The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2024 was a whirlwind of innovation and insight, from the buzzing panels to the casual yet powerful conversations outside The Palais. While Elon Musk’s headline-grabbing interview drew a lot of attention, the ad tech discussions in the quieter corners truly stole the show. Publishers showcased their latest strategies to diversify revenue, leverage AI, and champion transparency in a rapidly evolving industry.

Amid the seaside backdrop and occasional gusts of wind that even interrupted a Yieldmo rooftop panel, industry heavyweights shared their visions for the future. From AI-enhanced campaign execution to the power of community-building, the sessions were rich with actionable insights and collaborative spirit. Let’s dive into how leading publishers are navigating these trends and setting the stage for what’s next.

AI and Human Governance: A Dynamic Duo

During a lively Yieldmo rooftop panel on the Evolution of AI in Ad Tech, participants faced an unexpected challenge: the wind. Yet, the show went on with Craig Miller from Amazon Web Services, Valerie Davis of Assembly Global, Jesh Sukhwani from Lenovo, and Yieldmo Co-Founder Teddy Jawde leading a robust discussion on generative AI. Sukhwani emphasized the irreplaceable role of human governance in AI implementation, noting, “AI is there to improve productivity and provide a more seamless decision-making process. It is not there to overtake and think for humans.”

Future Today: Leveraging Contextual Buying 

Future Today is making waves with its latest integration with IRIS.TV, allowing the publisher to contextualize its vast content library into various segments, like travel, food, and fitness. This move has standardized the process of contextual buying, making it easier for advertisers to target specific audiences. Co-founder Vikrant Mathur highlighted the importance of this integration for revenue growth, especially with the ongoing cookie deprecation bringing contextual advertising back into focus.  

“IRIS.TV is trying to standardize the process of contextually buying itself,” Mathur explained. “If I have a movie and another publisher has the same movie, sometimes how we pass information to the buy-side is not the same. IRIS.TV allows us to pass and receive signals in a way that makes sense to everybody, which is crucial for standardization.”

In the last quarter or so, revenue from leveraging IRIS-enabled private marketplace deals has been in the six figures for Future Today, and it’s growing. 

The Daily Mail: Dominating in the World of Video 

DMG Media’s Hannah Buitekant shared the company’s ambitious global video strategy, positioning video as the future of revenue diversification. As the leading video publisher on TikTok, with over 13 million followers and one billion monthly views, the Daily Mail combines creativity and tech to expand its video operations. Buitekant advised that authentic content tailored to each platform is crucial for success, emphasizing agility in content development across YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram Reels. According to Buitekant, managing director of digital at DMG Media, innovation within publishing is in the company’s DNA. 

“The video content needs to feel authentic to the platform it appears on, so take that into account when developing new offerings,” Buitekant said. “What works on YouTube may not work on TikTok or Reels, so publishers need to remain agile and amenable to quickly pivot and change formats when rolling out new content platforms.”  

Bloomberg Media: Innovating with Content

Bloomberg Media’s presence at Cannes was marked by discussions about women’s leadership and the power of AI in the C-Suite. Ashish Verma, Global Head of Bloomberg Media Studios, discussed the company’s focus on “content innovation,” combining data science and strategy to connect authentically with their audience. Verma pointed out that live journalism events and bespoke brand content are integral to their diversified media strategy.

“Bloomberg Media has been a heavily diversified media company for many years; one of our points of pride is content innovation, which means that our content is ours and on owned channels, but also social platforms and video distribution streaming services,” Verma explained. “We’ve had a robust live journalism events business for several years, and it plays a part in our diverse offering. In 2025, we will focus on continuing to expand the product offerings from Bloomberg Media Studios, which produces bespoke brand content and experience in a way that understands and connects with our audience — from print to audio and video.”

When asked about AI, Verma noted, “With the growth of AI, we are finding that business-to-business executives are seeing greater value in meeting to discuss key trends and do deals face-to-face and hearing from our journalists face-to-face. Cannes itself was in AI overdrive. Up and down the Croisette, every tech institution was talking about its tools (which were fantastic to play with).”

Mediavine: Don’t Sleep On The Power of a Strong Email Strategy

With the hype surrounding AI and a bunch of new strategies, tools, and technologies on the market, let’s not forget an area thats data rich and has  never steered us wrong: email. When we asked Eric Hochberger, co-founder and CEO of Mediavine, about how publishers can boost revenue these were his sentiments:

“As we reach the halfway point in 2024, it’s a critical time to have conversations with publishers on how they can better diversify their revenue and traffic sources for next year. One approach publishers should consider is a robust email strategy for audience connection and first-party data.

It’s key to reinforce the prioritization of human-made content industry-wide by implementing a framework for vetting mass-produced, undisclosed generative AI content. The most effective way to protect against a generative AI content takeover is by making sure bad actors aren’t incentivized to produce it. Not only because it’s essential for a free web but because it performs better for marketers. Looking ahead at 2025, this will have the biggest impact and wield the greatestcreative influence, boosting revenue for publishers and demonetizing low-quality generative AI content.” 

