Publishers have nothing to fear, and millions to gain if they embrace programmatic says The Economist Group’s programmatic director

This is especially true of premium publishers that can brag about a host of affluent C-suite users among their audiences — at the vanguard of those embracing the technology, instead of using it as a means of monetizing inventory that would otherwise go unsold, and generating millions each year from it.

Just last month, the Financial Times' global head of programmatic, Elli Papadaki, explained to The Drum how within six months of starting her role, she was now about to generate the same yield from inventory sold using ad tech, as it does from ad space sold via more traditional means.

Elsewhere, Michelle Zitz, The Economist Group’s programmatic director, and a judge at the inaugural Digital Trading Awards hosted in the U.S., also explains that within a year of the publisher implementing a data-led, programmatic media selling strategy, her team was generating millions of dollars a year in ad revenue.

“The value of the media hasn’t changed, just because the way of buying it has,” adds Zitz, further explaining that the additional assurances premium publishers can make around the viewability of its ads, as well as reassurances of fraud-free traffic, help bolster said yield.

Both Papadaki, and Zitz separately explain how their respective achievements were gained by fully integrating their programmatic and direct sales operations. This means that its traditional (or ‘old school’) direct sales teams are now generating revenue using data-driven audience profiles in a number of ways.

Key to this is selling audience, not just ad impressions and clicks, with The Economist employing a data management platform (DMP) provided by Oracle Marketing Cloud’s BlueKai. The publisher had earlier entertained the prospect of building its own DMP, but this had proven labor-intensive to both build and maintain, and now it is using the audience insights offered by the software to scale operations (read: revenue) further.

Two years into the initiative New York-based Zitz collaborates with her Paris-based colleague Stephane Pere, The Economist Group’s chief data officer, to further this strategy by offering advertisers a way to serve Economist readers with relevant ads while on third-party sites – a method known as audience extension.

This strategy would see the media owner becoming both a buyer and seller of media, as it would require it to purchase advertising inventory from third parties, such as an ad exchange, and then sell it on (ideally) at a profit.

Zitz explains its audience strategy is under way, and is applying data points which it can then use to match appropriate brands to its readers – a process that is also managed by its ‘traditional direct sales team.’

Although this may raise concerns over allegations such as arbitrage, among media buyers, the strategy also involves working with brands to reassure them of the sound practices employed by The Economist.

Meanwhile, Eamonn Store, CEO of The Guardian, US, and fellow DTA judge, says a notable trend among clients is their increasing desire to trade in more closed environments such as the use of private marketplaces (PMP). It’s this exclusivity that is also helping to shore up yield from media sales employing ad tech.

“Clients are more interested in value, and things like first look, as opposed to bottom feeding,” he says. “This has helped us improve yield considerably."

The Drum Digital Trading Awards USA are held in association with Media iQ and partnered by The Trade Desk, OpenX, the Guardian US; and the 4A’s. The awards recognize programmatic performance and are open for entry at digitaltradingawards.com