Digital media companies are evolving advertising offerings for demographic connections
Change is the only constant the digital publishing industry knows. Beyond the evolution of content online, we’re seeing a variety of changes coming to the digital advertising side of digital publishing. Today we’re looking at some digital media companies that are entering new territories.
Our first story begins Buzzfeed and its new foray into placing digital advertisements on its site. Business Insider reports, “BuzzFeed has decided to run banner ads — the ubiquitous, clickable square and rectangle ads that appear all over the internet — after years of talking them down.”
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The article continues with the progression of native advertising online and its relationship with digital media companies. “So-called “native” ads should look and feel like the websites they appear on (think a Promoted Tweet). They should be custom to that site and that advertiser. Ideally, in BuzzFeed’s view, web ads should be actual “content” that people enjoy and might even want to share, like “9 Simple Things You Can Do For the Crazy School Week Ahead” which looks much like any other post on BuzzFeed, only it’s brought to you by Target.”
“But there was always the question about whether such hand-crafted ads could scale enough to build an entire media business around, particularly one that is set to get public at a valuation in the billions.”
“That explains BuzzFeed reversing course, and fully embracing programmatic advertising, including highly targeted, data-driven ads and classic banners, as Business Insider reported. Those are the same kind of ads former BuzzFeed president and Cheddar founder Jon Steinberg once called a “completely broken product” a few years back.”
Our next story comes from digital publisher Galore, which uses untraditional forms of digital advertising to reach its target audience of young women, 16-24 years old. According to Business Insider, “When the digital-media company Galore talks to prospective advertisers, it tries to sell them on its social-media network, its ability to make content for brands, its relationship with influencers, and its track record of producing events. It barely bothers selling them paid ads.”
“Galore Media says traditional ads just don’t work for Gen Z, the 70 million people born between 1996 and 2010.”
The article continues by looking at the strategy used by Galore. “As an alternative, Galore operates as a specialist agency for its advertisers, helping them make ads, distribute content (videos and photos), and reach a community through a number of outlets.”
Our final story comes from Marketing Week, looking at some magazines that are working with digital ads while combining them with print. “‘Gift Like An Editor’ was developed as an umbrella concept, which saw the editors of Hearst titles Country Living, Elle, Esquire, Harper’s Bazaar and Red, each curate the most relevant Not On The High Street gifts for their readers. All of the products were also photographed by Hearst’s content studio, to ensure it fitted in with each individual brand.”
“And this tailored approach seemingly paid off. The brand claims it saw a 100% increase in shopper basket size, made £358,000 in revenue from the ‘Gift Like An Editor’ campaign product sales, and reached over 2.5 million people on social media.”
Are you among the digital media companies looking for different ways to market and sell your content on the internet? If so, set up a time to chat with us. We’ve helped dozens of major digital media companies develop their brands online, and we can help your digital publishing brand evolve too.
