Future Media Lab. workshop Big Data: matching publishers strategies with EU regulatory ambitions

Transcription

1 Future Media Lab. workshop Big Data: matching publishers strategies with EU regulatory ambitions Summary 1 Publishers today innovate and develop new business models many of them based on big data. Data-driven advertising as well as data-enabled dissemination of content is at the core of any publisher s strategic thinking. On the one hand, the aim of this workshop was to gather insights from big data experts on how publishers should define and implement their big data strategy. On the other hand, the discussion led to examining the regulatory, market, and operational challenges that publishers face when implementing it. Introduction to the concept of big data: the experts perspective As Daniel Knapp (IHS Technology) introduced it, the concept of Big Data encompasses a huge variety of strategies that involve automated technologies which help to simplify, structure and synthesize massive data sets. It is a new mindset though rather than a size issue, aimed to spread out within every company but not something that can be just copied and pasted. Every publisher for instance has a distinct audience, type of content and market environment which should enable him to formulate an individual approach to this new trend. As it was underlined by Marta Nagy-Rothengass (European Commission), the formulation of a data strategy has become critical for many different sectors in order to enhance their competitiveness, including the media. The European Commission, she said, supports a data-driven economy where innovative companies can benefit from such emerging opportunities (e.g. funding is provided under the Commission Horizon 2020 program) while taking into account societal concerns (e.g. data protection). When it comes to publishers, Stefan Beckmann (SpotXchange) explained that a relevant Big Data strategy could help them to better understand their audience and enables improved advertising targeting. The shift to mobile consumption, for instance, opens very interesting opportunities but also new challenges that they are able to overcome only by adopting cutting-edge data technologies. As representatives of the publishing sector, Björn Ostermann (Egmont Publishing) and Alessandro Svensson (Schibsted Media), presented how their companies benefit from a clear and tailored made Big Data strategy. Being able to divide their audience according to topics of interests, both the display of content and advertising are more targeted and their management increasingly interrelated. 1 This summary aims to report about the main discussion points that came out of the workshop. It does not reflect a word by word transcription of the debate, nor does follow the chronological order.

2 Finally, Paul Lee (Ecuiti) pointed out the differences between Small and Big Data, arguing that while Small Data (i.e. easily accessible data) analysis already provide some valuable insights, a Big Data strategy eventually brings more variety and variations of the same dynamics. From the beginning, publishers do not have to embrace all the aspects of Big Data to the extreme, Small Data analysis is already a very important first step. The experts short presentations were then followed by a brainstorming session with the rest of the audience. The discussion was structured around 2 main questions: Why should publishers develop a Big Data strategy? Defining and implementing a Big Data strategy becomes more and more imperative for publishers to be able succeed in the digital environment. Today, ad platforms and technology providers are performing most of the big data analysis on behalf of them. But while publishers possess and are able to generate lots of data about their customers, they are simply not proficient enough to make the best possible use out of them. Yet, the benefits of a relevant Big Data strategy can be numerous: more socially engaging content; more targeted content and advertising; and most of all, being able to compete with online giants. Today, publishers are hard-pressed to respond to advertisers expectations in terms of audience targeting. A better understanding of their data sets would enable tailor-made advertising, reflecting the unique added-value of a publisher s audience and editorial context. Secondly, the ability for publishers to serve their readers relevant and/or programmatic content would have a positive impact in terms of digital subscriptions too, as Björn Ostermann (Egmont Publishing) said. Finally, as Daniel Knapp (IHS Technology) described during his presentation, the data economy is today increasingly moving towards the vertical integration of data-intensive companies (e.g. Google/DoubleClick/Youtube) combining their consumer data on the basis of a fully-encompassing log-in system. This sort of opt-in/first party data model is a direct competitive threat to which publishers must develop alternative solutions. What challenges (regulation, market, lack of resources, etc.) do they face while implementing it? To be able to reap the maximum benefits of a genuine Big Data strategy, publishers have to overcome a series of challenge. Firstly, their level of in-house resources and data skills is often too low. To solve that problem, Paul Lee (Ecuiti) particularly suggested that publishers should work with trusted and proficient partners who are better positioned to help with the technological gap. Publishers also face a scalability issues i.e. lots of publishers operate on local and very fragmented markets. This could however be turned into a competitive asset if smaller publishers specialize in localized content and maximise their knowledge of customers through data analytics. As Stefan Beckmann (SpotXchange) suggested, publishers could also be encouraged to share their data in common data pools to better compete with online giants. Regarding the latter, many participants raised the issue that their encompassing log-in based model can hardly be repeated by competitors. Yet, the upcoming EU reform of the Data Protection

