategy needs a serious rethink.

Reports from World Media Group (WMG) and Integral Ad Science (IAS) found that digital ads viewed on trusted editorial sites generate a more engaged audience for advertisers. These reports confirm comScore’s 2016 research that showed ads viewed within a premium publisher environment drive significantly better advertising effectiveness, particularly for mid-funnel consideration.

comScore’s independent research came at a time when the industry was in the midst of proving the basics to the market: that ads were being delivered to real computer screens and being seen by humans, not bots. comScore’s empirical research showed that running ads on “premium” publisher sites had significant impact on brand effectiveness and the lift to advertiser brands was attributed to the “halo effect” from the premium environments.

Quality context delivers real results

Fast forward to 2019 and WMG, a global alliance of a dozen leading news and media companies (e.g. The Atlantic, Bloomberg Media Group, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post) commissioned Moat, a digital marketing measurement service, to conduct research on the quality and engagement towards premium inventory across desktop display, mobile display and desktop video.

The findings showed that premium digital inventory running across quality content brands in Q3 2018 outperformed Moat’s benchmarks by between 13% and 144%. WMG’s research also concludes that the primary driver of increased engagement is the “halo effect” that comes from the value of the contextual environment in which the ads are seen.

Key performance metrics

  • Desktop display ads viewed achieved an active page dwell time of 66 seconds, 39% higher than the industry average. The in-view rate (where 50% of the ad is viewable for 1 second) and in-view time both exceeded Moat’s benchmarks by 27% and 25% respectively.
  • Mobile display performed 35% more interactions than average. Viewability rates were 32% higher than the benchmark and engaged consumers for 13% longer.
  • Desktop videos viewed achieved 22% higher-than-average rates for viewability. Consumer attention to videos was also high, with audible and visible completion rates at 144% higher than the Moat Q3 2108 benchmarks.

People react to context

Additional biometric research by IAS, a technology company that analyzes digital advertising placements, identified the impact of high quality and low quality mobile environments on people’s reactions to digital ads. This neurological research – looking at the brain centers responsible for positive and negative affinity – further substantiates that the environment in which an ad appears has significant impact on consumers’ reactions to that ad.

IAS’ research found that ads viewed in high-quality mobile web environments are perceived 74% more favorably than the same advertisements seen in low-quality environments. Advertising in high quality content environments resulted in 4% greater favorability, 20% greater engagement, 7% greater emotional intensity, 29% memory encoding detail, and 30% memory encoding global.

For several years now, advertisers have struggled to use digital advertising to grow demand and desire for their products, particularly as direct-to-consumer brands and other low-cost, “brandless” options (see Amazon Basics) are starting to flourish. Like the earlier comScore Halo Effect research, these new studies prove that advertising on high quality content sites drives higher brand attention and engagement for both display and video advertising. Context matters and research continues to prove this: Ad performance is better in a premium content environment.

The only question is when brands will act.

Perspectives

DCN’s must reads: week of August 1, 2019

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

Industry-Research | Perspectives

Marketers seek brand safety and awareness, but focus spending on search and social

With Facebook, YouTube, mobile, and OTT prevailing in the expanding video space—and people spending more and more time in front of small screens—advertisers are increasingly prioritizing video.  In fact, they rank it among their most effective advertising channels.

However, they continue to spend the bulk of their budgets on paid search, with paid social taking the next biggest chunk according to the 2019 “State of Digital Advertising” released by Marin Software. Based on a survey 460 digital marketers, the report details the main priorities digital advertisers are focusing on this year, as well as the biggest challenges and trends.

Marketers cited increasing brand awareness as their top priority (25%). Other priorities include:

  • Enhancing the customer experience – 22%
  • Embracing omnichannels – 20%
  • Delivering personalization – 20%
  • Campaign management – 19%

Advertising trends

Data privacy, video advertising, and visual search were the three largest trends advertisers believe to be impacting their business in 2019. A total of 22% of digital advertisers indicated that both video advertising and information security in the form of data privacy, tracking restrictions, brand safety, and ad blocking will have the largest impact on their businesses this year.  Within social specifically, marketers surveyed cited attribution/cross-device measurement (28%), generating quality creative (26%) and brand safety (26%) as their top concerns.

“Advertisers are very sensitive to these privacy and tracking issues and need to strike a balance between brand safety/sound privacy policies and ad performance tied to audience targeting,” according to Wes MacLaggan, senior vice president of marketing at Marin Software. So, while marketers continue to prioritize search and social channels for digital advertising, their priorities and concerns provide and opportunity for other marketing channels to address these issues and help them reach their objectives.  

