Changes are coming for digital publishers, and many are unprepared. Facebook has already started reducing the volume of “news” in their feeds, killing referral traffic for some publishers by as much as 30%.
Paid outbound content recommendation services are winding down guaranteed revenue contracts and asking publishers to accept revenue sharing contacts instead. This move is advertised as a way for publishers to gain flexibility in under article ad presentation and quality. It’s more likely that the sites purchasing traffic from the under article services are experiencing more pressure as programmatic ad rates continue to slide, and are no longer in a position to support a guarantee model.
Many publishers have relied on referral traffic and paid outbound discovery services to maintain site traffic and generate revenue. As a result, they have been able to ignore organic audience growth initiatives and yield management strategies. Refusing to invest in the technology and people required to leverage the value of content and actively impact digital ad yields has left many publishers behind the curve—and they need to take back control to survive.
By actively pursuing content personalization strategies and identifying higher yield branded advertising options to replace standard under article revenue opportunities, publishers can take back control of their audience and capitalize on the valuable local audience they serve. This will require investment in technology and people, and taking the time to gain a better understanding of how the audience values the content. It will also require active programmatic ad yield management practices.
In the end, if publishers expect to remain in business, these are steps they must take. Fortunately, affordable technology exists to support these efforts. Facebook and others have made it clear that they are only looking out for themselves, and we offer publishers the opportunity to reclaim their power. The question that remains is, will publisher take back control?
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