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GDPR Impact on Programmatic Trading Blog Series: Approaches to Preparing for GDPR and the IAB Europe Transparency and Consent Framework

May 21, 2018 — by MediaMath

This post originally appeared on the IAB Europe blog and is Part II of a series on GDPR. Read Part I here.

MediaMath has committed enormous resources to readying itself, and the industry, for the GDPR, which comes into force on Friday 25 May. While anticipated regulatory scrutiny plays a part in these efforts, it does not tell the whole story. Namely, that MediaMath believes in the spirit of the law, that Internet users have rights to better understand, and make informed decisions about, the use of their personal data. To that end, MediaMath’s Data Policy & Governance, Legal, Product, and Engineering teams are working cooperatively with partners and competitors, publishers and advertisers, to assess and address the GDPR’s requirements from administrative and technical standpoints. We have designed, built, and deployed products and services that help our clients comply with European regulations, while achieving successful marketing and business outcomes.

It is certainly true that every company in every industry that handles the personal data of Europeans has had a great deal of work to do. However, the advertising technology ecosystem has had more. MediaMath took on an industry leadership role early on, as chair of the IAB Europe’s Working Group on Consent, to bring together advertisers, publishers and technology providers to develop effective compliance solutions for the entire digital marketing industry, the result of which was the IAB Europe Transparency and Consent Framework (‘the Framework’). The Framework has been designed to offer all players in the advertising ecosystem a transparent and auditable chain of communication surrounding the use and processing of consumer data. We encourage both advertisers and publishers to adopt the Framework for the benefit of themselves and Industry.

Many see 25 May as a finish line, but the reality is that the day the GDPR comes into force is just the start. Businesses will need to continue adapting as data protection authorities, courts, and consumer advocates begin weighing in on what the GDPR means to them. And no one should forget about the ePrivacy Regulation just around the corner. I suspect this paradigm shift in the way personal data is regulated is not confined to Europe, that we will see a rapidly evolving regulatory landscape around the globe. Whatever may come, MediaMath will be ready, and will have benefitted tremendously from the technology its partners and IAB Europe have helped develop.

Data Media

The Opt-in Video Option for Making Better Mobile Ads

May 15, 2018 — by MediaMath

GDPR. Ad blockers. Cambridge Analytica. Consumers have spoken, and their demands are clear: Advertising needs to stop being intrusive and start giving consumers more choice.

Mobile specifically has been suffering from bad advertising creative standards. Ninety percent of users’ time on mobile is spent in-app, yet almost 46 percent of mobile users consider in-app ads to be unacceptable, according to eMarketer. If nearly half of mobile formats are quite unpopular to users, what types of ads should we be making so that we can delight consumers with better experiences?

Opt-in video is slowly emerging as a fan favorite for several reasons. Also known as rewarded video, consumers watch these short video ads in exchange for a reward, such as tokens or unlocking a new level in a game. Mostly used by gaming apps, this format has been evaluated by more than 40 percent of users as the most popular, according to the same eMarketer report. Non-disruptive and non-intrusive, publishers are pursuing opt-in video as the best way to monetize their apps while maintaining a great user experience.

Waves along the programmatic shores

Opt-in video is not new, but it is only now making waves out of ad networks towards the programmatic shores. Historically used by mobile-first clients to drive app performance, this format is now attracting brands that want to boost reach to and engagement with their users. Advertisers are starting to gather all ad network activity under one programmatic platform because it helps:

Facilitate the activation.
Align their strategy across channels to focus on end users.
Provides additional transparency and control.

The underestimation of gaming apps

Traditional advertisers might seem hesitant about the app and gaming environments within which opt-in video is living. These are wrong perceptions the advertising industry needs to address. Here is why and how you should think about incorporating opt-in video into your mobile strategy:

Reach your users where they are, not where you want them to be: One-third of the time mobile users spend in-app is on non-monetized apps or in walled garden platforms, and one-third is on entertainment and gaming. Blacklisting gaming apps is saying goodbye to 30 percent of the opportunity to reach your users on their phones. In a mobile-first world, that can be an expensive choice to make.
Ask for user choice and they will give it back to you: With completion rates of more than 75 percent, opt-in video is driving some of the best user engagement with brands. Almost 80 percent of mobile app game players confirmed they are open to engage with a video ad for in-game rewards.
Control your brand safety and viewability Even if you’re previously considered in-app gaming inventory as not right for your business, opt-in video is proving to be an engaging way to drive outcomes for brands. We highly encourage advertisers to add opt-in video to their strategy and test the impact on their users.

