As 2021 comes to a close, it’s time to reflect on the top trends that set the tone for digital media and ad tech throughout the year.
From Chrome’s on-again, off-again cookie cutoff to Apple’s privacy updates to mass confusion surrounding developing solid first-party data and identity strategies to the rise of CTV, ad ops and ad tech people proved resilient. Many pubs and ad tech companies were able to rebound after the great ad spend slump, while others found that banding together was the best path forward.
Here in the Best of AdMonsters 2021, we feature 10 best practices, explainers, op-eds, and feature stories that kept our audience clicking and reading all year.
Privacy Sandbox & Universal IDs: Like Oil & Water?
Simon Harris, Director of DPG Media‘s Trade Desk took a deep dive into Google’s Privacy Sandbox: While the technology behind Google’s Privacy Sandbox proposals is complex and constantly evolving, the premise (as we know it today) is simple: move targeting from a third-party cookie to a group (or cohort) of browsers. For much of 2020 these cohort-based approaches appeared to be the future of advertising in Google’s platforms, but in 2021 is that still the case? Read more…
What Are Publisher Cohorts?
David Reischer, Product Manager at Permutive, broke down the differences between publisher cohorts and Google’s FLoC: Losing cross-domain identifiers only strengthens publishers’ first-party data, as a viable option for advertisers to continue reaching consumers. And this first-party data can be made targetable as a cohort, rather than the current model which reaches people with sometimes ‘creepy’ one-to-one hyper-targeted marketing. But what exactly are Publisher Cohorts? Read more…
Facebook Ads & iOS 14: What Can You Do to Overcome Data Loss?
Elliot Gensemer, Senior Director, Account Services at Metric Theory explained how to avoid data loss in Facebook in spite of Apple’s ATT: How do we (marketers and publishers who leverage Facebook ads for content distribution) cope with the erosion of this data that’s been so central to performance management for the better part of the last decade? In the midst of this change, it will be necessary to focus on three core truths:
- Channel data was never fully comprehensive
- Savvy digital marketing decision-making does not change
- Engaging creative and user experience still rule
Newsweek Sees Huge CPM Lifts With LiveRamp’s Authenticated Traffic Solution
AdMonsters Senior Editor, Lynne d Johnson, spoke with Dev Pragad, CEO, Newsweek, about how the publisher is building better relationships with their audience toward the goal of zero-party data exchange, as well as how they’re using LiveRamp’s Authenticated Traffic Solution (ATS) to drive CPMs. She also spoke with Scott Howe, CEO, LiveRamp, to learn more about ATS, how Newsweek drove a total eCPM as high as 224%, with an average lift of 52% across all web browsers using it, as well as how publishers should evaluate partners to survive and thrive in the cookieless future. Read more…
6 Steps To Make The Cookie Crumble Your Way
Michael Neveu, Director of Data, North America at Media.Monks looks at why the delayed third-party cookie deprecation isn’t a time for vacation: Few advertisers were truly ready for a cookieless web. Like a math test in school, where almost no one is really ready, moving the deprecation of cookies to mid-2023 has been met with an industry-wide sign of relief. Unfortunately, like with the postponed test, this has been followed but the same response we all often had in school; a belief that there is now extra time to waste. But this is a decade-level change. There isn’t actually extra time: now there is enough time. Read more…
Reach and Message Frequency in CTV and OTT Part 2—and What Ad Tech Can Do About It
Industry vet John Osborn assessed the rapid rise of CTV: Now, with the rapid migration of audiences to CTV platforms just as CTV paid and ad-supported channels have exploded on the scene in 2020, both viewers and advertisers are further challenged. Consumers can see the same ad over and over again—or not at all. Advertising buyers encounter powerlessness in managing frequency, creating a mix of overexposure to some and severe under-delivery of ads to large chunks of viewers. Here are some of the latest developments with reach and message frequency in CTV and OTT, as well as some insight into what ad tech could be doing to solve these challenges. Read more…
Crumbling Cookies and a Rotten Apple: A Rock and a Hard Place for Pubs
Tameka Kee, Head of Content Strategy, AdMonsters uncovers the real (regulatory) reasons behind Chrome staving off cutting third-party cookies another year: Google’s shift away from deprecating the 3P cookie is coming in the midst of regulatory battles around whether the company has undue influence over content monetization and distribution on multiple continents. While there’s definitely brand and media agency influence, might the timeline extension be part of a broader, long-term strategy to appease (or, potentially quash) some of the looming antitrust claims? Read more…
Third-party Tracking Got Advertisers Deep Into Debt; Now It’s Time to Repay
Myles Younger, Senior Director, Data Practice, MightyHive on why the time is now for the digital advertising ecosystem to clean up its act: Ad platforms spent the 2010’s rapidly innovating new ways to target, personalize, and measure advertising, largely based on third-party (3P) tracking. Money poured in from advertisers and agencies looking to shed the waste and uncertainty of traditional media and optimize campaigns right down to the user level.
However, during this exuberant period, advertisers, agencies, and tech platforms were unknowingly digging themselves into a debt that will take years to repay. And this debt can’t be settled by signing a check and swapping out for new tech.
Finding ways to manage the complexity of digital advertising without 3P tracking is putting urgent emphasis on people and process over tech, resetting the tech/agency/client relationship, and generally acting as a forcing function for the industry to clean up long-ignored problems. Read more…
Publishers Navigate the Weight of Heavy Ad Intervention (HAI)
Rob Beeler, Founder & CEO, Beeler.Tech and AdMonsters Advisory Board Chairman wrote about the impact of heavy ads on load times, as well as Google Chrome’s move to block these heavy ads: Conversations about the impact of heavy ads on load times and the end-user experience are nothing new to the digital publishing industry. Still, many in the business were caught off guard in Fall 2020 when Google Chrome launched Heavy Ad Intervention (HAI) to identify and block ads from the Chrome (versions 85+) browsers that they deemed “heavy.” Read more…
The Ad Ops Guide to Outsourcing
Melissa Chapman,Founder of Part Two Consulting and Collaborator at Beeler.Tech, in collaboration with Pilar Prassas, Global Head of Revenue Operations, Thomson Reuters, and Brittany Warren, Associate Director, Client Services – SMB, SiriusXM put together a comprehensive best practices guide to outsourcing for ad ops: The topic of outsourcing gets added to the agenda as either a breakout or workshop session and is always well attended. We cover all the bases, and as people share their experiences we also identify the potential benefits of outsourcing like enabling your staff to focus on higher-value activities, extending your team’s capabilities and support hours, supporting peaks in your business, benefitting from an outsourcing partners’ breadth of knowledge across tools and processes, and most importantly, lowering costs. Read the guide…