Author: rssmasher

At the Digiday Hot Topic UK: Data-Driven Publishing event last November in London, we sat down with over 20 publisher executives from major media companies across the country to understand their knowledge of emerging technologies in the advertising world. Check out our earlier research on whether Facebook’s algorithm change will help or hurt publishers here. Learn more about our upcoming events here.

Top findings:

• Only 22 percent of respondents think they have a perfect understanding of how first- and second-price auctions work.
• Only 6 percent think the publishing industry has at least a “solid” understanding of first- and second-price auctions.
• Sixty-seven percent think they have a better personal understanding than their industry does of first- and second-price auctions.

Publishers such as LittleThings, Prisa and MailOnline have adopted header bidding or server-side bidding in search of higher ad revenue. According to a report from ServerBid, 73 percent of the top 1,000 Alexa sites that sell ads programmatically conduct header bidding. But even as header bidding becomes ubiquitous among major publishers, few publishing executives understand it.

Only 22 percent of publishing executives in Digiday’s survey claimed to have a perfect understanding of how first- and second-price auctions work. Ninety-four percent said they had at least some understanding, while only 6 percent said they had no understanding. Publisher executives thought less highly of their industry as a whole. While 51 percent thought their personal knowledge was either solid or perfect, only 6 percent thought their industry had solid knowledge. No one thought their industry had perfect knowledge.

Most publishers are understandably only focused on content rather than building internal ad tech. Freestar, an agency that helps publishers monetize their ad inventory, has over 30 people dedicated to that task, whereas most publishers have only a small team of a few people, if not just one person, focused on monetizing ad inventory. These companies lack the resources and time to commit to understanding header bidding.

“At the end of the day, publishers aren’t ad tech companies,” said Christopher Stark, co-founder of Freestar. “Most of [the executives] are more worried about strategy around content than auction economics. [Header bidding] is deep, nerdy shit that executives don’t want to know and take the time to understand.”

The post Digiday Research: Publishers lag in understanding header bidding appeared first on Digiday.

Advertisers are demanding more transparency in their media buys, insisting on tighter contracts with partners, improving their programmatic expertise and reducing their use of ad tech vendors.

More than four in 10 (45 percent) multinational advertisers believe they have established more transparent programmatic relationships with their agencies and ad tech partners, according to a World Federation of Advertisers survey of 28 advertisers spending in excess of $50 billion globally, which will be released on Feb. 9.

That said, brands still spend too much money chasing reach rather than evaluating the effectiveness of campaigns, said Richard Bradford, group strategy director at the WPP-owned Wavemaker, at a Mediatel event on Feb. 8.

“[Clients] are realizing they’ve measured stuff that doesn’t matter,” said Bradford. “Measurement is as much a part of the problem as it is the solution.”

Here’s how advertisers can exert more control over their budgets.

Trust and verify agencies
It’s now common for advertisers to have disclosed contracts, according to the WFA report. Forty-one percent of those advertisers surveyed said increasing transparency with programmatic partners is a major priority in 2018.

However, transparent contracts don’t eliminate all trust issues. There’s a blurred line between agencies that only earn money from their clients and don’t get any markups from group deals and those that do, said Jenny Biggam, CEO and co-founder of media agency The7stars. “There are still agencies saying [to clients], ‘We’re going to give you visibility because you asked for it, but don’t worry about what’s going on with the other clients,’” she said. “Advertisers] still aren’t sure [what’s happening to their budgets] unless you employ big teams of internal media experts to effectively do the media agency’s job.”

Getting transparency on data and not just the inventory
Data transparency and arbitrage is moving up the agenda as advertisers start to realize how much margin agencies and ad tech vendors are making from their budgets. As media budgets shift from chasing reach to evaluating campaigns, advertisers are noticing their measurement hasn’t been good enough to reveal how much inaccurate data they have been buying from brokers. Almost two-thirds (62 percent) of brands have made uncovering data arbitrage and the markups made on their data a priority in 2018, up from 14 percent in 2017, per WFA.

Adidas has already run tests with one of its agencies to determine the reliability of the third-party data it has been buying, said two sources with knowledge of the plans. The sportswear brand is essentially comparing its own data with the third-party data it has been buying to fill out its audience segment pools.

