Premium publishers in the news: Bloomberg, Hearst, and more; plus, native ads not a cure-all
There are are premium publishers, and then there is premium publisher’s content, and you don’t have to be the former to have the latter.
This is important to understand, particularly if you’re ad-driven. Why? Because premium content can make you more revenue. Yet more research has surfaced showing placement of digital ads near better multiplatform content improves viewability.
We have that news today, relayed from MediaPost, which also sends word of Twitter publisher video, native advertising, and the latest big hire at Hearst. Let’s get right to it!
Premium Publishers’ Content Benefits Digital Advertising
More reinforcement for placing digital ads near premium publishers’ content, MediaPost reports.
“According to comScore, display ads appearing on DCN member sites showed brand lift 67% higher than non-DCN publishers on average, at 0.89 versus 0.53. The study also found that ads appearing on premium publishers are over three times as effective at raising favorable brand perceptions, consideration, and intent to recommend, all “mid-funnel” metrics important to established consumer brands; here the DCN publishers led non-DCN publishers by 1.87 to 0.51,” Erik Sass writes.
“ComScore attributed some of the increase in ad effectiveness to simple higher viewability on premium sites, with DCN sites having an average viewability rating of 50%, compared to 45% for the non-DCN sites. The study pointed out that this may correspond to differences between ads bought directly versus ads bought programmatically, which have average viewability ratings of 55% and 42%, respectively. ComScore also noted that the DCN sites had a lower volume of invalid traffic (including fraudulent bot traffic), at 2.2% of total traffic compared to 3.5% for non-DCN publishers.”
Twitter for Publishers: Bloomberg Live Streaming
Bloomberg has struck a deal with Twitter to live stream video content, MediaPost reports.
“Twitter is continuing its evolution from a ‘microblog’ to a multichannel online media platform with the addition of live streaming video, and Bloomberg Media is among the first big publishers to leverage the new capabilities. A new partnership is bringing Bloomberg TV programs to Twitter,” Sass writes.
“In addition to the content-sharing agreement, Bloomberg and Twitter will share advertising revenue from ads sold against the content, according to Ad Age, which first reported this part of the deal.”
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Native Advertising Content Not Panacea for Publishers
Native is not the end all be all, as erstwhile Dell exec and now Visa Head of Content Stephanie Losee tells MediaPost.
“I used to think bespoke native would be the savior of traditional publishers that were trying to find new pay models in the post disintermediation-of-media era. But I now recognize that it’s just a piece of the puzzle. It’s far too labor-intensive on both the publisher side and the brand side; it simply doesn’t scale in the way a genuine solution to the problem needs to scale, and in the way traditional advertising used to support investigative journalism,” Losee told Tobi Elkin.
“Research tells us that consumers still don’t understand what publishers and brands are doing when they publish native content. Even when the content is clearly labeled, the non-standardized nomenclature confuses people. I hate to think that we need to impose standardized terms on publishers, because one of the favorites of regulators is ‘sponsored advertising content,’ which I abhor, but I think we have to consider the possibility that it may be necessary in order to restore trust.”
Hearst Hires Brand Solutions VP
Jason Kleinman is Hearst’s new vice president of brand solutions, MediaPost reports.
What can premium publishers do to attract more digital advertisers? Share your thoughts in the comments.
To read about the trends informing premium publishers’ plans, visit MediaPost.
