<ul><li>Sandeep Balani - Head of India - outbrain writes how marketers can use new behaviour to draw people into their advertising in a Cookie-less world. </li><li>He highlights how marketers and brands will need to work harder to know their users personally, and to find out what type of engagement works best through testing this new landscape.</li></ul>The great fear for many marketers as we head boldly into 2021, after a year that threw a lot of spanners into the works, is the upcoming removal of cookies from <keyword id="182214" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Google-Chrome">Google Chrome</keyword>, the last of the web browsers to support that collection of <keyword id="8669862" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Third-Party-Data">third party data</keyword>. This change to how we track users is going to cause shockwaves through the industry – it is estimated to be used by around three billion people globally. But that doesn’t mean this update will be a bad thing. Cookies made everything straightforward. It was easier to address audiences at the right time and harvest that third-party data. Now we have to get creative to make up for that signal loss. Consequently, we’re heading into a Cambrian Explosion of new types of targeting and storytelling. It’s a very different world we’re about to enter into, but luckily we have time to plan and prepare. We can expect there to be two paths we take following the deprecation of cookies: We as an industry need to go deeper on first-party data. Data collected from emails in the meantime is going to be the most important to harvest. I expect we’re going to see a lot of new technical solutions surrounding how you implement data across your different marketing channels. Testing and learning will be crucial when there isn’t anything we can do to identify users precisely. In light of that, we can expect more A/B testing and experimentation with solutions using second-party data and seeing what results we get back. From there we will start to see what’s important to look for following the removal of cookies and what isn’t. I also think we’re going to see a big step up in native’s role in advertising. Storytelling is now becoming much more important as it won’t be as easy to find users at exactly the right time. Now we’re going to have to pull the user into our story, which means we will have to look at presenting it in different stages of the user journey and ensure the message is relevant. The reality is that we have had some time already to prepare for this change, and luckily COVID-19 has pushed away this transition a bit. But the main issue is that we don’t know what the world is going to look like when these changes do happen in 2021. It’s key to look at how the technology providers will integrate new approaches, but there is still mass uncertainty around what that will look like. This means flexibility is vital. We now need to be very attentive, see what is actually happening and where it’s happening. From there we can take advantage of this opportunity quickly, which will drive innovation for the next year. One exciting development over the last year, for example, was New York Times offering a different type of contextual targeting than we were used to. It started targeting readers with emotion-based targeting, which was appealing to advertisers looking for better ways to target readers. Labeled ‘Project Feels’, it is a product that matches ads to people based on emotion, which The New York Times knew it had a big space to exploit because of the breadth and depth of its content. Users lingering on a certain categorised emotion of a story, such as ‘confident’, ‘inspiring’, ‘sadness’ or ‘hate’ would then be matched up with an advertisement that fit into those categories. The New York Times is using this new technology to push the envelope and extend the definition of contextual targeting. It is trailblazing to target attributes that have never before been possible; emotions, controversy and social engagement. Now with proper storytelling we can target users based around emotions and feelings, such as a live sports event or concert, and see whether these particular pieces of content make people more enthusiastic about the future, or more careful. Looking forward, we know users are less likely to click on ads that don’t make sense or don’t mean anything to them. This means the behaviour of the user on publisher sites is going to be much more of a focus in future. This includes how fast users are reading articles and dwell time on certain sites, as this shows a level of engagement marketers will now be looking for. This new type of targeting based on behaviour that happened immediately before the ad is served is going to be fascinating to watch. Cookies might have provided a scattergun approach to targeting audiences, but now we look forward to a different future. One where marketers and brands will need to work harder to know their users personally, and to find out what type of engagement works best through testing this new landscape.

