What's Next for Header Bidding?
Header Bidding continues to make waves among publishers well into 2016. But its future, looks even brighter.
‘Header Bidding’ was a big buzz word in 2015 and still is even now late in 2016.
Before header bidding was introduced, publishers who were employing the ‘waterfall’ or ‘daisy chain’ bidding method suffered from a loss of impressions when passing impressions back and forth between partners and ad servers.
Since the solution entered the digital advertising ecosystem, header bidding has continued to make waves among publishers. Many large publishers, including Fortune.com and other Time Inc. sites, have adopted it. It doesn’t look like interest in header bidding is slowing down anytime soon and as we move towards 2017, the forecast looks bright and filled with innovation.
But before we discuss what the future has in store, let’s take a step back to re-examine header bidding’s origins.
How does Header Bidding work?
Header bidding relies on a piece of code that is scripted to a publisher website which enables their inventory to be shown to multiple demand sources – including exchanges, ad servers, and DSPs – simultaneously. A real-time auction then takes place on the impression across all demand, and the winning bid is relayed to the ad server to run the ad. All of this takes place in the milliseconds before the page load and before the ad server is able to work through the traditional waterfall.
For a really great explanation, check out this video on header bidding via ExchangeWire.
The benefits of header bidding.
Not only does header bidding help increase the density of demand for publishers, but it also enables the actual highest bid to win. In the traditional waterfall, the daisy chain process could result in some demand partner’s bids never being assessed, despite bidding higher than the winning bid.
Before header bidding, buyer access to inventory was limited by the preferences set within the ad server. The ‘waterfall’ was also originally quite labor intensive, requiring too much human intervention and inefficiencies. For publishers, especially those who don’t have the resources to man the waterfall, this resulted in a significant amount of missed opportunities.
This changed with the advent of header bidding. Beyond allowing publisher partners equal opportunity to purchase impressions, header bidding has an equalizing effect on the auction floor. This drives up demand and yield due to the nature of how many competitive bids are eligible to win the impression.
“It’s no secret that the more competition you enter into the programmatic space, the higher the impression will sell for. Header bidding just helps solve this efficiently.”
Megan Sun / Director, Publisher Relations
ClearPier
Commenting on the impressive changes that header bidding has brought to the fore Megan Sun, Publisher Relations Director at ClearPier, said “the biggest gain that publishers have seen after setting up header bidding is that there is little to no management required for your yield to increase and stabilize itself.” She also added, “It’s no secret that the more competition you enter into the programmatic space, the higher the impression will sell for. Header bidding just helps solve this efficiently.”
Jack Chung, ClearPier’s VP of Engineering, also emphasized the programmatic efficiencies that header bidding allows on the advertiser side. Chung stated that header bidding ultimately improves the “quality of Programmatic and Performance campaigns by allowing them to compete with reserved buys at the same level.” In other words, programmatic will no longer be stuck with the ‘leftover’ so-called lower quality inventory seen at the end of the waterfall.
Early challenges and drawbacks.
As with any technological innovation, there are complications. Early on, many publishers have stated that integration has been among the biggest challenge for them since the concept was first introduced. For publishers without the resources available to help with the setup, integration is definitely the biggest drawback. After all, code is required to be embedded on the website, but the publisher’s ad server needs a corresponding line item mapping as well – this requires some technical know-how.
Other complaints that have arisen have to do with latency. With more information being passed through the header bidder to partners and more partners ‘looking’ at the impression, the effects all this has on page loading times is definitely an issue. Indeed, trying to connect with as many demand partners as possible can result in publishers running too many header tags simultaneously. This of course causes slower load times, which is counterproductive for publishers’ conscious of the importance of strong user experiences.
But some header bidding partners offer ‘time out’ functions which empowers the publisher and lets them determine what is an acceptable amount of time for their page to load before users drop off. Determining this, Sun advises, requires thorough testing to find the sweet spot.
What does the future hold? Innovation and expansion.
It has only been a year since header bidding has entered the digital advertising ecosystem, but its future looks bright.
