Publishers and Programmatic -- Nine Publishers Answer Six Key Questions About Embracing Automation -- The Jay Sears Interviews

Editoramp8217s Note Today we are introducing a new series on publishers programmatic and advertising automation in which Jay Sears SVP Marketplace Development at Rubicon Project sits with publishers around the world from Viacom in the United States to the Financial Times in London to La Place Media in France to the Czech Publisher Exchange to look at best practicesAd holding companies are slashing the number of publisher vendors they contract with annually by up to 90 from an average of 3000 today to a goal of 300 according to anecdotal reports Ad holding companies are looking to leverage programmatic and advertising automation across all media buying not just the unsold or performance market If it can be automated it will be automated Ad holding companies are expecting programmatic and automated delivery to be part of every upfront discussionamp8212and that discussion will be about leveraging automation to access unique opportunities around both media and first party publisher dataFor sellers it will be a tale of two cities Successful sellers will know how to identify package and sell unique opportunities around their media and first party data via the automated channel The automation is simply a means to an end a required tool to allow you to successfully package and sellHow do sellers wind up on the top of the heap versus struggling in a bloated growing sea of irrelevance If you are a publisher or chief revenue officer can you answer these six questions1 Unique media unique data Do your conversations with buyers include leveraging not just unique media assets but unique data assets as well Have you connected your DMP to your order automation and auction platformAt The Financial Times Commercial DirectorGlobal Advertising and Insight Jon Slade reports quotWe are happy to surface our first party dataamp8230 why wouldnamp8217t we add value by doing that Weamp8217ve said that from day one Every impression on FTcom has up to two dozen targetable data points against it so our task is to bring that data together and create smart packages for our customers that help them reach the perfect audience targetamp8221 For Matamp283j Novamp225k of the Czech Publisher Exchange a cooperative of 5 leading Czech online publishers who joined to sell programmatically to better face the competition of global players like Google and Facebook the implementation of first party data strategies is a key priority in 2014 First party data amp8220is very important for the development of programmatic trading as a data market is virtually nonexistent in the Czech Republicamp8221 says Novamp225k2 Pricing segmentation across channels Do you have an offer and pricing segmentation strategy to offer your best most important buyers access across amp8220direct and indirectamp8221 channels Donamp8217t you already use this methodology in direct sold business to extend the impact of a custom program or reach a blended cost basis The controls exist today to claw back amp8220indirectamp8221 and make this part of the discussion with your best customers Manage the channels donamp8217t let the channels manage youAt USA TODAY Sports Media Group Chris Pirrone General Manager Sports Digital Properties reports they are amp8220fully engaged with programmatic across all channels direct private and open marketplaces and see it as a necessary source to drive demand for our large set of display mobile and preroll inventoryamp8221 Over at Telegraaf Media Groep in the Netherlands Head of Revenue Development Martin van der Meij says amp8220Our salespeople are compensated on every dollar sold manual direct order automation and auction Salespeople have a responsibility at an advertiser level This means we donamp8217t care how they spend their money As long as they spend budgets with usamp82213 Direct order automation Have you built out your direct order automated channel If a media planer or buyer can look on your companyamp8217s web site or call a sales rep and see a full media kit a full editorial calendar and a full rate card can they do this via your direct order automation channel Have you adequately represented your unique media and unique data assets Do you and your reps know selling and negotiation skills are needed more than ever to leverage automation Do you know you can maintain full pricing and channel controlamp8220Workflow efficiency and the opportunity to blend brand publisher data pools into the buy and layer across inventory are the obvious reasons for usamp8221 says Slade at the Financial Times on direct order automation For Rob Brett Vice President of Programmatic Sales at Viacom Media Networks amp8220Allowing clients and agencies access via automated channels is critical for the digital business the scale and speed will demand itamp8221 And at Tribune Digital Lori Tavoularis Managing Director Revenue Partnerships reports order automation and its adoption are evolving and already include premium placements such as home page IAB Rising Stars and rich media ad units amp8220At one point we did not think we would allow Rising Star or Rich Media via programmatic and now we areamp8221 says Tavoularis4 Use transparency to your advantage Want you know what buyers