Even if you’ve previously considered in-app gaming inventory as not right for your business, opt-in video is proving to be an engaging way to drive outcomes for brands. We highly encourage advertisers to add opt-in video to their strategy and test the impact on their users.

Data Media Trends

Marketing Mother’s Day Gifts

May 11, 2018 — by MediaMath

This post is an excerpt from an article that originally ran on Campaign Asia.

In 2017, shoppers were expected to spend some $23.6 billion to celebrate Mother’s Day—a record high, up 10% from the year before. Closer to home, the spotlight is on the Internet economy, with Singapore’s e-commerce market expected to be worth S$7.5 billion by 2026 . For marketers and retailers, all eyes are on the prize as they look at digital campaigns to capitalise on upcoming celebrations and shopping holidays to drive sales targets.

However, the online playing field is like a busy household, with a lot going on. In this scenario, how can brands tailor their campaigns to cut through the clutter and effectively show their love for mom this Mother’s Day?

Know what she wants

Like the unconditional, all-knowing bond between mother and child, marketers should know their target audience and consumer preferences inside-out.

Building on insights pulled from consumer data, marketers can develop strategies based on predictions and buying behaviours. For example, past transactions and consumer data from the previous year can inform marketers on the types of gifts that are best-selling—be it spa packages, an afternoon lunch at a hotel, make-up products or flowers for mum. If a bouquet of pink carnations (symbolising a mother’s undying love) crossed the highest sales the past year, marketers can then invest more advertising dollars to target those who have shown an interest in purchasing them specifically.

With these insights, marketers can also create segments of Mother’s Day gift buyers, including last-minute shoppers, daughters, sons or husbands. To effectively close the sale, develop messages that speak to these audiences, such as offers including free shipping for last-minute flower deliveries.

Ultimately, knowing what she wants goes a long way in capturing consumer interest and showing Mom we care.

Data Media Trends

4 Steps for Executing True Omnichannel Experiences in Programmatic

May 10, 2018 — by MediaMath

This post originally appears on Martech Advisor.

Years ago, marketers’ media channels were highly specialized and siloed. And there was good reason for that. As new channels emerged, they needed to be tested and have standards and measurement applied to them that often varied from other channels. Plus, specific channels, like video, were often tied to certain types of campaigns, such as branding, which meant they sat in a specific budget. It was hard, back then, to approach programmatic in a way that was full-funnel and across channels.

But that’s all changed in 2018. There’s no longer a need to use disparate point solutions for each of your channels that prevent you from seeing the totality of your marketing investments, audiences or insights, or walled gardens that can’t fully share data or target relevant ads during the full lifecycle of a consumer. We now have consumers engaging with different channels across multiple devices (they can watch that video ad across the display or social, on desktop or mobile). And more importantly, we now have integrated technology that can manage, segment and activate your audiences in media across all channels at your disposal. This provides a more holistic view of your customers, a fluid budget and frequency capping and sequencing to avoid delivering annoying, repetitive, incessant ads. You can meet the audience where they are, interacting with them in the medium and message type that is most engaging to them to deliver true consumer-first experiences that they enjoy and that they have elected to engage with.

But how do you get started if you’ve never run a true omnichannel campaign before? We talk through four key areas and include actionable tips below.

Put Data First

Data is at the core of omnichannel marketing. Marketers use it to inform the customer journey, uncover brand-specific channel and audience insights, develop a more sophisticated and unified view of the consumer and understand how each channel influences the many points along the customer journey.

Clearly define and implement internal data ownership to ensure that you know where all your data sources live and which teams are responsible for them.
Clean, organize and centralize your first-party data to generate the information you need to determine which customer experiences move the needle most for your brand, at a segment level.
Understand where your gaps are so you can layer on second- and third-party data where appropriate, such as for prospecting efforts.

Reassess Your Goals

Clicks and impressions are out. ROAS and ROI are in. Marketers must identify specific business and marketing goals and use these to evaluate success across all channels.