ClearPier’s take on the header bidding solution is exchange agnostic and allows multiple exchanges to plug in whereas previous versions are exchange specific. Few tech vendors can boast this type of solution and even more attractive for publishers is ClearPier’s tag setup take less time and doesn’t require the publisher to place anything directly on their site.
As Sun puts it, “ClearPier’s ability to offer publishers with more granular settings will mean they get a more robust programmatic solution where latency isn’t a problem, and yield will grow. Our Premium and flexible demand partner selections combined with a DMP and DSP will help push the technology forward, and its expansion into mobile and video.”
Header bidding’s ability to facilitate fairer prices and transparency will indeed likely mean expansion beyond digital into video and mobile. But not before we see it work with high-impact units. As we move into 2017, the development of header bidding technology is definitely one to keep an eye on as it helps reshape the ad trading landscape.
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Want to learn more? Connect with our team at sales@clearpier.com.
Why are Brand Marketers Turning to Performance?
The bottom line for brands is that Performance provides true, measurable KPIs where ROI tracking wasn’t possible before.
Last Thursday, AdExchanger published an article about how one brand is shifting attention to Performance.
Namely, Reebok is beginning to explore how Performance can help them garner more measurable results in their US marketing strategy. David Oksman, Reebok’s Head of US Marketing, stated that Performance is increasingly entering Reebok’s brand equation, largely because of its ability to map audiences through their sales funnel.
Tracking audiences and understanding how deep they are in the sales funnel and moving them through your CRM not only allows for potential retargeting and more precise messaging, but also helps close the ‘leaky’ funnel one might have with content or brand engagement alone.
Indeed, on Performance Oksman stated “we make sure that we’ve got objectives and KPIs set up not just at the top of the funnel, but across the entire consumer purchase funnel, in order to maximize content.” He added, “The content [Reebok is] creating as well as the dollars we’re spending on media are really just about finding the right efficiencies in order to maximize reach. The balance of content creation and media investment is something we’re thinking hard about.”
Brands are beginning to demand more attributable results and accountability from their campaigns. And with that demand, more forms of media – paid content, ads, and TV – are becoming measurable beyond just engagement.
With such pivotal news we asked Debrani Ghosh, Programmatic Client Services Director at ClearPier, what her thoughts were on the growing shift.
What are your thoughts about brands shifting gears towards Performance?
The bottom line for brand advertisers is that Performance provides true, measurable KPIs where ROI tracking wasn’t possible before. But it’s effecting more than just our ad strategies.
Performance is also changing the client-vendor relationship in many ways as well. We’re seeing brands demand more from their campaigns and they’re doing so by putting vendors in the spotlight to be the main ROI drivers.
And as a result, vendors have to step up their game across data and insights capabilities, technology, client services and education to stay competitive.
Is shifting to Performance a smart move?
Absolutely. What’s the point in spending your ad dollars without measurable KPI objectives? Performance coupled with data encourages results and helps reduce waste compared to traditional methods.
For example when brands work with ClearPier on a Performance basis, we’re able to identify your potential consumers beyond site demographics, down to the page level with first-party data layering. So the result is you don’t have to spend time or money in the prospecting stages to gather more info. It’s also a controlled environment because of our direct relationships with each publisher, so beyond Performance, clients are also assured brand safety.
Does the future of all marketing belong to performance?
E-commerce trends indicates that an estimated $34 Billion will be spent online by Canadians alone this year. Worldwide, retail e-commerce sales will reach $1.9 Trillion this year. The rise in e-consumption will dictate changes in marketing budgets globally as well.
And if brands are demanding more results, you can bet that they’ll also be shifting more of their marketing dollars towards Performance.
Want to learn more? Connect with our team at sales@clearpier.com
How Performance and Data Cuts Through Noise to Reach Millennials
Millennials expect more value, less disruptive user experiences from ads.
For advertisers, building brand awareness is essential to your quest for undying brand loyalty which, we hope, turns into never ending sales. You want to cut through the noise, connect with your audience, and get them engaged.
But the fact of the matter is that traditional “spray and pray” marketing just don’t work anymore. We know it’s expensive, often wasteful, and can potentially have the exact opposite effect of what you want for your brand. If your ads are being ignored by consumers, they might as well be invisible.
