The online publishing community is stronger when we can come together to collaborate and learn from one another. Sovrn’s featured customer success stories are a great way to showcase learnings from a variety of publishers, but we also like to have more informal conversations with our customers from time to time.

We recently sat down with Matthew Goodlander-Karant, CEO and co-founder of PredixLabs, to get some insight into his business, the challenges facing affiliate marketers, and his experience with Sovrn Commerce.

Q: Tell us a little about your business and your affiliate marketing program.

A: My co-founder and I started PredixLabs about two and a half years ago because we’ve always been interested in sneakers and fashion, from a collector’s standpoint. Demand for limited edition sneakers is incredibly high, so even before we started PredixLabs, we wrote some sneaker monitor code to help us build our personal collections. We used those monitors for years to find out when new products were being released, when sales were happening, etc. But over time, we started to see sneaker groups charging a huge monthly fee for access to the same type of information. We realized we could use our sneaker monitors to provide release data to the public, but in a totally new way.

Our software scrapes Nike, Adidas, New Balance, and other major sneaker sites to pull all the important release data into one centralized location. Rather than charging a membership fee and limiting membership numbers, our group is open to anyone. And it’s 100% free to join, because we earn our revenue through affiliate marketing. This creates an environment that supports both hard-core collectors and casual buyers alike — because no one has time to keep up with hundreds of release schedules. 

Instead, they can just join our group. We do all the legwork of finding out when and where new releases are dropping, and we provide tools to help them buy what they want — without any usage of bots. We’re getting rid of all the inefficiencies and detrimental components of the sneaker game, so everybody wins.

Q: What are some of your top initiatives this year?

A: For the last two years, we’ve run our group primarily on Discord, which is messaging app that lets you have both programmatic content and manually created content all in one place. Now we’re working on building out our presence on Twitter/X, as well as a new website that provides a curated feed of new releases. We want to deliver a unique experience with each touchpoint, so there’s a reason to visit us on different channels. 

In addition to collecting sneakers, we’re also interested in the business and economics of fashion. So we’re working on creating more editorial content that’s focused on what’s trending, the drivers behind those trends, and what products we think will be in demand. That business-focused angle helps to attract a different segment of users and provides a whole new level of content to our audience, beyond the typical release announcements they can get from any sneaker group.

Q: As an affiliate marketer, what are some of your biggest pain points?

A: By far our biggest pain point has been getting approved for merchant-specific affiliate programs. As I mentioned, Discord has been our primary channel. It just doesn’t have the same reach as YouTube or X, so most people don’t really understand how it works. And unlike those common social platforms where it’s easy to see an affiliate program in action, it’s a multi-step process for anyone who’s not already on Discord, because you have to create an account and then actually join the PredixLabs community. So it’s been hard to show merchants what we have to offer.

We’ve made some progress over the years, and Sovrn has been really instrumental with that. Starting out we were constantly getting denied, because we were a new company with very few users and a unique business model. But Sovrn gave us a chance and their vetting process helped us get those merchant approvals to jump-start our growth. Now we’re one of the largest Discord sneaker groups in North America, with about 2,000 members in our community. It’s been a really cool process and it wouldn’t have been remotely possible without Sovrn.

Q: What do you like best about the Sovrn Commerce technology? Any favorite features?

A: There are two things Sovrn offers that I haven’t seen in many other platforms. First is the real-time data and analytics, which is absolutely huge for us. Being able to refresh the dashboard at any moment and see all the events as they’re coming in is a game changer. With sneakers, a lot of products are excluded from affiliate so it’s critical to get an understanding of which products can generate revenue. And it also helps to tailor our content strategy. If we see that a certain product got 500 clicks within two minutes, that’s clearly a hot product and we need to be doing more work to find other merchants who carry it.

The other feature is automated affiliation — so basically the Commerce monetization API automatically converts a raw product or merchant URL into an affiliate link. This is great for us, because right now 90% of our content is programmatically generated through monitors and scrapers. So when one of our scrapers detects a new product, it sends the notification automatically and the link is instantly affiliated. Bottom line, our entire pipeline essentially runs on its own. It’s not just good, it’s crucial to our business. 

Q: How does Sovrn help you achieve your business goals?

A: Aside from the features I just mentioned, the biggest advantage with Sovrn is its massive list of merchants. Every month or so, we look through the entire merchant list to figure out which ones offer products our customers might be interested in, and then we add those to our Discord server. 

It’s beneficial in two ways. First, that’s more opportunities to make affiliate revenue by selling more products. We’re dealing with products that can be almost impossible to get, so if I can add 70 merchants that will be carrying a limited edition collection, it gives our users a lot more opportunities to buy. And second, it helps us grow our user base. Every satisfied customer is adding a pair of sneakers to their collection — and they’re probably going to tell their friends, “Hey, I got my Wales Bonner Adidas through PredixLabs. You should join, too — it’s 100% free.”

Right now we’re affiliating links with about 150 different websites. A lot of them have really complex approval processes; some even require interviews. The amount of time it would take to complete all those processes is just incredible. And if we’re being realistic, our business is probably too niche to get approved for all those programs. So working with Sovrn is really what makes it all possible.

Q: How would you describe your relationship with Sovrn?

A: It’s simply amazing. Honestly the best part has been the collaborative nature of our relationship. We love hopping on calls to learn about new features that are coming to Sovrn, how to get the most out of the tools, or how we’re performing month over month. It feels like we’re a true partner, not just a customer. 

The people and the relationships are what make Sovrn great. They’re really open to feedback and suggestions. Over the years, it’s been so cool to see how Sovrn has grown and how we’ve grown right along with them. And I’m really excited for the future because I know there’s a lot of great stuff coming for both of us.

If you’re not a current Sovrn Commerce customer, sign up now! Once you complete the approval process, you can start earning right away.

Already earning with Sovrn Commerce? Feel free to reach out with questions. Our support team is standing by to provide whatever help you need. 