OpenWeb: Building Community for Revenue Diversification 

Max Weiss, OpenWeb’s Chief Strategy Officer, highlighted the importance of community in today’s media landscape. With AI search tools impacting traffic and cookie deprecation on the horizon, publishers are focusing on building loyal user bases. Weiss noted that a strong community amplifies every new revenue stream, and OpenWeb’s mission is to foster a thriving ecosystem for publishers and content creators. 

“The business model of today’s media industry is under threat. At Cannes, the conversation was about diversifying revenue streams to keep growing while AI-fueled search results impact traffic and cookie deprecation looms. So many publishers are renewing their focus on building a community of registered users — they know that every new revenue stream, every innovation, is amplified by a strong base of loyal users.”

On foreseeing the future of AI development, Weiss said, “While AI can help publishers drive efficiency and streamline processes, it also has the potential to eat into publishers’ traffic. Publishers must focus on lifetime value, loyalty, and community to grow in this new era. At OpenWeb, our mission has always been to create a thriving, healthy ecosystem for the open internet with publishers and content creators at the center.” 

Embracing Transparency: Publisher Panels Insights

Bridging the Gap: Control vs. Transparency in the Streaming and CTV Landscape 

At an OpenX panel, Rose McGovern, Head of Programmatic & Digital Ad Sales at DirecTV, stressed the importance of passing contextual signals to ensure audience targeting while complying with privacy regulations. The discussion also touched on innovative ad formats and the shift from cookies to persistent identifiers.

She elaborated on the importance of passing contextual signals, such as genre, rating, and network, rather than series-level data. This specificity ensures publishers can reach the right audience while remaining compliant with privacy regulations. Moving away from cookies towards more persistent identifiers like universal IDs was discussed to protect customers and enhance targeting accuracy.

Looking ahead, Rose expressed a desire for more innovative ad formats and the need to move beyond the traditional 15- and 30-second spots. She pointed out, “If we can’t run cool ad formats programmatically, then we are really lame. We must innovate and scale these formats to keep up with the evolving CTV landscape.”

Insights into the Evolving Open Internet Market

During a panel hosted by Ogury, Gabriel DeWitt, Head of Monetization at Yahoo, and Heather Carver, Chief Revenue Officer at Freestar, highlighted the complexities of ad monetization and the need for greener infrastructures. They emphasized collaboration in addressing issues like MFA sites and the importance of incrementality in ad formats.

As DeWitt pointed out, “Running ads for a publisher is very complicated and has become more complicated over time, so increasing numbers of publishers need help with their ads.”

Carver highlighted that SSPs must be more carbon-effective, and buyers should choose more efficient paths. Monetization challenges often lead publishers to create complex, wasteful bid request systems. She talked about the positive impact of collaboration in combating issues like MFA (Made-for-Advertising) sites, stating, “We should celebrate the content owners who are actually trying to create good consumer relationships and not just try to drain the money from buyers.”

Paul Bannister, Chief Strategy Officer at Raptive, noted that constrained caps require better tools to bring incremental demand, and better signals should judge the effectiveness of partners. When asked if there was something he’d like to see changed, Bannister responded, “Instead of open RTB, I think about close RTB. There are too many bad actors extracting value. I’d love to work out a way to restrict access to make it a more premium supply.”

The ROI of Openness: Enhancing Publisher Performance Through Transparency

Mike Racic, President of Prebid and Saiful Ahmed, SVP Ad Tech, Global Investment at OMG Global discussed fostering transparency and trust within the programmatic supply chain. They introduced new initiatives to combat ad fraud and enhance Supply Path Optimization (SPO), underscoring the need for standardized and transparent practices.

Racic highlighted the importance of transparent technology solutions. He emphasized Prebid’s commitment to solving publishers’ problems by connecting them to the marketplace transparently. He also announced that Prebid is working with Human to launch an initiative to combat ad fraud, which will be unveiled at their summit in October. “Everything we do is transparent,” he stated, underscoring Prebid’s approach to building trust through clear and open practices.

Ahmed introduced OMG’s Accountability Transparency Framework (ATF), which sets legally binding agreements to push transparency and protect the programmatic trading ecosystem.

He noted, “We give our clients full disclosure into media tech and data costs and domain-level reporting.”

Chen, Co-founder and CRO of RISE, discussed the role of data in SPO and why it’s important  for publishers to understand how SSPs and DSPs classify their inventory. He highlighted the need for transparency in inventory segmentation and value assessment.

All panelists concluded that we can’t dismiss MFA sites as bad without proper standardization and compliance. With transparency supported by clear industry-wide standards, we can address this ongoing issue.

Shaping the Future of Ad Tech

The Cannes Lions 2024 was a testament to the power of innovation and collaboration in the ad tech industry. From leveraging AI to building strong communities and embracing transparency, publishers are navigating a complex landscape with creativity and strategic foresight. As the industry evolves, these insights and strategies will be crucial in shaping the future of ad tech and media.

