Monthly Archives: June 2016

Next to Now: Independence Day

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DO MEDIA BRANDS EVEN MATTER ANYMORE?

Columbia Journalism Review asks the question at the heart of advertising: In a world where information is coming at you from all sides, does it matter who says what and where? According to  study by CJR and the George T. Delacorte Center for Magazine Journalism, yes it does matter:

“Readers are less likely to trust a longform story that appears to have run on BuzzFeed than the same article on The New Yorker’s website.”

While CJR is focused on journalism, the implications are clear for contextual advertising as well: it matters where information is coming from. While it’s true that some study members did not notice the media brand—a growing phenomenon captured by the Reuter’s 2016 Digital News Report—those that did notice  tended to be older and better read. That is, a better match for the core hardcover book buying audience.

#media #brands

 

LINKEDIN OPENS TO PROGRAMMATIC EXCHANGES

LinkedIn announced that it is opening its advertising to open exchanges to deliver increased banner impressions on the network. This is good news for anyone wanting to target the LinkedIn audience with a business or self-improvement book, especially those who do not have the budgets to take advantage of LinkedIn’s sponsored content opportunities.

#linkedin #business #programmatic

 

SNAPCHAT DROPS AD MINIMUMS

The minimum buy for a Snapchat campaign is reportedly dropping from $750,000 to $100,000. Book advertisers are likely to be waiting for another round or two before buying ads through the platform’s API. That said, there are co-branded Snapchat opportunities with such partners as People magazine that are workable for bigger book-size budgets. Contact your Verso account executive to learn more.

#snapchat #social

 

THE LIMITS OF ALGORITHMS

Facebook announces a new service that curates local events as selected by a team of people, not algorithms. This is good news for Facebook users (and other humans), but less good news for local media players such as Time Out:

“The product is launching in 10 U.S. cities: Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C. The curated program appears to take on local publishers such as Time Out New York and the Village Voice as well as mobile apps like Eventbrite, Like a Local, Scout and Field Trip.”

#facebook #local #human

 

FOOD PORN MOVES TO SNAPCHAT

AdWeek reports that many of the most popular foodie brands on Instagram are moving to Snapchat. 

“‘As Instagram has really slowed down the last four months or so, you can just see what’s happened on that platform and it’s obviously changing a lot,’ said Andrew Steinthal, co-founder of The Infatuation, a restaurant review site that’s heavily leaned on Instagram to build a following since launching in 2009.

‘Our entire audience is on Snapchat now—it’s the most reactive social network that we have. You can just see the impact on Snapchat and feel it right away right now. People are so deep into Snapchat and reacting to it.'”

While Snapchat requires more hands-on engagement from brands, it’s precisely that hands-on quality that makes it an effective platform.

#food #snapchat #instagram

 

FOX NEWS DELIVERS FACEBOOK ENGAGEMENT

For years, the highly engaged Fox News audience has made the site one of our best performers with digital ads. Readers on the site are hungry not only for news and information you’d expect, but also for high quality commercial fiction, especially thrillers. While Fox News is not the biggest media property, this engagement is translating to superlative response from the brand’s audience on Facebook:

“Fox News had nearly 120 million likes, shares and comments on its page in the first six months of the year, well ahead of digital natives including No. 2 NowThis (80 million interactions) and The Huffington Post (61 million). Mark Zuckerberg himself recently cited Fox News in defending Facebook against charges that it’s politically liberal, saying Fox ‘drives more interactions on its Facebook page than any other news outlet in the world. It’s not even close.’”

As the digital landscape evolves, Fox News continues to draw a passionate, curious audience that loves books. Click here to read the Digiday article. 

#foxnews #targeting #facebook

 

HOLD THE VIDEO

Columbia Journalism Review reports that social media’s influence on news consumption is growing. While there are more and more social conversations around news topics, the fact that the conversations are taking place on social networks means that Facebook and Twitter are becoming more dominant as brands for news and traditional brands such as The New York Times and The Guardian are  beginning to lose some of their traction with readers. One surprising bit of information from the study was the continuing importance of text to news consumers despite the rise of video:

“Platforms and publishers alike have been pouring money into video sharing, such as Facebook Live. One Facebook executive even predicted last week that in the next five years video will replace the written word. But the report suggests that many news consumers are resistant to watching video because it is faster to read an article, and because of the ads that often precede videos.”

http://www.cjr.org/analysis/reuters_report.php

#social #video

 

Photo (c) Martha Otis

Next to Now: Fresh Tips for Book Advertisers

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TO STRIVE, TO SEEK, TO SHARE, BUT NOT TO READ

Click Z reports on a study that reveals that most shared items are never read:

“In news that will embolden some, depress others and possibly surprise nobody, a new study by computer scientists at Columbia University and the French National Institute reveals that 59% of links shared on social media have never actually been clicked.”

