YieldFest Poland Powered by Yieldbird: Takeaways from the Digital Publishers’ Meetup

By next year, it is forecast that digital advertisements will exceed 50% of global media spend. The development of programmatic advertising is in its prime. The industry is gaining structure rapidly; already established with strong foundations. To nurture the valuable networking opportunities available to digital publishers (with an emphasis on the CEE sector), we identified the need for a professional human-to-human network. Shortly after this realization, YieldFest was born.

Programmatic advertising is one of the most dynamically developing branches of digital advertising. But there are changes on the horizon. These are related to the transition of Google AdManager to the first price auction model. This raises questions in the minds of the publishers: How do we further optimize the open market? Should we rely on our own in-house knowledge? Perhaps it would be wiser to subcontract the monetization to a third-party? And in regards to Google tools, how will programmatic buying strategies change when the second price auction turns into oblivion?

To discuss how the programmatic ecosystem will look like in the near future, we have invited 40 experts from the Polish programmatic scene; representatives of major media groups as well as individual publishers.

Adjust your optimization through internal audits

Every digital publisher, business owner, and entrepreneur wants to see their business grow in the shape of a hockey stick. But without continuous product development and refinement of one’s organizational practices, it is not a realistic expectation.

A regular internal audit of inventory should be placed on par with preparations for systemic changes. 

Questions worth asking: 

• Do we have any optimization priorities set? Is the team aware of which metrics are the most important KPIs for us?
• Do we take the opportunity to increase the traffic from regions, devices or browsers that provide more diverse forms of monetization?
• Do we plan and run grid tests in advance? Excluding or changing the position of less-efficient ad units, implementing infinite scroll scripts, using fluid (sticky) ad units or refreshing the slots are just a few examples.

Look at your inventory through the eyes of an advertiser

Ensuring the inventory is attractive to advertisers is a method to nullify any detriments caused by Admanager’s changes.

• A publisher’s ideal sales strategy considers both the needs and possibilities of programmatic advertising, as well as direct campaigns, 
• Whenever possible, it’s worth using the most flexible private auctions. High-view deals (ensuring high viewability above 70%, as well as a high CTR ratio) are a must nowadays in a publisher’s portfolio, 
• A fact that is often overlooked is the value of close cooperation with the buyer. Providing quick support when negotiating a deal increases the chance of a long-term partnership.

Keep your ears open, you never know what you might learn

One of the main conclusions by the discussion panel was the need for diversified knowledge. Many digital projects are a one-man show. Even major household names use programmatic advertising with only one or two industry experts on-board.

Therefore, support from external partners can be treated not only in a technical way but also as a source of market experience and knowledge. Even though the issue of data transparency is of frequent doubt; with a reliable and certified partner, it’s worth pursuing.

Last but not least we would like to say many thanks to our guests. Special kudos go to our panelists: Joanna Balowska (Wyborcza), Krzysztof Lechowicz (Polska Press Grupa), Kamil Mońko (Domodi), and to Michał Dąbrowski (Google).