Paolo Gaudiano

Articles by Paolo All articles by Paolo

• 7 Reasons Why It Sucks To Be A Publisher in Publishing Insider on 09/23/2016
  

  These days, online publishing has become a tough business. Competition for the reader's attention is fierce, business models are falling apart, trust is eroding -- the list goes on. If you feel like commiserating with fellow publishers at your next networking event, or if you want to explain to your loved ones why you are losing hair prematurely, here is a handy-dandy list of reasons you can cite.

• Sponsored Content And Editorial Integrity in Publishing Insider on 09/01/2016
  

  Worrying that sponsored content will erode reader trust is as if Captain Edward John Smith of the Titanic had run around on the upper deck worrying about open portholes, after an iceberg had ripped open the side of his sinking ship.

• Not Tonight, Honey, I Have A Headache in Publishing Insider on 08/25/2016
  

  Timing, as they say, is everything. This age-old saying appears to have been completely forgotten in today's digital world: If you ask online publishers and advertisers when is the best time to reach a reader with a promotional message, the answer seems to be "any time." And this, in my opinion, is the most egregious mistake that publishers are making in the way they treat their readers.

• Can Micropayments Help The Publishing Industry? in Publishing Insider on 07/07/2016
  

  Micropayments for publishing have been the subject of significant debate for a number of years, garnering a combination of staunch supporters and loud critics. In general, supporters think that micropayments will encourage readers to pay for content that they find valuable.

• The ANA Is Adding Insult To Injury in Publishing Insider on 06/15/2016
  

  For the past few days I've had the pleasure of participating in the Advertising Research Foundation's 2016 Audience Measurement conference. While my overall experience has been great, the conference was off to a bad start for me. The closing session on Sunday afternoon, titled "Ad Fraud & Blocking: The Industry Update from the Front Lines," featured several industry luminaries, including Bob Liodice, president and CEO of the Association of National Advertisers (ANA). During that session, Liodice managed to rankle me -- not once but twice.

• The Hypocrisy Of The Transparency Debate in Publishing Insider on 06/09/2016
  

  After a few months of relative quiet, the issue of transparency is once again rearing its ugly head, thanks to a recent report by the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) titled "An Independent Study of Media Transparency in the U.S. Advertising Industry." Not surprisingly, the report has generated a lot of noise in the industry, and advertisers are once again up in arms about what they perceive to be shady, if not outright illegitimate business practices on the part of agencies. While I would not condone illegitimate business practices, I find the outrage to be highly hypocritical and, frankly, pretty silly.

• How To Understand And Target Reader Behavior in Publishing Insider on 05/26/2016
  

  Online publishers capture amazing amounts of data about their readers. As a student of consumer behavior, I see a great opportunity to use the data in a novel way: try to identify and categorize patterns of behaviors, and then use a combination of performance data and possibly some neuromarketing experiments to figure out when and where readers are most likely to be receptive to advertising.

• Not Tonight, Honey, I Have A Headache in Publishing Insider on 05/12/2016
  

  Timing, as they say, is everything. This age-old saying appears to have been completely forgotten in today's digital world: If you ask online publishers and advertisers when is the best time to reach a reader with a promotional message, the answer seems to be "any time." And this, in my opinion, is the most egregious mistake that publishers are making in the way they treat their readers.

• The Future Of Video Ads Starts Today! in Publishing Insider on 04/26/2016
  

  A few months ago I wrote a post in which I argued that 30-second and 60-second video ads, especially when they cannot be skipped, are a terrible idea because they are considered the most annoying ad format, and because I don't believe you need that much time to get your point across. This should be of great concern to publishers, because ad annoyance causes readers to leave and to be annoyed with the publication, not with the brand. Since that time, three things have happened that give me hope that I am not alone in my views.

• Why The Ad-Supported Model Will Destroy Online Publishing in Publishing Insider on 04/22/2016
  

  The online publishing industry is in a state of major turmoil; the relationships that bind advertisers, publishers and readers are increasingly tense and adversarial. I believe that the ad-supported business model is the root problem of online publishing, which will destroy online publishing as we know it today.

Comments by Paolo All comments by Paolo

• Adblock Nonplus by Joe Mandese (RTBlog on 07/08/2016)
  

  I wrote a post about this very topic three days ago right here on MediaPost: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/279794/can-micropayments-help-the-publishing-industry.html In a nutshell: the "plus" version tracks how much time a user spends on each site, and then the user's monthly allotment is automatically distributed to those sites. This is the model that Tipsy created, and it removes the need for users to click Flattr buttons. The combination of the click-free model and the AdBlock Pus distribution is really promising, it could give Flattr the boost it needs to become a serious opportunity.