At least for advertising purposes, web sharing still shows an increased level of engagement. But it’s not necessarily as complete a transaction of enthusiasm as we would like. The ClickZ article does a good job of going in depth into engagement numbers across several platforms and reveals why huge follower counts are often inversely proportional to click through rate. So we really do think you should click on this link and read it!

#social #sharingiscaring #butnotnessarilyreading

REDDIT IS BUILDING SAFE (WELL, SAFER) TOOLS FOR ADVERTISERS

Reddit comment streams have been difficult waters for advertisers to navigate, since the flow of talk can turn negative very quickly. Recently, Reddit has been working on some advertiser-friendly tools that are encouraging big brands to start exploring, gingerly, paid ads on some of the site’s threads. Adweek reports:

“In March, Reddit poached Google engineer Toby Segaran to build out an ad-tech platform. In his first three months, Segaran has launched programmatic buying and a search-based targeting tool akin to Google’s AdWords that lets marketers zero in on chatter surrounding specific keywords. Given the site’s volatile nature, there are also some clever workarounds with Reddit’s technology that avoid negative chatter altogether in subreddits.”

#reddit

TWITTER OFFERS MORE VIDEO DATA FOR ADVERTISERS

Starting this week, Twitter is offering increased engagement metrics for all advertisers that use their Amplify program. The announcement is part of Twitter’s recent overall emphasis on video advertising:

“Twitter and video company Innovid have announced a partnership that gives Amplify advertisers—Twitter’s premium offering that runs preroll ads before video clips from 300 media partners including AOL, BuzzFeed and ESPN—viewability stats and numbers about who is watching their ads. Amplify is a revenue-sharing program that splits ad money between content creators and Twitter.”

#twitter #video

CUSTOM PODCASTING

As podcasting continues to grow with the success of shows like Reply All, Death Sex and Money, and Serial, some podcasting media groups are starting to create stand-alone podcasts for brands. While we continue to believe in the benefits of advertising on podcasts with existing highly engaged audiences, it is worth considering a custom podcast to help boost a book series with an established brand to help grow its dedicated audience.

#podcasting

INSTAGRAM IS GETTING MORE FEMALE

A chart released by eMarketer shows that Instagram’s proportion of female users has been growing since 2014 and is set to continue to grow in the near future:

instagram userseMarketer comments:

“More than one in four people in the US will use Instagram regularly this year, making it the second most popular social network in the country after Facebook. According to recent research, women are more active than men on Instagram and prefer the platform more than other social networks for engaging with brand content.”

Since the book buyers are predominantly female, that makes Instagram a player to watch for book advertising going forward. The link to the eMarketer article works for subscribers only. 

#instagram #targeting

 

photo at Union Square Market (c) Martha Otis

Next to Now: Welcoming in Summer with New Targeting, Better Engagement, & Mergers that Matter

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TWITTER INTRODUCES EMOJI TARGETING

Adweek announces that Twitter is set to allow advertisers to target by emoji. From showing a travel book to users of the airplane emoji to a soccer book to users of the soccer ball emoji, there are endless ways to put this new targeting to work for your title.

#twitter #emoji #targeting

 

HIGHER ENGAGEMENT WITH ARTICLE-EMBEDDED VIDEO

A new study using eye-tracking software suggests that video embedded in news articles has significantly higher levels of engagement than video viewed in social media. The report found that 50% of users scroll more in social media and cover more content, but engage less with any single piece of content.

#video #native

 

PODCAST LISTENERS: A SMALL BUT ENGAGED AUDIENCE

In a new study reported on eMarketer, only 21% of internet users said they listened to podcasts. But of those who had listened to a podcast in the last 6 months, 85% tune in at least once a month and 33% say they listen more than once a week. This is more evidence that podcast listeners are a highly engaged audience.

#podcasts

 

FACEBOOK SET TO TRAFFIC IN-STORE IMPACT OF ADS

Facebook is joining Google and Four Square with its plan to track in-store behavior of people who see ads on Facebook. This is potentially good news for real-world bookstores and we look forward to learning just how digital ads affect the in-store experience.

