What do you get when you combine powers of programmatic, native ads? Hearst is hoping for higher revenue. Plus, news on ad blocking and Google.
Lots of news on the ad tech side of the industry, which really shouldn’t come as news, given all of the advancements happening on what seems like a weekly basis from publishers, vendors, and search & social giants. For instance, if you thought marketers and publishers would leave programmatic and native ads in their separate camps and call it a day, you were mistaken. Meet the programmatic native model, currently being showcased by Hearst!
Also in the works: Ad blocking solutions, including a summit from the IAB and more from Google in the effort to solidify their hold on digital advertising. MediaPost has it all handled to start the week. Let’s get to it!
Hearst’s New Programmatic Native Product With Core Audience Group
Hearst has another arrow in its quiver, a programmatic native service that represents a commitment to digital advertising revenue in the future, MediaPost reports.
“In late March, Hearst announced it was rolling out a native digital ad product to all 84 of its markets. The product will be combined with programmatic buying. Hearst’s Core Audience Group is a digital network of content and audiences that connects advertisers to audiences at scale using programmatic technologies and data,” Tobi Elkin writes.
“The Group is comprised of three teams within Hearst: Hearst Exchange, powered by Core Audience, a premium programmatic marketplace that houses all of Hearst’s premium inventory; a Programmatic Services Group that provides campaign support for all programmatic activity within Hearst; and Audience Solutions, which offers data and creative solutions to continue to engage customers beyond an initial campaign. … For a publisher like Hearst with premium content and a direct sales force, does programmatic native threaten direct sales? Mike Smith, SVP, advertising platforms, core audience at Hearst, said that concern is ‘understandable, but misguided,’ adding that if programmatic replaces any particular position, it would be ad operations.”
IAB Summit to Address Ad Blocking, User Experience
The Interactive Advertising Bureau continues to rally around a response to ad blocking, and now they’ve organized a summit taking place in June, MediaPost reports.
“Ad blockers – which cost publishers something like $22 billion in 2015, according to a study from Adobe and PageFair – are often seen as a symptom of a bad user experience. People use blockers, many in the industry say, because they are protecting their UX from slow-loading page times or distracting, irrelevant ads. Some industry members say the solution is better creative,” Felicia Greiff writes.
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“Mark Thompson, president and CEO of The New York Times, will deliver the conference keynote. Other speakers at the invite-only event include Jed Hartman, CRO, The Washington Post; Mark Howard, CRO, Forbes; David Morris, CRO, CBS Interactive; and Mike Smith, SVP-revenue platforms and operations, Hearst Magazines Digital Media, and SVP-advertising platforms, core audience, Hearst Corporation. … IAB CEO Randall Rothenberg stated that putting user experience first is ‘crucial in maintaining the open, ad-supported Web and its wealth of free news, information and entertainment offerings.'”
Can New Ad Unit Help Marketers, Publishers Dodge Block Ad Blockers?
Speaking of ad blocking programs, brands like Jeep are touting InSkin Media as an effective way to fly under their radar, but MediaPost is skeptical in the absence of data bearing that out (at least for now).
“The idea is that while it takes up the slice of the screen at the top and to the right, it doesn’t cover any content and so should not frustrate users enough to install an ad blocker. In fact, the digital advertising company goes as far as to suggest that because it doesn’t appear to interfere with the content frame, it is a viable means of getting around ad blockers,” Sean Hargrave writes.
“The big metric that Jeep and InSkin Media are talking up is a claim that they got an average in-view time of 43 seconds. It’s not entirely surprising because – let’s face it – if you’ve got a compelling piece of content, a thin skyscraper leading up to a thin banner is likely to be in view for a long time. Nevertheless, the figures are impressive and any brand looking at building awareness on mobile would find them to be of interest.”
Google Trying Out Exchange Bidding With Double Click
On the march toward mobile dominance, Google is now experimenting with dynamic allocation and exchange bidding, MediaPost reports.
“Google has begun testing exchange bidding in DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP) allowing other partners that a publisher might work with to compete for impressions by making real-time bids through a feature called dynamic allocation. The move will eventually allow Google to better support the real-time bidding process on the mobile Web and in mobile apps,” Laurie Sullivan writes.
“Dynamic allocation in DFP allows Ad Exchange to compete in real-time with line items booked in DFP as either remnant or guaranteed advertising inventory. It automatically determines the best ad to serve at the best price. Now when the request comes into DFP, Google will simultaneously accept Ad Exchange programmatic buyers and other exchanges the publisher chooses to work with.”
Do you have experience with programmatic native advertising? Tell us about it in the comments!
To read more about programmatic native news and other industry trends, visit MediaPost.