The post Insights from PredixLabs CEO, Matthew Goodlander-Karant appeared first on Sovrn, Inc..

In 2023, Sovrn announced the creation of a new steering committee composed of leaders and innovators throughout the publishing industry. Steering committee members represent companies like Ziff Davis, Publishers Clearing House, LoveToKnow Media, and more.  Their mission: to collaboratively tackle the biggest challenges facing publishers today and assist in developing the products publishers truly need from their ad tech partners. 

We recently sat down with Lila Hunt, Vice President of Display at System1, to get her thoughts on the state of digital media. 

Q: In your role with System1, what are your top priorities and where will your team focus its energy over the next 12-18 months?

A: At System1, our content strategy has always been data driven. We’re focused on harnessing our data in a way that can drive insights across our portfolio. For example, Mapquest has such broad topic diversity; including, location, intent, brand affinity, and more. Its breadth and reach helps us study how advertisers are valuing different contextual and behavioral signals in already cookieless environments. We use these insights to plan publishing and advertising exercises across our portfolio. 

Marketing is all about aligning the right message with the right user, in the right format, at the right time. Now that the deprecation of third-party cookies is well underway, it’s critical we focus on first-party signal collection, inventory strategy and data solutions that drive performance and help advertisers accomplish their goals any way they prefer to spend. 

Q: From your perspective, what are the top challenges facing publishers today? 

A: I’m very passionate about the language we use for communicating signals to advertisers, which may stem from studying linguistics and communications in school. Most of the industry is adopting the IAB’s content taxonomy to standardize contextual signals, but that taxonomy wasn’t developed with today’s breadth of ad-supported content in mind. As a result, it’s not representative of many publishers’ needs. 

To drive campaign performance across all advertiser verticals, we need more consistency and specificity from the words we use to describe digital content. If we don’t have the right words to talk about our businesses, we could see misclassification informing algorithmic decisions and driving poor advertiser performance — not because contextual can’t work but because our technologies learn from and model against weak data.   

The health and viability of mid-market publishers is a hot topic that is also very important to me. Although System1 is a premium publisher, we are essentially a collection of mid-market sites that combine to give us a larger voice. In my opinion, mid-market publishers are foundational to the open web and have legitimate subject matter authority. They fill niches with exceptional passion that differs from large, commoditized content producers. Smaller mid-market publishers often have excellent monetization expertise but need tools to help them execute. There’s a huge opportunity for service providers to better support the mid-market and drive meaningful results for these businesses by augmenting their lean, in-house teams. 

Q: What do you think publishers should be doing right now to position themselves for success? 

A: Now more than ever, publishers need to make sure they’re answering for advertiser outcomes. Without third-party cookies, buyers can’t discover performance in the same way they used to. Publishers can play a larger role informing advertisers about the user, their interests and their engagement with ads. Direct sold publishers have always operated this way and now programmatic channels must borrow more traditional techniques for data management and inventory optimization.

AI can help publishers implement these tactics very efficiently with much less manual effort spent classifying and analyzing data. System1 is a proud AI early adopter. We use AI tools to help classify our content and machine learning models to design high value audiences and pricing rules for our most valuable collections of signals. While it’s exciting to work for a company on the cutting edge of a technical revolution, publishers shouldn’t have to do these things on their own. Great technology partners should be figuring out how to work AI into their products so they can add value for their customers. The problem-solving potential feels endless right now, which presents great business opportunities for service providers.

Q: What does it mean for an SSP to be a true partner to publishers? 

A: SSPs should facilitate demand to support content monetization, which goes beyond just opening a door to inventory. To be a true partner, they need to care about display and they need to convince advertisers to care on behalf of their clients. They should be looking for opportunities to facilitate and optimize the relationship between buyers and sellers. Post cookie, we simply aren’t going to benefit from having as many open doors to our inventory and true partners will figure out how to differentiate and add value for their customers. 

Additionally, tech providers in general — and SSPs specifically — should be leaning into AI to deliver results that help our businesses. Publishers need the most support on data transparency because that’s the only way we can understand how AI-driven yield decisions are working for us. Not every publisher has the resources to analyze data at that scale.

Q: Why did you feel it was important to get involved with Sovrn’s steering committee? 

A: I’m very protective of the open web and I want to help mid-market publishers gain access to monetization solutions that meet their unique business needs. The mid-market represents a huge segment of open market auctions, yet these publishers are under-recognized customers. I joined this committee to champion the mid-market and make sure these interests are represented at the vendor level. 

Sovrn is trying to navigate some really interesting use cases that support the diverse needs of complex content businesses. Participating in the steering committee may help deliver product and service innovations that are useful for me as well as my friends.  

Q: How can groups like this help to drive positive impact and change?

A: I’m involved in a lot of groups where publishers come together to have conversations about what the industry needs. On the whole, publishers tend to be very open and full of great ideas — and that fuels very productive conversations. We educate each other, solve problems together, stand up for one another, and champion each other’s work. Publishers are extremely collaborative, despite the fact that we operate “competing” businesses. As the advertising ecosystem grows more opaque, those transparent conversations help keep the industry honest and hold our customers and partners accountable.

For more insights to help grow your business on the open web, visit the Sovrn blog. You can also contact us at sales@sovrn.com for more information about our comprehensive suite of publisher solutions for advertising, commerce, and data.

The post Steering Committee Spotlight: Insights from Lila Hunt appeared first on Sovrn, Inc..

Sovrn Perspectives: A Four-Part Series

This is the second in a series of perspectives from Sovrn CEO Walter Knapp and President Chris George where they discuss where publishers should focus their efforts in 2024 to thrive amid uncertainty and ongoing challenges like unprecedented media layoffs, volatility in ad spend, and rapidly changing technology. 

Missed Part 1 of this blog series? Catch up here. 