On the subject of data, let’s talk GDPR
Unfortunately for marketers, ensuring that their own businesses comply with the General Data Protection Regulation isn’t enough. They’ll also have to vet all the ad tech and martech vendors they work with. Dominic Chambers, global head of digital marketing at Jaguar Land Rover, explained: “There’s a big chain of players involved in our outbound marketing, and we need to make sure that everyone has their act together and has the proper permissions in place.”

Emphasize context over reach
Audience planning is becoming an increasingly crucial part of media strategies as advertisers start to replace third-party cookie data on their plans with their own customer data and contextual data. With that focus on audience planning comes a greater focus on context, something advertisers have forgotten, as evidenced by last year’s brand-safety scandals, said Denise Turner, insight director at Newsworks, the marketing body for national newspapers. As the focus on context grows, Turner believes the media pendulum will swing back to proven media or advertisers working directly with media owners.  

Focus on outcomes, not just price
Cost-driven advertisers will always exist, but measuring outcomes is becoming more important. Online food-delivery service Just Eat has switched the way it breaks down its advertising spend to show a commercial return. The brand now tracks brand buzz and consumer responses to evaluate the short- and long-term benefits of its investments, said Ross Duncan, media planning manager at Just Eat.

The post How marketers can guarantee transparency in media buys appeared first on Digiday.

As social media platforms have pivoted to video, they’ve gotten publishers to adapt. But one medium has been left out: podcasts. The audio form has been a boon for publishers seeking engaged audiences, but podcast producers have had to be extra creative to get it noticed on social media.

“Social media platforms are incredibly visual. They really emphasize video,” said Michael Gold, social media strategy editor at The New York Times. But the default format is to have video on mute, while audio is all about sound.

This creates a challenge for podcast teams to get their content discovered on social media. One strategy audio and social media producers have tried is converting audio into short video clips to promote their podcasts. WNYC created an open source tool to create audiograms out of its podcasts. The New York Times has its own in-house technology to do the same. There are also other free apps available, like SpareMin.

These clips have proved to be successful. “They are very engaging,” said Jorge Caraballo, engagement editor for “Radio Ambulante,” a Spanish-language podcast distributed by NPR. “We get more comments and shares.”

If you can’t beat ’em
Publishers are also using video formats to their advantage. They’re testing ideas like going live during the recording and posting behind-the-scenes footage, leading to spikes in likes, shares and responses. “They [audience] are part of the conversation. We see increases on the days we do these videos. It helps to push the episodes,” said Caraballo.

“Without video, we hit a plateau; we could not go past 10,000 [downloads],” said Andrea Raquelle, producer and content provider for the “Hey Frase” podcast. “When we started doing video recordings, we saw the best growth. It took two months to get to 35,000 [downloads]. We noticed other influencers and podcasters in the space [with big download numbers]. We can’t even compete with that if we don’t have video.”

Video is good for reaching an audience, but publishers also need to nurture the relationship with listeners. For some like “Radio Ambulante,” that’s where newsletters come in. It uses its twice-weekly newsletter to tease upcoming episodes and make recommendations.

“You cannot rely on a private company to build a relationship with your audience. If you rely on Facebook, you will suffer with any change,” said Caraballo. “We do not depend on an algorithm to reach our audience.”

Facebook groups
Publishers are also using groups on Facebook and WhatsApp to promote podcasts.

The New York Times has a Facebook group, called The New York Times Podcast Club, with over 23,000 members, that wasn’t designed expressly to promote its own podcasts, but members do anyway. “We don’t promote our podcasts, but people talk about ‘The Daily,’” Gold said. “We have created a loyal audience to the group, and we don’t get the same responses in other ways.”

“Radio Ambulante” has Facebook and WhatsApp groups for their podcast listeners, also with the goal of creating community. The Facebook group has over 700 members; the show wouldn’t give numbers for its WhatsApp group. “The group is for really loyal followers,” Caraballo said. “If you promote your work all the time, people will ignore when they don’t have the time. We highlight other Latin American stories all the time.”