Innovation

Own your code and its impact on user experience

It’s hard to remember a time before the Internet. But many would still be surprised to learn that the first online news publication was launched in 1979, on CompuServe’s dial-up service. This September, it will turn 40, and its memory is kept alive by news organizations that took part in CompuServe’s historical experiment on the potential of online papers: The New York Times, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicler, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Virginian Pilot, and many others.

All of them are still online, proving that the spirit of innovation—and braving what was then a largely unknown new world—they all shared may be key to their longevity. However, times have changed. At the dawn of digitalization, publishers still owned the code that ran their online platforms. Decades later, a shift to third-party assets has changed the balance of power and introduced risks that the media is still struggling to control.

First in digital, last in security

Thanks to digitalization, publishers now have access to a global audience. Not only is it possible to communicate with readers in real-time, but new revenue models fundamentally change the way that they pay for it. From ad-supported content to metered paywalls, the digital ecosystem boosts a publisher’s reach while offering long-term profitability.

At times, however, the race for revenue and new markets has turned hectic. Bells and whistles like programmatically targeted ads, content recommendation, online chat, and video offer a competitive advantage. They can improve user experience, extend the possibility of content generation and raise profits. But to keep the show going, publishers need code. And today, most of that code comes from third parties.

Unfortunately, third-parties reduce the amount of direct control that media can exercise over its properties. Left unmonitored, they can lead to latency, data breaches, and fake news—all of which can threaten revenue streams. Add to the mix new regulations being introduced across the country, the pressure on publishers to regain control of their digital ecosystem and pressure continues to mount. Now, the industry that pioneered digitalization must also embrace programmatic monitoring, and that begins by understanding where many of these problems come from.

The risks of third-party code

Today, 60-95% of the code across digital platforms is owned and operated by third-party vendors, with online media averaging 90-95%. Given that there are over 7,000 digital vendors to choose from, publishers can make some bad partnership choices—ranging from one with poor controls that open it to compromise to one with explicit nefarious intent. Whatever the case, AdTech is abused to steal or resell user data, spread malware, and redirect users to malicious domains.

The methods used by attackers have also increased in complexity, easily bypassing traditional security measures used by Ad Ops to block them. In recent history, we have witnessed:

  • ICEPick-3PC – injected code into Javascript libraries used across thousands of websites
  • PayLeak-3PC – infected seemingly secure iOS devices by disguising itself as an update
  • JuiceChecker-3PC – evaded detection by conducting checks on user motion, battery level, user agent, and screen size
  • CartThief-3PC – injected formjacking scripts to steal payment card details from e-commerce sites
  • Stegoware-3PC – hid in seemingly innocuous PNG files and conducted various checks to ID and infect iOS devices

These are not isolated incidents. Over the past three years, the number of malvertising attacks has steadily risen, with major consequences for online publishers. In a span of 24 hours, The Media Trust manages an average of 1,500 active malware incidents. Each month, we detect more than over 6,000 new malicious domains responsible for malvertising and redirect attacks.

Self-regulation threatened

In 2018, billions of consumers around the world were impacted by data scandals. The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has placed extensive restrictions on how publishers may legally use consumer data, resulting – already – in record penalties and active investigations.

In the United States, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) threatens to follow in GDPR’s footsteps. Meanwhile, U.S agencies including the FTC and DOJ have begun to levy unprecedented penalties on digital brands accused of data mishandling.

Where governments aren’t trying to contain cybercrime and privacy violations, browsers and hardware manufacturers are filling the gap.

Cookieless world emerging

In an attempt to curb data leakage and malware spread, periodic cookie audits are mandated by the GDPR in Europe and by the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations in the United States. But as third-party cookies are projected to become less important to the digital ecosystem, this effort becomes increasingly fruitless.

Attackers now have multiple routes for tracking users from fingerprinting to device IDs and limited browser tracking functions. As time goes by, yesterday’s malware vectors disappear, leaving behind only one common denominator: the attackers themselves. Producing a safer digital ecosystem begins by eliminating them.

Steps to reclaim user experience

After Cambridge Analytica, a global userbasecares what happens to their data, and – whether through regulations or ad blockers – they are holding publishers accountable.