Walter Knapp: We saw record numbers of layoffs in the media industry last year, so operational efficiency is a huge concern. Quite simply, if you want to succeed in this industry, you have to focus your energy on the things that matter the most. Focus on the content you need to create and distribute in order to develop a persistent relationship with your audience. 

If you hire data scientists or engineers or technologists, they’re naturally going to recommend that you lean on their knowledge and skills to build the tools you need. But do you really need to build the tool yourself, or do you just need timely and accurate answers to run your business? That should be your focus. 

Chris George: The most successful publishers I’ve seen are those who run lean on product development staffing so they can focus more of their capital in one of three areas: editorial, sales, or audience development. Only in very rare cases does it make sense for a publisher to build their own technology instead of finding a partner to solve their needs, because the math just doesn’t work. I’ve seen publishers with 8-10 people working on commerce technologies only to find that they are constantly behind the rest of the industry on feature development and bogged down with integrations and maintenance requests. At an average fully-loaded headcount cost of $150,000, a 10-person team costs the publisher $125,000 per month in staffing costs, significantly higher than the cost for a technology partner to deliver all the features they need.

WK: Running a leaner organization is knowing what you need and what you don’t. The most important decisions in business come down to good judgment. You can have all the data in the world, but it takes judgment to make good decisions. Vendor pitches and sound bites from conferences only get you so far. 

It’s human nature to look for a “silver bullet,” but I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t exist. Improving efficiency requires leadership to get into the details and keep the organization focused on what matters most. 

CG: Judgment is based on both learning and understanding — and it can be hard to develop a deep level of knowledge because things move so fast today. That makes evaluating tools and solutions really difficult. So my advice to publishers is to deliberately shift their mindset. Instead of thinking about what you can build, start looking into what you can integrate. 

The role of a CTO is now essentially a systems integrator. They need to be looking at what’s available in the marketplace that can be plugged in seamlessly to efficiently reach business goals. It’s challenging to make that shift, but some of the most successful publishers are running a very lean corporate structure and investing as much into their editorial and business teams as possible. 

The key is finding good partners to work with. Whatever you’re trying to accomplish — whether that’s publishing, revenue operations, revenue diversification, analytics, etc. — there are plenty of great partners out there. 

One of the unique things about Sovrn is that we’re committed to delivering the value our customers deserve. We put our money where our mouth is, so to speak, and earn their business every day. Our solution is easy to use, and customers can walk away at any time, for any reason. We’re that confident in our ability to deliver value. I would advise publishers to be cautious about any partner that requires a long-term commitment to use their product — that should be a red flag. 

WK: I think there’s an interesting distinction between companies that earn their customers’ business and those that operate through control-based relationships, by locking you in for a set period of time. You won’t tolerate relationships like that in your personal life, so why do we accept it in business? At Sovrn, we treat people like fellow humans with free will, and we commit to earning the relationship every day. And if we fail, you deserve the right to hold us accountable, up to and including firing us.

That kind of freedom is becoming the norm in consumer relationships. Think back to the days when cable providers required a long-term commitment to use their service — and then contrast that with today’s streaming revolution. You can use whatever providers you want for as long as you want, and then cancel for any reason, or no reason. It’s not easy to find that kind of true independence in the B2B world, but it’s something to look for as you shop for vendors and solutions.

You can also visit the Sovrn blog for more insights to help you grow your business on the Open Web — or contact us at sales@sovrn.com for more information about our comprehensive suite of publisher tools for commerce, advertising, and data.

The post Part 2: Run Lean with Partners You Trust appeared first on Sovrn, Inc..

Earlier this year, Sovrn announced the creation of a new steering committee, composed of leading publishers like News Corp, Warner Bros. Discovery, Publishers Clearing House, and more.

Their mission: to collaboratively tackle the biggest challenges facing publishers today and help us deliver the products publishers truly need from their ad tech partners. 

With access to some of the best minds in the business, we wanted to tap into their valuable expertise and share those insights with our audience. We recently sat down with Mark Obermoller, Senior Director of Programmatic Strategy at Ziff Davis Media, to get his thoughts on the state of the digital advertising industry and his experience with Sovrn’s publisher steering committee.

Q: In your role with Ziff Davis, what are your top priorities and where are you planning to focus your energy over the next 12-18 months?

A: There are three primary things we’re focused on right now. First, we’re trying to keep things as simple as possible, while also ensuring we have a robust programmatic offering for both third-party partners and our direct sales. It’s a difficult balance to strike, especially with all the privacy-related changes in the industry. There are a lot of “shiny objects” out there right now, and it’s not always easy to know which will help to bolster our offering and which to ignore — at least for now. It’s a broad objective and not terribly glamorous, but it’s a key initiative for us.

We’re also working on better ways to identify our audiences. We have a robust first-party data strategy, but we know that’s not enough to sustain us. So how do we supplement our first-party data in a way that will help us succeed in a world without third-party cookies? There are tons of providers out there offering data and identity solutions, but what differentiates them? Even with the biggest players in the industry, there’s not much data to prove their solutions will help us succeed. 

And we’re focused on video. We’re not a video-first company, so we’re looking for new and better ways to leverage the video we do have as a tool to capture user attention and keep them engaged. We want our sites to be a resource where people come back again and again.

Q: From your perspective, what are the three biggest challenges facing publishers today?

A: Honestly, the biggest challenge is uncertainty — around privacy, the way advertisers are spending their money, and in the overall economy, which directly impacts ad budgets and ad spend. When brands need to tighten their budgets, advertising is often the first thing to be cut. 

Another big hurdle is inconsistency in privacy regulations. Nothing is standard — regulations are different across the country and around the world. And they’re always changing. So a lot of companies are looking for a long-term solution to stay ahead of all those privacy regulations. Which of the many cookie replacements are going to survive, and which ones will become obsolete? That’s a hard one to answer.

