AudienceScience announced that media companies Hearst, Discovery, Scripps, and BBC Worldwide among others are using its publisher platform. Hearst notes that it is using the platform in order to enable audience segmentation for direct sales. Read the release.
AudienceScience CEO Jeff Hirsch discussed the publisher platform, its features and positioning for the client.
Please discuss The Audience Gateway for Publishers – what problem is it solving for publishers?
Publishers leverage The Audience Gateway as their integrated audience targeting platform enabling them to generate new revenue streams by selling audience targeted campaigns on their premium inventory to advertisers on their web sites or across the AudienceScience Network. Unlike alternative solutions, the platform gives publishers complete control to both create the audiences that advertisers demand and create new ways to sell their data and inventory. Publishers can choose from a menu of options for defining audiences, with instant real time reporting on the size and attributes of those audiences. As part of the AudienceScience Network, publishers have access to additional buyers and sellers of data and inventory. As a result, publishers can create valuable audiences that drive higher rates and increased sales.
By using this product, are these client publishers part of the AudienceScience ad network too?
We enable publishers to choose how they work with us, with customizable solutions to fit their needs. Not all of our publishers participate in our network, some use our platform only to enable them to offer audience targeting on their own site.
When a publisher raises concerns about channel conflict when considering becoming part of the AudienceScience network, what do you tell them?
The AudienceScience Gateway for Publishers provides publishers complete control to choose how they work with us. We do not represent the publisher without their permission and the flexibility that we have built into our audience platform ensures publishers that channel conflict is a non-issue.
Given these new partnerships do you see AudienceScience offering a supply-side platform – the publisher answer to the demand-side platform (DSP)?
Supply side platforms have, to date, been about helping a publisher optimize third-party revenue streams. Our supply side solution is more core to the publisher’s main business model – we provide the tools to directly enable their sales force to maximize the value of their inventory by adding audience data to the equation.
By John Ebbert
