Month: September 2018

Ride-sharing giant Lyft is LinkedIn’s top startup for 2018. To be eligible for the list, companies must be seven years old or younger, privately held and have at least 50 employees. LinkedIn senior news editor, special projects Laura Lorenzetti said factors evaluated by the professional network while compiling its list included interest in the company…

Facebook expanded the options airlines have for reaching potential travelers with its flight ads, which were previously referred to as dynamic ads for travel for flight. Airlines already had the capability to use flight ads to target people who had visited their websites or applications to search for particular flights. The social network announced Thursday…

“Data-Driven Thinking” is written by members of the media community and contains fresh ideas on the digital revolution in media. Today’s column is written by Jay Friedman, president and partner at Goodway Group. On the heels of “Cachegate,” stones are being thrown at one ad tech company for what appears to be inappropriate behavior. I will… Continue reading »

The post Many Ad Tech Companies Have At Least One Glass Wall appeared first on AdExchanger.

“On TV And Video” is a column exploring opportunities and challenges in advanced TV and video. Today’s column is written by Tom Weiss, chief technology officer and chief data scientist at Dativa. After decades of planning and measuring TV with only minor iterations of the same fundamental techniques and technologies, marketers now find themselves confronted… Continue reading »

The post Data-Driven TV Is More Than Addressable And Connected appeared first on AdExchanger.

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. DC You Soon Senator Mark Warner (D-Va.) spoke to Adweek about his views on online data collection and data-driven advertising. He sees European-style regulation as unworkable in the US market. “There are parts of GDPR that I don’t think would be right for our… Continue reading »

The post Senator Mark Warner On Digital Advertising; Instagram Explores Shopping App appeared first on AdExchanger.

Google’s integration with the Interactive Advertising Bureau Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation framework is facing complications.

The August deadline Google predicted for the start of its integration has passed. One of the reasons for the hold-up to Google signing on the dotted line stems from certain terms around vendor exclusivity. Google isn’t keen on agreeing not to work with any vendor that isn’t on the IAB Transparency and Consent framework — which is one of the IAB’s stipulations, according to sources. It hasn’t helped that August is prime vacation season in Europe. But Google is still committed to signing its contract for integration.

“We have been working closely with IAB Europe over the last several months to ensure our ad products are interoperable with the Transparency & Consent Framework,” said a Google spokesperson. “We are in the process of formalizing our participation in the framework and hope to integrate as quickly as we can.”

Getting the contract signed is just the first hurdle. Other ongoing discussions must be resolved, and compromises found between publisher, vendor and agency stakeholders before the integration can become a reality.

One of the biggest challenges is around the framework’s rules concerning what data processors like Google can use publisher user information for, said sources close to the situation.

Over the past two months, a group of 20 companies including two agency holding groups, Google, major European publishers and ad tech vendors have had a weekly conference call to discuss how to resolve the issues around purposes.

That’s no easy feat with so many businesses on different sides of the ad ecosystem, with varying business models and commercial objectives. Many publishers want granularity and full control over exactly how any partner in their digital ad supply chain can use data coming from their site. Their argument: If they don’t have full control and something goes awry in the chain, they’re on the hook for fines as data controllers under GDPR. They can also inform users about exactly which purposes their data will be used.

This was one of the core gripes publishers had with the framework when it launched last year, when many of them protested that they hadn’t been properly consulted and the result was a framework that protected the business models and the status quo of the ad tech market. Since then, IAB Europe has worked on altering the framework to appease publishers, with the result that most are now content with the current set up. Currently, vendors must disclose which purposes they plan to use the data for, and publishers can decide which vendor partners can use data for which purpose.

Other — likely smaller — publishers are less bothered about the granularity on consent.

For Google, having to adhere to the current rules on purposes would make it difficult to still bundle some of its services, according to sources. While publishers have argued for more granularity of control on purposes, vendors like Google want the parameters for the purposes to be more flexible, according to sources. For instance, publishers believe personalization should be a separate purpose from ad selection and delivery. But the counter argument, is that there should be one purpose for methods that are intertwined, such as ad delivery and measurement.

Those publishers that spent the last six months negotiating for stricter control over purposes in the framework, are frustrated that they may have to unpick the progress made to suit Google, according to sources. “It would force them to unbundle the services around data collection and usage,” said an executive at a major publisher. “If they align with the IAB framework [in its current form,] it would empower publishers to make choices over what they will allow Google to do specifically. It would give publishers more control.”