Hold working sessions with channel experts, such as sales and the paid media team, to collaboratively define your unifying business goals, benchmarks and assess the impact of each channel.

Consumers expect—and deserve!—consistent, personalized brand experiences. Marketers who have embraced an omnichannel strategy tailor their creative execution and messaging to the individual, not simply to screen sizes or ad formats. It is essential to capture and maintain attention by telling each person a compelling story, and to engage in a meaningful way, at the right time.).

Carefully control your messaging and creative across all channels, aligning with your integrated marketing communication strategy: narrative, channel and placement.
Remember that the messaging for a new customer versus a lapsed customer, and across- versus an up-sell opportunity, is different.

Activate with Technology

Clean, centralized data. Check. Defined goals. Check. Aligned messaging and creative. Check. What comes next is the technology to execute. Your data management platforms (DMP) and demand-side platforms (DSP) are critical for activating and executing omnichannel strategies in real-time, reaching all desired customers, across devices. Having these technologies integrated with each other helps ensure that audience segments target omnichannel strategies by factors including demographics, exhibited behaviors and interests. Through these platforms, budgets, return on investment, engagement and reach can be maximized.

Consider audience overlaps when buying third-party data for “enrich” and prospecting marketing campaigns.
Reduce ad wastage by frequency capping.
Ensure that DSP and DMP partnerships are compatible and can satisfy any platform integrations required, with little to no data leakage.

Data Trends

Are Singapore Companies Prepared for the GDPR?

May 9, 2018 — by MediaMath

Brands can now leverage data to understand what their customers are interested in, when they are most willing to buy, the likelihood of a purchase decision and the right time and place to deliver an ad. There is no doubt that the upcoming GDPR implementation will now prompt questions globally on how the digital advertising ecosystem is using data and will challenge the industry to evolve and adapt to the regulation.

The Business Times recently interviewed Alice Lincoln, our VP of data policy and governance, on what Singapore businesses should consider to prepare for the GDPR launch on May 25. Alice shared that, “As marketers in Singapore are looking to deliver more customer-centric, relevant and meaningful marketing experiences, data-driven marketing through the use of programmatic technology has risen in prominence. There is no doubt that the upcoming GDPR implementation will now prompt questions globally on how the digital advertising ecosystem is using data and will challenge the industry to evolve and adapt to the regulation.”

Subscribers can read the full article here.

Data Trends

The Single View of the Customer is Coming, But it Will Take Time

May 7, 2018 — by MediaMath

If you’ve been reading nothing but the ad trade press for the past few years, then you might assume that the industry has got the “single view of the customer” problem licked.

After all, pretty much every vendor and marketer talks about the idea of creating a data-based portrait of each customer and using it to inform marketing communications.

But the reality doesn’t match that perception. The average consumer still encounters advertising that does not speak to their needs or interests. It’s still common to see the same ads endlessly with no apparent thought given to frequency capping. Just to prove my point, I just visited a random YouTube video and saw an ad for Boost Mobile even though I’m not in the market for a prepaid cell phone and don’t think I will be anytime soon. This is not consumer-first marketing!

The reason for this gap between the real and the ideal is that moving to a single view of the customer is a slow, painstaking process, especially for legacy brands. In fact, we’re at the point now where, because of pricing and computing power, it’s often easier for a new brand to come in and stitch their data together to establish a single view of the customer than it is for an incumbent one.

We’re making progress

The industry has made a lot of progress in the last few years. The changes are apparent from the marketer’s point of view, but consumers are less apt to notice. It’s sort of like when you get new plumbing in your home. You know it’s there and that it’s much better, but few guests will notice or care.

In large part, brands are organizing and aggregating their data so it can be accessed and used in a holistic fashion. But, they face key challenges: some of that data is in a table-based format, and some is unstructured; data lives in separate silos today that often have different master customer identities; stitching together these silos is expensive and time-intensive; and, like plumbing, this is not a “sexy” project that gets customer attention, so it often gets underfunded. These are just some of the reasons why it’s difficult to connect the myriad customer touchpoints that come from a customer’s transactional and non-transactional behaviors. In 2018, many marketers are working on consolidating their data in this fashion.