Cookies were a sugar fix for marketers, but now it’s time for some real nourishment

<ul><li>The gaming industry has been very responsive to the shifting consumers needs which has led to a widening of its consumer base.</li><li>Gaming is no longer just for kids, and this presents a huge opportunity for marketers.</li><li><keyword id="7705644" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="sandeep-balani">Sandeep Balani</keyword>, Head of India, <keyword id="1817861" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Outbrain">Outbrain</keyword> writes about some of the <keyword id="6684484" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="biggest-trends">biggest trends</keyword> in the gaming industry and gives a few tips to marketers to make the most of this growing trend.</li></ul> Trends change the face of industries, but hardly any other has been as digital and responsive to shifting consumer needs as the gaming industry. The effort has certainly paid off, as interest in games isn’t ‘just for kids’ anymore. In fact, while physical game distribution has been on the decline for years, the industry has expanded its reach and made itself closer to the <a href="https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/newzoo-games-market-numbers-revenues-and-audience-2020-2023/">2.7 billion</a> gamers worldwide. Digital business models have not only changed who buys or the way people buy, but also the content of the game itself. As a result, it has created opportunities to optimise marketing and build stronger customer loyalty for brands. We look at the most important trends in the industry and give tips to marketers. 1. It’s not just the launch that counts In the past, big budget games were rushed to meet their release dates and make a return on investment. Marketing was carefully timed for the point of launch to make the most impact, as the majority of a game's revenues were generated in its first few weeks. Today, however, many publishers and developers incorporate <a href="https://scalexm.com/all-you-need-to-know-about-games-as-a-service-gaas-model/">Games as a Service</a> (GaaS) to continuously supply new content, as game revenue in the first few weeks after launch now account for only a small percentage of its total. In fact, the majority comes from in-game content; Grand Theft Auto (GTA) V, originally released for the Playstation 3, is the classic example with its spin-off version GTA Online. Seven years after the original GTA V release, it has become the most popular entertainment property of all time, thanks to its add-on content that makes up <a href="https://www.superdataresearch.com/2019-year-in-review/">78% of its $1.4 billion total revenue</a>. Still capable of topping the charts, the game is set to be re-released for <a href="https://blog.playstation.com/2020/06/11/grand-theft-auto-v-coming-to-playstation-5-in-2021/">Playstation 5</a>. What this means for marketing: Ideally, marketers not only promote the game through advertising, but are also involved in product development from the outset. The challenge is to find the right balance between long-term monetisation and an engaging gaming experience, because players will turn away if monetisation is the core of the game -- <a href="https://www.ccn.com/2k-gambling-children-nba-2k20-teaser/">NBA 2k20</a> being the most recent example. Visiting in-game shops should be an option to incentivise players to unlock special skills or benefits, not be the only way to advance in a game. 2. Earn money with a free-to-play model $1.8 billion in revenue, from a game that's free? Fortnite did just that last year as the highest earning game. Through this model, revenue comes primarily from in-game purchases, where players buy additional content for real money. Fortnite might now be a well-known game, but there’s a reason for that and it isn’t an isolated case. In fact, the four best-selling free-to-play games had a turnover of <a href="https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/fortnite-highest-earning-game-2019/#:~:text=Global%20phenomenon%20Fortnite%20retained%20its,staggering%20%241.8%20billion%20in%20revenue.">$6.5 billion last year</a>. <keyword id="9998643" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="popular-game-apps">Popular game apps</keyword> are in no way inferior, as the sales of <keyword id="1739317" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Candy-Crush-Saga">Candy Crush Saga</keyword> and Pokémon GO have now generated over <a href="https://gamedaily.biz/article/1432/report-candy-crush-soda-saga-breaks-2-billion-in-revenue-sensor-tower">$2 billion and $3 billion in lifetime revenue</a>. A mobile market where new app games are produced daily makes it all the more impressive that these publishers (and marketers) know how to get players to spend. What this