Month: October 2019

Things have slightly changed from a year prior when branded content was a major source of revenue for publishers surveyed: 76% said their companies had seen branded content revenue grow from 2017. There are certain challenges with branded content, and turning that revenue into profit — it can be hard to make, loaded with hidden fees and brands are increasingly skeptical of branded content’s effectiveness.

Despite all the noise with the pivot to paid, subscriptions aren’t a source of revenue for 40% of publishers. Affiliate commerce is either a small source of revenue or not at all a source of revenue for the vast majority of publishers — 82% of them. This is in line with last year’s benchmarking research, which found that revenue streams via affiliate links were nascent and small parts of the business. Last year, less than 10% of publishers said e-commerce was responsible for more than 25% of their revenue.

For larger publishers, those with more than $50 million in annual revenue, subscriptions are more important as a piece of the pie: 35% of them reported that both subscriptions and affiliate commerce are a large or very large revenue source for them. Direct-sold ads remain the biggest: 63% of large publishers say it’s important.

For publishers that make under $50 million in revenue, subscriptions are making less money: 52% of small publishers said they’re not a source of revenue. Most small publishers make money through direct-sold ads.

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“Facebook was one of our better-performing channels at the time that we made the decision,” said Mozilla CMO Jascha Kaykas-Wolff, adding that the decision has not negatively impacted the brand. “That being said, we’ve been able to maintain and improve the performance of the marketing programs at Mozilla without Facebook.”

Mozilla’s marketing budget is between $20 million and $100 million, said Kaykas-Wolff, adding that “it varies depending upon the different programs we’re running.” Per Kantar, which doesn’t track spending on social channels, Mozilla spent $8.2 million in 2018. The budget is split with 50% focused on North America and 50% focused on the rest of the world.

Mozilla’s pivot away from Facebook followed the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Now, the majority of the company’s digital spending goes to Google properties — Mozilla’s Firefox competes with Google’s Chrome — as a part of its digital acquisition strategy. According to Netshare, as previously reported by Digiday, Firefox’s market share is 9.3% of global monthly on desktop; meanwhile, Google Chrome’s is 66%. Aside from Cambridge Analytica, it’s unclear why Mozilla is fine with Google’s data practices but not Facebook’s as the company did not immediately respond to a request for clarification. The rest of the digital budget goes directly to publishers.

In terms of events, Mozilla has been running an art exhibition-meets-pop-up store in cities like New York, London and Berlin meant to give attendees a physical experience of what happens to their data online. Inside the pop-up, Mozilla has a detox bar where consumers can learn how to help control the amount of data other companies have on them. Later this week, the exhibition, known as the Glass Room, will be held in the tech capital of the U.S.: San Francisco. 

When it comes to content marketing, Mozilla is focusing its resources on developing podcasts in the U.S. and abroad. In the U.S., the company has IRL, which tells stories of life online, privacy and considers the future of the internet.

The decision to focus on data privacy in marketing the Mozilla brand came from research conducted by the company four years ago into the rise of consumers who make values-based decisions on not only what they purchase but where they spend their time. The company already had what it calls its “lean data” practices. That means the company doesn’t collect data on consumers that would surprise them and doesn’t collect data “unless [we] can deliver value as an organization with that data,” said Kaykas-Wolff.  

As part of that push to collect as little data as possible on consumers, the company also employs that strategy in its marketing. Aside from moving off of Facebook, Mozilla doesn’t use practices like retargeting. “We never buy, sell or lease any of our customer data or buy any customer data outside of the data our customers submit to us,” said Kaykas-Wolff. “We don’t use programmatic spending; we’re not comfortable with the data-sharing practices.” 

Mozilla did test programmatic but found the data practices of vendors at odds with its mission in terms of consumer data. The company has considered running programmatic internally, but the cost-benefit hasn’t worked out, according to Kaykas-Wolff. 

The company has an in-house media buyer, media planner and execution teams but still collaborates with a media agency, Fetch. Overall, the marketing department has roughly 100 people. 

By focusing its marketing efforts offline and moving away from Facebook, the company is able to inform consumers about data privacy issues while also pitching its brand to consumers who may be concerned about those issues. That approach could be beneficial to the company, according to Allen Adamson, brand consultant and co-founder of Metaforce. 

“More consumers are starting to understand what a danger digital privacy is,” said Adamson. “While it’s a niche issue now, a growing segment of the market is aware of and concerned with keeping their data private. Facebook is the evil empire in that world, so saying, ‘I’m not going to advertise on Facebook’  [could help] the Firefox brand. Not choosing Facebook has become a positive badge, although it’s still a phenomenally important marketing tool.” 