Third, it’s a real issue that so much ad spend goes to the huge companies like Google, Facebook, Amazon, and (to a lesser degree) Twitter/X. These so-called “walled gardens” are becoming a monopoly, and smaller publishers are left scrambling for whatever ad dollars are left. But at the same time, we’re all reliant on those big companies. We’d love to work directly with advertisers, but it’s all a matter of scale.

Q: What should publishers be doing right now to meet those challenges?

A: On the privacy side, I think the best thing we can do is try to steer the conversation. Some organizations I’m involved with have really stepped up and met with lawmakers in Washington. Getting involved and making your voice heard is the first step. If you’re complacent, nothing is going to change. 

It’s also important to find ways to help advertisers reduce their reliance on walled gardens. In the past few years, we’ve seen a lot of acquisitions in the publishing industry, and a lot of companies merging. I think we’re going to see a lot more of that. If you have that larger scale, you have more leverage to go directly to advertisers and attract their ad spend — whereas small-scale, independent publishers just can’t do that. 

Q: Where do you see the industry heading over the next few years?

A: I see the industry heading toward more 1:1 relationships, largely due to the death of cookies. Buyers will have to change the way they’ve always done things. Not long ago, the end of third-party cookies wasn’t even a conversation for marketers and advertisers, who use them every day. Publishers and tech companies were the ones trying to come up with a solution. Now everyone knows change is coming — it’s just a matter of what things look like when the dust settles. 

Today, the majority of ad spend is happening on Chrome, where cookies are still available. When those cookies are gone, advertisers will still need a way to reach their audience and target specific segments effectively. The big walled gardens won’t have that information anymore, and they can’t get it from an outside source. Instead, advertisers will have to go to publishers, who know their audience and can provide access to those audience segments. So having a robust first-party data strategy will position publishers for success. 

Q: What made you want to join Sovrn’s publisher steering committee? 

A: When Sovrn’s Peter Cunha described his vision for the steering committee, he said, “I don’t care if you use the product or not; I want input from people who are at the forefront of the industry.” That was really attractive to me, because it’s an opportunity to help deliver a first-rate product for other publishers who may not have the same resources I do. I’ve worked for organizations that have excellent engineering and tech teams, but we were always constrained by time. Helping to put out a product that’s low maintenance and easy to set up is a real win. 

Q: What’s been your experience so far with the steering committee, and how would you like to see it evolve over time?

A: In some initial conversations with the Sovrn team, I was able to react to what they were doing with the product and point out where it was still very labor intensive for publishers. They’ve taken that feedback and used it to make the product better. Five years ago, if I’d had some of the things they’re developing today, it would have saved me a tremendous amount of time and energy. Seeing those advances come to fruition is really rewarding. 

Q: Why do you think groups like this are important, especially in the current market environment?

A: A lot of publishers feel like they’re on their own, and that’s just not the case. Committees like this provide ways to come together, share ideas, and reach out for additional resources. I think this group is important because we’re helping to drive the market forward and shape the future — rather than just reacting. 

For more insights to help you grow your business on the open web, visit the Sovrn blog. You can also contact us at sales@sovrn.com for more information about our comprehensive suite of publisher solutions for advertising, commerce, and data.

The post Steering Committee Spotlight: Insights from Mark Obermoller appeared first on Sovrn, Inc..

Sovrn Perspectives: A Four-Part Series

At the beginning of every year, there are countless articles attempting to predict what the new year will bring. But one thing we’ve learned with absolute certainty is that the future is unpredictable.

So, rather than throwing out wild speculations, this series offers perspective from two people who are uniquely attuned to the challenges and opportunities facing publishers today: Sovrn CEO Walter Knapp and President Chris George. They recently sat down with us to talk about where publishers should focus their efforts in 2024 to thrive. Up first: dealing with uncertainty.

Chris George: When it comes to future-proofing amid uncertainty, publishers need to focus on three high-level initiatives:

1. Investing in editorial quality to deliver what readers expect
2. Developing a smart, efficient publishing infrastructure
3. Creating and instituting the right audience and data strategies as cookie deprecation begins

Editorial Quality

CG: Over the last several years, many publishers have focused on diversifying their revenue streams — which is the right thing to do. But they tried to do it by building their own technology in many cases. All of those initiatives required material investments of capital, which unfortunately siphoned dollars and resources from their core business of creating the content that readers want.

Walter Knapp: When publishers deliver quality content they create a persistent and loyal relationship with an important audience.

Advertisers want to participate in that relationship. They need attentive, relevant audiences to drive their desired outcome (whether that’s a sale, a lead, a recommendation, or whatever). 

When physical magazines were the norm, editorial teams worked really hard to ensure ads were beautiful, engaging, and matched the content. At many print magazines, ads are a key component of the editorial makeup. As a result, those ads perform better for the advertiser while also creating a great reader experience. 

CG: I totally agree, and this is why so many publishers find themselves in trouble. They’re devaluing their editorial product in an attempt to make more money. Instead, they should be thinking about creating a quality experience — which starts with quality content — and then expanding those relationships in new directions.  

Efficient, Independent Infrastructure

CG: As publishers pivoted to building the tech to diversify at the expense of delivering quality content, many are finding it difficult to scale it enough to meet escalating revenue expectations. In addition, in the race to diversify and monetize with more and more ads, they let their website experience degrade and CMS tools atrophy. Many are now retrenching and looking for partners to handle the technology side of the business in order to invest more into editorial. Technology should be the easiest part of the job as there are a number of mature, highly performant options available to publishers. This is not an area where you should be starting from scratch.

WK: Time and again, I’ve seen publishers chase things that take them away from their core mission of developing a loyal and persistent relationship with an important audience. 

Data centers are a great metaphor. Twenty years ago, if you wanted to have the infrastructure and computing power to operate your business, you had to build & manage your own data center. Today, cloud systems like Amazon Web Services or Google Cloud Platform do the infrastructure job for you — without you even having to think about the underlying technology. 

Metaphorically speaking, today’s digital publishers are doing the same thing. Focus on what matters most and put your investments there.