Traditional “Spray and Pray” Marketing Doesn’t Work on Millennials
Take the Millennial consumer. Born between 1980 and 2000, they are the biggest generation in U.S. history (92 million). According to Neilsen, they’re also the most trusting when it comes to advertising. Last year, the United States Census Bureau reported that Millennials now outnumber Baby Boomers, representing more than a quarter of the U.S.’s population. To top it off, their makeup is more diverse. Millennials are the driving force of change for the global economy, yet Business Insider reports that advertisers are failing to reach them.
The reasons aren’t exactly shocking. Daniel Newman, Principal Analyst and Founding Partner at Futurum, discussed in an article on Forbes stating that “millennials don’t want to be talked at.” As one of the most tech savvy audiences out there today, “they are used to having control over the information in their day to day lives, and their interactions with brands online is no different. They want to control their messaging,” Newman explains.
Performance and Data is the Secret Formula
This is where Performance marketing and most importantly data is essential for cutting through the noise to actually engage Millennials.
Real-time audience profile data layered over campaigns enables advertisers to target dynamically, based on purchaser intent and behaviour. Performance strategy enables advertisers to run campaigns based only on successful actions so ROI is actually measurable, down to the click.
Millennials expect more value and better, less disruptive user experiences from ads.
“Layering data enables the exploration and prospecting window to be shortened. What that means is conversion data can be collected at early stages in the campaign so your focus can be shifted from identifying the audience to actually driving performance.”
Debrani Ghosh / Programmatic Client Services Director
ClearPier
Debrani Ghosh, Programmatic Client Services Director at ClearPier, tells us that “from a performance stand point, layering data enables the exploration and prospecting window to be shortened. What that means is conversion data can be collected at early stages in the campaign so your focus can be shifted from identifying the audience to actually driving performance.” Read: drive results equals drive more sales.
Ghosh, who has over a decade of media buying experience in the programmatic space working at independent trade desks and DSPs, also added that when applying data, we should also look beyond generic data like age and demo. Instead, create consumer profiles based on behavioral and contextual intent for more precise targeting.
Megan Sun, Director of Publisher Relations at ClearPier, explains, “A good example is when you know a user is conscious about organic, locally grown, ethical food choices and is in market for a car. Do you think they’re more likely to purchase a gas guzzler vehicle or an electric economy car? Looking at your data and using it to your advantage in campaign would make the user happier because you can deliver relevant ads, while boosting results in campaign performance.”
Relevance is Key to Engagement
If Millennials are pre-occupied with authenticity and controlling the information they receive, then advertisers should make it their top priority to personalize their ad targeting down to the creative level.
Sun also adds, “With growing budgets for online media versus traditional methods like print and radio, online advertising is being cluttered with irrelevant ads to the user. While big custom executions hit the user on endemic sites, targeting users based on their behavior increases ROI for advertisers. The practice of driving performance by layering data is beneficial to audiences because, ultimately, it produces more relevant ads that add to the user’s experience, even when they’re visiting non-endemic sites.”
Combining Data with Performance strategy means trackable results, less ad spend waste for advertisers, and superior audience targeting. In other words, advertisers need to get on the Data train to drive Performance. Show your ads to consumers only when they want to see it so you’re brand doesn’t get ignored. Then sit back, and watch the results roll in.
Want to learn how First-Party Data and Performance can drive your sales? Connect with our team at sales@clearpier.com
ClearPier and Cue Digital Media Announce Strategic Media Alliance
ClearPier and Cue Digital Media Sign an Exclusive Agreement Creating One of Canada’s Largest Premium and Programmatic Offerings
Toronto, ON. (October 3rd, 2016) – ClearPier announced today that they have established an exclusive partnership with Cue Digital Media, to represent the company’s portfolio of premium websites in Canada across its Women’s Lifestyle, Music, Video, News, Finance, Sports and Entertainment verticals. As part of the agreement, Cue will leverage ClearPier’s proprietary technology to augment their programmatic, data management and performance offering.