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Amazon, Samsung and Viacom have begun looking to differentiate their respective FAST services by asking media companies to provide their respective FAST services with exclusive programming. While the demands have put off some media companies, they address the reservations that ad buyers have with directing their dollars specifically toward services such as Amazon’s IMDb TV, Viacom’s Pluto TV and Samsung’s TV Plus.

These services would appear to be an obvious home for the money that advertisers have historically spent on TV given how closely they resemble traditional TV. Not only do the services host libraries of old movies and shows that people can stream on demand, but they also carry 24/7 streaming channels that resemble linear TV and feature shows that have previously aired on TV as well as user-generated videos and videos that publishers have already distributed on platforms like YouTube and Facebook.

However, “being able to get your hands on just that Hollywood inventory is challenging, and the transparency isn’t there,” said one agency exec. Advertisers can limit their ads to certain channels, but unlike with traditional TV, they are unable to designate particular programming within the channels that can or cannot carry their ads, according to agency execs.

“Limitations in the ability to tailor programming will inhibit brands from investing their money here in the immediate future,” said a second agency exec.

Since advertisers cannot isolate the particular programming that they want to advertise against, they take into consideration the full scope of content available on these FAST services.”It’s not a huge loss if an ad goes somewhere else,” said a third agency exec.

Further commodifying this inventory are the myriad ways in which it is available to advertisers. The FAST services have historically sold their inventory through third-party programmatic ad networks, which aggregate this inventory with other inventory sources. Additionally, some media companies are able to sell a portion of their inventory from the 24/7 streaming channels that they provide to these services, and the services must also allocate another portion of their inventory for the connected TV platforms carrying their apps to sell.

The broad availability of these services’ inventory does mean that advertisers are more likely to purchase this inventory, but it also means that advertisers don’t need to spend as heavily on these specific services, said a fourth agency exec. However, the consideration is likely to change if the services are able to convince their channel providers to supply them with exclusive programming and the similarities among the services dissipate.

The post Ad buyers want free, ad-supported streaming TV services to show them something special appeared first on Digiday.

Setting a higher standard
In the past, a tech vendor deploying ads for an agency or brand could simply acknowledge whether impressions were served to the target audience or not, satisfying the client with a simple “yes or no” verdict.
Since then, business targeting has evolved. Ad tech vendors have the capability to target businesses and scale B2B campaigns more accurately than ever before, raising the floor — along with customers’ expectations. In distinguishing the top tier of suppliers, only a handful of companies have developed reporting extensive enough to show the specific firmographic analytics pertaining to each ad campaign. But not all customers know that this level of insight is available and therefore do not expect it from their vendors, causing them to miss the opportunity to include it in their plans.
It is up to companies that offer a higher level of data transparency to teach advertisers that more strategic insights will better inform future campaigns, thus creating a new standard for more comprehensive, firmographic reporting. As advertisers expect more transparent firmographic reporting, we experience another round of survival of the fittest, where only companies that offer elite analytics remain standing.

Survival of the fittest
As we turn the corner toward the future of B2B digital advertising, B2B analytics is the main differentiator that will add a new precedent and elevate industry offerings to a new level.
When done effectively, B2B post-campaign reports can illustrate proof of success to customers, exhibit the success of vendors’ solutions and provide valuable insights into advertisers’ audiences, all while adhering to privacy laws and protecting individuals’ data. Best of all, B2B analytics reports that include insights and recommendations don’t simply show what just happened — they help advertisers anticipate and prepare for what comes next. With this new capability, tech vendors and their customers can work together to tweak audience segments and adjust campaign strategies to bring all parties involved a higher success rate.

Leaders of the pack
This movement begins with companies that possess the elite capability to provide transparent, comprehensive, firmographic B2B analytics. These companies must educate the market, set a new standard and keep the bar high. They must track success and hone their offering until their customers see an impact not just in campaign goals but in overarching business goals as well. They must keep working at this new solution that has the power to decrease wasted spend and increase accuracy as recommended strategies are implemented in future campaigns, thus increasing client trust and yielding long-term relationships.
These leaders of the pack are companies with B2B analytics features that don’t just outline the industries, companies and locations that were delivered impressions — they also include conclusions, strategic insights and recommendations for shaping future ad campaigns. Recipients appreciate the forward-thinking approach rooted in validated data tailored to their business needs, which helps them learn about their audience and increase their ROI in the long run.

This is the next wave of B2B digital advertising. In the future, when all advertisers demand comprehensive post-campaign insights, those early movers and shakers will be miles ahead of the competition — and will likely be the ones to carve out the next path and turn the next corner, whenever the industry is ready for it.

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