means for marketing: Surprisingly only a small percentage of users make in-game purchases, with estimates ranging from 5% to 18% depending on the region. This makes it crucial for marketers to identify higher lifetime value customers, because it's not just the download that matters, but the revenue that a customer generates over time. Doing so depends on targeting ‘high-spenders’ over those who may download but move on to the next app that intrigues them. Marketers should test several channels, including social networks and advertising on the open web, in addition to App Store platforms. Secondly, invest in the gaming community to feed enthusiasm for your game over a longer period of time. Lastly, there’s the type of purchase; while some apps favour a subscription model, others rely on a one-off payment, for example to unlock additional levels. This can be of benefit, as players are introduced to in-game purchases without having to subscribe right away. 3. Time in the game is crucial In a game’s development phase, care is taken to ensure that customers play as much as possible to increase the probability of in-game purchases. This is done by implementing frequent daily rewards or time-limited events, under the notion that the longer players spend time on a particular game, the greater the probability that they will spend money. What this means for marketing: Marketers should learn from subscription apps, where the strategy includes a long-term plan that combines in-game content with ongoing marketing efforts, not just a plan for launch. The most successful game apps launch different "seasons" of a series following a release, thereby offering new content. This is communicated to gamers over a longer period of time, which can be done via earned and owned media. In-game events, or cross-promotions, can provide additional attention. 4. <keyword id="1615130" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Digital-Distribution">Digital distribution</keyword> is becoming increasingly important While there are still holdouts who <a href="https://nomorepeter.com/2020/01/24/the-reasons-why-some-gamers-still-prefer-physical-games-in-a-digital-world/">prefer to buy physical games</a> for reasons such as technical superiority or the personal desire to create a physical collection, the number of digital sales continue to rise. In the U.S., 83% of all video and computer games were sold digitally. Did you know the current <a href="https://www.xbox.com/en-US/consoles/xbox-one-s/all-digital-edition">Xbox One S</a> even has a cheaper, all-digital version? Yes, without a drive. Sony also has something similar in the works for its upcoming Playstation 5. What this means for marketing: As games move swiftly to digital, so must its marketing and communication, and why not when it only takes a few clicks from seeing an ad on the web to downloading and testing a game? Moreover, there are ad formats that perfectly replicate, and even enhance, the in-store feel for customers to get a sense of what a game is all about. Some game publishers also rely on digital launch events with additional incentives, or use crowdfunding simply to generate more attention, even when financing is already secured. 5. Stream or play? Tyler Blevins, the gaming streaming star also known as "Ninja", earned up to $30 million per year just to <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/23/21299479/mixer-closure-streaming-talent-war-ninja-shroud-twitch">exclusively play games on Microsoft’s Mixer over rival streaming platforms</a>, such as YouTube, Facebook, and Amazon’s Twitch. That alone should say enough about how important the streaming market has become to the gaming industry. What this means for marketing: Streamers are important because of their impact as influencers, but they are only affordable for a few gaming publishers. Focusing on certain niches and streamers with a smaller but loyal fanbase can be just as worthwhile. Ubisoft’s Hyper Scape video game took the combination of streaming and gaming to the next level in increasing viewership before the big reveal, as players could earn early access to the beta by watching Twitch streamers play with hopes of being the next randomly selected to join the game. Such collaborations can then be expanded via other media channels, which in turn attracts even more attention and brings other streamers onboard. Marketing within the gaming industry has become increasingly challenging because most games want to occupy the limited time customers have, for as long as possible. It means marketing should already be factored in during a game’s development, and be continued at product-level after its launch. Leveraging a long-term plan and relying on a mix of channels and collaborations are as important as ever for marketers to lead their brand to success.