Google doesn’t believe that this sort of permission-handling should be part of the standard, but rather controlled by specific suppliers, according to sources. But that could get more complicated for publishers using more than one or two ad tech suppliers (which is most of them).

However, several sources close to the conversations have said that Google’s attitude has been entirely cooperative and constructive.

“We are seeking a compromise that will accommodate different companies, while meeting the objectives of the re-drafting exercise: understandable purposes for consumers, clear use cases for vendors, and sufficient publisher control,” said Stevan Randjelovic, brand safety manager for Europe, Middle East and Africa, for Group M and lead for the steering group. “We cannot have purposes which accommodate one single business model and not others. The group is working hard and operating across the spectrum to find a compromise that will allow companies to feel comfortable while meeting the said objectives. We need a framework that is flexible enough for everyone, yet consistently and reliably applicable.”

The post Google is still at odds over industry GDPR standards appeared first on Digiday.

Walmart is testing an in-house tech platform called Spark Delivery that lets independent drivers deliver groceries to customers within hours in a move similar to Amazon’s Flex program.

The retailer said Tuesday the service is launching in Nashville and New Orleans and expanding to other markets by the end of the year. Spark is the retailer’s latest foray into direct-to-consumer delivery as Amazon grows its imprint in consumer retail following its Whole Foods acquisition and the opening of Amazon Books. Spark operates alongside the retailer’s offerings through tie-ups with third-party services like Deliv, DoorDash and Postmates, and a pilot currently underway in Woodstock, Georgia, where store employees deliver grocery items to customers.

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Hearst Magazines has adopted a new business model for its sports titles, Bicycling and Runner’s World, to expand their reach into e-commerce and memberships.

Most of Hearst’s 25 U.S. magazines like Cosmopolitan and Elle are lifestyle — a category where there’s been less paywalls or membership activity; research shows people are less likely to pay for entertainment news than news and analysis. When Hearst acquired health and enthusiast publisher Rodale in January, it became the owner of Bicycling and Runner’s World and saw a chance to rethink their business model from one driven by advertising to one that’s equal parts based on advertising, memberships and affiliate e-commerce (now more than 10 percent of revenue), said Michael Mraz, GM of the Enthusiast Group, which encompasses those two titles.

“It was primarily a magazine business with a digital extension,” said Paul Collins, publisher and CRO of the Enthusiast Group. “This is looking at the consumer first. With that comes an opportunity to grow and diversify the revenue.”

With most of the digital ad revenue going to Google and Facebook, publishers are hunting for revenue in other places. A Reuters Institute survey of 194 global publishing execs, digital subscriptions were listed as the most important revenue stream in 2018, by 44 percent.

Memberships are just getting underway. Hearst hired Jalaine Johnson, formerly of Universal Music Group, as its first director of membership. There’s also a special projects editor dedicated to creating exclusive content for the memberships. A small test is set to start in early September on Runner’s World.

The membership benefits and prices haven’t been finalized, but the benefits will be in addition to existing ones and exclusive to members, like access to events and training, deals on gear, podcasts and personalized standalone newsletters. They’ll include the magazine (Runner’s World’s average net subscription price is $18.70 for a year and Bicycling’s, $15.10). To sweeten the offer, the magazines will be redesigned in the coming months with bigger trim size and upgraded paper stock.

“The goal is, how can we not just strengthen but find new points of connections with users,” Mraz said.

Hearst has a head start in commerce. It has some experience in this area, with its 3-year-old shopping site Best Products, which it uses to test commerce ideas for the rest of the company. The Enthusiast Group added a 12-person product testing team and increased the amount of product reviews and buy buttons on the publications’ sites.

That effort is starting to pay off. Commerce revenue has grown 350 percent in the past year, Mraz said. Twice as many users are coming to the sites’ gear and training content and user sessions are up 25 percent from June to August versus the year-ago period. Runner’s World has about 3.5 million monthly unique visitors, Bicycling, about 1.5 million, per comScore.

Publishers tread a fine line when adding buy buttons on their sites because they want to appear editorially pure. Adding more commerce to the editorial mix was a natural step for Runner’s World and Bicycling, though, because buying gear is a big part of that culture, said Bill Strickland, editorial director of the group. “There’s no, ‘We’re trying to sell you something,’” he said. “The product is a natural part of being an enthusiast.”

 

The Enthusiast Group differs from the rest of Hearst Magazines in another way. Troy Young, then-digital president and now president of the whole magazine division, separated the digital editorial staffs from their print counterparts to jumpstart the company’s digital audience growth. With Bicycling and Runner’s World, Hearst decided to integrate print and digital because the staff already had expertise across platforms. That experiment will be watched to see if it has applications for the rest of the company.

