When it comes to digital advertising, more or less – but there is no reason to hide.
In this week’s episode of AdExchanger Talks, Lisa Howard, The New York Times’ Global Head of Advertising and Marketing Solutions, says don’t apologize for the monetization.
The Times aims to create the most compelling advertising experience possible, “not the most volume-based, but the best kind of experience” that drives brand performance.
“[We’re] No apology for advertising, no apology for data, [we’re] Just to the right of those two things, “he says.
The Times stopped running programmatic ads in its apps in 2020 and shut down its two advertising services business.
“A lot of media companies have come out and said, ‘Yeah, yeah, we’re first-party, but then they level up with all these other third-party elements to get the scale,'” Howard said. “We sit with more than 100 million registered readers who understand our data privacy policy and we create it.”
Last year, the Times said it would stop using third-party data to target viewers in direct purchases.
Of course, not all publishers have the ability to do what the Times has done. The Times, with its gravitas and scale, is usually the exception to the rule, when small and medium-sized publishers struggle to finish. (Howard enters it.)
The Times, for example, is able to declare itself a “subscription-first business” and indeed it can. NYT hit 10 million subscribers in February, helped by 1.2 million subscribers, which came with a বছরের 550 million acquisition of sports news site The Athletic earlier this year.
“We’ve made a costly call to preserve the experience,” Howard said, referring to NYT’s decision to move away from programmatic. “But it’s unique, combined with bigger, better digital advertising products. It’s our competitive advantage.”
Also in this episode: Athletic monetization, what it means to create “clean” data products, NYT cooking recipe recommendations, why print is still important and the connection between swimming in open water and maintaining one’s conscience.