CG: Another challenge is platform dependency — which is a problem that publishers have faced for the last decade. They’ll catch a boost in traffic from a platform like Facebook or in affiliate conversion rates from Amazon, and they start to become overly reliant on those platforms to drive business outcomes. We’ve seen that hurt publishers time and again, because they alter their strategy to focus on those walled garden platforms. 

And let’s be honest — those platforms aren’t there to serve the publisher. They have their own business goals, and they’ll make changes as they see fit. We’re seeing it right now as Google integrates AI into their search results page. If that reduces traffic to publisher sites by 30 or 40%, so be it, because adding AI delivers a stickier experience for Google users and a more lucrative model for Google.

So succeeding on the open web requires a certain level of discipline. You certainly want to link to Amazon and optimize for Google, but you’ve got a problem if 90% of your commerce affiliate revenue comes from those sources. So when we talk about future proofing, publishers really need to take inventory of their dependencies and think about how they can diversify more effectively.

Data Strategy Amid Cookie Deprecation

WK: As it stands today, most SSPs are predominantly a conduit to demand. Their technology provides the path, but that’s only commodity value they add to the transaction. That needs to change. SSPs need to be a “decision-support” partner that adds value to the equation in terms of better, more relevant ads and more money in the publisher’s pocket. 

CG: Absolutely. As technology advances and things get more complex, SSPs can help publishers navigate those changes and make sure they’re optimized for the current conditions. Third-party cookie deprecation is a good example of that. 

Now is the time for publishers to dig in and truly understand their audiences — and who is engaged — in order to effectively monetize their traffic. After years of advertisers relying on third-party cookies, there’s more pressure than ever to get results from every dollar. Having smart tools to help segment high quality inventory and set optimal market prices for your most valuable impressions is critical to ensure the highest possible yield.

Read More

Walter Knapp and Chris George discuss the importance for publishers to find good partners to work with to be successful. Read part 2 here.

Visit the Sovrn blog for more insights to help you grow your business on the Open Web — or contact us at sales@sovrn.com for more information about our comprehensive suite of publisher tools for commerce, advertising, and data.

The post Part 1: Future Proofing Amid Uncertainty appeared first on Sovrn, Inc..

We recently sat down with Sam Youn, Vice President of Programmatic at Chegg and a member of Sovrn’s steering committee, to get his thoughts on the state of the digital advertising industry. 

Q: What are your top priorities at Chegg and where are you planning to focus your energy over the next 12-18 months?

A: Programmatic monetization has become a very mature technology, unlike what it was even three to five years ago, so I look at balancing defensive initiatives (i.e., protecting our revenue) with growth investments. On the defensive side, we’re preparing for third-party cookie deprecation. To do that, we’re adopting programmatic open market solutions like The Privacy Sandbox, engaging in seller defined audiences, and testing identity solutions — including working on building out our own first-party data graph.

For growth, we’re heavily invested in value differentiation. Programmatic monetization has become so commoditized that publishers have very few options to truly increase value. For example, there was a time when you could market yourself based on good traffic, quality inventory, and high viewability—but now that’s table stakes. We’re looking for ways to deliver new formats, new experiences, and performance metrics to stand apart. An example of that is introducing ads within our new AI-based chat platform. It’s still too early to discuss in detail, but it’s something we’re very excited about.

Q: From your perspective, what are the top challenges facing publishers today?

A: There’s one overarching challenge, which is gaining a balance of influence as Google sets the future of the industry through third-party cookie deprecation. When it happens, we’ll be operating in a totally new environment, and I believe the buy side and sell side will endeavor to gain as much influence as possible.

Conventional wisdom says publishers will gain leverage post-third-party cookie deprecation, because they will have the best asset: information about their readers. While this may be true, this will be a new muscle to flex for many publishers as we’ve relied on header bidding and third-party cookies for monetization.

Publishers have been able to maximize value and gain control in the open market without relying on a robust sales team and a first-party data graph. But once cookies go away, we’re not all equipped to demand a premium for our inventory using our data.

The second part of the challenge is that publishers are not a unified, cohesive group. We’re all working to keep our day jobs and it’s difficult to create a new protocol together. We will naturally need to adopt solutions created by the buy side, because they exert more influence over where the money goes. Even if those buy-side solutions — addressability, for instance — are totally transparent and fair to publishers, the situation still isn’t ideal because publishers still aren’t controlling the mechanisms of how our inventory is valued.

Q: What should publishers be doing right now to meet those challenges?

A: First, optimize your strategy by leveraging what you have. And second, have a vision of what your monetization looks like when third-party cookies are gone. If you’ve made the decision that you’re not going to stand up a sales team and create a first-party data asset that’s compelling enough to charge a premium, then be prepared to adopt every possible industry solution.

For publishers that do have resources to invest, the best thing you can do is prepare your own strategy. Don’t rely solely on what the industry provides. Use this as an opportunity to reframe how you differentiate your value. Some publishers will have a leg up in the types of engagement and data they get from their users; others will have an advantage in the formats they can provide.

Q: As you look ahead, what are you most excited about for the industry?

A:  I’m excited that we’re being forced to move away from all the waste we’ve created through programmatic. The sunset of cookies is one example of that; so is made for advertising (MFA) and supply-path optimization (SPO). Fundamental change like this always creates opportunity, and I think the industry is mature enough to learn from our past. We have a real opportunity to create lasting change by reducing waste, eliminating support for bad actors, and creating mechanisms that are more sustainable and better for privacy. Ripping the band-aid off is hard, but change is good.

Q: What made you want to join Sovrn’s publisher steering committee?

Publishers need advocates, and I’ve always said that supply-side platforms (SSPs) are a publisher’s only friend in this industry. We’re at an interesting inflection point where SSPs are beginning to align their goals with the buy-side. It’s more important than ever that SSPs and publishers work together to create a balance of influence in the marketplace.

