• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, July 31, 2024

Publishers are not faring well in today’s digital economy. The proof is in the continuing newsroom layoffs and the siphoning off of ad revenues by third-party platforms that function as news distributors. 

Then there are the addressability issues like the loss of established signals via Apple’s App Tracking Transparency and lack of visibility into advertisers’ audience data. 

But there are ways of dealing with such challenges, according to Addressability In The New Digital Landscape, a paper by PubMatic. 

The paper offers five strategies for building addressability strategies.

Publisher First-Party Data: Monetizing Authenticated Traffic--The common sources of first-party data are: 

- Registration and Login Systems 

- Website Analytics and Content Engagement 

- Email Marketing 

- Mobile Apps 

(On another front, the paper notes that there are “dozens of alternative IDs in the market, including LiveRamp’s RampID and The Trade Desk’s Unified ID 2.0, that can be used to scale and enrich a publisher’s first-party data”). 

Publishing Second-Party Data: Putting Advertising Data to Work — Publishers can work with clients on data collaboration, including audience matching, campaign measurement, or advanced analytics.

Publisher Third-Party Data: A Privacy First Path Forward — Third-party data is here to stay, but the sources must be built in a privacy-first way.  That means third-party data partners must be reputable and adhere to all privacy standards. In addition, they should bring dimension that reflect rising consumer behaviors.

Publisher Contextual Data: Increasing Relevance Through Relevance — Contextual allows brands to “deliver targeted advertising that is non-intrusive and, when done right, a valuable enhancement to a user’s content experience,” the paper says. It adds that  “69% of consumers are more likely to look at an ad if it is relevant to the content they are viewing,” the paper says.  

Addressing Industry Shifts: Embracing New Open Web Standards—Publishers may feel less in control of their destinies in today’s digital ecosystem. But they can take measures to position themselves for the future. For instance, they should support and not try to circumvent Google’s Privacy Sandbox and initiatives by other digital platforms. 

Add it all up, and publishers  have “a unique opportunity to better position themselves within the advertising ecosystem,” says Jaan Janes, vice president of publisher partnerships at PubMatic.