Amidst faltering ad revenue, publishers have become so concerned with creating a space to promote advertisers’ brands that they are neglecting their own. Publishers are handing over ever increasing amounts of space on their sites to advertising in an attempt to chase sustainable revenue as CPMs decline. To make up for this decline, most publishers are increasing the number of ads on their sites, while others are serving larger or more interruptive formats. This has an impact on the user experience by complicating consumers’ content browsing, with ad clutter that distracts and detracts from the editorial experience. This impact on the user’s experience damages the publisher’s own brand.
Many publications have developed an identifiable brand which their users develop a kinship towards. The brand is made up of a number of elements, such as: the founding editorial ethos of the publication, the types of content the media title publishes, and the aesthetic of the editorial. Users develop a sense of brand loyalty and trust in the publication, even identifying themselves with it. It’s vital that publishers nurture this valuable relationship. The consumer-publisher relationship becomes strained when publishers overwhelm the page of content with the visual dissonance so often created by interruptive or intrusive ad formats. A recent report from PageFair highlights that, in response to the digital onslaught of such ads, nearly a quarter of consumers are now using ad blocking software, a figure which is predicted to rise by over 40 per cent each year. This can be devastating to publishers’ margins. Publishers must rethink the fundamentals of how the ads they run fit their brand, and use ad formats which complement their digital content rather than compete with it. It makes no sense to clutter premium sites with ads that diminish the aesthetic of each page of digital content. Publishers should instead deploy ad formats which make it possible for publishers’ ad operations teams to tailor the look and feel of ads on their sites.
Most digital ads work by distracting the user, and snapping them out of the often positive mindset they’re in when consuming a particular media title’s content. Placing ads in formats which are consistent with the publisher’s brand enables marketers and brand advertisers to reach consumers in the same focussed state of mind as when they’re absorbing the publication’s content. If the publisher’s style sheet uses a certain size of a certain font in a certain colour, then the ads should too. When consumers are focussed on absorbing quality content, they don’t want an ad format to dissonantly impact on their enjoyment of the very content they’ve visited the site to absorb. Leveraging the brand values of the publisher in this way constitutes a far more valuable opportunity for advertisers, enabling publishers to charge a premium for each ad placed.
Offering premium ad placements does require publishers to ensure their brand has a premium look and feel. Publishers should consider restricting the number of ads displayed on their pages. Running fewer ads will improve the user experience and increase the chance of each ad being noticed and engaged with by consumers. By minimising the supply of ads on their sites, publishers can take more control over the revenue per ad and assert their own brand values, placing publishers in a far stronger negotiating position.
The current approach makes little sense as an ad revenue strategy for publishers. With publishers giving more space over to ads, the volume of inventory available to advertisers has increased. As the supply of digital ads has gone up, their value has plummeted. Instead of increasing the amount of space given over to advertising on their sites, publishers need to focus on increasing the value of what they have to offer advertisers. Many publishers are overlooking the value of their own brand; their loyal readership, their premium content, and, crucially, the unique mindset of consumers who are regularly engaging with their content. By deploying ad formats which are more congruent with their brand, publishers can offer advertisers unique opportunities to reach consumers who identify with that brand.
By Guy Cookson, co-founder and CMO of Respond.
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