I’ve worked with Sovrn for almost 10 years, and from the beginning they were asking for our input what more Sovrn can do to help publishers. Not every SSP engages with their clients this way, to get feedback on the strategies they should pursue.

I’ve seen how willing Sovrn is to influence policy and technology that helps the sell side, so I was happy to join the steering committee.

For more insights to help you grow your business on the open web, visit the Sovrn blog. You can also contact us at sales@sovrn.com for more information about our comprehensive suite of publisher solutions for advertising, commerce, and data.

The post Steering Committee Spotlight: Insights from Sam Youn appeared first on Sovrn, Inc..

Earlier this year, Sovrn announced the creation of a new steering committee, composed of leading publishers like Ziff Davis, LoveToKnow Media, Publishers Clearing House, and more. Their mission: to collaboratively tackle the biggest challenges facing publishers today and help innovate the products publishers truly need from their ad tech partners. 

With access to some of the best minds in the business, we wanted to tap into their valuable expertise and share those insights with all of you. We recently sat down with Marc Boswell, Chief Revenue Officer at LoveToKnow Media, to get his thoughts on the state of the digital advertising industry.

Q: In your role with LoveToKnow Media, what are your top priorities and where are you planning to focus your energy over the next 12-18 months?

A: A few key initiatives are top of mind right now. First, we’re looking for ways to work with our partners to overcome the death of the cookie. It’s actually here this time! As a midsized publisher, we can’t change the industry on our own, so we’re working to get our partners out of the mindset of buying third-party audiences — which were never that good to begin with. We want to show them a viable alternative, which is working with publishers who know their audiences better than a third party ever could. The question is, how do you do that at scale?

Second, we’re finding ways to create curated marketplaces from all that data, to help mid-tier publishers who don’t have the resources to employ a sales team to set up deals directly with each agency. And, we’re launching a supply path optimization experiment to remove all of our resellers and create a more efficient path for buyers. Our industry is  very cluttered and there are a lot of “tech taxes” between buyers and publishers — so we’re trying to eliminate as many of those as possible.

Q: From your perspective, what are the top challenges facing publishers today?

A: A big one that’s come up for us recently is sequential liability. In the wake of the MediaMath collapse, some partners are saying they will claw back a portion of our earnings, because they aren’t getting paid. Hopefully this will all be resolved with the recent acquisition, but publishers bear the full brunt of those situations because they don’t control which buyers are buying their ads. Regular health check-ins could help us avoid a repeat of this situation.

Another is how to keep mid-tier, independent publishers thriving. The big names in the industry get most of the attention, but mid-sized publishers are producing a lot of great content readers value. Subscription monetization strategies won’t work for them, so how do we set those brands up for success when third-party cookies are gone?

Q: What should publishers be doing right now to meet those challenges?

A: They need to work together. A lot of solutions are going to come through collaboration, both with your publisher cohort and your supply-side partners. These aren’t just challenges for one publisher or one segment of publishers — they’re challenges for all of us. We need to overcome this mindset of secrecy, because the more we work together with our peers the better those solutions will be — for both the buy side and the sell side. 

Most importantly, it will help to clarify for supply-side partners what publishers are really looking for. If they hear from one publisher, it won’t have much impact. But if they hear the same thing from many publishers, something is more likely to happen. As a single publisher, I can’t go to the buy side and offer my seller-defined audiences (SDA) or my standard cohorts. But if 10 or 100 publishers can do things consistently through an SSP — whether that’s curated marketplaces, or SDAs, or bid enrichment, or maybe something that hasn’t been invented yet — that’s how we overcome the loss of third-party cookies. 

Q: As you look ahead, what are you most excited about for the industry?

A: The death of the third-party cookie! It’s one of the most inefficient methods you could imagine for audience targeting. At this point, it’s really nothing more than a security blanket — and remember, on Apple devices we’re already living in a cookieless world. So there may be fear and uncertainty in the short term, but once we get past that I think we’ll see a better balance between Android CPMs (coming down) and Apple CPMs (coming up). I’m excited to work with other publishers and our supply-side partners to find better paths for buyers to discover inventory and more accurate ways to target audiences in the absence of third-party cookies. Once all the dust settles, I think we could be in a much better place than we are now.

Q: What made you want to join Sovrn’s publisher steering committee? 

A: I like that Sovrn is working to create a platform that really works for publishers. They’re trying to solve many of the real-life problems that publishers face — like a unified way to see performance data and analytics in one place, addressability, curated marketplaces, and bid enrichment. I like that they’re committed to being a one-stop shop for publishers to manage their inventory and audience — especially publishers like me, who deal with so much more than programmatic. We also have outside partners, and a commerce team, and various business units — each of which has its own partners. Sovrn is trying to help us bring it all together and see what’s going on at a high level. There’s a lot of work to do, but I hope my input can help them conceptualize what publishers need. 

Q: What’s been your experience so far with the steering committee, and how would you like to see it evolve over time?

A: Through my involvement with the steering committee, I’ve seen the product as it’s being developed. I like where it’s headed and it gets better every time I see it. You can tell they’re listening to publisher feedback and adapting the product based on what they hear. I appreciate that.

Q: Why do you think groups like this are important, especially in the current market environment?

A:.Every perspective is valid and there’s never going to be a one-size-fits-all solution. So we should all be talking openly and looking for points of commonality. With all the fragmentation in the market today, we’ve lost our collaborative mindset to a certain degree. We need to sit down and have honest conversations that represent every group — large publishers, small publishers, ad tech, buy side — and find ways to address what needs to be fixed.

For more insights to help you grow your business on the open web, visit the Sovrn blog. You can also contact us at sales@sovrn.com for more information about our comprehensive suite of publisher solutions for advertising, commerce, and data.

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The online publishing industry is constantly evolving. That can make it difficult to keep up with changing market conditions, industry trends, and new technology — in addition to running your day-to-day business.