Another major impediment to progress is walled gardens. While it’s easy to track an (anonymized) consumer’s action on the open web, walled gardens will not share . Ideally, a marketer would have a complete view of the consumer, but thanks to walled gardens, it’s more like up to 60 percent of the portrait is missing.

I think over time, marketers and third-party ad tech companies will put more pressure on walled gardens to share more data and find ways to connect the dots to help fill in that customer-centric portrait.

Advertising in 2027

In practical terms, the difference between our efforts today and those of 2027 will be that the consumer of 2027 will notice that there’s a single view of the customer. What does that mean? Imagine that you’re planning to take a trip to Raleigh, N.C., in the next week. In 2018, there’s a slim chance that marketers will know this about you. But in 2027, a week before such a trip, you could expect to see ads for restaurants in the area plus ads for local attractions and rental cars (if you haven’t booked ahead yet.)

As a consumer, you will not only tolerate such ads, you’ll expect them and factor them into your planning process. That’s the single view of het customer that we’ve been waiting for.

Data Media Trends

Monthly Roundup: Top 5 Most Popular Blog Posts for April

May 4, 2018 — by MediaMath

Happy May! What was on the minds (and search history) of our MediaMath blog readers for the month of April? See below for a recap of the most read blog posts for the month.

Data Media Trends

How REA Group Uses Adtech to Deepen Customer Reach, Engagement

April 23, 2018 — by MediaMath

Earlier this year, we released a case study on our work with REA Group to increase targeting accuracy and improve audience scale through a DSP+DMP implementation. Last week, CMO.com.au interviewed Braden Clarke, who’s head of audience solutions and automated trading at REA Group, about their work with MediaMath. See an excerpt of the coverage below and read the full-length case study here.

REA Group’s Braden Clarke is laser-focused on audience management and automated trading and using the latest adtech and martech solutions to drive brand and direct response outcomes for buyers and sellers alike.

REA Group operates Australia’s property websites and real estate websites in Europe, Asia and the US. Clarke, who’s head of audience solutions and automated trading, is on a mission to deliver better customer experiences by pumping up engagement, and recently deployed MediaMath’s unified platform to enhance audience reach and engagement and deliver better outcomes.

MediaMath provides programmatic marketing technology including data management platforms, omni-channel DSP, audiences, supply and intelligence.

Since joining REA in 2009, Clarke has built out a programmatic operation that spans supply side as a publisher; and demand side as both a brand advertiser and independent trading desk.

Focused on activation of first-party data assets, REA’s Audience Solutions team creates opportunities for brands to reach a targeted, qualified property audience across both the site’s inventory and the broader Web. This includes solutions for REA brands across Australia and Asia, as well as bespoke executions for REA’s advertiser and agency partners.

Clarke said the adoption of the MediaMath solution delivers a couple of primary use cases, all centred around activating the company’s audience data.

It is using a combination of MediaMath DMP and DSP, and also using the Data Mining Console – which is DMP’s advanced analytics product and part of the DMP that allows for mass audience segment generation.

“The first use case is for our own brand and marketing, the REA brand, to drive both the brand awareness and direct response outcomes for REA’s various product sets. So whether that be residential listings or our home loan products or commercial listings,” he explained.

The second use case is around the commercialisation of audience insights. “How do we take what we know about property seekers and use those insights to drive value for our customers – whether those be real estate agents, property developers or banks and insurance or other company stakeholders?”

Overall, Clarke said optimising through adtech has resulted in cost efficiency thanks to accessing inventory effectively at great rates and great scale.

“One of the things that’s really important for us is to be really close to our data. The MediaMath platform allows us to integrate really closely with how the decision works and what users we’re going to targeting for advertising so we can onboard the insights that we can drive from our data science behavioural communications team to drive those better outcomes,” he said.

Read the rest of the article here.

Data Trends

Gathering with Purpose in a Time of Uncertainty: The Network Advertising Initiative 2018 Member Summit

April 19, 2018 — by MediaMath

Last week, we had the pleasure of representing MediaMath at the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) Member Summit. The NAI staff did an incredible job of hosting and educating members of the ad tech ecosystem while facilitating thought-provoking dialogue. Despite new European regulations, and increased scrutiny of online advertising due to the ongoing Facebook/Cambridge Analytica story, we left the Summit with a clarity of purpose. The NAI’s message was clear: the digital advertising industry must demonstrate to consumers and policymakers that we believe in what we do, recognize we can do better, and want to engage in a meaningful dialogue with policy advocates, Internet users and their elected representatives about data protection.