A new player in the game: How 5 developments in the gaming industry influence marketing

<ul><li><keyword id="1817861" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Outbrain">Outbrain</keyword>, a digital native advertising company was launched in India in 2017.</li><li>Last year, the platform launched Zemanta, the native Demand Side Platform (DSP) that it had acquired in 2017, in India.</li><li>Sandeep Balani, Head of India, Outbrain tells us how Outbrain has been providing technology and strategic expertise to publishers, enabling them to reach, engage and retain audiences for their digital content.</li><li>He also tells us why he is confident about the growth of programmatic native in India.</li></ul>The last year was an eventful one for digital native advertising company Outbrain. At the end of 2019, they announced a potential merger with Taboola, to ‘give advertisers a way to diversify away from Google and Facebook’, in the words of Taboola Founder and CEO Adam Singolda. Closer home, Outbrain launched Zemanta, the native Demand Side Platform (DSP) that it had acquired in 2017, in India. We recently caught up with Sandeep Balani, Head of India, Outbrain to understand some of the highlights of the year gone by, the growth drivers for Outbrain in India and some of the key areas of focus going ahead. Edited excerpts: Q) How is the Indian market shaping up for Outbrain? According to market research agency Kantar IMRB, India's internet users are expected to register double-digit growth to reach 627 million in 2019, primarily driven by rapid internet growth in rural areas. This opens up huge opportunities for publishers and advertisers as they are able to reach and engage with a far larger part of the country’s population via their digital channels. Our role in this is to provide the technology and strategic expertise for publishers and enabling them to reach, engage and retain audiences for their digital content while funding quality journalism. On the advertisers’ side, through our non-intrusive, and respectful ad formats powered by our proprietary interest data, we give them a scalable way to engage their audiences and drive a significant return on their advertising investments. Most recently we have signed partnerships with NewsX, DailyThanthi and OneIndia Group, allowing us to give even more reach than ever before to our advertising partners. Q) What are the key drivers for the growth Outbrain’s India business? Our Founder and CEO were recently quoted as saying, “In 5 or 10 years, we will see that the most successful media will be those that respected their users and offered trustworthy material.” I think this is the case in India too, and the most important shift we will see is a move from intrusive ad formats to move native ad formats. This will be further accelerated by the growth of programmatic native, which has a huge potential in India. The video will also play an important role in the growth of native. We are shifting from banner blindness to video blindness - after all, we are the generation X, ie, the generation that just can’t wait to click on the X. Opt-in video formats where the user chooses to engage such as our Click-to-Watch video solution will increasingly replace ad formats that interrupt the users’ experience. Q) A lot is being spoken about programmatic native. What's the scope? How does Zemanta fit into Outbrain’s overall programmatic offering? Recent reports have predicted that by 2025, native will reach its tipping point and be the preferred form of advertising. It only makes sense that Native Programmatic will follow suit. With 90% of the display being purchased programmatically already, native will follow that same trend. However most of the media buying tools used by marketers were made for a display world and are not optimal for native advertising, so we believe we are best positioned to help marketers execute more effectively and at a larger scale, on the most premium and brand-safe environment. We are committed to programmatic native through an earlier acquisition of Zemanta, the world’s first DSP built for native and the DSP of choice for agencies. In addition to that, Outbrain now has omnichannel support for advertisers who are looking to buy native via Digital Video 360, Appenexus, Tradesk etc. This gives advanced controls overbidding and campaign flight. Q) How will going the programmatic route help the native ecosystem grow? The native eco-system in India has primarily relied on direct relationships with advertisers and agencies. However many clients take time to embrace newer platforms and introduce them to their buying mix. With programmatic alignment with assorted DSP’s, advertisers can now buy Outbrain via different DSP’s which gives us access to unique budgets and get more advertisers to grow the native eco-system which eventually brings tremendous transparency, reach, and control to advertisers. Q) Going ahead, what will your area of focus be? We have received great response from the premium publishers due to the quality of ads, trustworthiness and the relationships we have built in the market for audience acquisition, engagement, and retention. Our prolonged objective is to ensure that we empower our publisher ecosystem with more monetization opportunities. Q) What will be the most important theme for the publishing and advertising industry in 2020? Trust! User trust has been eroded because of factors such as disruptive ad formats, fake news etc. The whole industry must now come together and rebuild consumer trust and creating value on the open web that works for everyone. Users want to discover relevant, trusted, high-quality content presented in engaging formats. Marketers are looking for scalable ways to engage their audiences and channels they can invest in to drive return on their advertising budgets. And publishers need to find business models to fund quality journalism alongside ways to reach and develop ongoing relationships with audiences. Simply put, it will be all about publishers, audiences and marketers coming together to create an ecosystem that drives mutual value and trust on the open web.

