Commentary
PubMatic CEO Rajeev Goel On Publishing And Its Blocker Problem
- by Felicia Greiff , Staff Writer, February 11, 2016
Publishing is at a crossroads right now.
Wired just asked readers to turn off blockers or subscribe. Forbes has been running an ad-blocking experiment since December. Some readers whitelist as asked, and others vow to never to read another article on the site in question. There’s a lot of passion in this issue, and a lot of money at stake, too.
When I chatted with PubMatic CEO Rajeev Goel yesterday, I wanted to get his opinion on the matter as someone who started a company that optimizes ad yield for publishers. And, of course, Goel talks about what PubMatic has been focusing on since layoffs in December. The conversation below has been lightly edited and condensed.
Real-Time Daily: Have you
used an ad blocker before (for research purposes or for fun)?
Rajeev
Goel: I haven’t used an ad blocker, but I did something similar. I turned off Flash in my browser several months ago. The reason was I found my browser was crashing
too often. I was amazed at how much faster the Web experience was as a result.
RTD: Some publishers are asking users to turn blockers off or pay. Will more publishers adopt a
subscription model?
Goel: Yeah, I think we will see that. I think we’ll also see publishers remind consumers of the value of free content... Content comes at a cost, and it’s paid for by advertising. I think there’s a generation of consumers who aren’t exactly aware of that exchange.
RTD: What has PubMatic focused on since the layoffs in December?
Goel: We saw a great opportunity to simplify our business and do a better job of monetization for our publishers and finding success for them... We’re finding success in the shift from open market RTB to programmatic direct. Advertisers are wanting to buy transparent, high-quality inventory and are doing so at scale. There's also a lot of interest in analytics. As real-time transactions grow as overall spend, we’re finding great success helping publishers understand where revenue is coming from.
Goel: Higher revenue opportunities for publishers. We’re seeing pricing in mobile exceed pricing in desktop on a regular basis. Historically its been a challenge for publishers, but the reality is they can make more money here.
RTD: Paywalls to news sites.
Goel: There's a gridlock between consumer and publisher in how to make that economic transaction work... Everyone's learning a lot right now.
Goel:Significant threat and a challenge to independent publishers. As [walled gardens] have grown in scale, they pose a real threat to how publishers organize their business and relationship to consumers.
RTD: Can you talk about trends you're seeing?
Goel: [The Tencent partnership] shows an interesting trend. Chinese companies starting to shift the focus outside China, wanting to compete on a global scale. When we think of walled gardens, there are some big ones in China...
Keep an eye out for publishers working through the extent to which they publish and share their content in third-party environments versus driving consumption to their own apps and websites.
RTD: Can you talk about any upcoming
products?
Goel: Generally, where we're finding success is in helping customers mine and understand the rich data that comes from RTB and how to prospect that data... That’s where
we’re finding interest.
I was a B2B magazine Publisher for about a dozen years. We had a "controlled" circulation -- only peopel who were qualified to receive the magazine were on our list. Our only source of revenue was paid advertising.
I realize info on the Internet is free. But you guys have a real problem: pop-up ads are irritating and hardly anyone reads banner ads. Good luck surviving. Neil Mahoney