By Tanya Field, co-founder and Chief Product Officer at Novatiq
Given the continuing decline of advertising signals such as mobile advertising IDs, and uncertainty over the long-term viability of third-party cookies, publishers are thinking hard about their future business models. Without access to detailed insights on users, publishers are unable to offer the highly relevant audiences that advertisers require for personalised advertising at scale. The ability of publishers to command a premium for their ad inventory is under threat.
It’s little wonder, therefore, that many publishers today are considering subscription models. Indeed, whereas five years ago subscriptions made up just 22% of publisher revenues and advertising 42%, it now stands at 33% compared to advertising’s 38%. What’s more, new transactional approaches are gaining traction. In January, for instance, the ICO gave the green light for so-called “pay or consent” models, whereby users either pay to access content or consent to sharing their data for advertising.
Consumers demand ad-funded content
However, it would be premature in the extreme to forecast the death of digital advertising models. The fact is that consumers overwhelmingly prefer ad funded content. A recent survey by the IAB, for example, demonstrated that nearly 80% of consumers would prefer to get more ads in turn for having to pay nothing for websites or apps. It also found that 91% of consumers would react negatively if they had to start paying for the websites or apps they currently use for free.
There is a place for digital subscriptions, but advertising revenues are going nowhere. The smart bet for publishers today is to look for future-proof ways to monetise their sites, maintain personalised advertising and retargeting, and grow.
One particularly promising opportunity for publishers lies in privacy-first, telco-verified IDs. Where these IDs are being deployed, they are unlocking new ways for publishers to monetise advertising inventory with highly granular addressable audiences that are compliant with global privacy laws.
What are telco-verified IDs?
Telco-verified IDs are digital identifiers authenticated by telco companies, using their comprehensive network intelligence. This approach to identity resolution and addressable audiences offers a more secure alternative to traditional online verification methods, such as authentication IDs.
For publishers, telco-verified IDs solve several key issues: they significantly reduce the risk of fraudulent activities and bot traffic by ensuring that each user is verifiably linked to a real mobile phone account, they improve user experience by enriching and personalising content, and they enhance privacy and data security. Additionally, these IDs provide publishers with accurate audience data for better targeting and personalisation, boosting both user engagement and advertising revenue.
The benefits of telco-verified IDs for publishers
The good news for publishers is that telco-verified IDs are already proven in several markets worldwide and can therefore be trusted to deliver. Last October, for instance, MTN Group launched its MTN Ads service in South Africa, making telco deterministic audiences available to publishers in the region (already, one of the largest South African publishing houses has signed up to the service).
Meanwhile, in the Middle East, DMS, the digital arm of Choueiri Group, which represents over 25 regional publishers, uses telco-verified IDs for audience authentication and campaign activation. DMS publishers that use the telco-verified IDs achieve greater demand, yield, and diversity from advertisers, with their new-found guaranteed audience relevancy. They experienced increased CTR in 90% of campaigns for finance, hospitality, and banking advertisers, double-digital growth in bookings month-on-month, and a 93% rebooking rate over three months.
Getting started with telco-verified IDs
As publishers look to target the revenue opportunities afforded by telco-verified IDs, there are several steps they can take to ensure success:
- Interoperability. As legacy signals decline there will be no one silver bullet for audience addressability and activation, and it’s therefore important to ensure that the telco-verified ID solution can work alongside other IDs.
- The consent mechanism. Some telco-verified IDs require an additional consent box on top of existing CMPs, which adds friction to the user experience and could put users off. Others rely on existing consent models and so offer a smoother customer experience.
- Control. In some cases, telco-verified IDs are essentially offered as a service to publishers. In this case, they do not control the ID nor the audiences. Other approaches give publishers complete control of the ID, merely acting as an enabling layer. It’s the difference between using a true first-party ID and a pseudo first-party ID.
The opportunity for publishers
Publishers’ business models are under scrutiny like never before. For some, signal loss and privacy regulations makes the shift to subscriptions seem like an easy answer. In reality, however, publishers need to balance subscription services with overwhelming consumer demand for ad-funded content. Forward-facing publishers will therefore take a proactive stance towards boosting ad revenues and adapting personalised advertising at scale to a privacy-first world.
Telco-verified IDs are emerging as a key enabler for publishers to make this shift. As more publishers recognise the value of telco-verified IDs, those who act swiftly to integrate this technology will find themselves well-positioned to capitalise on the benefits and put in place a strong foundation for sustainable growth.
