The Influence of Publisher Brands on Advertising Perceptions

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The Influence of Publisher Brands on Advertising PerceptionsU n c o v e r i n g t h e v a l u e o f p r e m i u m c o n t e n t

July 22, 2014

2Identifying publisher challenges…

Quality Differentiation

Communicating Added Value

Commoditization Trends

Publishers are challenged with an

inability to demonstrate a site’s brand influence or the effect of site-specific content.

Many still being held accountable for CTR

performance, regardless of campaign and creative objectives because they are most

easily measured.

Audience-based buying trends have

reduced site value to basic audience

measures, thereby minimizing the value of premium content.

Publishers are limited in how they are able to sell their inventory and justify prices for premium content.

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4Quantifying Publisher ValueStudy of consumer behaviors and attitudes across 44 sites:

BEHAVIORAL ATTITUDINAL

OBSERVED BEHAVIORAL SITE METRICS

SURVEYED ATTITUDINAL

METRICS

• Unique Visits & Page Views• Average stay• Visits per person & Pages per visit• Attention• Source: Compete behavioral panel

• Impressions of sites’ brands• Feelings towards sites • Reasons for visiting sites• Impressions of advertising on sites• Source: Survey n=4,935

5How Sites are Differentiated by Consumers

BRAND PERCEPTIONS

• Brand identity• Attitudes of trust

and desire• Fulfilment from

visit

BrandRelationship

Person-ality

RELATIONSHIP• Relevance• Engagement• Depth

PERSONALITY PERCEPTIONS• Distinctness of

varying attributes

Understanding the underlying drivers of how consumers differentiate sites enables a better understanding of publishers’ value proposition to the advertising process

6What is a Brand?

A Brand is the set of associations (ideas, memories and feelings) in the mind of a consumer.

7Three Drivers of Brand Strength

MEANINGFUL

DIFFERENCE

MEANINGFULDIFFERENTSALIENT

SITE UTILITY

VISIT PURPOSE

BRANDATTITUDES

SITE DESIRABILITYTRUSTSHAREABILITY

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MeaningfullyDifferent

Brand

Compared to on other sports sites, ESPN site visitors:• 49% more

likely to seek information

• 41% more likely to watch videos;

• 36% more likely to look at photos

72% highly trust the site

55% are likely to share content

9Impact of Site Brand Strength

147153

141152

100 100 100 100

67 63 6571

Brand Score 80 or above Average Brand Score Brand Score 20 or below

10SymmetryAudience Dynamics and Personality determine advertiser brand fit

PERSONALITY

OPTIMAL EXPERIENCE

AUDIENCE DYNAMICS

Audience behavior prior to and during site visits is vitally important to an

accurate and holistic view of ad context

AudienceDynamics

EVERYDAY RELEVANCEENGAGEMENT

VISIT CATALYST

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13Audience Dynamics Measures

EVERYDAY RELEVANCE

Traditional measures of reach (UV’s) and

frequency (visits per person), and the share of

overall Internet time visitors spend on the site

ENGAGEMENT

Length of time visitors spend on the site and the number of pages visited while there

VISIT CATALYST

How a visitor arrives on the site, whether

referred through search results or driven there to consume specific content

14Everyday Relevance & Engagement

The publisher impact study validated the importance of

industry standard metrics for reach,

frequency and engagement

EVERYDAY RELEVANCE

ENGAGEMENT

15Visit Catalyst: A New Metric in Audience Dynamics

SEARCH OR OTHER SITE REFERRAL

DIRECT SITE VISIT

Food sites generally get a majority of traffic from search referrals when people are looking for

specific recipes

Sports and News sites were more visited with the intent to consume

topic-specific content

Audience-based buys can be very effective for products advertised on

wandering sites since a visitor will go to multiple wandering sites in succession

WANDERING: DESTINATION:

PERSONALITYSITE PEDIGREE

Quantifying a site’s persona to better match

to advertising fit

SitePersonality

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18Site Personality Measures

PERSONALITY SITE PEDIGREE

Site pedigree attributes describe sites that vary across the spectrum of

traditional and established brands compared to modern brands that are perceived to

be more adventurous or rebellious

Personality attributes are descriptors that

vary across many types of personality

characteristics, including how

assertive, fun and/or how friendly a site is

perceived to be

19Site Personality: Personality & Pedigree

0.267188977612506

0.501156328072806

0.235672509731203

0.416262134341283

-0.27396402102377

7

-0.50804367233577

8

-0.15264632535197

8

-0.08673294809955

55

-0.02937052764127

82

-0.01901932818118

35

0.0690432108952573

0.116754763865098

0.148272441863790.20746278314337

9

-0.2952097927

33764

-0.184778957861363

-0.062565761536701

1

0.353415420846421

-0.355708926434598

-0.293131724138006

0.530357410520648

0.0849141411721914

0.498945426364932

Sports Sites Personality Attributes Pedigree Attributes

SITE

PED

IGRE

E

PERSONALITY

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21Summarizing the Publisher Value Proposition

Strong publisher brands have a positive halo effect on advertising receptivity

They attract and engage distinct audiences that are valuable to the right advertisers

Distinct publisher personalities offer an opportunity to leverage branding synergies between advertiser and publisher

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Thank YouM B D P U B L I S H E R G R O U P @ M I L LW A R D B R O W N . C O M