The best way for publishers to respond is by retaking control of the code that operates outside their jurisdiction, and they can do it in five steps:

  1. Decide the rules. Publishers must know who they want to work with before they enter into any agreements. They must also know what counts as “unacceptable” behavior across their digital properties. These policies should be decided in tandem with all relevant parties, including IT, marketing, and privacy executives.
  2. Know who is running code on your site. Before allowing digital code and assets onto their domains, publishers must identify and vet the creators. Doing otherwise is sacrificing a basic level of control that accumulates with time.
  3. Communicate policies. Not all data breaches happen because of malicious third parties. Some vendors are just careless or forgetful. To avoid preventable violations, publishers must clearly and specifically communicate their security rules to their partners.
  4. Monitor compliance. Aside from communicating the rules, publishers must also enforce them. And to enforce them, they must continually monitor their partners by scanning their domains, so they will be aware when violations occur.
  5. Terminate and report bad partners. Publishers must take action against the partners who violate their rules and communicate these violations to upstream partners, helping to permanently remove repeat offenders from the digital ecosystem.

By following these rules, online media would experience an immediate, noticeable improvement in ad quality and UX. As data breaches decreased, AdTech Tax and other penalties would become a dwindling threat to revenue, leaving publishers exactly where they belong: as leaders of digital commerce and security.

Industry-Research | Perspectives

Native advertising had a great 2018 and it shows no signs of slowing

Native advertising has quickly become one of the most popular and effective forms of advertising, particularly for B2B brands. 

According to a Sharethrough and IPG Media Lab study, which surveyed 4,770 consumers on their responses to native ad formats (with some of the participants agreeing to have their eye movements tracked as they looked at different arrangements of ads and content) consumers are 25% more likely to look at a native ad than they are a banner ad. In fact, they look at them 53% more frequently and check them out 4.1 times per session on average, versus 2.7% for standard banners.

With numbers like that, it’s no surprise that native advertising is considered one of the top ad formats by most companies. In fact, eMarketer recently estimated that U.S. advertisers will boost spending on native ads by 25% this year, reaching $43.9 billion. 

My company, advertising intelligence and sales enablement platform MediaRadar, took a close look at B2B brands advertising online with native content. For the study, we analyzed our own data and spoke with our B2B clients for unique insights. 

Here’s what we found. 

More B2B brands advertised with native content in 2018

As we analyzed B2B brands advertising with native content in 2018, our deep dive revealed that native content was a high-growth area for the B2B space. In fact, we found that the number of advertisers buying native ads on B2B platforms increased quarter-over-quarter, every quarter throughout the year.

Comparing native, mobile, video and display ads 

When compared to mobile, video and display advertising, we saw that native experienced the highest rate of increase, with a growth rate of more than 50% year-over-year. In contrast, mobile only saw a 20% increase year-over-year. That was followed by video with a jump of 13% and display with just an 11% bump. 

However, even though display ads saw the lowest year-over-year rise in the number of advertisers, it remains the most common ad format used by B2B. More than 95% of brands advertising in B2B media were buying display ads in both 2017 and 2018, according to our findings.

Even with the high growth rate, native ad buying remains a rare behavior for the B2B advertiser, with only 7% of companies buying the format in 2018, leaving plenty of room for growth.

Who’s buying native advertising?

The analysis also identified the industries which bought the most native placements in 2018. According to our data, media, finance, and technology companies bought the most. And the B2B space saw the highest increase in the number of buyers of all online ad formats. In addition, realtors, legal services, and technology recruiting companies were the top categories to drive increases in native B2B advertising. 

Native advertising is here to stay

Native advertising reached an apex in 2018, particularly for B2B brands, serving as one of the highest-growth areas in the space. But there is no end in sight. Based on the study, native advertising currently serves as one of the more stable and reliable forms of advertising, especially when compared to mobile, video and display. 

Native content has developed and matured over time, experiencing its highest growth rate year-over-year, increasing purchase intent. Its performance only proves that native is thriving and here to stay.

Featured Post | Innovation

What the news media is doing to defend against deepfakes

Image Credit: Wall Street Journal

Anyone who watched the doctored video of congresswoman Nancy Pelosi in which she appears drunk—a clip that quickly went viral a few months ago and which Facebook refused to delete or flag as bogus—can appreciate how quickly and suddenly the world is changing. That unsettling event marked a turning point for many, one that signaled the dawn of the deepfake era.

While the Pelosi video was only mildly altered, it turned attention on the rising issue of deepfake videos. For the uninitiated, deepfakes use artificial intelligence and software to manipulate video and audio to such a clever extent that it becomes increasingly difficult to vet content and determine its authenticity. While deepfake videos and the means to create them have actually been around for a while—particularly in the form of counterfeit celebrity pornography and revenge porn—they’ve increasingly captured the public’s attention.

And that’s for good reason: People are worried about the damage deepfakes can do and the inability of the news media and the government to curb this disturbing tech trend. With a national election looming and tensions between nations simmering, combined with the ability for bad actors to sabotage these delicate circumstances, the stakes couldn’t be higher.