3 framework risks to introduce a significant shift from opt-out to opt-in based lawful data processing. Such a change would certainly not help smaller publishers to compete and would give a further competitive advantage to those market players who already have the infrastructure i.e. log-in system to support such a model. FINAL REMARKS A well-implemented Big Data strategy could be of huge help both in terms of content curation and advertising monetization in order for publishers to reap the benefits of their unique position in the data value-chain i.e. between the advertisers and the audience. Yet, publishers are still far away from extracting the maximum benefits of a relevant Big Data strategy, one of the biggest obstacles being the lack of in-house resources and cultural/organisational issues. For them to be able to fully seize the opportunities provided by the digital environment, a change of mindset is probably the most urgent task. The challenges that publishers are facing from the market and/or the regulatory side should however not be dismissed. Competition for audience data has become very intense and should not be distorted to the benefit of online giants who can leverage their market position to gain more competitive advantages. In this regard too, it is important that the ongoing reform of the EU Data Protection framework does avoid to hampering the competitiveness of smaller players, including publishers. Speakers Biographies Moderator: Daniel Knapp Director, Advertising at IHS Technology Daniel Knapp, director of advertising research, is a recognized expert on advertising industry trends and strategies, media consumption patterns and online privacy. At IHS, Daniel manages teams in London and Shanghai responsible for forecasting and analyzing global advertising markets and key companies across all media (e.g. TV, radio, print,out-of-home, online, mobile). Mr. Knapp has more than 10 years of experience in the media sector across business, government and academia. He regularly advises senior management at international media and technology companies, regulators and private equity firms on strategy, market opportunities and business practice. His clients include RTL, Walt Disney Studios, Telefonica, Deutsche Bank and the European Commission. Knapp is a regular speaker at industry events and policy workshops and is frequently quoted in the international consumer and specialist press. Knapp and his team

4 have been selected as research partners by IAB Europe, the online advertising trade association, for whom they conduct Adex Benchmark, the reference study for online advertising expenditure in Europe. With a tradition of excellence and a diversity of suppliers, employees and customers, IHS is the leading provider of diverse global market and economic information. To help create a sense of common beliefs and behaviors, IHS colleagues focus on five fundamental shared values: Teamwork, Respect, Accountability, Integrity and Innovation. The foundation for these five values is a singular focus on our customer, representing a core value of Customers First. Stefan Beckmann Managing Director, DACH for SpotXchange SpotXchange is the trusted video platform for video advertising. With more than 4+ billion ad decisions per day, SpotXchange is the largest global marketplace of video ad inventory reaching 900+ million unique visitors in more than 190+ countries each month. The most transparent programmatic video advertising platform, SpotXchange connects thousands of publishers with trusted demand sources, running top brand campaigns through its marketplace. SpotXchange is a company of video experts with a track record of world-class managed services for premium publishers. Paul Lee Founder of Ecuiti Paul Lee is the founder of Ecuiti, LLC in San Francisco, California. Ecuiti provides solutions that help companies harness and transform the power of data and analytics into key differentiating assets enabling clear and tangible business actions. As one of the world s leading experts in competition within the online and mobile services ecosystem, he develops leading-edge, disruptive analytical insights from some of the world s largest Big Data sources. His research and analysis of the application of innovative technologies serves as the basis for providing strategy counsel to clients and guidance for government regulators with respect to online competition issues around the globe. Prior to founding Ecuiti, Paul was a Partner at Keystone Strategy, an economics and strategy consulting firm, where he provided strategy, analytical, and expert witness services to Fortune 500 companies, most notably serving as Microsoft s chief market analyst for competition issues in online services. With over 20 years-experience driving high tech innovation, he has also held roles at Gartner, Scient, PRTM, and AT&T Bell Laboratories. He holds degrees from Pennsylvania State University and Stanford University. Ecuiti develops tools and methods to systematize insight. Together with our clients, we create a sustainable analytical