Sovrn President Chris George is uniquely attuned to the challenges and opportunities facing publishers today, having spent more than two decades in leadership roles with innovative digital media brands like IGN Entertainment, PopSugar, and Vox Media. To tap into that valuable experience, we recently sat down with Chris and asked for his thoughts on the industry’s top challenges, ideas to future-proof your business, and more. 

Following is a quick recap of the key takeaways from the conversation. 

Q: What led you to join Sovrn, and where have you been focusing your energy during your first few months with the company?

A: My first exposure to Sovrn was actually as a customer. We liked the Sovrn Commerce platform at Vox Media because it was much more efficient and cost-effective than trying to build a solution from scratch. When it came time to make a career change, I spent a lot of time talking to Sovrn CEO Walter Knapp and getting to know the business. What really appealed to me was the opportunity to help publishers make more money — and save more money.

These first few months with Sovrn have been incredibly gratifying. I’m spending a lot of time digging into our solutions and thinking about how to ensure that everything about them resonates with our customers. Publishers are spending a lot of money trying to build their own solutions, and I’m excited to work on delivering products that can help them avoid that expense and be more efficient. Ultimately, publishers are most successful when they can invest resources in their own product — quality editorial content — which means they need to run lean in areas like product development and G&A. 

Q: What learnings from your prior experience with Vox Media and Group Nine Media have been most valuable in your new role with Sovrn? 

A: Having been on the publisher side for so long, I have a deep understanding of our customer base and what they need from their tech stack. I can see what’s needed to “connect the dots” between different aspects of the business, like commerce and advertising. Having that insider perspective is incredibly valuable for discovering new use cases for Sovrn products, even beyond what’s initially envisioned, so that we can better serve our customers.

Q: From your perspective, what are the top three challenges publishers face today?

A: I think about publisher challenges in three main buckets: revenue, profitability, and audience growth. Unfortunately, publishers are facing headwinds across all three.

First, we’ve seen that publishers who have diversified revenue streams are much better positioned to weather advertising downturns and deliver real value to their audience through new offerings. That said, diversifying revenue beyond advertising requires upfront investment and is typically a slow build. In a time where capital markets are pulling back from digital media, publishers find themselves needing to preserve EBITDA which means they have limited budget to invest in growing their teams to tackle areas such as subscription, CTV, or commerce. In many cases, publishers are needing to build back their editorial and ad sales organizations after rounds of layoffs which presents a difficult tradeoff decision on investing in non-advertising revenue streams. 

The second challenge, profitability, really boils down to improving efficiency in order to decrease costs and maximize gross margin. We’ve seen a lot of layoffs in the industry lately, and unfortunately publishers often look to their newsroom first when they need to make budget cuts which deteriorates their product. The most successful companies I’ve seen are operating with a very lean corporate team and prioritizing investments in editorial instead — which is a great way to improve efficiency without sacrificing your most valuable asset.

And finally, with regards to audience growth, publishers are already seeing less referral traffic from sources like Facebook and Google over the last few years. The big concern now is that Google is planning to integrate its new AI solution, Bard, into search result pages giving users less incentive to click on individual search links. Publishers should expect to see their search referrals decline materially which means they need to really focus on preserving and growing their loyal audience base. 

Q: Speaking of AI, this has been one of the hottest topics in the industry lately. How should publishers be thinking about the new developments in AI?

A: AI is interesting because it presents both an opportunity and a threat to publishers.

On the opportunity side, AI really plays into the need for improved efficiency. At a minimum, it can be used to help editorial teams improve their workflow and generate new ideas. In some cases, AI-generated content may be useful, especially for formulaic uses like financial report recaps and summaries of existing materials. Of course human experience is still essential for original content like product reviews, but even in those cases AI can be applied to make the content better — by coming up with a new angle or generating headline ideas.  

In terms of AI-related threats, we’ve already talked about the very real possibility of reduced referral traffic. In order to combat that threat, publishers need to take the time to identify and understand their most loyal audiences. These audiences are important because they have an outsized impact on pageviews and ad impressions, are more likely to click on commerce links, more likely to share an article, subscribe to a newsletter, etc. Focusing editorial and product efforts around this core customer can help to limit the impact of reduced search traffic.

Q: What should publishers be doing right now to future-proof their business?

A: The best digital media CEOs right now are focused on operating a lean, efficient business that protects their investment in editorial, ensuring their first-party data strategy is differentiated and adopted by the market, and putting operational rigor behind their revenue diversification efforts.  

Q: What steps is Sovrn taking to help publishers survive the current industry headwinds—and ultimately thrive?

A: Sovrn’s suite of products are designed to help publishers make more money and spend less of it. Publishers can save hundreds of thousands of dollars by adopting our tools instead of building internal teams. For example, it would cost $80k – $100k per month to build the same capabilities we’ve built with our Commerce software and we offer it to publishers at a fraction of that cost. 

We are also looking for ways to drive down operating costs for publishers that adopt more than one of our products because we believe the value is exponential. For example, publishers using Ad Management and Exchange products bundled together will simply pay a usage-based fee, which immediately increases their revenue with a zero-take rate. Plus, a direct zero take-rate path between publisher and demand ensures a more competitive auction by requiring other bidders, including Google’s AdX, to increase their prices in order to remain competitive. 

The beauty of the Sovrn platform is not only does it allow publishers to do more with less, they can also leverage data to capture greater revenue from their content and most engaged audiences.

Q: As you look ahead, what are you most excited about for the online media and publishing industry?

A: While the industry is facing headwinds in a number of areas, there are certainly bright spots. I think one of the brightest is the first-party data that publishers own, which is about to become even more important given Google’s plan to deprecate third-party cookies by June of 2024 — just one year from now. 

This is a bright spot because the data is largely untapped today, since the reliance has been on third-party cookies for targeting. Publishers creating high quality content for real audiences, and who have the data and insights to understand those audiences at scale, are in a really good position — or have the opportunity now to start utilizing that data and position themselves now for future benefit. 

