Ray Faust

1. It’s Time to Rethink Ads
Ray Faust, VP Emerging Media
October 13, 2015

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The Upper Midwest’s Largest Media Company
In-step with an ever-changing landscape, we build upon our storied history with insightful vision
and technical acumen—solving problems, creating opportunities and enriching relationships.
Digital Services
» 1000+ digital direct advertisers
» Dual instances of Google DFP and DCM
» Display, Email, Paid Search and Social
» In-house Paid Media team managing data and
analytics for 300+ clients
» 120,000,000 monthly Paid Media Imps
Publisher Monetization
» Optimized yield management for 20+ pubcos
» Facilitated 2.7 Billion Imps YTD
» In-house Yield Team
» Nearly 30 years of combined
programmatic experience
ST Operations
» 148 years old; 5 Pulitzer Prizes
» 5th Largest Sunday paper in the country
»Print editions for:
Washington Post
USA Today
Pioneer Press
» 8M Monthly Uvs
» 250,000,000 monthly O&O Imps

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Our Approach
Current State: Direct Sales & Holistic Yield
» Priority on Direct Sales / Sponsorships
» Make all Impressions capable of being viewed
» Facilitate competition between direct / indirect demand

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Sales Strategy
Differentiate our O&O inventory
» Make advertising on ST.com the most unique, impactful
opportunity possible
» Sponsorship - large format, IAB Emerging Stars
» Portrait (300x1050), Billboard (970 x 250), Halfpage (300x600)
» Run-of Network (RON)
» Reach customers across devices, allows campaigns to fill efficiently

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Sales Strategy
Focus on Paid Media Services
» Audience Extension, Audience Targeting, Paid Search
» Focus on Campaign Management reduces need to
oversaturate users with frequency
» Allows for differentiation; migrating away from O&O Imp
based campaigns

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Holistic Yield
Price as a driver
» Direct sales has greatest leverage to drive revenue
» Direct & programmatic given equal footing
» Priority given to highest “bidder”
» Increased competition has lead to significant eCPM growth

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HY - Effect on Total eCPM

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Audience
Direct Sold
Sponsorships
Pricing
Programmatic

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Holistic Yield
Strategy

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Viewability

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Viewability

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Viewability
Publisher inventory needs an overhaul
» Overall reduction in impressions necessary given where
market is headed
» Ad strategy by user type; favors prem. pubs with paywalls
» Direct Opportunity - Increased performance; sponsorships
become even more premium
» Indirect Opportunity - Emphasis on maximizing potential
yield on UVs

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Viewability

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Viewability
Requires Holistic Approach
» Site design with thoughtful ad placements – 4/15
» Enabled lazy load – 5/15
» Positive -- CTR and eCPMs doubled; sell-thru rate ⬆
» Negative -- traditional Indirect inventory reduced

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Viewability
Revenue and User Benefit
» Ads rendering in real-time, faster load times
» Holistic yield + campaign management focus
» Fewer ads overall
» RPM per user push
» Maximize yield without exhausting user value
» Positive -- CTR and eCPMs doubled; sell-thru rate ⬆
» Negative -- traditional Indirect inventory reduced

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Ad Blocking

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Ad Blocking

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Ad Blocking

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Ad Blocking
Extremely fluid situation
» Taking an active approach - 10/1 “BTB” exercise
» Favors paywall / subscription tier for Ad Free / Lite
» Favors direct sales first approach; sponsorship model

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Ad Blocking
Ad Blocking - BTB

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Ad Blocking
Revenue implications
» Incremental Subscription revenue with premium tier
» By addressing Viewability, we’re reducing ad overload
» Ultimately, Ad Blocking users are bypassing our commercial
means for driving revenue

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Ad Blocking
So What Can Publishers do?
» Lots and not much – Rethink Ad Server / CMS
» Trade Association pressure (IAB, OPA, LMC)
» Make sure readers know you value commercial engagement

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Ad Blocking
Develop a Plan & Enjoy the Ride
» The state of change is breathtaking
» Make this a priority to monitor how AB develops
» Stay close with your partners; let them know it’s a priority
» Determine what makes sense for you