Why Outbrain is confident about the growth of programmatic native in India

<ul><li><keyword id="7705644" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="sandeep-balani">Sandeep Balani</keyword>, Head of India at <keyword id="1817861" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Outbrain">Outbrain</keyword> writes how user-centric has changed the content and publishing industry. </li><li>He further suggest a few factors that <keyword id="6492840" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Publishers">publishers</keyword> should pay attention to if they plan to stay ahead in 2020 and beyond. </li></ul> In recent years, the emergence of user-centric business models has enabled companies - the likes of Uber, Airbnb, <keyword id="128682" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Netflix">Netflix</keyword>, and others - to quickly create a place of choice, both for the general public and within their respective sectors. However, the model of monetising a product or service, without owning or having produced it, is nothing new. In fact, this is how the duopoly of Google and Facebook came to dominate the digital advertising industry. To what do these new platforms owe their success? A few contributing factors, and publishers should pay attention if they plan to stay ahead in 2020 and beyond. 1. Redefine the <keyword id="126817" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="Status-quo">status quo</keyword> The meteoric success of Uber and Airbnb is largely in response to ignoring conventional media models and choosing to ‘zag’ where others ‘zig’, thereby adopting a user-centric approach. In today’s digital era, company success depends on the ability to leverage online channels and hyper-connectivity in order to reinvent industries, rather than be constrained by processes that are no longer relevant. Success is predicated on building experiences that are intuitive and personalised to customers, thereby the consumer experience being at the core of one’s business strategy. This is a transformation that the publishing industry, which creates websites based on newspapers printed 100 years ago, has struggled with and must grasp. 2. Become customer-centric To regain shares of digital advertising investments, publishers must adapt to today's customers and match their desire for intuitive experiences that minimise efforts towards conversion. Publishers stand to benefit from new strategies and technologies found in other industries to acquire, engage and retain customers. Take the example of Discord, a platform specialised in text, visual and audio communication for gaming communities, which has since ranked 17th in the US App Store without having relied on any paid acquisition. By spending less time observing their direct competitors, publishers will have more time to observe and learn from all types of innovative platforms. Putting customers at the forefront may not guarantee a company to become the next ‘giant’, but it is indeed a recipe for progress and subsistence within the ecosystem. 3. Personalise experiences and content Like the famous and endless "year of mobile", personalisation is expected to be one of the main trends every year. The year 2019, however, truly marked an important development in matching the user to the right content, in the right place and at the right time. The context in which it is delivered has also become just as important as the quality of the content produced. While many publishers still think of personalisation as inherent to content, it can also be extended to experiences - a key to success for the duopoly, whose easy-to-adopt platforms are personalised according to users' interests. Moreover, forward-thinking publishers can push personalisation to subscription models, or adapt advertising formats and their distribution to users' consumption preferences for greater relevance. For example, a user on the move will be more receptive to a push notification received on their smartphone in the form of a title, or audio content to listen to on their journey, rather than long editorial content or video that they could consume on their computer later in the day. All of this, however, will involve recognising changes in consumer habits and taking them into account. 4. Consider native advertising as a strategy over format With the proliferation of intrusive formats and fake news, the ecosystem has lost the trust of many consumers. By offering formats that are well integrated into content and respectful of internet browsing, native advertising has established itself as the future of digital when industry players seek more responsible media. Native advertising is not only about formats that will continue to evolve and provide impactful and non-intrusive user experiences, but a 360° approach to the ecosystem that will allow digital advertising models to thrive and preserve publishers' media activities. - By Sandeep Balani, Head of India at Outbrain

