A6: AUDIENCE MANAGEMENT

Using reader data to drive strategy

Introduction to A6: Audience Management

2

For a multimedia introduction to this session, please click on the “play” button on the left or on the audio file above.

Table of Contents

SECTION 1: The cookie apocalypse

​

• The 3rd party cookie problem

​

• GDPR and privacy regulations

​

• TED talk on privacy

​

STOP AND THINK: Your own thoughts on data privacy and GDPR

​

​

SECTION 2: Registration, marketing and CRM

​

• Registered users and gathering data

​

• Marketing and CRM

​

• Communicating effectively

​

• Behavioural economics and messaging

​

​

INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT: Put your own customer service to the test: what do you think might be improved?

3

SECTION 1

COOKIES AND PRIVACY

Listen and Learn: The “cookie apocalypse”

A6: SECTION 1

6

The 3rd party cookie problem

• We have touched on third-party cookies before, but just a reminder: some cookies (discussed in A2) can be stored in your web browser and provide useful information, like your log-ons or user preferences
• When you are asked, and click “Accept” on a site, the cookies get dropped to track your user behaviour
• One cookie may have “piggybacking” cookies as well, which unite to provide a very comprehensive picture of you and your preferences, and this data is used to retarget you with ads as you move from site to site
• Because of privacy concerns about data collection, third-party cookies are under siege

A6: SECTION 1

7

Cookies will crumble in all major browsers

• In the past users had to proactively block cookies, but now both Apple’s Safari and Mozilla’s Firefox block cookies by default: meanwhile Google has updated the way cookies will work, allowing users to turn them off in the Chrome browser .
• This will have a significant effect on digital advertising and on the ad tech industry (the data platforms, the auction platforms for programmatic advertising, and the many vendors in between)
• A 2022 FT report showed that Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) had caused the industry a ~$18bn loss on social media platforms.
• The ad rates paid for targeting users of Safari have already dropped 60% in two years
• This could mean catastrophe for publishers reliant on advertising revenue online, but might also present opportunities as publishers that have made an effort will have rich data on their users
• Read everything you need to know about cookies here.

​

A6: SECTION 1

8

A6: SECTION 1

Cookie Wars

9

A battle is brewing to control online tracking

Credit: https://www.slideshare.net/CmpfEui/delmastro-slides-final

GDPR and privacy regulations

• The main concerns about cookies are around privacy - and a user’s right to maintain their privacy online
• The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into effect in Europe in May 2018 with severe restrictions to the use of third party data.
• Although it was drafted and passed by the EU, it imposes obligations on to organisations everywhere provided they target or collect data related to people in the EU

A6: SECTION 1

10

The basic rules:

​

• Tell people the cookies are there
• Explain what the cookies are doing and why
• Get the person’s consent to store a cookie on their device

GDPR and privacy regulations

• For example, if a website in Ghana has diaspora traffic and visitors from the EU, those visitors should be presented with an opportunity to consent to the collection of cookies
• Websites all over the world have thus had to build in GDPR consent mechanisms or face enormous fines for privacy breaches
• For a tracker of the fines that have been enforced under GDPR, take a look at this GDPR Enforcement Tracker. The largest fine to date is €1.2 billion slapped on Meta in May 2023!

A6: SECTION 1

11

Bigger Responsibility, Bigger Repercussions

A6: SECTION 1

12

Credit: https://www.emotiv.com/glossary/gdpr/

Video link: TED talk on privacy and consent

A6: SECTION 1

13

Fred H. Cate is Vice President for Research, Distinguished Professor, and C. Ben Dutton Professor of Law at Indiana University. In this video, he analyses the role that consent plays in data protection and privacy today, grappling with how we manage consent in a world in which data is constantly being inferred about us. In a chaotic world, he emphasises that it is important that we ask for consent in a meaningful and effective manner.

Stop & Think

^{We have covered a lot of information, so let’s stop and think for a moment:}

• ^{What are your thoughts on data privacy?}
• ^{Were you aware of the GDPR, and have you had to deal with EU traffic on your own websites?}

A6: SECTION 1

14

SECTION 2

REGISTERED USERS, MARKETING & CRM

Registered users and gathering reader data

• Publishers that are dependent on advertising are also going to suffer from the demise of the third-party cookie as advertising targeting becomes more difficult.
• A Digiday survey found that nearly three-quarters of publisher pros (71%) said first-party data plays the most significant role in generating positive ad revenue outcomes in 2025. That’s an increase from Q1 2024, when 64% of publishers said first-party data was most significant.
• However, publishers often have huge audiences and employing a registration barrier for example means logged-in users can be tracked and monetised very effectively, first through advertisers and later through subscription.
• Building such an “addressable” audience is a great opportunity for publishers under pressure.

A6: SECTION 2

17

“Publishers were anticipating that first-party data’s importance would continue to grow: 85% of publisher pros said in Q1 2025 that first-party data would be most significant for positive ad revenue outcomes in 2026.

