Find Your Waldo
What you can do as a publisher to defend your position among the big five and hopefully drive some revenue.
What you can do as a publisher to defend your position among the big five and hopefully drive some revenue.
There are many days when we all feel like we’re searching for that silver bullet or magic wand that will solve all our digital woes. It’s a lot like finding Waldo! All too often it feels near impossible. We all read the headlines that speak to the double digit increases in ad spend but then you look at the books and wonder why aren’t our revenues growing by the same or more? In some cases publishers are actually seeing shrinking revenues in their once rapidly growing business. How can this be? The top five media companies Google, Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, and Microsoft are capturing two-thirds of all digital ad spend (including search), according to the latest report by eMarketer.
Turns out scale isn’t everything. Aggregation of inventory and audience isn’t enough anymore to drive revenue. The market is more sophisticated and expects more from its media partners. This means not only do you need scale, but you also must have the “special sauce” that attracts marketers and makes them believe that by investing in you they will get something that is new and unique – with great service. Let’s take a look at what the big five offer that gives them such a clear advantage and then review a few things that you can do as a publisher to defend your position and hopefully drive some revenue.
How can an individual publisher compete?
Life as we know it is probably over. The good news is that there are a tremendous number of tools that we can use to generate revenues.
So take your head out of the sand, stand tall, and find your Waldo.
Waldo image on home page via Dooley Productions / Shutterstock.com.