Redefining the status quo: How publishers must evolve to thrive in this new era

<ul><li>Brands should have a keen interest in reaching users who are really interested in their brand and products. </li><li>They should care about real views, not just visibility.</li><li><keyword id="7705644" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="sandeep-balani">Sandeep Balani</keyword>, Head of India, <keyword id="1817861" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Outbrain">Outbrain</keyword> writes about the sensible adjustments that can help brands significantly increase the results and effectiveness of <keyword id="9063996" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="video-campaigns">video campaigns</keyword>.</li></ul><keyword id="412660" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="video-advertising">Video advertising</keyword> is now dominating the digital advertising market. According to the international industry association IAB, 56% of the digital advertising budget was spent on video ads last year, and the trend is rising. In 2017, the video advertising volume in India was $714 million in 2020. According to a report released by GroupM, video is the most popular advertising format both in India as well as globally. The reasons are obvious: stories and emotions can be conveyed particularly well in videos and user engagement is higher than in other advertising formats. The dictation of distribution The downside of the boom: We are now flooded with videos on all websites and platforms. In social networks, on video platforms or on publisher sites, videos pop up constantly or force us in the form of pre-rolls to first look at an advertising message before we can finally consume the content we have chosen. The result is “video blindness”. Users ignore the video and the advertised brand. According to the results of a recent study by Magna, many users now automatically skip skippable video ads on YouTube without paying attention to the brand or the content. On average, the click to skip the ad in Germany comes after just 2.3 seconds. Numerous advertisers are heavily influenced by these key figures when designing their video ads. They display the logo in the first few seconds and let the video peak in the first few seconds. In addition, the same videos are simply scattered on different platforms in different formats. TV spots with a subtitle can be found in the social feed and videos lasting several minutes appear as pre-rolls with the hope that the user will not click on the “Skip Ad”. But is this really how a brand wants to present itself and how videos should be consumed? Seen vs visible videos Brands are based on the distribution formats without questioning whether this distribution really benefits the user and the brand. It seems that the mistakes of banner advertising from the previous decade are now being repeated in video advertising: Visibility at any price - regardless of the user experience. But what does viewability mean in video advertising anyway? Internationally, the 50/2 rule for videos defined by the IAB normally applies: 50 percent of the number of pixels in a video must be visible in the visible area of the user for at least 2 seconds. What might make sense with banners (rule 50/1 applies there), since a banner message can be captured relatively quickly, is more than problematic for example with a 60-second video. In this case, only 1.6 percent of the possible combination of duration and area of the video count as a view. A video can thus achieve many thousands of “views” without really being noticed by a noteworthy target group. A subdivision between real views, in which users really concentrate on a video, and visible ads, which are only visible, is imperative in order to obtain real key figures. What can we do? Some sensible adjustments can significantly increase the results and effectiveness of video campaigns. <ol><li>Analyze KPIs precisely - KPIs should not be rigidly selected and analyzed equally for all channels. A non-skippable pre-roll will inevitably achieve a very high completion rate. However, a fire could result in resentment of the users, since they are forced to watch the video. With autoplay formats, a more sophisticated definition of a “view” than 50/2 should be agreed if possible.</li><li>Schedule additional engagement - A very good measure of the effectiveness of a campaign is the engagement that follows the video. A call-to-action, i.e. an additional link that leads to a product page, for example, shows whether the right target group has been reached, the videos were actually viewed and not only visible, Pre-rolls really got people interested, and the ROI of the measures is really correct.</li><li>Choosing the right distribution channels - The boom in video advertising has led to a wide range of providers. YouTube and Facebook may be the standards. But publishers who guarantee safe and mostly high-quality environments should not be underestimated. They can be booked directly or via platforms.</li><li>Choose the right formats - Pre-rolls, autoplay, click-to-watch, stories or streams: Different formats are suitable for achieving different goals. Brands should first define the goals and then choose the right formats for their purposes.</li><li>Be careful when recycling - reusing the TV spot on Facebook is certainly very easy, but often not very effective if the video is then played on small smartphone screens without sound. These ads have to work well even without sound and pose special challenges for creative teams. The videos have to be adapted to channels and formats.</li></ol>The focused users Brands should have a keen interest in reaching users who are really interested in their brand and products. They should care about real views, not just visibility. This is the only way they can achieve real engagement and achieve business goals. Video advertising still has the chance not to suffer the same fate as display advertising and to cure “video blindness”. Providers and marketers must finally think back to the principles of good marketing: to inspire users with exciting topics and emotional videos and not to overwhelm them with videos on every single page they visit on the Internet. - This column was authored by Sandeep Balani, Head of India, Outbrain

You Searched For "Sandeep Balani outbrain" and got 5 results

Cookies were a sugar fix for marketers, but now it’s time for some real nourishment

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A new player in the game: How 5 developments in the gaming industry influence marketing

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Why Outbrain is confident about the growth of programmatic native in India

Samarpita Banerjee

Redefining the status quo: How publishers must evolve to thrive in this new era

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Video advertising: Why a brand deserves more than five seconds

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