The strategic alliance increases both ClearPier and Cue Digital Media’s presence in Canada across programmatic and premium online media, creating one of Canada’s largest private exchanges across their suite of high profile global publishers.
“Cue Digital Media’s 7 years of integrated media sales experience makes them the perfect partner to represent ClearPier’s high profile publisher offering,” says Sunil Abraham CEO of ClearPier.
“Cue’s existing roster of prestige publishers closely match ClearPier’s group of media companies. Coupled with our expertise in Data and Performance marketing, it’s a perfect symbiotic relationship.”
Sunil Abraham / CEO and Co-Founder
ClearPier
Abraham also added, “Cue’s existing roster of prestige publishers closely match ClearPier’s group of media companies, coupled with our expertise in Data and Performance marketing, it’s a perfect symbiotic relationship.”
“ClearPier’s offering enhances Cue’s existing publisher base increasing Cue’s reach across several new verticals and solidifies Cue’s position as a leader in premium online integrated ad solutions”, says David U.K., CEO and Founder of Cue Digital Media. “ClearPier’s proprietary technology augments our programmatic capability which enables us to provide an additional premium performance offering across our publishers.”
The strategic alliance will offer Premium, Programmatic Guaranteed/Direct, Integrated/Sponsorship opportunities and Private Marketplace (PMP) across ClearPier and Cue’s expansive group of high profile publishers.
About ClearPier
ClearPier is Canada’s leading premium performance marketplace. ClearPier offers advertisers a robust programmatic and performance trading solution through turnkey technology and premium supply. As the exclusive representative of a diverse portfolio of the world’s top comScore publishers across Women’s Lifestyle, Finance, Millennial, Health and Entertainment channels. ClearPier sites reach over 18.6 million unduplicated unique Canadian users each month. ClearPier offers first-party audience data, expansive reach, cross-device presence, superior viewability rates, and complete brand safety, at scale.
ClearPier
Sunil Abraham
CEO, Co-Founder
info@clearpier.com
1-888-515-PIER
www.clearpier.com
About Cue Digital Media
Cue Digital Media is one of Canada’s leading online news, sports and entertainment media companies selling online integrated advertising opportunities, branded content, sponsorships and partnerships to major agencies and Fortune 100 brands. Cue exclusively represents only select, established, premium online news, sports and entertainment properties in Canada reaching over 19.5 million unique Canadians each month. Cue represents some of the most recognized, high-profile digital news, sports and entertainment websites.
Cue Digital Media
David U.K.
CEO, Founder
info@cuedigitalmedia.com
www.cuedigitalmedia.com
Want to learn more? Connect with our team at sales@clearpier.com
[Infographic] How Video is Changing the Digital Advertising Landscape
From advertisers to publishers,
and ad-tech providers, the
video evolution effects everyone.
This morning when you scrolled through your feed on your phone, how many videos did you encounter? Browsing through your favourite news site, how many videos did you see while you scrolled? Chances are you saw a lot of videos.
Whether they are simply cat videos on your social feed, humorous content, or pre-roll ads, they’re everywhere! Video, its here to stay.
The video revolution has been unfolding in the industry for some time now, but advertisers, publishers, and ad-tech providers alike are beginning to re-assess how to best utilize this media format. Born from the TV tradition, video is evolving for the new digital age across our screens.
We explore how this evolution is effecting the digital advertising landscape and changing it forever. Check out the infographic below!
Want to learn more? Connect with our team at sales@clearpier.com
Is Branding Versus Performance an Outdated Notion?
Advertisers are shifting towards a blended approach, combining the strengths of one with the other.
What is the difference between performance and brand marketing? If you’re like me and have been working in the adtech/agency world, you know that performance and brand-based marketing teams approach advertising differently. Skill sets vary as well with agency folk generally deemed more creative, whereas performance marketers are seen as analytics focused.
The Brand Tradition
Branding has always been a high-cost but poorly measured tradition. There is no denying the persuasive powers that creative campaigns have over consumers, but at what cost?
Take for example Dove’s “Campaign for Real Beauty” launched by Unilever in 2004. The campaign tackled two goals: sell more Dove soap and change the way we as a society think of beauty. The campaign has been cited repeatedly as groundbreaking and bold. More than ten years after it originally ran, we still remember it.
