The biggest hurdles publishers face in monetising digital video
Other formats are flat or up in the single digits. But those are hard-earned dollars, as publishing executives know. At Digiday’s Publishing Summit in Miami this week, we rounded up some of them to ask: What’s your biggest challenge in monetising video? In short, too many agencies are still trying to recycle their 30-second TV ads for the desktop and mobile. There are viewability requirements to be satisfied. What works for the advertiser often results in a bad user experience. Here are their answers in their own words, edited for clarity:
Austin Wignall, vp, ad product strategy, Fox Sports
Getting 30-second spots from advertisers. We have content that is 30 seconds or under 30 seconds, whether that’s editorial or league highlights. That is great for mobile, but the tariff you pay to watch it is equal. Our users are still willing to put up with that tax. But it’s about us wanting to deliver a better user experience. Getting platform-specific content is supremely important. We’re facing the challenge of missing out on the revenue or accepting a mass-market spot.
Rick Hamann, senior vp of content, The Onion
You’d be surprised how many advertisers are willing to work with us and our sensibility; it’s intelligent and not really talking down to readers. There’s quite a few who value our audience. But our biggest challenge is getting [ad] content that’s worthy of the audience. Having a 30-second pre-roll that’s far from our sensibility actually does a disservice to to our audience and our advertiser.
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