Producers also lean on their podcast hosts to promote their podcasts via social media. Jonathan Capehart, columnist and host of The Washington Post’s “Cape Up” podcast, for example, talks with listeners who engage with him on Twitter and Facebook, said Jessica Stahl, director of audio at the Post.

“We find that people discover the podcast on those platforms because he’s talking about it and excited about it, and people see that,” she said. “A really common tweet is, ‘Tell me how to listen!’”

But all of these tactics are underscored by the fact that the behavior of podcast listening is the opposite of the flyby nature of Facebook or Twitter. “We can’t promote podcasts in the same way as stories,” said Gold. We learned that first with video, and now we’re learning that with podcasts.”

The post In an era of video, podcasts struggle to break through on social media appeared first on Digiday.

Netflix’s $8 billion content budget for 2018 is proving to be attractive for publishers that have the capacity to produce TV shows.

In January, Vox Media announced it would make a show for Netflix starring Vox.com co-founder Ezra Klein. The still-untitled series will bring Vox’s explanatory journalism to Netflix with a series that would feature in-depth reporting around science, politics and pop culture. Vox Entertainment, Vox Media’s video production and development division, will produce the show with Klein as host and executive producer.

Vox Media isn’t the first publisher to get a show on Netflix. In 2016, Netflix ordered a sports documentary series called “Last Chance U” from Condé Nast Entertainment, which Netflix renewed for a third season last summer. It’s one of six Netflix shows that CNE has in some stage of development or production for Netflix, a sign of how big the streaming giant is for CNE’s TV business.

Fusion Media Group, which unlike CNE and Vox Media has an existing linear TV network, and it also recently announced a five-series co-production deal with Netflix, starting with the scripted Spanish-language drama “Tijuana.” The show will go into production next month and air on FMG parent Univision’s broadcast network in the U.S. and on Netflix globally. The deal includes two English-language documentary series that Netflix will co-produce with the Fusion TV network. Netflix and FMG previously partnered on the drama series “El Chapo.”

For CNE, there’s a ton of marketing and business value in being able to say it has shows on Netflix, said Joseph LaBracio, evp of alternative programming for CNE.

“It’s important for our [intellectual property] and brand to be on Netflix,” said LaBracio, who was a longtime Hollywood agent before he joined CNE in 2014. “There are a ton of companies that make shows for a lot of cable networks, but it does not have the same sort of appeal as telling someone that you have a show on Netflix.”

Similarly, the Netflix deal is a big move for 3-year-old Vox Entertainment, which was built to create long-form video shows for linear TV and streaming platforms. So far, Vox Entertainment has also produced “Prefab Nation” for lifestyle cable network FYI and will release “No Passport Required” on PBS later this year.

Netflix declined to comment on the record.

Marty Moe, president of Vox Media, said demand for long-form programming from Vox Entertainment has been “growing rapidly” over the past few months. And as that grows, he also expects to grow the head count of Vox Entertainment — which, not incidentally, is headquartered nearby Los Angeles in Culver City, not far from Netflix and Amazon, Moe said.

“Whether it’s making 10-minute episodes for Go90 or hourlong episodes for TV and OTT, our goal is to be a major programmer for modern video programming across all platforms,” said Moe.

Outside of the marketing value, Netflix also pays money. Increasingly, Netflix is fronting the full production costs of a show in exchange for total ownership of a program. This means the production company will make money from a fee it charges as part of the show’s budget but won’t have the ability to make additional dollars through syndication.

For newer production entities such as CNE and Vox Entertainment, this arrangement is fine.

“Because we are newer, we’re not going to be in the position to say that we are owning [the show] — that’s just not the business model of Netflix right now,” said LaBracio. “Certainly, if someone else was going to offer us the opportunity to own a piece of the show, we’d weigh that, but it’s not just happening as much anymore.”

There are exceptions, of course, and deals always vary. Sometimes, Netflix will co-finance a show with a major studio or media company. In these co-production deals, the production partner might retain ownership over the show, but Netflix will buy out a global subscription streaming license for close to a decade, which limits the ability for the content owner to license or syndicate the program to TV networks in countries where Netflix already operates.

In either case, Netflix’s size and stature makes it a difficult distributor to ignore. And the aggressiveness with which Netflix is buying shows and movies these days as it relentlessly builds up its library means it will give more looks to publishers such as CNE and Vox Entertainment, said LaBracio.

