How publishers are handling issues like cross-device advertising, blocking, and native content
If you’ve solved cross-device advertising, you probably don’t need to be visiting the Mequoda website for free advice. If you’re still experimenting and developing solutions, however, join the club: Even the most successful publishers don’t have all of the answers when it comes to mobile metrics and ad revenue, let alone the other hurdles that hop up along the way.
We found a few recent articles on Digiday that touch on this topic and more. Let’s take a look.
Cross-Device Advertising: Is Targeting Truly Possible?
The debate over mobile monetizaton continues.
“Imagine a world in which advertisers can seamlessly serve data-driven ads to the right user at the right time across channels and devices,” writes LiveRail Head of Client Services Vijay Balan. “Publishers, partnering with third-party data partners, layer extra data over their unique viewer profiles and get a clear look at who their audiences actually are, allowing their advertisers to get the targeted results of their dreams. … Now wake up. Look around. Is that how it really works? We didn’t think so.”
Of course, elsewhere on the Digiday site, you can find sponsored content from Marin Software touting a white paper on cross-device targeting in a post headline “Screens, Screens, and More Screens.” It promises lessons on matching methodology, mobile ad exchanges, leveraging the popularity of devices, and a bunch of best practices.
So, clearly the jury’s still out on how best to handle cross-device advertising and targeting, or whether it can be handled at all – depending on your perspective and business pitch.
At Mequoda, we believe that you can make money on mobile with or without advertising: Download our free Multiplatform Publishing Strategy Handbook today for our take on generating revenue with higher-quality, more smartly distributed content.
Ever Wonder How Digital Magazines Like Wired Handle Ad Blocking?
That’s not to say that even if you do figure out cross-device advertising, you’re in the clear. Ad blocking is another headache for publishers, brands, and media planners. Some respond with heavy-handed tactics like content stinginess and relentless ad roll-out. Others take a “softer, more diplomatic approach by appealing to readers’ morality,” Ricardo Bilton writes in Digiday.
[text_ad]
Wired, for instance, is asking its readers to “‘Please do us a solid and disable your ad blocker. Thanks for supporting Wired!”
Think it’ll work? The better your content, the better chance you’ll have of answering “yes” to that question.
The About.com Strategy on Native Content
About.com is maximizing its “explainer” model to establish a new in-house content studio, Digiday reports. Idea Studios will be composed of eight team members emphasizing data in About.com-style sponsored content. Clients include Disney, Symantec, and Walgreens, according to Digiday. Since 1997, About.com has published more than 3.5 million articles, Bilton writes, and sees more than 80% of its traffic originate from search.
Are you currently tackling cross-device advertising as part of your revenue model? Let us know how it’s going in the comments!
To read more about cross-device advertising in the news, visit Digiday.
