Ad industry veteran and event stage mainstay Amanda Martin is taking on a new role as Mediavine’s SVP of partnerships and business strategy. Martin will be moving from the buy side to the sell side after a nearly eight-year stint at ad agency Goodway Group.
DanAds is in growth mode, and its US expansion is in full swing. It also has its sights set on profitability by the end of the year. But the volatile market has DanAds rethinking its IPO.
Recurrent Ventures is ramping up its focus on programmatic direct and PMPs to make up for flagging open auction revenue. Marketers now have access to Recurrent’s 28 publisher brands through Audigent’s private marketplaces.
Times are tough and tight for web publishers. But times are even tougher for small, independent newsletter writers. “These writers are out there producing interesting, niche content,” says Swapstack CEO Jacob Schonberger, “but they don’t have the time or the ability to find brands to sponsor them.”
BuzzFeed hopes its investments in trendy tech like generative AI and short-form vertical video, with a bigger focus on commerce, will eventually pay dividends.
Publishers, such as The Arena Group, are now partnering directly with brand safety solution providers to lower their block rates for direct-sold inventory.
American City Business Journals earns about 90% of its revenue from direct sales. So it is looking to invest in technology that can streamline its direct business as much as possible.
While cookies are still in play, publishers are using first-party data products to draw business from advertisers eager to test cookie alternatives, even as ad spending retracts due to persistent fears of an upcoming recession. Here’s a snapshot of how Vox Media, The New York Times, The Washington Post and Trusted Media Brands evolved their first-party data strategy in 2022 and their plans for the coming year.
UK-based publisher LADbible Group is testing post-cookie alternatives and building its contextual targeting capabilities. But the social-first publisher has yet to be convinced that any of these alternatives will be a truly viable replacement for the much-maligned – and yet still widely used – third-party cookie.
The most commonly cited rationale for publisher staffing cuts has been marketers’ hesitance to spend on advertising amid persistent economic uncertainty. But publishers’ latest pivot to video and increased competition among digital channels is also likely to blame.