#facebook #instore

 

LINKEDIN PURCHASE MAKES MICROSOFT A BUSINESS COMMUNITY LEADER

The combination of LinkedIn’s social chops with Microsoft’s deep data-rich information about the tools used in most businesses means this merger could be good news for advertisers looking to reach the business community.

#business

 

THIRD PARTY ADS COME TO SNAPCHAT

Third party access usually mean technological assistance improves and minimum spends come down. So this is good news for advertisers looking to reach the Snapchat generation, but who don’t have the six figure budgets that have been the easiest way to promote stories. Here’s Adweek’s take on the Snapchat news. Here’s more on it from The Drum and from Bloomberg. 

#snapchat #social

 

LOOKING TO REACH ENTREPRENEURS?

A new partnership between iHeartRadio and WeWork promises to be a great way to reach entrepreneurs:

“According to WeWork CMO David Weiswasser, music has played an important role for WeWork during its history. The company already hosts a number of events each year centered around music, and in the past, it programmed its own streaming station and hosted a three-day event in the Adirondack Mountains featuring live bands for members. He said the iHeartMedia partnership is a chance to build in a way that’s both community- and member-driven.”

#business #radio #streaming #audio

 

CONTEXTUAL COMMERCE

Commerce is coming to a messenger app near you. Soon a conversation on Facebook Messenger about finally getting those “Hamilton” tickets could lead to an invitation to read the book that inspired the musical. You could then buy the book through one click, then go on chatting.

#contextual #targeting

 

photo (c) Martha Otis at Union Square Market

Next to Now: Things Are Looking Up

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What’s the cause for optimism? Our latest readings on advertising and what it means for book publishers. The links below point to new intelligence on fresh data, smart research, inspiring creative, reader-centric design, and the potential for real world impact.

 

SNAPCHATS WANTS YOU TO AMP UP THE AUDIO

In a reminder that different platforms call for different standards, Snapchat is telling its video creators to pay close attention to the audio. This is in direct contrast with Facebook’s recommendation to create video that works without sound at all. They’re different platforms with different audiences and content expectations, so it makes sense to create different video for both. If you want to compare the platforms though, Snapchat says a recent study with MediaScience gives them an edge over TV, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. According to AdWeek,

“The study encompassed biometric testing to capture emotional responses, as well as eye-tracking and exit surveys . . . Snapchat says its ads garnered twice the visual attention of Facebook, 1.5 times more than Instagram and 1.3 times better than YouTube. When compared to those platforms and TV, Snapchat claims that its ads generated greater emotional response and twice as much purchase intent.”

#snapchat #social #video

 

BEN EVANS THINKS THROUGH MOBILE

In a recent blog post, Ben Evans does some smart thinking through the issues around mobile video and the problems of trying to compare TV ads with Facebook video plays with Snapchat Stories. They’re different animals with different metrics. Bonus video: Lyrical School puts it all in context for you with Run and Run.

#mobile #video #TV #facebook #runandrun

 

WHAT ADVERTISERS NEED TO KNOW

R/GA boils down Mary Meeker’s epic deck to the slides brand advertisers need to focus on. Here’s our boil-down of R/GA’s boil-down for book advertisers:

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#data

 

PANDORA REDESIGN

With over 1,000 different audience segments to use for targeting, Pandora has been one of our strongest ad partners in recent years. We are pleased to note that their redesign improves on their strengths. AdWeek notes:

“The streaming-music service is introducing responsive mobile display ads that automatically adjust to a phone’s screen size and that live in the square space housing album art. The format, which also applies to images that accompany audio ads and first impression takeover ads, is a move away from pop-up ads. A second major update for the app is the introduction of muted video ads, which will allow advertisers to serve promos within a responsive display unit that can be unmuted and watched in full-screen view.”

Other aspects of the redesigns go even farther to allow users some choice over the ads they see by allowing users to swipe right to dismiss ads. Anything that enhances the user experience is good news for book advertisers.

#streaming #pandora

 

MORE ON PANDORA TARGETING

AdExchanger has more on the new units in this interview with Pandora’s group product manager Eric Hoppe.

#streaming #pandora #data

 

IS IT OVER? DID FACEBOOK AND GOOGLE WIN?

No, but it can feel that way, especially after reading the New York Times piece that suggests Google and Facebook take up 85% of total US ad revenue. This article from April suddenly popped up in our feed this week with comments and criticism from The Motley Fool, AdWeek, IAB, Business Insider and more. As mammoth as the two platforms are, it’s unlikely that 85% number is accurate. And while book publishing is certainly not representative of the larger advertising market, it’s worth noting that Google and Facebook advertising products are nowhere near 85% of what we run at Verso.