Seeing is not always believing

“We have seen deepfake technology improve dramatically over the past year, and it’s getting harder to identify AI-synthesized media,” said Till Daldrup, training and outreach programming coordinator for The Wall Street Journal. “We’re observing two unsettling trends. First, deepfake technology is being democratized, meaning that it’s getting easier for forgers to create convincing fakes. Second, several startups and internet users are commercializing deepfakes and offering to produce AI-synthesized fakes upon request for money.”

While he can’t name a major national news organization being hoodwinked by a deepfake to date, “we have already seen journalists from other news organizations become targets of disinformation campaigns, including deepfakes that are trying to humiliate, intimidate, and discredit them,” said Daldrup. He cited as an example the notorious deepfake of Indian journalist Rana Ayyub.

Mike Grandinetti, global professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Hult International Business School, said the number of deepfakes has risen exponentially over the past three years as access to new tools has grown.

“Today, powerful new free and low-cost apps like FaceApp and Adobe’s VoCo enable anyone to manipulate facial images and voices, respectively,” said Grandinetti. “Think of this as fake news on steroids. As a result, deepfakes are becoming increasingly problematic for the news media.”

Deborah Goldring, associate professor of marketing at Stetson University, suggested that it’s easy for the public to be fooled by this fraudulent content. “According to a Buzzfeed survey, 75% of Americans who were familiar with a fake news headline perceived the story as accurate,” she said. “And because social media makes it so easy, consumers are more likely than ever to share news with their network, which further spreads inaccurate information.”

The fourth estate fights back

What can the news media do to deter the decepticons, call out the counterfeits, and prevent further Pelosi-like phonies from hogging the headlines? Plenty, say the pros.

“Increasingly, it felt like the news cycle would become dominated by a clip of video that was false in some way. Our reporters were spending more time telling stories about manipulated video and the ways it was used to attempt to sway political opinion,” said Nadine Ajaka, senior producer of video platforms for The Washington Post. “Politicians, advocacy groups, and everyday users are sharing manipulated video, and there is a sense that the public can’t trust what they see. It feels a bit like the wild west.”

Consequently, Ajaka and the Post’s fact checker Glenn Kessler and video verification editor Elyse Samuels helped create a classification system for fact checking online video and a guide designed to assist consumers and journalists alike in navigating the treacherous trail paved by deepfake videos. The guide defines key terms and organizes the problem into the categories of missing context, deceptive editing, and malicious transformation.

“Fact checking video is different than fact checking a statement. You’re not just parsing words but many factors—images and sound—across the passage of time. With this initiative, we can give journalists a shared vocabulary they can apply to the different ways video can be manipulated, so their readers can be more informed about what they’re viewing,” Ajaka added.

The Wall Street Journal, meanwhile, has formed a committee of 21 newsroom members across different departments that helps reporters identify fake content online. “They know the tell-tale signs of AI-synthesized media and are able to spot red flags. Each of them is on call to answer reporters’ queries about whether a piece of content has been manipulated,” said Daldrup.

“We want to be proactive and are raising awareness for this issue inside and outside the newsroom. We are also collaborating with universities and researchers and are constantly experimenting with new detection tools and techniques.”

Other weapons in the war on deepfakes

Daldrup said there are several promising detection methods emerging, most of which have been developed by researchers at universities like UC Berkeley and SUNY; the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has also been trying to perfect machine-learning algorithms that can spot deepfakes.

“A potentially significant component of any meaningfully effective solution would likely include blockchain technology,” said Grandinetti. “Trupic, a photo and video verification system, uses blockchain to create and store digital signatures for authentically shot video as they are being recorded, making them easier to verify later.”

Additionally, partnering with media forensics experts at universities and other research institutions that have access to these tools can be a smart strategy for newsrooms.

However, “this is an ongoing cat-and-mouse game. Every time researchers come up with a new detection method, forgers will alter their techniques to evade being caught,” Daldrup said.

That’s why editors and reporters will need to work harder and rely on proven vetting methods. “Journalists must collaborate to better verify sources through third parties,” recommended Grandinetti. “And they need to spread the message to news consumers that they need to be much more on guard with healthy skepticism when a video strains credibility, too.”

The right approach for a news organization depends on its size and mission, Daldrup suggested. If you’re a journalist, “in general, it is good practice to think twice before you share video of unknown provenance on social. It is also helpful to monitor research on deepfakes in order to stay on top of the latest developments in the field.”

Lastly, remember to “share best practices with the rest of the news industry,” added Daldrup. It is essential that the entire media industry keep pace with issues that threaten the quality of news and the public’s trust.

Perspectives

DCN’s must reads: week of July 25, 2019

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

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