The post Power Moves: Publishers Unveil Cutting-Edge Revenue Strategies and AI Innovations at Cannes Lions 2024 appeared first on AdMonsters.

Spotify is entering the world of e-learning. “What type of courses?” you ask. They’re offering how-tos on just about any topic you can imagine. How will the videos look? Think YouTube, well, the educational part of YouTube, mixed with a little bit of LinkedIn Learning.

For publishers, this can unlock a gold mine. As third-party publishers own the content, they license it to Spotify. In terms of revenue sharing, earnings are divided among the creator, the publisher, and Spotify. Additionally, Plai, an AI-powered platform that allows brands to swiftly create, deploy, and monitor their campaigns across various platforms, will provide advertising offerings within these new educational offerings. 

Alongside these revenue opportunities, the advantages of Spotify’s platform become evident. Consider this: 85% of Facebook users browse with the sound off, which means your ads may never be heard. Conversely, Spotify is modern-day radio – listeners keep the audio on when the app is open, allowing your ads to be seen and heard during active listening sessions

We caught up with Logan Welbaum, founder of Plai, to learn how this new e-learning initiative is reshaping the industry. 

Yakira Young: In what ways can educational content offer a different or enhanced level of user engagement compared to traditional entertainment content on platforms like Netflix or Max?

Logan Welbaum: Education is one of the critical content pillars along with Inspire, Humor, and Excite. If you can reach people during the “how to” moments then you will be an extremely valuable brand. Just look at Home Depot or Lowe’s YouTube content (e.g How to plant container pots. A lot of it is focused on education and how-to’s and then shows how their products can fit into that. “How to” is one of the most searched phrases on YouTube, Google, and now potentially Spotify.

It’s crucial to reach potential customers during the “how to” moment when they are deeply engaged in the marketing funnel. They are aware of the problem and are actively seeking solutions. The timing is optimal to reach consumers and offer a helping hand.

YY: Can you share insights on how user engagement with educational content compares to traditional entertainment content and how publishers can leverage these insights for content planning?

LW: It’s the perfect retargeting machine. Provide value with a helpful “how to” video ad and remarket to those who listened to it at a later time. Let’s say my friend John is watching a video about new cars in 2024. He may already have a car and now is searching for the best ways to improve his car performance. Ford or GM could reach him with helpful ideas and ways to improve his car performance and then remarket Ford or GM products to him after they have provided value.

YY: How can publishers use in-depth user data and content preferences to attract marketers with the promise of highly targeted, contextual advertising within educational content?

LW: Just think of the problems your customers are trying to solve. For example, we help people grow their businesses with targeted ads. The problem is how they run targeted ads. They may be looking at “how to run Facebook ads in 2024”, so we will make and provide content just for that specific problem. Eighty percent to 90 percent of the video is just providing value. For the other 10 percent, we might mention that they can use Plai to make the whole process much simpler.

At Plai, we are focused on targeting interests based on podcasts. For example, realtors can effectively reach active buyers or sellers who have been listening to real estate podcasts for tips on when to buy or sell.

YY: How do current trends and user feedback shape your predictions for the future of educational content on audio and video streaming platforms?

LW: I have over 500K social media followers, which I grew by educating people —  not by promoting Plai. Educational content is key for brands to be seen as thought leaders, and it provides helpful content without asking for anything. Sure, it takes work and time, but it is the best way to build a loyal customer base and following. The goal is to help people, and that comes from educational content.

The post Expanding Revenue Streams: Spotify’s Innovative Dive into E-Learning Video Content appeared first on AdMonsters.

Audio advertising may take the ad spend throne soon, at least according to Dentsu’s findings. In collaboration with Lumen Research, Dentsu conducted a study to measure attention in audio advertising and the medium is 56% higher than Dentsu’s traditional targeting metrics.

This comprehensive study delves into the booming audio advertising industry, exploring its effectiveness across different formats and environments, including podcasts, radio, and music streaming. The findings are poised to reshape how advertisers perceive and leverage the power of audio ads, shedding light on their ability to capture attention and drive brand outcomes.

Participants interacted with audio environments in line with their native experiences, such as podcasts or radio stations. Afterward, they participated in Dentsu’s Attention Economy Survey to gauge ad recall and brand choice uplift. The study hinged on Lumen’s attention score which is based on audio listening data, survey results, and ad exposure types.

The Journey into Audio Attention

Credit: dentsu

Dentsu has been at the forefront of the Attention Economy for over five years, emphasizing the value of engagement in video and display channels. Now, with their foray into audio attention, they aim to redefine the industry’s understanding of the impact of audio ads on consumer behavior and brand recognition. 

Doug Rozen, CEO of Dentsu Media Americas, emphasizes the importance of this milestone: “This enables us to uniquely serve clients by proving the value of their audio, video, and display ads based on real engagement measures that drive growth.”

Impressive Findings: Audio Ads Take Center Stage

The studies conducted by Dentsu and Lumen unveiled remarkable insights into the potency of audio advertising. The data speaks for itself:

Average Attentive Seconds: Audio advertising, spanning podcasts, radio, and music streaming, achieved an impressive average of 10,126 attentive seconds per (000) APM (Average Persons Measured), surpassing Dentsu’s established norms of 6,501 APM for attention.

