• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, February 25, 2010

Russell Nuzzo of Rapp argues publishers have to stop worrying and learn to love using offline data to better optimize content and advertising. "The concern of publishers is the voice of fear, fear of the unknown and it's not grounded in concrete reality," he said. "Good context is more valuable than bad context; what I fundamentally believe is that publisherss who have better context for ads will be paid better."

Paul McLenaghan of TargusINFO seconded that point. He said some publishers are still living with the paradigm that the only data is the publisher data and advertising data "and I think that really leaves them behind the 8-ball." He warns publishers have to be willing to incorporate as much data as possible or risk getting left behind. Of course, not a big surprise that he would take that line as a vendor. What about trying to avoid drowning in complexity, like Rashid preached in the morning keynote?