How publishers adapt to avoid their Armageddon
Dax Hamman's recent post on iMedia provides an interesting perspective on the rise of real-time bidding, the evolution of the publishers' role and how much that role is quickly changing.
Dax explains:
It's been a challenging decade for publishers. The shift to digital came swiftly; almost overnight, the financial models that had sustained the industry for generations disappeared, replaced by a confusing array of problems and possibilities.
Publishers have adapted and evolved in incredible ways to avoid the publishing Armageddon foretold during the mid-2000s, and that evolution is far from over. Lately, overall CPMs have been dragged down by a stalling economy and ad exchanges selling inventory at cut-rate prices. Meanwhile, June brought scary news from Reuters that digital ad revenue had hit a plateau. Digital dollars might not have been enough to make up for the loss of print advertising, but at least digital revenue had been steadily growing. Now, even that growth appears to be in jeopardy.