Brand Recall: 41% of audio ads exhibited correct brand recall, outperforming the 38% benchmark for other ad platforms, mostly video-oriented.

Brand Choice Uplift: Audio ads generated a remarkable 10% uplift in brand choice metrics, surpassing the 6% norm for other ad formats.

Unveiling Strengths Across Audio Formats

The study’s depth extended beyond these general statistics, revealing the unique strengths of various audio formats:

Podcasts: The podcast realm, encompassing participants like Audacy, Cumulus Media, iHeartMedia, Spotify, and SXM Media, emerged as a powerhouse regarding attentive seconds per thousand impressions. Host-read ads within podcasts exhibited superior brand choice uplift compared to traditional audio ads.

Radio: Audiences engaged significantly with radio advertising from Audacy, Cumulus Media, and iHeartMedia, with higher attentive seconds per thousand impressions than benchmarks in digital, social, and TV domains. Moreover, radio proved ten times more efficient than online video ads in generating brand recall.

Music Streaming: Amazon Music’s study provided insights into the efficacy of audio ads in this domain. The highest brand recall was associated with ad-supported streaming music on Alexa-enabled devices, and 30-second ads on these devices produced heightened brand choice uplift.

Transforming Audio Advertising Landscape

As the advertising landscape evolves, this study marks a pivotal moment. Joanne Leong, global head of planning at Dentsu, highlights how this research arms the agency with the ability to elevate conversations around audio ad spend and justify investments in this oft-overlooked realm. The study’s implications also extend to video ads, underscoring the value of “sound on” for impactful engagement and brand recall.

By tapping into the unique strengths of audio formats and harnessing their attention-grabbing potential, brands can forge deeper connections with their audiences and pave the way for an innovative era of advertising. Dentsu’s study serves as a reminder that audio deserves a spotlight in the oversaturated advertising landscape.

If Dentsu successfully changes the market’s perceptions, publishers who have yet to dip their toes in the audio arena might want to catch up quickly. Audio could soon be on the heels of the video regarding ad spend. 

The post Unlocking the Power of Audio Ads: New Research Reveals Their Impact on Attention and Brand Outcomes appeared first on AdMonsters.

What is ACR?

ACR is a technology that (with device-owner permission) reads pixels on a smart, internet-connected device screen as it delivers content to a T/V consumer—on a second by second basis. A recent Forbes article explains that the data is then shared with the manufacturer’s tracking software, matching them to a database that keeps track of local broadcasts and other T/V content sources.

So What?

In the past, ad value was determined by the “opportunity to expose” a viewer to an ad (not actual verified exposure). The contextual program rating served as surrogate for the commercial rating. ACR helps advertisers know if the ad itself was on-screen for specific viewers and for how long, and will help sellers justify higher rates for verified, completed views. Some points of valuation capturable through ACR include:

• The type of viewing platform—Connected TV, OTT, Linear TV, DVR playback, MVPDs, VOD
• Location—both fixed screen and mobile locations
• Viewer profiles—individual or household demographics and/or IP addresses, aiding cross-media measurement
• Viewing behavior—viewability, program/provider preferences, ad avoidance, ad consumption, time spent, channel surfing, fast-forwarding, binge-watching, completed views etc.

ACR is not only about helping television get more digital; it also allows digitally-delivered video to move beyond impressions and calculate reach and frequency, which has always been a necessity for television buyers.

The real-time nature of recording “glass-level” behavior moves T/V measurement into territory that television has not yet dared to visit. TV must be more measurable in order to compete with other digital delivery platforms. And according to Adweek, “ACR data provides the first independent verifiable source [of addressable audience data] through direct verification.”

This authentication of data, combined with second-by-second viewing measurement plus the door-opening promise of addressable T/V are key reasons why historic television content and measurement giants are seriously investing in ACR:

• After acquiring Gracenote’s Video Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) technology in 2017, Nielsen has integrated Gracenote-branded technology, unique IDs and metadata (through its own Grabix analytics platform) into an increasing number of its measurement, analytics and advanced advertising solutions according to Nielsen.
• CBS, A&E and MediaTek have joined with Nielsen’s Gracenote in a five-market pilot, enabling the many MediaTek-powered Smart TV platforms to deliver addressable advertising capabilities in live trials.
• Ad Age recently revealed that NBC Universal, CBS, Disney Media Networks, Discovery, AMC Networks, Turner, AT&T’s Xandr, Comcast’s FreeWheel and Hearst TV have formed a consortium with Inscape, a division of Vizio (10 million Smart TVs) to develop open standards for ACR, DAI and addressability across all Smart TVs. It is called OAR, for Open Addressable Ready.

Challenges Ahead

Data privacy issues and the consumer opt-in challenges will guide the level of success that ACR and its sibling addressability technology DAI will bring to the ad industry. As GDPR and the California Consumer Privacy Act bring legal restrictions or self-regulation, consumer data privacy and how data is used will be a hot issue.

