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Publish To A Plaform Or Perish
It’s a twist on the adage, but today it seems — at least on the surface — that publishers only have one option: publish direct to platforms or perish. At least, that’s the narrative being pushed by some of the biggest companies online these days. The squeeze may be on, but publishers seem to be swimming against the tide of popular opinion and waking up to the idea that they’re better off without platforms like Facebook, Medium, and Google.
Some of the comments made in recent interviews (below) provide a prescient warning to others who may be sitting on the sidelines watching how things like AMP and Facebook Articles play out before migrating content of their own.
With one click of an algorithm switch, brands could find themselves going from social platform darling to obscurity. The threat, however, real or imagined, has to be at the top of most publisher’s minds these days.
Plenty of publishers are speaking anonymously to trade publications. Here are a few less than stellar reviews:
— “Publishers are caught between a rock and a hard place. Do what the big platforms command, or go their way and see their audience reduce to a level where agencies aren’t interested.” (Digiday)
— “If you continue to over rely on external platforms to build new audiences you could easily lose large swathes of once dependable traffic.” (Digiday)
— “Publishers who are critical of AMP were reluctant to speak publicly about their frustrations, or to remove their AMP content. One executive said he would not comment on the record for fear that Google might “turn some knob that hurts the company.” (WSJ)
Of course, some publishers are loving the opportunity AMP and Instant Articles are providing them, but it’s not all roses either and it’s important to weigh those things on the advertising scale.
On the one hand, you can extend your reach in a hurry (though some would argue that you aren’t extending your audience), and on the other, you lose control of your revenue streams. It’s a chicken and egg scenario that’s hard to break out of today.
What’s most important? I guess that depends on perspective, but if I had to make the decisions today? Well, I’d lean towards financial freedom. Increasingly it’s looking like the best way forward for publishers is a focused audience, direct sales to advertisers, and streamlined placement strategy that respects a reader’s experience (and privacy).
AdTech News And Editorial
Google AMP Gets Mixed Reviews From Publishers
In recent months Google has begun including many more links to stripped-down AMP pages in its mobile search results. This has directed more traffic to those AMP pages and less to publishers’ full mobile websites. Google said in a Sept. 21 blog post that AMP search results would be introduced across search engine results pages worldwide “in the coming weeks.”
When Programmatic Should Really Mean Automatic
Conflating programmatic and automatic has been something the industry has done for years. When we talk programmatic, at least at BuySellAds, we think automation. If publishers are going to start recapturing their lost influence, it's going to begin by embracing automation tools that let them streamline direct sales processes. It's already happening at a lot of media companies. Timothy Whitfield is right; we need to start talking more about automation and focusing a little bit less on "programmatic".
Programmatic and Native: A Perfect Match
Because native ads adopt a consistent look with surrounding content, they can deliver a better, more engaging user experience to customers whose primary focus is to engage with the editorial content. While native drives strong engagement rates, those interactions can have greater value if they come from viewers who are in your desired audience.
The Story About AI In Ad Tech Is Mostly Fiction
"We are seeing a trend in which deep learning is equated with AI, and some companies are claiming their platforms are “AI-driven.” To clarify, we’re still a few years away from AI taking over marketing automation. What we see now is improved machine-learning techniques and better automation of some manual steps in advertising workflow."
Weather Channel's Neil Katz: Platforms 'have the power' -- for now
Advertising money has always followed the people. People are leaving behind publishing websites for aggregation platforms that provide more breadth than a publisher ever can. But ,things change, and thanks to some fine reporting during this election season (US), people are starting to recognize the value of real journalism again. If I was a betting man, I'd bet on publishers gaining a second wind shortly.
Ad industry morale drops 36% from 2015, says Campaign US survey
“Anything worth doing, is worth doing right.” -- Hunter S. Thompson. The things that are worth doing are often complicated. It's not really all that surprising that morale is down across the industry when you consider we've spent most of this year talking about fraud in the industry.
If 2016 was the year of ad fraud and privacy abuses, 2017 can certainly be the year we get this whole thing back on track.
Better Business Bureaus Add Standards for Native Advertising
Hammering down 'native' is almost as complicated as hammering down Jello these days. The word carries a lot of nuanced meaning depending who you talk to these days. The fact that so many people and companies are keen on hammering out standards is a clear indication that native and custom advertising is the future. That future is already here.
'Caught between a rock and a hard place': Publishers confess their biggest concerns
It’s a tough time for publishers. While the rise of social media platforms has made it possible to reach large new audiences fast, it comes at a cost. Publishers no longer have sole control of their audience data on platforms like Facebook and Snapchat, and many fear being too dependent on Facebook to grow.