Ongoing signal loss is driving marketers, agencies, and platforms to turn to supply-side advertising. By using first-party data from publishers and platforms, supply-side advertising has the potential to deliver high-quality audience and context for more effective ad targeting.
The supply-side refers to the publishers and platforms that sell advertising inventory. These companies have access to first-party data about their users, which can be used to target ads more effectively. By tapping into supply-side advertising, you can overcome the challenges of signal loss and target ads more effectively.
To shed light on this topic, we hosted a panel discussion at Cannes, featuring industry leaders from Audigent, Captify, Newsweek, Pubmatic, Truthset, and Experian.
In this blog post, we’ll explore how partnerships between supply-side channels and publishers are working to enhance advertising opportunities while balancing the need for transparency and control in programmatic ad buying.
Shift toward supply-side advertising
Traditionally, the demand-side dominated the programmatic media buying chain due to an abundance of supply. However, with the emergence of finite data and its interpretation, collaboration between supply-side technology companies and publishers is required to redefine these economics.
It’s no longer sufficient for the demand-side to blindly negotiate prices based on limited knowledge. Marketers can still define their target audience, but effective communication is key. This presents an opportunity for premium journalistic outlets to guide the industry’s understanding of how data from the supply-side impacts media buying economics in the future.
“Supply-side technology partnerships with publishers are now in a position to shape the economics of programmatic media buying as there is a finite amount of data. It’s crucial for supply-side technology companies to collaborate with publishers to shape these new economics. This presents an opportunity for premium journalistic outlets to provide guidance on how data from the supply-side can affect the future of media buying.”
matthew papa, svp, business & corporate development, captify
Democratizing data from the supply-side
Cookies haven’t brought significant benefits to premium publishers. They mainly serve to retarget users from sites like The Wall Street Journal to advertising sites. This approach primarily serves the purpose of generating revenue.
The elimination of third-party cookies presents an opportunity for premium publishers to shift this dynamic. By using their knowledge of first-party audiences, and using identifiers like Experian’s LUID, publishers can own and understand their audience data, which can then be modeled.
Here’s how publishers can win
Establishing a connection with consumers and emphasizing the value exchange is essential to building trust. Determining what incentives and benefits consumers find meaningful will be crucial in gaining their opt-in.
With consumers
The Apple tracking transparency initiative, specifically the deprecation of IDFA signals, had significant implications for mobile app developers. Overnight, opt-in rates plummeted, causing a drastic decline in iOS ad monetization. To combat this, developers focused on demonstrating the value exchange to consumers—better ad experiences and personalized content.
By articulating the benefits over a couple of years, opt-in rates increased from 10-15% to 30-40%. The key takeaway is the need to effectively communicate the value exchange to consumers.
With partners
Trust plays a crucial role in planning your first-party data strategy. Publishers, advertisers, and data partners highly value their proprietary data. However, there are concerns about how it’s used, mishandled, or leaked in the ecosystem. Building trust between partners is essential. It’s important to work with trustworthy partners who are agnostic, committed to innovative solutions, and globally oriented. These partners can help navigate the complexities of laws and regulations. Choosing the right partners is crucial in a world where first-party data is a key asset.
“Power is shifting toward brands that have strong relationships with customers and possess first-party data. As the ownership of customer data becomes more important, it is crucial to establish a first-party data strategy to better serve customers and adapt to changing market dynamics.”
chip russo, president, truthset
Balance probabilistic and deterministic data
Focus on building trust with consumers and collaborating with reliable companies to share data. However, it’s important to remember that achieving a 100% opt-in rate is unlikely.
The cookie, which has become omnipresent, requires us to shift our strategic thinking. We need to consider both deterministic and probabilistic approaches instead of viewing them as mutually exclusive. The landscape will be fragmented, with some consumers opting in and others not.
“Probabilistic and predictive audience data holds immense potential. With the power of AI, we can expect enhanced performance and efficacy in media campaigns. At Audigent, we firmly believe that this data will outperform deterministic data, making it an integral part of our strategy.”
drew stein, ceo, audigent
Premium content
Trust plays a crucial role in leading to premium content. By placing trust in the best media brands, data, and technology partners, we can expect to see improvements in media, journalism, and advertising. This shift may have a direct impact on the long tail of free natural resources, making it more challenging for them to thrive. However, this change is ultimately beneficial since it promotes higher-quality media experiences overall.
“The homepage surface is making a comeback in the publishing industry, proving its value in establishing a direct connection with readers. While we acknowledge the importance of technology partnerships for addressability and identity, our core competency as a publisher remains outstanding journalism that captures and engages great audiences.”
kevin gentzel, cco, newsweek
Watch our Cannes panel for more on supply-side advertising
We hosted a panel in Cannes that covered supply-side advertising. Check out the full recording below to hear what leaders from Audigent, Captify, Newsweek, Pubmatic, Truthset, and Experian had to say.
Check out more Cannes content:
- Our key takeaways from Cannes Lions 2023
- Insights from a first-time attendee
- Four new marketing strategies for 2023
- Exploring the opportunities in streaming TV advertising
- The future of identity in cookieless advertising
Follow us on LinkedIn or sign up for our email newsletter for more informative content on the latest industry insights and data-driven marketing.