Dove’s campaign has become an iconic part of a cultural shift in the way we think of beauty and self-love. Jennifer Bremmer, Unilever Marketing Director, has stated that in a survey conducted ten years post-campaign, three times as many women felt they were responsible for their own definition of beauty than the 23% the global survey in 2004 found (AdAge).
Dove’s sales increased from $2.5 billion to $4 billion during the campaign’s run.
So we know that brand campaigns work since overall sales increase or decrease indicates a campaign’s level of success. But brand campaigns are still notoriously difficult to track on a more granular level and therefore optimize.
And while this is one example of a successful brand campaign that drove sales, Unilever reportedly allocated over $8 billion in 2014 alone to its global advertising budget. That’s a lot of money. A lot of which has traditionally gone towards TV, of which the results are nearly impossible to track. Just because a lot of people saw that $8 million “America is Beautiful” Coca-Cola spot that ran during the 2014 Super Bowl, doesn’t mean everyone went out and immediately bought a Coke.
The Performance Path
When it comes to performance marketing, tracking is an essential part of all executions. Compared to brand campaigns, which are more about building relationships with consumers, direct response is all about making the immediate sale.
High-performance campaigns where clear goals are set and ROI easily measured are valuable to marketers trying to squeeze more out of their ad budgets.
The amount and quality of data and programmatic technologies available to performance marketers that enable them to target “the right ad at the right person, at the right time and place,” across screens are invaluable.
Performance goes beyond broad demographics, it relies on audience behavior, contextual data for precise targeting, and the ability to optimize and iterate efficiently across channels.
And while historically branding and performance have functioned separately, times are changing.
The Need for a Blended Approach
Unilever may have an $8.3 billion ad budget (2014), but nearly a quarter (24%) of its global spend goes towards digital (Business Insider). More recently, the company has worked on cutting ad spend by using a “zero-based budgeting” model that forces brand managers to “start from scratch to justify marketing and other outlays,” before more budget is assigned (AdAge). Sounds a lot like testing from a performance standpoint, no? In any case, the same approach is being executed for other brands including Heinz and Kraft.
Nike and its diverse array of athletic-wear lend itself to both brand and performance marketing.
Advertisers are shifting towards a blended approach, combining the strengths of one with the other to maximize reach, engagement, and measurable results. With consumers engaging with media across so many different devices and channels, often simultaneously, we can no longer treat branding and performance separately. They are two sides of the same coin.
A blended performance and branded approach, where technology enables superior targeting and strong creatives, helps cut through to audience resulting in better user experiences.
Ultimately, this will help advertisers overcome the threat of ad blocking that has become so prevalent in 2016. Delivering simultaneously relevant and entertaining ads for display and mobile is only the beginning. Once we acknowledge that the division between performance and brand advertising is an outdated way of thinking, we’ll be able to see new opportunities in video in the ongoing digital evolution.
Want to learn more? Connect with our team at sales@clearpier.com
ClearPier CEO on Data & Innovation in Canadian Digital Advertising
CEO Sunil Abraham Charts ClearPier’s Growth from Conception to
Founding and Beyond
As featured in Dx3 Canada’s Digest.
Toronto, ON – ClearPier has been making waves in the news recently after a string of new partnership announcements with big name publishers including, American Media Inc., Demand Media, and SheKnows Media.
Four years since its founding in 2012, ClearPier has become one of Canada’s leading premium marketplaces and boasts an impressive 2.3 billion exclusive monthly impressions. In the past two years, it’s doubled in size, incorporated Blyk Media into its core in-app and mobile sales division, and opened a new office in the heart of Toronto earlier this year.
As Q4 draws near we sat down with one of the driving forces behind ClearPier, CEO, Sunil Abraham, to talk about the company’s raison d’être and the impact ClearPier will have on the future of the Canadian advertising landscape.
How did ClearPier come to be?
ClearPier was founded by Jignesh Shah, our CTO, Steve Melles, who is also the Director of the Globe Alliance and Business Development at the Globe and Mail, and me in 2012. But like many great ideas, the concept behind ClearPier was originally just a casual thought born out of frustration.