All of the trends point to a future shakeout for low-quality publishers, who will struggle to maintain viable businesses in a cookieless environment. The good news is that high-quality publishers have an opportunity to grow market share and continue strengthening their brands. 

For more insights to help you grow your business on the open web, visit the Sovrn blog. You can also contact us at sales@sovrn.com for more information about our comprehensive suite of publisher solutions for commerce, advertising, and data.

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Today’s market conditions are extremely challenging for online publishers. Not only are they facing the same economic pressures as every other business, but they’re also dealing with an impending paradigm shift as we near the end of third-party cookies. 

To get some expert perspective, we recently sat down with the Chief Product Officer at Sovrn, Brian Bouquet, who shared his thoughts on the steps publishers can take today — and the importance of a long-term strategy.

Following is a quick recap of the key takeaways from our conversation.

Q: You have an interesting professional background, including time in the travel & hospitality industry. How do those experiences translate to your role with Sovrn?

A: My time in travel & hospitality provided some important insight into the way brands think about marketing and targeted campaigns. Publishers need to understand that they play a vital role in the overall value chain. Because of that, you can’t focus entirely on maximizing ad revenue; you also have to deliver results for your marketing partners. 

This can be a delicate balance. You need to keep visitors engaged in the content you’re creating, and you need to generate revenue, but you also need to deliver conversions for your monetization partners. Otherwise you aren’t providing the value brands need, and you won’t be able to keep their ad spend long-term. 

For example, Outside magazine publishes high-quality skiing and snowboarding content on their website, which keeps their audience coming back. In addition, they serve up ads for companies that are interesting to this audience — like ski resorts, equipment, and apparel. On top of that, they also have to deliver a good user experience that increases the chances those ads will convert, by optimizing page layout, limiting the number of ads on the page, etc.

Q: Let’s talk a little bit about your role as Chief Product Officer at Sovrn. What is your focus and how is it different from other product roles?

A: When I started working in product management, my role was focused on a single product. I collaborated with the product leadership team to determine product direction, and then worked with the engineering team to design and build the product. As you advance through the ranks in product-focused roles, you go from owning a product, to owning a group of products, to finally owning a portfolio of products. 

As Sovrn’s Chief Product Officer, I work closely with our CEO to define the vision for the company, as well as our short- and long-term goals. Then it’s my responsibility to make sure our portfolio of products — including Commerce, Ad Exchange, Ad Management, and Signal —delivers on that vision and moves us toward our goals. Defining a holistic product strategy requires knowing the industry and where it’s headed, knowing our customers, and knowing what we want for the company over time. 

Q: We try to encourage publishers to think this way as well, by focusing on their entire tech stack rather than one-off point solutions. What advice can you give publishers to help them think more like a product officer?

A: Being a publisher on the Open Web is complicated. The technology is fragmented, so you often wind up with a lot of single-point solutions. It’s operationally challenging to manage all those different solutions and vendor relationships, and it’s equally challenging to make them all work together. Working with tech partners who can solve multiple business problems is worthwhile, because it can dramatically reduce the complexity of your tech stack. 

One thing publishers often don’t realize is that those point solutions can actually create misalignment with your monetization partners. Many ad tech solutions are designed to place as many ads as possible “above the fold.” That may sound like a good idea if you’re focused on maximizing revenue from every site visitor — but it won’t help with conversions or user experience. 

Publishers need to think about creating long-term value for their monetization partners and long-term relationships with their audience — rather than chasing short-term revenue opportunities. Make sure you’re delivering on the value that your partners are paying for. If you’re selling ad space, you want to make sure it converts for the advertiser, or they won’t continue spending money on your inventory. 

Q: Publishers are facing some really challenging economic conditions, which can make it hard to focus on the long term. What can publishers do now to preserve long-term value and future proof their revenue strategy, regardless of economic conditions?

A: A lot of today’s macro factors are out of our control. That said, there are three things publishers can do help weather the current economic storm and position themselves for future success:

• Invest in technology that preserves consumer privacy. We all know cookies are going away. That means the future is in user-consented, publisher-provided data. Publishers have a direct relationship with their audience, and they know their site visitors better than anyone else — which puts them in a really valuable spot. Invest in technology and strategies that help you activate your first-party data and capitalize on that direct value exchange. 
• Get serious about revenue diversification. When ad spend is down, as we saw during Covid, publishers can preserve their revenue stream by adding strategies like affiliate (or commerce). With a more diversified strategy, you’re better equipped to manage short-term volatility and generate sustainable long-term revenue.
• Keep more of what you earn. Publishers should be putting pressure on their tech partners to make sure they’re keeping more of the revenue they create. A lot of this comes down to pricing models, so look for vendors that don’t cut into your profits with excessive revenue shares. If you already have contracts in place, you can always go back to the vendor to negotiate more favorable terms.

Q: Are you seeing any bright spots for publishers amid this challenging economy?

A: There are some really interesting things happening in online publishing right now. First and most importantly, the very definition of a “publisher” is evolving as sites move beyond their traditional niche. The New York Times is a great example of this. Rather focusing purely on news and information, they’re branching out into entertainment, lifestyle, and even commerce — for example, with NYT Cooking, Wordle, and the acquisition of Wirecutter.

We’re also discovering new ways of reaching the online audience, and content is moving beyond simple text. I believe there’s a lot of upside and revenue potential for publishers as marketing budgets move into these rich mediums. 

The third opportunity I see is around audience data. Consumers are becoming more protective of their information and less data is available for ad targeting. This is driving a wave of innovation focused on enabling publishers to collect audience data and communicate it to ad partners. There’s still work to be done, but this has the potential to lessen the revenue impact of consumer privacy changes. 

For more insights to help grow your business on the open web, visit the Sovrn blog. You can also contact us at sales@sovrn.com for more information about our comprehensive suite of publisher solutions for commerce, advertising, and data.

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