Contact us today
Latest posts
Welcome! Who doesn’t like a warm welcome? Whether your customer is walking into your store or just signed up on your website to receive communications from you, she expects a warm reception. It’s important to make that first impression count. A welcome series helps the conversation open up between the customer and your brand. It sets expectations on the types and cadence of content the customer will receive. Welcome emails also garner 86 percent higher open rates than regular promotional mailings – not too shabby! In a recent webinar, Saks Fifth Avenue shared that they are constantly testing new and current programs to optimize the customer experience. As a result, they discovered that switching from batch-sending welcome emails to sending welcome messages in real time increased open, click and redemption rates significantly. Here’s an example of their welcome series: Saks’ results are consistent with Experian Marketing Services’ welcome email findings which indicate that emails triggered in real time receive up to 10 times the transaction rates and revenue per email vs. those that are batched. A welcome series has also been shown to increase retention by educating customers on new ways to use products and services they’ve purchased from your brand. These emails also can remind customers of the benefits they’ll reap from enrolling in your loyalty programs or credit card. … and welcome back Even if a customer has been welcomed and has interacted with your programs, a day may come when the customer goes silent. Reactivation campaigns are an effective way to get them to re-engage. Naturally, it’s important to target your dormant customers in a variety of channels so you can reach them more effectively. Maybe you’re wondering why I jumped from the warmth of a welcome series right into reality of needing a reactivation campaign. The reason? Marketers need to understand where a customer is in their lifecycle and come full circle with customers if they have parted ways. Marketers can pique the interest of a returning customer by telling them what’s new and reintroducing them to their brand. Carnival® Cruise Lines, for example, sends a welcome-back email that features the newest social networks, offers and deals its customers can take advantage of immediately. At the end of the day, customers expect to receive relevant and engaging messages throughout their entire relationship with a brand. Customer life cycle programs deliver just that. If you’re interested in learning more about welcome campaigns, waitlist/back-in-stock programs and other remarketing strategies, check out our webcast, Driving revenue through customer lifecycle marketing featuring Josh Pratt, Director of Email & Promotions for Saks Fifth Avenue and Saks Fifth Avenue OFF 5TH. Contact us today
It seems that every time I go into a store today, I am offered a loyalty card. From one of my favorite local restaurants to my shoe store VIP program, I feel like I am getting a host of emails and points at every turn. Statistics support my theory: according to a recent Experian Data Quality study, 91 percent of organizations use loyalty programs. Why did they become so prevalent? Today’s consumer is more empowered than ever before and driving major change within business. In the era of Yelp, digital channels and a 24/7 shopping cycle, organizations have less control. Just look at the shoe market, which you can tell I pay attention to. It used to be that you would purchase whatever your local department store or brick-and-mortar retail had to offer, which might be 50 different options. Now, you can go online, read reviews and browse hundreds of different choices based on style and color. In fact, last night I went online and searched for black boots and scrolled through six pages of different options! Loyalty programs are a counter balance to that choice and empowered customer behavior. They make sure that while I am shopping for shoes, I am probably doing it through my preferred store and earning reward points for free merchandise. And through the loyalty process, companies are collecting a lot of data. Customers usually need to provide more than three types of information to sign up, the most popular being email, followed by name and phone number. However, collecting this information accurately isn’t always easy, which is why poor data collection is one of the leading problems for loyalty programs. Eighty-one percent of companies face challenges related to these programs, the two biggest being not enough customers signing up and poor contact data. Inaccurate data means that a customer has signed up, but the marketer is unable to communicate with them in the desired channels. This clear drop in communication and a potentially bad customer experience could be by improved data collection. Sixty-four percent of respondents say this is a needed improvement. Let’s go back to my shoe retailer example. If they had collected my email wrong, I wouldn’t get my email confirmations or offers around upcoming sales. If they got my address wrong, I wouldn’t be receiving my shoes. Considering how much money I spend on shoes annually, which I am ashamed to admit, if any of those items went wrong, I might switch to a competitor. That can equate to a lot of money annually, especially when you look at it across a large number of clients. When a customer chooses to sign up for a loyalty program, they are making a commitment to the company and expecting something in return, be it points, free shipping, coupons or just company updates. However, if bad contact information is collected, then the consumer often never receives the benefits, resulting in a bad customer experience. In the next year, marketers need to data validation in place to ensure information is accurate upon collection. This type of software can be implemented across all channels where information is collected and ensure data is accurate while the consumer is still engaged. If information is accurate when it is collected, then loyalty programs have a better chance at engaging consumers and actually seeing the benefit that a loyalty program can provide. To learn more about loyalty programs and the research mentioned above, please read our new white paper, Driving customer loyalty. Contact us today
Black Friday online traffic increased 7% in 2012 versus 2011 as the top 500 retail sites received more than 193.8 million total US visits. So far this Holiday week of online traffic to the top retail sites is up 10% on average. Online retail traffic was up 1% on Black Friday compared to Thanksgiving Day 2012 traffic this year. Amazon.com remained the top visited retail site on Black Friday while Walmart was the second most visited retail site. BestBuy moved up to the 3rd most visited site while Target was the 4th most visited site. JC Penney moved up from being the 8th most visited retail site on Thanksgiving Day to the 5th most visited on Black Friday. Among the top 5 sites, JC Penney saw the biggest day-over-day growth at 26%. Looking at the top 20 retail sites on Black Friday, the Apple Store site saw the biggest day-over-day growth at 99%. Check back for CyberMonday insight and a weekly recap of this week. Contact us today