After more than a decade of buying media in the performance marketing space, we were still struggling to overcome the issue of ad fraud. As billions of dollars were being poured into digital in the 2000s, rampant fraud also ballooned.
In addition to fraud, we also took issue with the lack of transparency that existed in digital with regards to pricing, performance, and placement. What was the point for advertisers who were overpaying for placements that delivered poor results? Meanwhile, publishers saw their margins shrink as more layers in the traditional ad stack were being added into the media buying process.
Something needed to be done. So ClearPier went from being just a concept into a company with a radical mission: to completely solve the problem of ad fraud that plagues digital media buyers, everywhere.
“In the digital space, it’s always data that decides the winning campaigns from the rest. Quality, accurate data determines who, where, what, when and how we target our audiences and to what degree of preciseness.”
Sunil Abraham / CEO and Co-founder
CLEARPIER
There seems to be a misconception that ClearPier is just a programmatic play. Can you clarify?
From standard offerings including rich media, interstitials, video and native, to performance and programmatic solutions, and finally branded custom executions – ClearPier does it all, with exclusive audiences.
The advantage with ClearPier is that our clients get higher performing campaign results with simple solutions. What many brand advertisers don’t know is that we do branded offerings with precision and at scale. Since we have strong one-to-one relationships with our publishers, we’re able to work with our publishers directly to create branded executions that are tailored to the right audience for our clients. The benefit in that is we can offer clients more demand, more control, more efficiency, and more insight without sacrificing creativity. We’re not just a trading desk, we are a comprehensive premium media buying solution.
How has ClearPier grown since its founding and what should we expect from you by the end of 2016?
We have some ambitious objectives. In our pre-market phase we purchased the assets of Admobix, a Canadian DSP, to help round out our technological solution. We also acquired Blyk Media, a mobile-first company, to help shape the foundations of our in-app and mobile sales. In Q3, our focus has been video and we’re working on expanding our DMP.
We’re a technology first company which means technological innovation is something we’re constantly undergoing. For us, technology is a means to a make our client’s lives easier and we’re constantly striving to deliver a holistic media buying solution. That means making integrations simple and efficient, while offering reliable and accurate data.
What makes ClearPier different from any other PMP?
In the digital space, it’s always data that decides the winning campaigns from the rest. Quality, accurate data determines who, where, what, when and how we target our audiences and to what degree of preciseness.
And so this is the big difference with ClearPier, we offer site-level first-party audience data. Combine that with a brand-safe premium environment, and the ability to achieve the best user experience with custom executions at scale and across screens and you have a winning formula for results.
Learn how ClearPier can help you get more from your ad dollars. Connect with us.
5 Proven Monetization Tips to Boost Your Ad Revenue
In the digital landscape, publishers must experiment with strategies but keep ad quality top of mind.
So you’re a publisher with amazing content. You’ve got plenty of traffic, loyal followers, and diverse audience demographics. Producing content and ensuring top quality user experience is a labor of love for publishers. But another concern is how to monetize your properties effectively. You know that your ad space is valuable, but how can you get the most out of that revenue stream?
We sat down with ClearPier’s very own Director of Publisher Relations, Megan Sun, and Director of Business Development, Parag Joshi to chat about successful monetization strategies. Sun and Joshi have nearly two decades of experience in the media buying space between them and extensive expertise in publisher business development and ad quality. Here are their top 5 proven ad revenue boosting monetization tips for publishers.
1. Remember that Content is King
Joshi: This may sound obvious, but I think it’s important to emphasize the role that content plays in how much revenue you can generate. Ensure that you stay clear about your site’s raison d’être because your site’s purpose is precisely why audiences visit in the first place.
The most profitable publishers remember that their first priority is to always produce quality content, because they know this sustains audience engagement. Maintaining quality of content is the basis to driving all of your revenue models across ad inventory, native sponsorships, affiliation, subscriptions, and more.
“Whether it be conversions for ticket sales or tracking how many users are coming from your site through their landing pages, the better your performance is according to metrics, the higher your fill and CPMs.”
