33Across Blog | Programmatic News & Trends

Although the recent nor'easter in NYC caused some travel issues out west, the turn out for Digiday Publishing Summit was still strong in beautiful Vail, Colorado. Vendors and publishers from across the globe gathered to speak about the advancements, hardships, and innovation within the digital landscape. Other than staying hydrated in the high altitudes of the Rocky Mountains, below are my major takeaways from the summit.

Despite Hurricane Irma passing through prior to the event, Digiday Publishing Summit Key Biscayne had an amazing turnout. Spirits were high amongst attendees as we came together as an industry to support Southern Florida and each other. Publishers, agencies, and brands openly discussed exciting advancements in ad formats, video, and creative ways journalists are enriching their content. Here a few of my takeaways.

Increasing Video Viewability
The focus of Digiday Key Biscayne was video. How publishers strategize their video content to target audiences across platforms was a hot topic. For instance, the same audience views video differently on Facebook than they do on Instagram or Snapchat. With so many users muting their video content, j ournalists are also finding creative ways of increasing viewability such as including phrases within video better ensures that content is absorbed. 

Header Bidding For Video
Panelists suggested that “player bidding” should be the term for video header bidding because with video, the impressions go through the player and not the header of the page. While a majority of publishers mentioned seeing a lift in revenue after implementing header bidding display that same yield does not always transfer directly to video.

New Ad Formats
Publishers have been exploring new ad units; in particular the Interscroller, a mobile web unit that is revealed underneath the mobile web page content as the user scrolls down the page. Driven by the Better Ads Coalition and the IAB, the unit offers a rich media experience without being intrusive.

Overall, Digiday Publishing Summit Key Biscayne served as a wake up call to ad tech. In order to increase competition and drive higher CPMs and yield, publishers want to do away with the "duopoly" that is Google and Facebook. Industry guidelines and rules are being distributed by Google and Facebook and commanding the way publishers do business. To have a fair ecosystem, we need publishers to band together and become solution-driven.

Last week in sunny Scottsdale, myself as a few other members of our sales team attended our first Digiday event- Digiday Programmatic Summit. While experiencing the humidity-free heat of Arizona I enjoyed connecting with brands and agencies throughout the three-day event. Discussions surrounding transparency, metrics, and artificial intelligence dominated numerous conversations. Unfortunately I could not bring back the amazing “lazy river” ride I went on however here are a few of my takeaways.

Transparency Is the New Black
Apart of nearly every conversation, transparency was the top buzzword during Digiday Programmatic Summit. Ever since the YouTube debacle, transparency is now demanded across the board. Brands are learning that successful partner relationships stem from consistent communication and the ability to have the curtain pulled back. With this, publishers should understand that media spend will indeed follow transparency.

Simplicity Works Best
There was quite a bit of a debate regarding the use of multiple SSPs, DSPs, and vendors; versus using only one.  Similarly there were several discussion surrounding brands that may have multiple KPIs. When looking at
30 different KPIs it is nearly impossible to determine campaign results. The consensus during Digiday was to nurture the KPI conversation by choosing to blend optimization metrics or to simply focus on 1-3 metrics. This enables a clear optimization path for vendors and simple determination for ROI.

Robots Will Not Take Over
We are hearing more and more about artificial intelligence within the digital landscape.  While it's certainly a part of our future it will not completely replace the human component of media planning. The digital advertising community should understand that AI will be used to make media buying smarter.  A robot is able to ingest and compute more data than a human however campaign initiatives will always need human consideration.

Getting It Right With Mobile
Mobile advertising has had its share of challenges including the fact that cookies do not work with mobile. Fortunately for all of us, mobile devices are not going away therefore we as an industry need to get smarter. Accurate device IDs, location targeting, and monitoring mobile ad performance more strategically will all help to improve mobile advertising.

Publishers, buyers, and ad tech partners gathered earlier this week in Dublin for Digiday Programmatic Summit Europe. Throughout the three-day event, both publishers and marketers took deep dives into the challenges surrounding the automated ad buying process. Below are a few of my takeaways.

 

Last week in Lisbon, leading publishers across Europe and abroad gathered for the first Digiday Publishing Summit Europe of 2017.  As expected header bidding, ad blocking, and the “Google/Facebook duopoly” were amongst the dominant topics. Witnessing the growing urge within the publishing community to have a collective voice against these two forces as well as other issues publishers face was both striking and empowering. Below are a few of my takeaways from the event.