“We have the ability to help market and promote our shows, which is important to them,” said LaBracio. “We have an ongoing relationship with them now, but you can see with the deal that they just made with Vox, they will look at companies that are similar to us because we can offer that [promotional] reach.”

Image: CNE’s “Last Chance U” for Netflix

The post Publishers with TV ambitions are pursuing Netflix appeared first on Digiday.

Bibhu Mohapatra has been showing his ready-to-wear collections at New York Fashion Week since 2009 and has been championed by the likes of Michelle Obama and Lupita Nyong’o. In recent years, however, as consumers chase after increasingly casual, streetwear-inspired clothing, things have gotten difficult for the designer, who’s known for his intricate evening wear.

Last January, his company filed for bankruptcy, citing just over $1 million in debt. At the time, Mohapatra told The Wall Street Journal he hoped the debt restructuring would make his label more attractive to outside investment (which he currently lacks) and allow him to launch a lower-priced line.

Today, at least some of that plan will come to fruition when he debuts a capsule collection on the runway called Sashi, named after his mother. “It’s meant to fill in the gaps [in my collection],” said Mohapatra. The line will retail for less than his regular collection — which goes up to$20,000 — at $495-$2000. “We want our customer to come to us for more than just after 5 p.m. clothing, so we will be offering a selection of daywear and outerwear,” he said.

Those elements will be key for the brand’s survival, as it’s so far been largely dependent on a wholesale model that is enduring its own turmoil. It’s currently sold at Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus, Lane Crawford and select high-end boutiques,

Despite setbacks, Mohapatra is feeling positive about the company’s future. “We’re at a really exciting stage, and I’m feeling very inspired about what’s coming down the pipeline,” he said.

Ahead of his fall/winter 2018 show, which he’s been planning for about six months, Mohapatra spoke about what goes into his pre-show prep, why he thinks the fashion show is still relevant and how he’s adapting his line for today’s consumers.

What does the pre-show process — from conception to reveal — involve?
The concept of the collection takes shape on an image board, which I call my “altar.” I always focus on a certain mood and a specific muse, and the board evolves organically over time as I find images that are relevant to the overall theme. From there, we develop a color story and fabrics to correspond with that idea. Together, these are the guidelines we follow as we get closer to the show date and the details of the collection — from the lining and the shoes, to the hair and makeup — are being determined.

Where does most of your inspiration come from?
Most of it comes from specific people and their stories. I collect books and I also have a mini library of photocopied verses, stories and articles that I’ve read or come across — about various artists and historical figures — that I revisit every season. They stay alive, and eventually I find a place for them in the collection.

A lot of designers lately have focused on current events and politics in their collections. Is that important to you?
Absolutely. What’s happening around us and globally directly affects me, especially as someone born and raised in a different culture. In the environment we live in, it’s hard not to see things through that lens. Celebrating my unique heritage and diversity at-large is something I’ve always highlighted. I’m an immigrant myself, and I make a point to employ immigrants — this nation allowed me to get to where I am today, and we can’t just take that away from people. I am also shaped and inspired by lots of women who have faced challenges, and, today, I design for a customer who’s more confident and sure of herself than ever before.

As many designers opt for different show formats or flee fashion week altogether, why is the runway show still important to you?
Whether it’s a show or a presentation, it’s important for me to get my message out there, but this season for me will be a lot more intimate than previous seasons. Our guest list has been reduced by half and is a very focused group of clients, buyers and media people. It’s much more focused on the product and the ultimate clients, rather than making it some spectacle or vanity project.

The goal is to create imagery that can be used as currency and help connect me to clients all over the world. Fifty-five percent of our total sales are done direct-to-consumer, and they find us through this imagery. Last winter, we held our first live stream, which was widely watched by people all over the world, and it helped build a lot of brand awareness for us.

With a smaller show, is it still important to have celebrities in the front row?
Yes, because it’s of interest to the media and always good to show people that I have that kind of support. We always try to get real fans of the brand there, like Taraji P. Henson, if their schedule allows. Bigger houses do it at a much different level because it’s a huge part of the trade — they have huge budgets for this and fly people in. That’s not where my brand is, nor do I think it’s necessary.