Parag Joshi / Director, Business Development
CLEARPIER
2. Get to Know Your Audience
Sun: Everyone says this but it’s so important to actually exercise this. You need to get to know your audience. Understanding your audience will help publishers realize the brands that will be most likely to purchase your inventory. There are platforms out there like Google Analytics, comScore, and Woopra that can provide insightful analytic data for publishers.
Once you know this, you can cater your content to fit the demographic and drive better performance for advertisers trying to target this specific audience segment. For instance, if you know that the majority of your users are women ages 18 to 34 with children, then you’ll be able to come to the conclusion that brands in the family and parenting categories would be a great fit for your site. With this insight, you can package your inventory appropriately.
3. Be Aware of Important Advertiser Metrics & Test for Optimization
Joshi: When it comes to your ad inventory, keep in mind that advertisers have a goal and to reach these goals they’re constantly optimizing against key metrics. Keep metrics like click-through rate and viewability in mind and test lazy loads (ads that only load upon scroll), or the positioning of your ads in different areas on your pages to see which perform best. Re-examine the data and see which ad unit size receives the best performance so you can weed out the lower performers.
There are also a lot of site optimization tools, like Visual Website Optimizer for example, that show you heat sensors patterns on where your users are most likely viewing your ads or engaging with your content. These tools also show you if your content is too long form and whether or not users are scrolling all the way down the page. If results show that your users do not scroll all the way down, then placing an ad at the bottom of the page will have poor results. Whether it be conversions for ticket sales or tracking how many users are coming from your site through their landing pages, the better your performance is according to metrics, the higher your fill and CPMs.
4. Keep Ad Quality Top of Mind
Sun: Publishers should be experimenting with their ad revenue strategies, but when it comes to their inventory it’s critical to keep ad quality top of mind. In platforms like ClearPier’s, there are features to control the types of ads being shown to the end user.
Publishers should always be making an effort to stay in control of the type of ads that run on their site because negative or inappropriate placements directly affect not only user experience, but also impacts a publisher’s brand reputation. This in turn effects the advertisers that will choose to work with you and could drive prospective clients away.
“Publishers should always be making an effort to stay in control of the type of ads that run on their site because negative or inappropriate placements directly affect not only user experience, but also impacts a publisher’s brand reputation.”
Megan Sun / Director, Publisher Relations
CLEARPIER
5. Consider Reinvesting Budget with a DMP
Sun: The goal for all publishers is to keep on driving that revenue up. As your ad revenue grows, consider reinvesting some of that budget and working with a DMP (data management platform). This will help you understand your audience at a more granular level and can be extremely attractive to clients.
Why? DMPs can create logical deductions based on a user’s browsing habit. Let’s take from the example we had above. Let’s say the majority of your users are women ages 18 to 34 with children. DMPs allow you to combine your data with theirs to reveal what percentage of these users are reading the sports section of your site. As a result, you discover that this audience segment actually splits into more than just family and parenting. This audience also encompasses a millennial audience interested in sports and health.
Understanding your audience is valuable to advertising partners because it helps advertisers when it comes to targeting. If you are able to offer clients the ability to target specific users and specific content at site-level across article genres, sections, home page, and more, then you’ll be able to scale up your monetization efforts.
Learn how ClearPier can help give your ad revenue a boost. Become a partner.
ClearPier Joins Mongrel Media
at TIFF 2016
In support of the leading Canadian independent film distributor, ClearPier will power Mongrel Media’s social wall.
The fall film festival season is upon us! Toronto’s International Film Festival (TIFF) is about to ignite a whole lot of excitement in the city. Fans are abuzz knowing celebrities will be wandering the local streets among them, as stars come to town to walk the red carpet premieres.
This year, Mongrel Media, a leading Canadian independent film distributor focused on bringing the best of local and world Cinema to Canadian audiences, will be presenting a number of feature films from around the globe. ClearPier will be joining Mongrel Media at TIFF by powering the independent distributor’s social wall at the super exclusive Mongrel house takeover of the Campbell House for TIFF.