really think Go naked on your terms Every day you put your companyamp8217s brand and your own sales teamamp8217s best foot forward You segment and manage your channels Why donamp8217t you do the same thing via your automated channel Manage it Do you know how your best buyers behave in the overall market Could you leverage these insights to deepen your mutual commitments Do you want to know other buyers who might be showing an affinity to your media propertyMartin van der Meij at Telegraaf Media Groep says amp8220Most publishers focus too much on technology or on the difference between auction based and deal IDs The conversation the CRO should be having is amp8216How can I maximize my revenueamp8217 Thatamp8217s much simpler We still think that the airline industry is the best example You have a certain amount of goods to sell advertising spaceseats and you want to maximize the revenue per dayflight This means price differentiation is crucialamp8221 Brett at Viacom Media Networks reports using its DMP to deliver insights around content consumption for brands amp8220We believe that the environment the context for clients messaging remains the overwhelming driver for key brand performanceamp8221 says Brett5 Your sales compensation plan Is your sales group incentivized or disincentivized to leverage automation The automation train has left the proverbial station Advertisers are deploying budgets via automated buying They are now looking for unique media assets home pages IAB Rising Stars rich media capabilities and unique data assets the insights only you have about your customers Make sure your automated and programmatic capabilities are fully integrated into your revenue organization Brian Quinn Chief Revenue Officer at Triad Retail Media says amp8220Invest in a dedicated techsavvy programmatic sales team that is integrated with your existing display teams Implement amp8220everyone gets paidamp8221 comp plans to reduce internal frictionturf issuesamp8221 At the Financial Times Jon Slade says amp8220Our salespeople are compensated on every dollar sold via private marketplace fundamentally because it still needs a sales job done if itamp8217s going to be done properlyamp8221 And Swedish publisher Expressen part of the Bonnier Group is just implementing its programmatic strategy They amp8220are looking into a programmatic sales commission modelamp8221 reports Dilem Guler Head of Business Digital Web at Expressen 6 Manage a unified marketplace Do you view automation as simply another way for you to sell and to manage your buyer relationships Are you comfortable you have the right systems in place to manage your advertisers safely Or do you view automation as a threat to your business Stop thinking about amp8220direct and indirectamp8221 and start thinking about a holistic viewamp8212how can you use a unified marketplace and unified approach to create the highest level of buyer competition for your businessAt La Place Media in France a premium media universal exchange with supply from 24 major premium sales houses and more than 150 sites Managing Director Fabien Magalon reports programmatic premium an holistic yield is one of the three biggest initiatives for 2014 amp8220Our top 25 demand is now highly competitive with the bottom 25 of our premium publishers sales consequently we are now willing to more intelligently allocate impressions between the direct channel and the indirect channelamp8221 says Magalon A final bit of advice for chief revenue officers Slade at the Financial Times says amp8220Itamp8217s old school but it works Talk to the agencies Tell them why youamp8217re worth dealing with what makes you special what value you are bringing to the party and how youamp8217re interested to experiment in this brave new world Itamp8217s not so new now Donamp8217t just sit on the edge of the party overthinking it participate and help create the rules of engagementamp8221Programmatic and advertising automation is the new tool set But the skills to be successful as a publisher today have not changed Embrace automation to do what you already know how to do identify your unique assets segment your buyers put your best foot forward motivate your team and sellItamp8217s a brave new world The good news is you are already equipped to tackle it See you out in the hustingsJay Sears is Senior Vice President Marketplace Development for the Rubicon Project Sears works with leadership and business unit heads across the company to expand Rubicon Projectamp8217s potential market Sears has also served as General Manager REVV Buyer where he was responsible for global relations with the buy side including ad holding companies ad agencies agency trading desks and demand side platforms headquartered in North America Jay can be reached at jsearsrubiconprojectcomCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates at MediaBizBloggerThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggerscom management or associated bloggers MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their comments and opinions in response to all commentaries

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Publishers and Programmatic -- Nine Publishers Answer Six Key Questions About Embracing Automation -- The Jay Sears Interviews

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