#facebook #google

 

PINTEREST MEASURES REAL WORLD IMPACT OF PROMOTED PINS

Pinterest studied the effect of Promoted Pins on real-world store purchases:

“The study found that Promoted Pins drive 5-times more incremental in-store sales per impression when compared to other campaigns measured by Oracle Data Cloud, which include social media platforms as well as programmatic vendors and publisher websites, said Jon Kaplan, head of global sales at Pinterest.”

#pinterest #realworld

 

Photo (c) Martha Otis

Next to Now: Building Bridges / Moving Targets

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GEO-FENCING MOVING TARGETS

Geo-fencing can be a very effective mobile targeting tool. Now, that targeting option comes to the roving double-decker tourist buses that prowl the streets of major U.S. cities including New York, San Francisco, LA and Chicago. With the strong correlation between travelers and book buyers, targeting tourist buses could be a great way to target readers not just for travel-related titles, but for any title that gives particular insight into a city—whether it’s a celebrity biography that hits high points in key L.A. locations or a new edition of Bright Lights Big City on the streets of Manhattan.

#mobile #geotarget

 

2016 INTERNET TRENDS

Mary Meeker’s definitive Trends report is out for 2016. The main sections focus on the continued growth of mobile, especially in social channels, and the opportunities in transportation. Here are relevant highlights for book advertisers:

  • “Advertisers remain over-indexed to legacy media”: Mobile is solidly in place as the dominant format worldwide, but there’s still room for growth in ad spend versus hours spent on the device.
  • Online advertising efficacy: Problems and opportunities
  • Video ads that work are authentic, entertaining, in-context, and brief 
  • Some of the differences between Millennials and Generation Z: 2 screens vs. 5 screens; Curators v. Creators
  • The evolution of video: Live -> On Demand -> Semi-Live -> Real-Live
  • The rise of the new tools of engagement:  Lenses and filters 

 

#trends

 

BEYOND THE BANNER

The new LUMA presentation on the state of digital marketing is out (it’s a good week for definitive reports). Highlights:

  • The trend toward performance marketing (CPC, CPA) mitigates issues around ad blocking, bots, non-viewable ads
  • Value Exchange Programs are a win-win for advertisers and audiences. A good example is Pandora’s Sponsored Listening: early results have led to  >10% increase in brand awareness and 30% lift in purchase intent
  • 85% of incremental digital ad spend goes to either Facebook or Google
  • In order to make use of their significant first party data, telcos are eyeing ad tech companies for acquisitions. 

#marketing

 

FACEBOOK

Digiday reports that Facebook is expanding the walls of its walled garden:

“Last week alone, Facebook shut down its last pure programmatic ad exchange FBX, put the final nail in the LiveRail platform, and expanded its Facebook Audience Network, which is a closed platform.”

This means FB is taking its extensive and proprietary user data and serving ads beyond social. Bad news for independent ad tech, good news for advertisers.

#facebook #social

 

AUDIO MARKETING TOOLS

For marketers looking to create sound files in-house–whether as podcasts or to share across social media, startup Anchor is worth a look. Will it grow like Snapchat or vanish like Ello? ClickZ suggests the question is irrelevant:

“It doesn’t really matter if Anchor becomes a ghost town at some point in the future. As of right now, it’s the only platform that influential media figures and brands are using to drive audio interaction across channels. That should be reason enough to try it out and incorporate it into the mix of formats you use.”

#audio #social

 

VANITY FAIR

Vanity Fair is launching a new site—The Hive—dedicated to the intersection of business, politics and tech, and built for a digital first world. Digiday reports on the new site:

“What works brilliantly in the magazine is that sense of discovery, but that doesn’t really work on the web,” said Chris Mitchell, publisher and chief revenue officer of Vanity Fair. With the Hive, he said, “We get the halo of Vanity Fair, the built-in audience and SEO of Vanity Fair, but we also get to have it live in its own space, which is good for advertisers but also will be interesting to readers as well.”

#business

 

LISTEN UP: PEOPLE PREFER PODCAST ADS

AdWeek reports on a new comScore study that finds that people prefer podcast ads to all other types of digital ads:

“And not only do listeners not mind hearing them—they act on them. The study of 2,000 U.S. respondents ages 18 to 49 found that two-thirds of listeners have acted on ads they heard in a podcast either by researching a product or service or by actually purchasing something they first heard about in an episode.”

#podcasts

 

Photo (c) Martha Otis