Meanwhile, third-party data’s significance has been falling.”

​

The math is simple: fewer middlemen mean fewer hands dipping into ad dollars that should be going to publishers.

Digiday+ Research

Case study: The New York Times and 1st-party data

• The NYT has passed 11 million paying online readers, but ad revenue remains a large part of its business, with $506m (19.5%) of the NYT’s revenues from advertising in 2024.
• Advertising revenue is not a major growth driver, but chief executive Meredith Kopit Levien told investors “while programmatic is a growing piece of the Times’ pie, the company also remains focused on direct-sold ads, which represent the majority of its ad business.”
• The NYT, as well as other publishers, faced the fallout of Covid and will have to deal the eventual death of third-party cookies.
• The NYT holds a large amount of information (or first-party data) about its readers, through registrations, subscriptions and voluntary surveys, and is using this data to target campaigns for direct-sold ads (not programmatic)
• In a 2020 blog on the NYT’s website, the ads director said they had found “ad campaigns targeted on the first-party data perform equally well as campaigns targeted on third-party data”.

​

A6: SECTION 2

18

“It’s a very, very complicated situation right now. I think the worry I have is, with third-party cookies going away … are there good enough alternatives for our marketers to be able to reach the right audiences versus what they’re able to do on Google and Facebook. ... Big tech has their own opportunity to be able to do good stuff. But it’s a chance for the open web to come up with a very good and powerful strategy to be able to attract the marketers going forward, without the third-party cookies.”

Pranay Prabhat, senior director for�digital ads engineering, NYT

​

A6: SECTION 2

19

“Prior to my assuming leadership, we were just segmented. We had a digital and print marketing team that were not functioning cohesively. The goal was to have one voice to the consumer market.”

MIKI KING�Washington Post Chief Marketing Officer

Listen and Learn: CRM and customer service

A6: SECTION 2

20

Treating your customers well

• Managing audiences (or “customers”) extends beyond what data is being collected on your sites
• It extends to the management of your relationship with customers via your marketing efforts, and also via your direct interactions through your customer relationship management (CRM) procedures
• Both marketing and CRM are often afterthoughts at media companies, and seen as luxury budget items when in fact they should be core to our businesses, especially in the management of subscribers

A6: SECTION 2

21

Marketing and CRM

• Marketing is usually undertaken to actively promote products and offers to readers, whereas CRM would include mailers, letters and onboarding procedures for new subscribers for example
• Marketing can be done via editorial (social media / newsletters) or through specialised teams focused on trade marketing (to advertisers and agencies) or brand marketing (to enhance a brand’s profile)

A6: SECTION 2

22

Marketing and CRM

• CRM would also include troubleshooting when customers have a problem, for example with a credit card payment or a newspaper delivery, or onboarding - such as when a new subscriber is welcomed
• CRM can be automated - such as the series of reminder emails to lapsing subscribers (read here about the Dunning Process) - or done manually, via a call centre, for example.

A6: SECTION 2

23

Communicating effectively with customers

Things customers like in communication:

• Emails are answered timeously (ie quickly)
• The emails are read carefully and the questions are answered correctly
• Changes are communicated clearly
• Don’t dissemble about mistakes. Own up.
• Names (and all words!) are spelled correctly and they are addressed formally - eg “Mr Smith”
• Customers are not bounced from one department to another, with no solutions

A6: SECTION 2

24

Communicating effectively with customers

Things customers like in communication:

• Apologies are quick and sincere
• Refunds are agreed and processed very quickly
• A senior staffer should be brought in asap to deal with a problem if it escalates fast
• Don’t be rude to customers: they will destroy your brand on social media in an instant
• It is cheaper to retain a customer than acquire a new one, so treat them with respect

​

A6: SECTION 2

25

Guide your customers’ purchasing decisions

“Behavioral Economics is the study of psychology as it relates to the economic decision-making processes of individuals and institutions.”

Customers can be managed or guided to certain purchasing decisions by your choices of colour, positioning, layout of offers and promotions.�When you are in a retail or grocery store, it has been designed to make you spend more, more easily, using scientific research.

Publishers can capitalise on retail BE when selling subscriptions or merchandise online. A typical example would be to use a simple design “trick” of always presenting three offers, with the optimal offer for your profit in the middle and in an eye-catching colour - as customers are more likely to purchase that one.

​

A6: SECTION 2

26

Individual �Assignment

Please take some time to do the following challenges, and write a short homework submission (minimum 350 words). You need to write the assignment text in the text box (quiz) before you can proceed to the next lesson

• A challenge: Please call your company’s helpline and ask them some questions. OR try to subscribe or ask a question about one of your own products: print or digital.
• How would you rate your customer service and CRM experience?
• What is good, and what could be better?

A6: SECTION 2

27

A6: SECTION 2

28

Individual �Quiz

Please complete the short online quiz to test what you have learnt.

​

You must score at least 80% in order to progress to the next module.

​

END OF LESSON SIX