We had the privilege to participate in two panels. One addressed consumer sentiment toward interest-based advertising. We face a mandate to modernize and mature our technology and practices to ensure consumers’ digital dignity, preferences and experiences are upheld and improved. This mandate is the foundation of our Consumer-First vision, and we are implementing it throughout our products, partnerships and alliances. The message we are taking to policymakers is that we hear consumers, we know they want more transparency and control and we are working to provide them with it.

The other panel explored the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and adtech’s innovative response to it. MediaMath is working overtime with industry peers and competitors, as well as advertiser clients and publishers, to construct a transparency and choice framework, designed to address certain requirements of the GDPR. Importantly, doing so forces us to better digital advertising’s value proposition to consumers everywhere.

Throughout the day, we heard from other industry experts who discussed important legal, policy and technical issues, including the state of data protection and politics in the United States. The panelists emphasized that while legislation governing the digital economy is not imminent, attitudes may change following November’s midterm elections. Accordingly, now is not the time to wait and see; instead, we must seize this moment to educate legislators and their staffs in Washington, DC about our industry and the value we provide to consumers and content creators.

Our colleagues emphasized that ad tech and the digital economy could face more immediate threats from states’ well-intentioned desires to enact privacy protections where Congress has failed to act. Such regulations could make it much more difficult, if not impossible, for ad tech to continue supporting the free and open Internet we all love. A splintered digital economy is in no one’s interests, so the industry should work with Congress on comprehensive legislation that upholds consumers’ rights to privacy and security while meeting publishers’ need to monetize their content. Pressure from the states, combined with the GDPR’s long shadow, could push the federal government to think more seriously about what an American answer to Internet governance, including privacy rights and data protection standards, should look like.

We believe that the NAI is well positioned to lead our industry forward towards a fairer future for all participants. The NAI leadership, including its Board of Directors, of which MediaMath is a member, does not shy away from the challenges facing the industry. These are times that call for reflection, action, a sense of joint purpose and a commitment to do better by the consumer and better inform the public of our efforts. We at MediaMath will do what we can to contribute to a better future. We thank our friends at the NAI for letting us be a part of the team.

Data Media Trends

IAB Europe’s New GDPR Transparency and Consent Framework – A Unique Opportunity for Publishers

April 17, 2018 — by MediaMath

The Tech Specs for the Transparency and Consent Framework are now live. We encourage publishers and their advertising partners to implement The Framework.

This post originally appeared on the IAB Europe blog. Read the full post here.

MediaMath believes that the GDPR embraces one of our core beliefs: that respecting consumer privacy is a necessity and an opportunity, not an option or burden. Consumers have long been telling us—through opt-outs, ad blocking, and adoption of ad-free subscription services—that they are unhappy with the current state of advertising. This unhappiness stems from the perception that advertising is not balancing its capacity to provide engaging and informative content with the obligation to provide consumers with transparency about, and control over, their digital experience. For these reasons, the GDPR creates a valuable opportunity by encouraging advertisers to form more explicit relationships with consumers and provide advertising that they can feel good about, interact with in more meaningful ways, and trust.

Over the last 12 months, IAB Europe has developed a Transparency & Consent Framework (the Framework) in consultation with stakeholders across the industry which helps website operators become GDPR-ready. The Framework offers publishers new tools to provide transparency into the digital advertising ecosystem on which they rely to help monetise their service. Specifically, consumers are provided with clear information about data use by the publisher and its trusted partners. Another benefit for publishers is that they can collect higher rates from data-based buys, leading to increased revenue.

Additionally, the Framework offers the advertising ecosystem a common language by which to communicate consumer choices around the processing of their data for advertising and other purposes. The Framework is the best mechanism on the table today for advancing the ecosystem in a manner that benefits all stakeholders, including consumers.

Having been through a public consultation period which ended on 8 April, the final version of the Framework is set to launch mid-April 2018. (For more information and resources, visit the dedicated website here.) The registration process is now open for Vendors and Consent Management Providers to apply for approved status in the context of the Framework.

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