All ACR players will need to stay ahead of regulation by making opt-in transparent to users and terms of use as clear as possible. Digital marketing news publisher DMN calls the February 2017 settlement between the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Vizio “ the de-facto case law on the topic”, believing that ACR companies are now required to both prominently disclose the “opt-in” agreement to the consumer and obtain their express consent.

What Now?

By 2021, according to eMarketer, there will be about 114 million Smart TVs in the U.S.—enabled by ACR-capable devices like Roku and Apple TV. ACR is about data, viewability and addressability – all adding obvious value for advertisers and content providers. However, any growth will happen only if consumer benefits like content search, ad relevancy and a saner volume and frequency of ad messages justify viewer decisions to opt-into the ACR process.

Catch John Osborn’s session, “What Do Advertisers Want From Video?” at Ops June 4 in NYC, where he’ll discuss what advertisers want from video in terms of audience targeting, metrics, and most importantly what they should be looking for.

The post Automated Content Recognition (ACR): The Field-Leveling Technology for T/V (Television/Video) appeared first on AdMonsters.

Oh, hey–did we mention that video advertising can be far more lucrative on a CPM basis than display? No wonder every publisher is rushing to get in on the video market.

But of course it’s not easy. Building up a video program from scratch—or from something very basic—is a multi-department task, though the revenue team can and should have a large role in the process. To begin, there has to be a content strategy: You’re either producing video yourself, curating from the deep field of video creators online, or licensing video from partners. Then there’s the selection of the video platform or player. After that point, there’s the issue of reaching your audience beyond your own site, so you can build your business regardless of how your own traffic looks this month.

Assuming you’ve successfully conquered these initial challenges, there is monetization, selecting and setting up a video ad server to actually drive revenue… and sourcing partnerships for ads themselves.

This new playbook, developed in partnership with Tout, will walk you through these key facets of building up a video business, giving you key tips as you embrace the TV-ification of the web.

Download Playbook

The post AdMonsters Playbook: Building a Video Business appeared first on AdMonsters.

In the first two installments of this interview, Claudia already has told us about how publishers don’t necessarily need Facebook for survival, but it’s extremely helpful to have some kind of distribution channel driving traffic to their O&Os. And she’s explained that with Facebook, normally such an eager-to-experiment company, focusing anew on their core competencies, pubs would be well-served to investigate other drivers of traffic.

You can catch up on Part One and Part Two of the discussion. In this third and final installment, she digs into the reality that publishers are so reliant on these outside traffic sources, which is not likely to change anytime soon.

Side entry became the norm for a lot of publishers, but are home pages about to matter again? Will we see a return to crazy homepage takeovers, or do you think the industry has outgrown that?—That is, are there better ways to look after user experience?

CLAUDIA PAGE: Given how fragmented media consumption habits have become, I don’t think most publishers will ever return to a place in which the lion’s share of their traffic is coming via the homepage. Side-door strategies and niche channelization are the most dependable pathways for audience development—but, as I mentioned, that does not diminish the need for publishers to identify partners that enable them to own their audiences, both on-site and off.

One thing to keep in mind is that social distribution strategies have forced publishers to create content within parameters that might not be best suited for their editorial voice and their brand. I don’t think it’s a good thing for publishers to have to constantly strive to retrofit their storytelling to align with the confines set by other platforms.

That’s where this idea of audience ownership becomes critical: If publishers must alter their content to fit a specific distribution channel, then how much control can they really have over their audience? This insight has been key to the development of Dailymotion’s HTML5 video player, which allows our content partners to host and stream on their owned properties—and also exposes their content to larger audiences via the Dailymotion platform, which helps consumers discover trusted premium content from thousands of leading global publishers.

What are your thoughts on Facebook’s outreach to publishers regarding its Facebook Daily Watch? It seems BuzzFeed and Bloomberg are already doing similar projects with Twitter where they have a lot more control over monetization.

Facebook has been articulating its focus for the near term: to help create a destination for community-building and meaningful conversations. As such, their video strategy falls under the umbrella of this vision. With Daily Watch, and Watch overall, Facebook wants to create video experiences that support community building and drive conversations around content. This is very different than what SVOD companies like Netflix and Hulu are setting out to do, and also different than YouTube, which focuses on aggregating a neverending library of viral and everyday video content.

The challenge Facebook faces goes back to the unit-of-content concept. If Facebook users are trained and engrained for status updates, it’s going to be an uphill battle to create entirely new user behaviors around video consumption—especially if these behaviors are taking place within a dedicated tab outside of the News Feed. Monetization opportunities follow audience behavior, so Facebook likely has less flexibility to offer publishers than Twitter in that regard.

I think flexible monetization will be a huge theme for publishers in the coming months and years. Publishers have seen their audiences fragment across various platforms, and they have been operating at the mercy of these platforms for years. The larger players like Facebook and Google will always have the benefit of reach, but I think we’re beginning to see publishers push back and diversify their distribution and growth strategies in places like Apple News, for example.