“We’ve worked closely with Mongrel Media to execute their most recent digital campaign for Café Society. We just wanted to get out there and support our client at one of the biggest film festivals in the world in any way we can,” commented ClearPier Account Executive, Kingsley Fialho.
Mongrel Media will be showcasing films including Window Horses, an animated film by director Ann Marie Fleming, Julietta, by Spanish film director and screenwriter, Pedro Almodóvar, and The Eagle Huntress, a documentary about a thirteen year old girl from Kazakhstan as she trains to become an eagle hunter. But one of the most anticipated films in the lineup may be director Kenneth Lonergan’s Manchester by the Sea, a drama starring Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams and Kyle Chandler about a reclusive handyman who must face his past when he returns to his Massachusetts hometown following the death of his brother.
The Toronto International Film Festival begins today, September 8th, and runs until September 18th this year.
ClearPier Signs Representation Deal with Penske Media Corporation
PMC Partnership Brings Variety, Hollywood Life, BGR and More into ClearPier’s Offerings
Toronto, ON. – ClearPier officially announced their partnership with Penske Media Corporation (PMC), a leading digital media company and publisher of a leading news brands such as Variety, WWD, Indiewire, Deadline, BGR, HollywoodLife, TVLine and more.
PMC’s owned and operated brands reach over 147 million visitors each month (comScore, July2016). Among its most popular sites, HollywoodLife boasts over 4.2 million unique Canadian page views each month, followed by TVLine with over 1.2 million monthly Canadian unique views. This exclusive representation deal not only significantly expands ClearPier’s entertainment news audience segment, but also bolsters PMC’s commitment to Canadian audiences.
“We are excited to work with ClearPier given their comprehensive capabilities across standard IAB inventory, programmatic open exchange, PMP, custom units, user data and more.”
Brian Levine / Senior Director, Monetization
Penske Media Corporation
Brian Levine, Senior Director of Monetization at PMC, commented on the partnership stating, “PMC’s portfolio of websites has been growing rapidly and we view Canada as a key market for our brands and readers. We are excited to work with ClearPier given their comprehensive capabilities across standard IAB inventory, programmatic open exchange, PMP, custom units, user data and more.”
“We’re thrilled to be partnering with PMC as they refocus on their Canadian audience. PMC is a wonderful addition to our premium site-list. This partnership allows advertisers working with ClearPier to reach and even larger millennial audience, which is one of the key consumer demographics driving growth in the Canadian market,” Sunil Abraham, ClearPier CEO, commented.
PMC has a large millennial audience between the ages of 18 and 34 interested in entertainment, tech, and fashion news. A large portion of PMC’s audience also falls within the +$100K HHI range and includes influential thought leaders in the global entertainment and fashion industries. ClearPier’s partnership with PMC significantly expands the company’s entertainment news vertical.
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Media Contact
Jenny Duong
Marketing Manager
jenny.duong@clearpier.com
1-888-515-PIER
About Penske Media Corporation
Penske Media Corporation (PMC) is a leading digital media, publishing, and information services company that engages with audiences across the web, television, mobile, print and social media. PMC’s owned and operated brands reach more than 170 million visitors monthly (comScore, 2015) and Penske Media was recently named one of the Top 100 Private Companies in the United States and North America. With the preeminence of its brands, PMC is one of the largest digital media companies in the world, publishing more than 20 digital media brands, including its India.com joint venture with ZEE TV in India and Variety Latino joint venture with Univision Communications Inc. PMC additionally owns and produces more than 80 annual events, summits, award shows and conferences while housing a dynamic research and emerging data business. As of 2016, PMC businesses include: PMC Studios, WWD, Variety Inc., Deadline.com, Fairchild Media, M, India.com, GoldDerby.com, FootwearNews.com, TVLine, CricketCountry.com, Hollywood Life, Beauty Inc, BGR, AwardsLine, Bollywood Life, BPB.in, LA411, NY411, Variety Insight, and Indiewire.com. The company is headquartered in New York, NY and Los Angeles, California with an additional 11 offices around the world. For more information, visit www.pmc.com.
Penske Media Corporation
Brian Levine
Senior Director, Monetization
blevine@pmc.com
310-484-2529