First-party data, local focus help media companies navigate the future of monetisation

By Dorinne Hoss

Head of Marketing

Arc XP

Chicago, Illinois, USA

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As media companies shift away from traditional advertising models, they're exploring the potential for new approaches to monetisation.

At our recent Arc XP Connect event in New York City, we hosted a discussion with three media industry leaders to learn how they're navigating the shifting revenue landscape for publishers and broadcasters and the strategies that are working for them.

Forging direct relationships with customers

Over the past 10 to 15 years, media companies have focused on distributing their content through third-party platforms. This was good for business in the short term, but in the long run it meant forfeiting direct relationships with audiences and sometimes even losing touch with audience needs.

"The No. 1 thing we think about in developing our strategy for the future is understanding what our audiences really want from us and being more oriented around the products we're delivering as opposed to thinking about content as platform-agnostic," said Zack McGhee, chief product officer at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "We can't just say, 'Let's produce the best content' and not think about where it's going and who it's for."

Media companies' focus on distributing content via third-party platforms has also allowed valuable audience insights and contextual signals from third-party cookies to leak into the open ecosystem and diminish the value of unique content.

When competing for clicks is the priority, media companies are in a race to repackage breaking news and optimise it for SEO. But direct audience relationships thrive on unique content and deliver valuable (and proprietary) customer insights via first-party data.

Using the power of first-party data

"With third-party cookies going away, first-party cookies put publishers in a power position in a way that they haven't been in the past 10 or 15 years," said Stephanie Layser, global head of publisher ad tech solutions at AWS.

Leveraging first-party data enables media companies to match the right audience members with the right content and the right advertising at the right time.

It also offers an opportunity to truly delight customers through personalised experiences, without the perceived "creepiness" that comes with third-party cookies.

"A big opportunity a lot of media companies are looking at right now is seeing their customers through a 360-degree lens," Layser said. "What is the lifetime value of this customer or advertising value of this customer over a period of time? What is their propensity to subscribe?"

Media companies focused on establishing a solid data quality foundation and eliminating silos of data across their organisations will be in a strong position to answer these questions and innovate quickly.

Going local to deliver unique value

As media companies expand their own product portfolios, they're competing with lots of other outlets and apps for a captive audience. Addressing locality-specific audience needs and interests is one way to generate unique value for customers and advertisers.

"Weather is a big deal for us. Our weather apps, in many cases, have a bigger audience and more usage than our news apps," said Glen Hale, vice president of digital content and audience development at Gray TV. "There are a lot of context-driven advertising possibilities with weather. Triggering advertising campaigns around local weather events is very powerful and highly sought-after among advertisers."

McGhee also mentioned a local focus as one of his publication's strengths: "If we can capture something about living in a really special place like Atlanta and the people that bring it to life, that's what we're trying to do in our products every day. If we can then add that lens of 'what does this customer want from us' using first-party data, that's going to create a really special experience for people that's worth paying for."

Sara Fischer, senior media reporter for Axios and moderator of the discussion, summed up the strategies and trends shared: "For so many years in covering media, I was constantly talking about new products, new platforms, new types of video, ads, newsletters, podcasts … but the power for the publisher is optimising the way content is delivered and the way you're monetising it. It's no longer about delivering on every single new product; it's about making the ones you have work for you and your strategies."

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About Dorinne Hoss

Dorinne Hoss is head of marketing at Arc XP in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Dorinne can be reached at [email protected] or @dorinnehoss.

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