• The ANA Is Adding Insult To Injury by Paolo Gaudiano (Publishing Insider on 06/15/2016)
  

  Just read a great, relevant article that clearly points out why the advertisers should take a good part of the blame for driving agencies into a financially untenable situation. Highly recommended: http://bit.ly/263Rv85

• The ANA Is Adding Insult To Injury by Paolo Gaudiano (Publishing Insider on 06/15/2016)
  

  @Philip - sorry, but this is totally irrelevant. A principal-agent relationship in financial services is a completely different beast, heavily regulated, with specific legal language. No such language or oversight exists in the advertising world, because the situation is totally different. And oh, by the way - ever heard of high-frequency trading? And do you know that asset managers are paid a fee proportional to the money invested? Agencies used to do that, but then advertisers complained and shut that model down. Asset managers do not get scrutinized by their clients at the micro-level, or are they asked to justify their fees. It is a value-based transaction, and if an asset manager gets poor returns, the clients will take their money elsewhere. Why shouldn't advertisers focus on that? How about: pay me $X, I will generate ROI Y. If I fail, take your business elsewhere. Now advertisers they complain about "kickbacks" and "conflicts of interest.' I am SURE there are a few cases of that. But asking for preferential treatment from the sell side, or leveraging aggregation to get discounts and rebates are NOT counter to the interest of the client, unless you want to claim that every penny of profit should go to the client. Why? Which single member of these task forces can claim to have transparency in their offering? Which of them never takes advantage of their size to get favorable deals from their suppliers? Advertisers need to grow up. They are ruining the online experience, and they are focusing on the wrong things. What the ANA is doing is just going to alienate yet another group of people. Maybe someday they can screw the consumers, screw the agencies, screw the publishers, and just sell stuff directly to one another.

• The ANA Is Adding Insult To Injury by Paolo Gaudiano (Publishing Insider on 06/15/2016)
  

  @Ed - Bob's comments were squarely aimed at digital advertising, not TV. But regardless of the relative merit of specific tradeoffs, do you not see how unimaginative it is? Why not think of something truly different. Like doing a study to find out what types of ads and at what points of the experience people really hate, and getting rid of those? Or exploring micropayment options? Or creating a consortium of publishers that allow individuals to pay a modest fee and have access to some number of items across all publications in the consortium? Why is it that today, even though I PAY for NYT subscription I still get ads when I go to their site? And AdAge bombards me with an interstitial asking to subscribe to their newsletters, even when I got to their site by clicking a link in their newsletter to which I subscribe? What made me sick was his opening remark about having to pay attention to the consumer and give them choices. What attention??? What choices???

• The ANA Is Adding Insult To Injury by Paolo Gaudiano (Publishing Insider on 06/15/2016)
  

  @Paula - good job making your point clear without ad-speak :-). Yes, the cost of fixing this is going to surpass by far what it would have cost to think about it ahead of time...

• Less-Interruptive Ad Formats May Lead To Less Ad Blocking by Tobi Elkin (RTBlog on 06/09/2016)
  

  Tobi, thank you for another interesting story. Craig, I too was perplexed as to how this differs from your original format. I understand that it's in-line instead of hover-over. But does the inline content appear (perhaps shifting editorial content aside) in response to user actions, or is it somehow always there?Also, one thing that I found so annoying about the original Vibrant/Kontera format was the fact that it was activated even if I simply passed my mouse over a word. Is it possible with your new format for instance to have the text visibly change color or get highlighted, but no promotiona content appears UNLESS I the click or tap? Otehrwise my suspsicion is that people will still find it really annoying and will quickly learn go navigate around the tagged words.

• How To Understand And Target Reader Behavior by Paolo Gaudiano (Publishing Insider on 05/26/2016)
  

  Thanks for the comment, Henry. Google has been pushing the idea of "micro-moments" for some time, and it does appear that some of this will be included in the GA360 capabilities. However, Google doing this will probably not translate into publishers placing fewer ads at more opportune times. Also, having read several articles by Google about micro-moments, my sense is that they are doing something different, which is still heavily data driven. Nonetheless, Google has made it clear that they do care about not annoying their own site visitors, so there is some hope...

• Taboola Crosses 1 Billion User Mark, Second Only To Facebook by Tobi Elkin (Real-Time Daily on 05/16/2016)
  

  Somehow, saying that Taboola's reach is second only to Facebook, is like Trojan saying that the number of relationships they create is only second to match.com...

• Sex And The Smoking Gun by Bob Garfield (Garfield at Large on 05/23/2016)
  

  Bob - every week, as soon as I see you posted something new, I rush to read it because I know that even at your most acrid, you always manage to provide some gems. This time I have to say I am disturbed and disappointed. I should have known from your opening line: "Let's do have a trial by media." Is this your idea of journalism?I don't know the parties directly involved with this litigation, and I have pretty good record of supporting diversity in the workplace and in society at large. The kind of vitriolic garbage you just produced is counterproductive, because it just creates hatred and polarization, and is a breeding ground for bigotry and prejudice.It is clear that there is somehting going on, and that this situation deserves to be investigated, if nothing else because of its impact on the lives of several people. It should be equally clear that, especially when forced into the media spotlight, any defendant will attempt to discredit the plaintiff.Shame on you for using such a delicate topic to create sensationalism. Your insensitivity is painful to those of us who truly care about these issues.

• Not Tonight, Honey, I Have A Headache by Paolo Gaudiano (Publishing Insider on 05/12/2016)
  

  @Bob - I totally agree with you. Unfortunately the notion of just-in-time has been perverted to any-time. And ultimately that kills relevance and annoys the reader, to everyone's detriment.

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