The diminishing returns of scale and a return to quality

Sponsored by Infolinks • December 3, 2024 •

A graphic image of a scale leaning more slightly to one side. This represents how publishers and advertisers are moving beyond scale and focusing on quality content.

Bob Regular, CEO, Infolinks

Scale is not a one-size-fits-all concept.

Marketers and publishers historically have their own goals associated with scale. When it comes to content, the KPIs vary according to the media (i.e. podcast, video, etc.) and subject matter.

But lately, this nuanced approach to scale has flattened, resulting in a terrible impact on the quality of content and its distribution.

Over the last two years especially, the rise of generative AI and the reliance on algorithms for determining people’s media consumption have brought unprecedented speed to content management and revolutionized how it is categorized. Yet the fundamental challenge remains: delivering the right content to the right audience at the right time. This has never been more difficult.

Despite Google’s back-and-forth position on its cookie policy, consumer demand for more control of their online privacy makes it safe to say the industry has entered the post-behavioral targeting era. In truth, the time to revise the ad industry’s approach to scale, curation, quality content and what truly constitutes success in digital advertising is long overdue.

The scale paradox

The bigger-is-better mentality is irresistible. No one goes into business to hit just enough sales, profits and customers. Nevertheless, the pursuit of undifferentiated scale has created its own set of problems.

Curation was meant as a remedy for the scale-for-the-sake-of-scale disease. But as speakers at the recent Digiday Publishing Summit Europe pointed out, much of the industry still feels the symptoms.

For most advertisers and publishers, curation means selective packaging of ad inventory and distribution to an audience most receptive to it. However, premium publishers have long been wary of disrupting their first-party relationships with audiences and the direct ad placements designed to meet specific performance objectives. Additionally, the spray-and-pray approach to advertising and content has not been tamed by personalization promises from programmatic methods.

As search traffic has nosedived for publishers, the diminishing value of pure reach has revealed the false precision of behavioral targeting. Publishers and their ad partners have been forced to rediscover what media audiences have always wanted: original content that reflects their interests while rewarding them.

A new context

With third-party cookie efficacy shrinking and privacy regulations tightening, the industry is heading for a renaissance in contextual targeting. However, simply replacing behavioral targeting with keyword matching misses the point entirely.

Contextual targeting deserves a fresh look. The new contextual experience is based on a sophisticated blend of human insight with tools like artificial intelligence in a supporting role, as opposed to being on autopilot.

By applying contextual strategies and curation in more human ways, the deprecation of third-party cookies is no longer a technical hurdle, it’s an opportunity to rebuild how advertisers and publishers connect to their audiences.

Contextual targeting remains plagued by its older incarnation. A decade ago, it often fell short by relying too heavily on simple keyword matching and demographic proxies that failed to capture the nuanced reality of how people consume content.

Publishers that maintained strong editorial teams now find themselves uniquely positioned to understand what audiences consume, why and how they engage with the content.

Redefining success metrics

The industry’s fixation on impressions and clicks has created a distorted view of success. While these metrics are easily quantifiable, they don’t adequately capture the full value of content engagement. The challenge isn’t just measuring different things, it’s fundamentally rethinking what should be measured.

This shift requires uncomfortable conversations about moving past pure quantitative metrics. When the focus is solely on what can easily be measured, the qualitative aspects that often matter most to audiences are missed.

The answer to producing and curating content that engages audiences lies in building systems that learn from editorial decisions while preserving the serendipity of compelling content discovery.

Publishers’ evolving role

The pageview economy pushed publishers toward volume over value, but that era is ending. Forward-thinking publishers are reimagining their role as curators of valuable contextual environments. This isn’t just about content — it’s about building spaces where engagement has meaning and advertising feels native.

This transformation requires publishers to leverage a deep understanding of their audiences to create environments where content and advertising can thrive authentically.

For advertisers, this shift requires an appreciation for context beyond simple category matching. They should also evaluate publisher partners based on engagement quality, not just audience size. It all adds up to building partnerships that value editorial integrity to facilitate achieving marketing goals.