5 environment to harness the power of information assets. Ecuiti enables businesses to understand and harness the mechanisms of the digital economy; offers a suite of licensable technology that delivers insight by enabling the right information to be deployed at the right place at the right time to achieve results; and drives a new business mindset for data driven insights via adaptive cycles of insight creation. Márta Nagy-Rothengass Head of Unit Data Value Chain in DG CONNECT at the European Commission Márta has broad working experience Europe wide in business and public environment. She dealt with initiation and transaction of trade agreements, taught Business Studies, managed social association and did consultancy work. She gathered her interest on ICT while establishing New Media by a traditional German manufacturing company. In 2005 Márta joined the EC as the Head of Unit of ICT for the Environment in DG INFSO and developed her Unit further to ICT for Sustainable Growth linked to the integrated climate and energy policy. After her move to Luxembourg in 2008 she served as Head of Unit Technologies for Information Management with focus on research and development funding of innovative ICT technologies supporting the creation of intelligent digital objects and knowledge management, later on the efficient management of extremely large scale data including Open Data. Since July 2012 she is in charge of the Data Value Chain Unit and builds up on a strategy to extract the maximum value from data by building on the intelligent use of data sources across the European Union and beyond. She was deeply involved into the EC Communication Towards a thriving data-driven economy and is a driving force in the work towards a European Public Private Partnership on Big Data Value Alessandro Svensson Head of Native Advertising for Schibsted Media Alessandro Svensson is the Head of Native Advertising for Schibsted Media Group in Sweden. Svensson is a business school graduate, with a background in front-end digital design and user experience. He is a passionate digital media-geek, excited about the fantastic opportunities the digital transformation is bringing to storytelling and journalism, as well as to the media industry as a whole. Schibsted is an international media group with 6900 employees in 29 countries. Our strategy to become a global leader within our fields is bold. It consists of three elements that work seamlessly together: Classifieds, Growth and Media houses. We aim to be a global leader in online classified marketplaces and offer the best solutions and services for our users. We invest in great entrepreneurs and help scale their businesses locally and internationally by leveraging the Schibsted ecosystem. We are

6 building world class digital Media houses that will shape the media landscape for years to come. Björn Osterman Manager for Digital Advertising Sales at Egmont Publishing Björn Österman is the manager for digital advertising sales at Egmont Publishing in Sweden. Österman graduated university with a major in advertising. He has always worked in sales starting at Jobline.se (monster) 15 years ago, and for the past 6 years working with some of the largest European publishers setting up a programmatic business. He is excited to be part of the ever changing media industry incorporating a more techdriven business into a relationship-driven sales culture. Egmont Publishing Sweden publishes a 100 magazine titles and 20 websites, and is a part of Egmont a leading media group in the Nordic region, with activities in 30 countries and 6,600 employees. Our media world spans for instance Nordisk Film, TV 2 in Norway, cinemas, book publishers, educational publishers and PlayStation as well as a number of partly owned film companies, including Zentropa. Our common pay-off We bring stories to life embodies strong publishing values, high-quality content and good stories from Oscar nominations to covering the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.