The post Hearst dives into commerce, memberships, for Bicycling, Runner’s World appeared first on Digiday.

The i Paper, which launched in print and online in the U.K. in 2010 during a tumultuous time for media, had its work cut out for it in building a distinctive news brand in a cluttered space. Thanks to its politically neutral stance and digestible news coverage, it’s starting to make gains.

When the concise newspaper launched, it touted its balanced editorial viewpoint. As countless studies show, the general public is fatigued with partisan and sensationalist news, making the i Paper an increasingly refreshing refuge for readers.

The title launched as a sister paper to The Independent before being sold to Johnston Press in 2016 after the ESI Media news brand went online only. The parent company said The i Paper is profitable, and despite a young brand with a lean team, turning a profit in news publishing is no easy feat. To propel The i Paper into its next stage of growth, Johnston Press hired Luke Lewis, former BuzzFeed UK editor-in-chief, as head of audience in January. Since then, the title has grown the digital team from six to 16 people, mostly in editorial roles.

Since January, according to SimilarWeb, total monthly visits on desktop and mobile have nearly doubled, albeit from a low base, from 3.7 million to 7.3 million, with 61 percent of the title’s traffic coming from search.

With a lean team, The i Paper knows it can’t compete on breaking news with the hefty editorial might of the BBC, MailOnline and The Guardian. Instead, after discovering that its readers wanted more U.K. politics coverage, it focused reporting on explainers and how politics impacts daily life, like what impact a no-Brexit deal will have on the cost of groceries, rather than the Westminster intrigues or updates from Chequers. It also focuses on verticals like travel, sport and personal finance. At the beginning of July, it launched this series where asked people on different income levels to describe their outgoings.

According to Lewis, Facebook referral traffic has been volatile but broadly flat, whereas Google referrals have doubled, mostly coming from AMP.

“You can think about SEO in a focused and intelligent way — what information does the audience want to know today — it doesn’t have to be a fusillade of questions,” he said. Rather than quick hits, one of the most-read stories in the last six months was this 3,000-word feature on endangered great white sharks in South Africa. This on Northern Ireland’s Ballymurphy massacre also ranks high as a most-read piece thanks to strong search traffic.

Implementing audience-growth tactics will lead to audience hikes, but Nic Newman, editor of the Reuters Institute Digital News Report, acknowledges there will be a limit to The i Paper’s growth, and other news brands that rely on platforms for traffic. “The i Paper isn’t a destination brand like some news publishers,” he said, adding that on average people in the U.K. use 4.5 different sources of news a week thanks to digital access. “People look to news brands for opinion; they want both, they just don’t want spin or agenda.”

Aware that it can’t win a game of scale, The i Paper is building out new products and revenue streams next year that will focus on rewarding its core fan base. Currently, it has one daily newsletter with 15,000 — which it plans to double by the end of the year — which has a healthy open rate of 32 percent (Mailchimp’s benchmarks for media newsletters is 22 percent). It will add more niche newsletters including one on fantasy football. Events will also be a growth area, and the title is considering a registration wall where readers can get access to extra features.

“People who have made a decision to read us over their existing news brand says something about how they feel about independence of opinion, their own politics or news brands that are not partisan,” said Lewis. “We want to reward the most loyal readers by making it feel like a club of like-minded people.”

Currently, the title makes money through programmatic ads and branded content. It extends reach across Johnston’s 170 local news sites including the Scotsman, Yorkshire Post and Sheffield Star. The title’s political stance is reflected in its clean, simple and ad-low interface, said Newman, making it stand out from other news sites that have opted to load ads on site over user experience.

Agencies believe The i Paper has done a reasonably good job at carving out a space in a busy environment with slim resources. While agencies need to make clear impartial buying decisions based on audiences rather than the political leaning of the publisher, proving readers are engaged through retention metrics like dwell time and returning younger visitors is appealing and will put The i Paper in a stronger position.

Additions like events will add incremental value for advertiser brand extensions, but that’s more of a nice-to-have than a game changer, said Mark Holden, global strategy director at agency Starcom, because the numbers will be limited. Instead, building more scalable ways for brands to work with the publisher, for instance through licensing content on social media and expanding video will make it increasingly appealing.

“Getting to a place where the publisher has quality of audience and quality of content puts it in a better place than playing the numbers game,” points out Holden. “Scale can be bought.”

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