As we step into 2024, the digital media landscape continues to evolve, presenting both challenges and opportunities for publishers. In this week’s High Value Publishing session, I wanted to do something a little different and look ahead and what I believe are the 6 most important issues that media companies will face.
Here’s the TLDR …
- Email Authentication and Reputation: With Google and Yahoo tightening their email requirements, it’s crucial for publishers to adopt stronger authentication measures and maintain a spam complaint rate under 0.3%.
- The End of Third-Party Cookies: Safari and Firefox eliminated third cookies years ago. But now, Google Chrome has begun the phase-out of third-party cookies as well. This is going to impact the digital advertising landscape especially in programmatic ads. However, I believe this change bodes well for niche publishers. We have already have highly targeted audiences and first-party data.
- Artificial Intelligence in Search: Search engines as we know them are going to drastically change in 2024 with further incorporation of AI generative search. This could dramatically affect traffic from Google and publishers will need to adapt.
- Emphasis on EEAT: No matter how or when search changes, Google’s focus on Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (EEAT) will play a crucial role. Publishers need to ensure their content and platforms reflect these values to remain relevant in search results.
- Advertising Differentiation: Publishers must continue to highlight why they are the preferable choice over programmatic advertising. Consultative selling before, during and after the campaign is critical as is putting together packages that meet the unique needs of each advertiser.
- Fundamental Execution: This isn’t new, but execution is still the difference between successful digital media companies and those who aren’t.