This is the third article in a three-part series. Read the first installment here and the second installment here.

The post The Next Stage of Social Strategy: A Q&A With Claudia Page of Dailymotion (Part 3) appeared first on AdMonsters.

Her own experience at Dailymotion suggests there’s a hopeful future for pubs where Facebook (or a platform like it) plays a role, but not a life-or-death role for their business. Since Claudia and I started this conversation, Facebook has come increasingly under fire for its use (or misuse) of its users’ data, and it’s put the brakes on a number of products that had been aimed at serving its publisher and app partners. Claudia weighs in on those developments now—and to catch up on what we’ve already discussed, check out Part 1 of this conversation.

I want to get back to what Campbell Brown from Facebook’s news partnership team said at Recode in February. She suggested Facebook is “having a point of view and leaning into quality news.” Do you think this means Facebook will try to become an arbiter of “quality” content? Does it have to? Who fares well under this circumstance?

CLAUDIA PAGE: I don’t think Facebook has a choice in the matter. Two-thirds of Americans say they get at least some of their news from Facebook. Our friends and family are going to continue to share information with us because it’s inherent in our social construct, and publishers want to be part of that conversation. Even though this behavior might not have been the reason Facebook was founded, network effects have scaled the flow of information, which means that Facebook should establish guardrails to mitigate the flow of false or malicious information.

The keys to authority and what is deemed “quality” content will ultimately come down to trustworthiness. Ensuring that the content we’re exposed to in these places is trustworthy will involve a blend of tactics, including algorithmic moderation, human moderation, and even user moderation. Facebook, for example, just shared that they will soon be allowing its users to score the trustworthiness of content they encounter in the feed.

There’s a lot of work to do still, and the solution may be a combination of new policies and factors. There’s no panacea to the notion of “content control.” At Dailymotion, for example, we use a combination of digital tools and algorithms to determine quality content, in addition to editorial supervision.

If they’re affected by the algo switch, where do you think publishers will most likely look to replace referral traffic? Could other social platforms pick up the slack?

It goes back to focusing on building an engaged and loyal audience versus trying to attain certain traffic milestones. Publishers need to understand the importance of building a strong consumer brand that people trust, versus simply enticing people to click based on a hyperbolic headline or snappy short video. I think we’ll see more major partnerships with the likes of Apple News, for example, which puts content directly in front of relevant consumers. There are also still gains to be made with a strategic SEO strategy. Ultimately, the conversation is moving toward quality and engagement.

If you think about leading platforms, there’s a common thread, in that each has a well-defined unit of content that the user experience coalesces around. Facebook was veering away from that vision.

Facebook recently killed an experimental news tab feature, and it’s been pausing the projected launch of a number of other new and experimental features. I thought the news tab would be a positive solution for users and publishers. Why do you think Facebook gave up on the project? Do you think it was a wise move?

If you think about leading platforms, there’s a common thread, in that each has a well-defined unit of content that the user experience coalesces around. For Facebook, it’s the status update within Newsfeed that connects people to friends and family. For Twitter, it’s broadcasting real-time updates. For Snapchat, it’s ephemeral images and video. At Dailymotion, we’ve created a video-first platform that relies on trusted publishers and human curation to surface the best content daily.

Facebook’s nature is to be experimental and to constantly learn from those experiments. In a dedicated Explore tab, it was veering away from that vision, and the users responded accordingly. People don’t want to separate feeds within the Facebook experience, and Adam Mosseri was very transparent about that when he announced the news tab test would not be moving forward. Platforms like Facebook, and Dailymotion too, face big challenges when it comes to appeasing and, ultimately, providing value to their communities.

At Dailymotion, we spent the better part of last year completely overhauling our user experience. In that process, we had to constantly test and optimize, paying close attention to how changes big and small would impact users, publishers, and brand partners. Platforms must work toward creating a harmonious environment in which all three stakeholders flourish, but as we’ve seen at Facebook and other platforms, this can be incredibly difficult to do, because the preferences of each group tend to be at odds with one another.

This is the second article in a three-part series. Read the first installment here. Read the third installment here.

The post The Next Stage of Social Strategy: A Q&A With Claudia Page of Dailymotion (Part 2) appeared first on AdMonsters.

In today’s digital environment we’re constantly talking about how the survival of digital media depends on conversations between buyers and sellers. There’s such a focus on direct communication, instead of relying on intermediaries to speak accurately and transparently on our business’ behalf. Fortunately, GABBCON CEO and Co-Founder Gabe Greenberg offered to help facilitate that communication by lending some of his own perspectives. Gabe has spent about two decades in media—he’s held leadership roles at The Trade Desk, Vibrant Media, Delivery Agent, Autobytel and other companies; he’s an advisor to a number of industry groups and he’s particularly well-versed in the language of TV/video.

This discussion with Gabe will be an ongoing one, but to start us off, I asked Gabe about what stories stuck out to him at the 2018 GABBCON NY event, which took place about three weeks ago. He also shared some thoughts about what buy-siders are thinking about when they hear the words “brand safety” or “consolidation”—and, like a lot of forward-thinking people in digital right now, he had quite a bit to say about blockchain.