You’ve been showing at fashion week under your namesake label since 2009, and before that as the design director at J. Mendel. Do you enjoy it more or less today?
It was very new back then and more exciting as a result, but also more difficult because I didn’t have such a big team. The scale of most shows back then was very different, and the budgets were higher. Now, the scale is smaller, but I actually have a bigger team. Overall, it’s more routine, and I have other elements of the business [like licensing] that I need to juggle alongside it.

Do you still get nervous before a show?
People always ask me backstage how I’m so calm, but the thing is, once the clothes are finished, I’m fine. I believe in the team that I work with. Yes, a zipper might break or a model might not show up, but those things happen, and we’re quick on our feet. I have to be the calm leader of my team, otherwise that nervous energy will trickle down. If I’m having a moment, I’ll just close my office door and meditate.

How has filing for bankruptcy affected the brand?
The filing was voluntary as an effort to restructure, and we are emerging out of it. My licenses have only grown since then. I have an outerwear license — featuring exotic leathers and furs — being sold at 30 different Saks stores and then my fine jewelry collaboration with Forevermark is being expanded this year. We’re also launching into about 25 stores in Spain in the coming year or so.

The post Designer Bibhu Mohapatra on rebuilding his fashion brand one year after bankruptcy appeared first on Digiday.

2018 already looks to be another year of change and uncertainty for media. Distributed platforms are constantly changing the rules for how they surface and monetize publisher content; publishers are struggling to forge a sustainable digital business model and striving for new ways to stay afloat. There’s a lot to digest.

We’re pleased to announce that seasoned reporter Tim Peterson will join us Feb. 26 as a senior media reporter to help make sense of it all. Tim has a long history of covering digital marketing and media. For the past two years, he’s been a reporter for Third Door Media, publisher of Marketing Land, Search Engine Land and MarTech Today, focusing on the social media platforms. Prior to that, he was a digital media reporter for Ad Age and Adweek, where I had the pleasure of working with him. He’s broken stories on Facebook’s measurement errors, Snapchat’s plans to develop an algorithmic feed and Jason Kilar’s plans to take on YouTube.

Tim’s experience reporting on media companies, platforms and marketing positions him well to evaluate what industry changes mean for all the stakeholders in this ecosystem. Not only that, he can write code and pull data from companies’ application programming interfaces. He’ll be based in Los Angeles, where he’s from. Make sure to follow him at @petersontee.

Here’s what Tim had to say about his plans for media coverage at Digiday:

“Media companies are in a tough spot, as ever. On the one hand, they’re increasingly finding that platforms’ business interests do not always align with their own. On the other hand, they’re seeing advertisers take harder looks at how their money is spent. And yet somehow that puts media companies in an opportune position — at least the ones that are able to find leverage by leveraging the platforms against one another, reducing their reliance where possible and staking out their singularities. As these companies attempt to navigate the various incentives at play, what better place to be than in the front row at Digiday and with Hollywood as the backdrop?”

Welcome to Digiday, Tim.

The post Digiday welcomes Tim Peterson as senior reporter appeared first on Digiday.

Seven years after Moven came out with its Mint-like budgeting app and debit card, it’s establishing a joint venture with Japanese financial services giant SBI Holdings. The goal: To buy a bank.

The U.S. company is about to cross five million users globally this year, said CEO Brett King, who has plans to make Moven the first real U.S. challenger bank, a startup with a banking license, which would be called MovenBank. The U.S. is rife with “neobanks,” similar companies like Simple, Varo Money and Chime that have a partner bank in the background. But the FDIC hasn’t issued new banking licenses since 2008 and the Community Reinvestment Act requires that banks have branches. Until the OCC Fintech Charter comes out, there isn’t a regulatory framework for challenger banks in the U.S.

Banks buying startups isn’t anything new. But for financial technology startups, looking to scale or for a license to take deposits, buying a bank it’s a faster route to market than other solutions.

Moven is in talks with “a couple” of small banks with about two branches and healthy balance sheets about a potential acquisition in which the banks continue to run the branches and Moven focuses on the digital banking product.

Read the full story on tearsheet.co

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