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Programmatic: One Size Does Not Fit All
Programmatic advertising is growing increasingly more enticing—especially for premium publishers. However, the trend of going all-programmatic may not be in every publishers’ best interests. In fact, some publishers are finding that creating a mix of direct and programmatic is the best bet. [2-18-14—“Why All-Programmatic Doesn’t Work for Everyone”] The happiest medium for premium publishers lies in programmatic direct—sales automation for fixed priced, reserved premium ad inventory that can be bought directly via a buying platform or used as an automated workflow tool for sales reps that reduces or eliminates most of the tedious manual steps in the sales process,” says a Foliomag.com reader.
Is Mad Still ‘Cool’?
Mad magazine’s April 2014 issue is a play on the popular Lego motion picture. The magazine has been satirizing pop culture for over 60 years, but some recent covers have been a little bawdier. Also, the Lego cover is a little more parent friendly, which begs to ask: If your parents like it, is it still cool? [2-28-14—“Face Up Online: Mad”] “It is striking and well designed,” a Foliomag.com reader comments. “But shouldn’t it be at least a little bit funny? The old and tired and lazy approach of just shoving AEN [Alfred E. Neuman] into the scene isn’t gonna do it.”
The Future of Viral Content
The feel-good social publisher Upworthy introduced its vision for the future of share-worthy media. Peter Koechley, the company’s CEO recently spoke during Social Media Week and said the future of sharable media is still rooted in good content, but technology will play a key role. In other words, great headlines and quality content are still essential, however you can’t rely on that alone, the keys to the future will rely on data analysis, testing and real-time feedback loops. [2-19-14 “You Won’t Believe What Upworthy is Planning Next”] Yet that approach rattles some who think editors are the first and last stop for idea curation and know what’s best for the audience. “Readers don’t know what they ‘want’ until you present them with something and they accept or reject it,” argues one Foliomag.com reader. “More important is what readers ‘need.’ It used to be the job of publishers and their editorial staff to figure that out in advance. Determine what your audience/customers need before you open your doors, not after. This sounds like a focus group afterthought.” 