What are the top three takeaways from GABBCON—and in particular, were any of these major themes something you didn’t really expect to be so prominent right now?

GABE GREENBERG: Number one, there is an abundance of senior diverse talent in the market. Any conference that claims there is a shortage is not working very hard on their programming. Diversity is integral in each and every  event.

Number two, blockchain is here to stay. Anyone who suggests that blockchain cannot support ad tech and address the many ad taxes and ills major brands and agencies talk about (trust, fraud, transparency, speed, reconciliation) is probably from a company that stands to be disintermediated, and is purposely trying to cast doubt to avoid their own ill fate. That is not to say that all the answers exist for blockchain—but have no doubt, this will change the business we all know today, and it will change it soon.

Number three, the continued consolidation in the TV market will pave way for continued innovation, shorter ad breaks and new waves of audience targeting and addressability.

Points two and three were ones we’ve predicted for some time. In fact, shortly after GABBCON NY, announcements were made by Fox and NBC about shortening the ad breaks, and there has been ample press about blockchain. Jonathan Steuer from Omnicom put it best when he said, “We are experiencing a new paradigm in network design, and blockchain represents positive change for the industry. Your team should be thinking about how you can leverage this new open source protocol” (referring to the protocol that MadHive is bringing to market).

What are media buyers’ biggest concerns about consolidation among publishers and broadcasters? How is this changing their buying habits and strategies?

The biggest concern is always the creation of a new walled garden or an overly dominant force. Buyers (and consumers for that matter) are more savvy then ever, and this is forcing publishers to rethink the media unit and what it represents. I expect we will see new ad units and experiences that value consumer attention and time more than ever before.

We’re seeing publishers restructure their sales and ops teams so they can be more flexible for however buyers want to transact (i.e., programmatically, directly, or with some hybrid of the two). How’s that working out for buyers? What else should publishers be doing to be as flexible with transactions as they can be?

The restructuring is a cost of doing business. To be fair, with a new blockchain-based fat protocol to replace OpenRTB, we will see far more change in the months ahead. The benefit of this new protocol, however, is that it will bring buyers and sellers closer together again. Publishers should embrace this new protocol and get ahead of it as quickly as they can. Unlike RTB, which many thought could represent a race to the bottom, this new protocol represents higher margins and the elimination of ad taxes from verification companies, data companies and many others who will no longer be able to get away with a large ad tax for a service that should be commoditized.

When you hear buy-siders talk about brand safety, what specific issues are they really talking about? And is there anything buy-siders wish publishers understood better about what they’re up against on the brand safety front?

They mostly talk about the risk of their brand being adjacent to content that is outright negative (terrorism, accidents, etc.). Buyers need publishers to understand the inherent risk of an airplane brand being next to an article about a plane crash, or safety issues or company impropriety. It’s clear that there are instances where these things can sometimes be unavoidable because of the nature of algorithms and targeting, but it is imperative that large publishers police their own sites and balance the use of AI and machine learning with human review.

We’re seeing publishers restructure their sales/ops teams to respond to the ways buyers treat the old programmatic/direct split. What kind of responses are media buyers looking for?

I do not think buyers have expectations here other than that their business be serviced. Sometimes I think we overthink this question in the industry.

The post Inside the Buy Side: Catching Up With Gabe Greenberg of GABBCON appeared first on AdMonsters.

Unilever CMO Keith Weed told the audience at IAB’s ALM that the company would pull spending from platforms that fostered “division,” hate, and conditions that didn’t “protect our children.” He also called digital environments of questionable brand safety a “swamp.” Meanwhile, Unilever has been cutting its advertising spend substantially in the past year and change, in both its media buys and its creative budget. I’m trying to ignore my own bias, which says that unless you’re in a war zone or a riot, playing the “do it for the children” card is kind of a last resort. The Drum has some more tempered hot takes: The digital platform rep who said Unilever had not told them anything previously about reducing spend, the marketing exec who noted how fellow CPG stalwart Procter & Gamble had publicly accepted some accountability for wading into brand-unsafe waters and Weed had not, the agency folks who said Unilever hadn’t told them anything about how to work with Google and Facebook in the future. And also, there’s the question: Would Unilever cutting back spending really affect the major platforms’ bottom line at all?

Has TV Ad Spend Peaked?

Bloomberg notes TV ad spend in 2017 dropped the largest YOY amount of the last 20 years, barring recession years. Cable ad sales dropped for the first time in nearly 10 years. The article paints a bleak picture about the future of TV advertising as a business, but in this column we were talking a few weeks ago about how agencies and brands should be careful about pulling TV spend, on account of the massive reach TV still allows. Bloomberg says the TV networks are “facing a revolt” from advertisers, and that total ad spend in TV seems to have peaked and begun dropping off. So the question is, how are broadcasters going to sell their digital audiences, who are clearly still “watching TV,” just not on a TV, per se? Is there more to getting those digital CPMs up to linear standards than bringing measurement to a certain level of maturity?

This Week in Blockchain

Jarrod Dicker, most recently the Washington Post’s VP of Innovation and Commercial Strategy, is leaving the Post to become CEO of po.et, a company that uses blockchain technology to license digital content to entities who’ll pay for it. In this Q&A with Poynter, Dicker sounds enthusiastic about this idea of liberating content creators from being beholden to any one platform (or one platform at a time) for getting paid for their work, and of liberating brands to buy into media without going through publishers or platforms. And also, he says, why should all content creators at any one website be paid the same rate? It’s an interesting way of looking at the media biz—certainly either a sign of the democratization of media, the free market eating itself alive, or something else.

Long-Game Strategy Needed for Media

Al Jazeera Media Network SVP of Business Growth and Development Michael Weaver says our current environment “reward[s] scale and reach over depth and substance,” and he says that’s destroying the digital business model, as evidenced by cutbacks and closures among high-profile media companies. One of the core problems, he says—one that ends up putting tons of money in the pockets of Google and Facebook, two companies that don’t even produce original content—is that the ad model as we know it is so focused on making revenue in the short term. But media is a long game—there’s always an audience for news. And he says publishers need to think about “curating content with an eye toward context and distribution” to save their hides in the long run. Problem is, there’s no long-game model we can look toward and mimic in this business. Someone will have to come up with one.

New Models for the Data Business

Some of the big data providers are selling data as a percent of media, rather than on a fixed CPM. AdExchanger’s James Hercher explains: “An advertiser, for instance, is unlikely to spend $2 per thousand impressions on data if the media itself has a $3 CPM. Instead of data consuming 40% of the budget, a percent-of-media price caps the cost in the 10-20% range.” That opens a door to buyers who hadn’t been able to justify the cost of audience data, and Hercher says performance campaigns buying low-cost impressions stand to benefit in particular. And because that means they’d be getting new clients, several of those leading data providers are happy to play along.

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The stakes of publishers’ Facebook “addiction” are substantially different, and I don’t want to make light of them, especially in the wake of the platform’s news feed algorithm changes, threatening to demote news-related posts. If I were to get off Facebook immediately (erm… again), there would be no negative impact to my own revenue. Heck, it might even be beneficial to my earnings—it might allow me to focus on things that are ultimately more beneficial to me. Now that I think about it, though, can’t publishers say the same thing?

In short, Facebook serves this need that all publishers have. They need to pump their content out into some centralized conduit where users customarily go to discover and read or watch new content. Otherwise, they’re all sort of scattered points around the internet that users go to intentionally or accidentally, but not so much incidentally, the way a social media platform enables.

Intentional Engagement

But Facebook has never been as good at that kind of discovery as publishers or advertisers might hope—users are engaged, but it’s not always a deep or intentional engagement. Vox Media Chairman and CEO Jim Bankoff said as much in a blog post last week. The Facebook news feed algorithm is not great for building “brand-loyal audiences,” he wrote, because it enables users to consume content “through serendipity, not intent.” And beyond that, Bankoff wrote, there’s no sustainable monetization model for “in-depth video,” so there’s little incentive for a company like Vox to go hard in developing and promoting video for Facebook. Much like how I realized my Facebook posts and comments were becoming “my Russian novel,” and I took a break from the news feed to focus on writing an actual novel, Bankoff said Vox is going to divert video programming from Facebook to OTT and linear TV—Netflix, big broadcast networks.

That’s an important pivot for any publisher. The media industry is years past the point of figuring out how to measure social media impact. By now, we can say that if something isn’t working, it might be more the platform’s fault, less a measurement problem. And also, just because Facebook’s adoption among users is as close to universal as anything is in digital media, that doesn’t mean it’s universally supportive of all publisher goals and initiatives. It’s not. Premium publishers are annoyed that they’ve been expected to jump through all these technical hoops (new products, new strategies, all subject to change on a whim) to work with Facebook. Why not take a break to focus on monetization strategies you’re confident will bear fruit?

That said, there’s no clear long-term fix on the table for that centralized conduit of attention, and that’s problematic. Take branded content. My colleague Gavin Dunaway has said recently that “branded content is the new premium advertising,” and generally I agree with him. Publishers need to focus on the intersection of “biggest payoff” and “best UX,” and branded content is often right there. Now, social media has proven to be a good way to drive traffic to branded content. So even if publishers ramp up their branded/sponsored initiatives—if traffic drops off, advertisers will start questioning their investments in those initiatives. It’s a conundrum, but I expect it’s one we’ll try to solve at the upcoming Publisher Forum—Adam Hua of CitizenNet will be talking about the branded content boom, including social media’s ever-evolving role in distribution.

There’s has to be something to satisfy people’s desire to discover relevant, quality content, which would also serve publishers’ desire for fresh traffic. Maybe that thing can still be Facebook, or maybe it’ll be something else. Before search engines, the joke was that the internet is great, but you can’t find anything on it. That problem didn’t last long, and I’d expect this current problem we’re talking about won’t either.

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