Meredith introduced its Data Studio Monday, a platform built out of its extensive first-party data set to help brands better understand their consumers both on and off Meredith’s properties.
Data Studio is a way for Meredith to diversify its revenue away from advertising and monetize its massive first-party data set. And it is also available separately from Meredith’s advertising business, since brands that do not buy ads on Meredith publications can license Data Studio for a consulting fee.
“Data is one of our core assets,” said Meredith Chief Business and Data Officer Alysia Borsa. “Our first-party data doesn’t drive just advertising, but our consumer revenue and new products and insights.”
Early Data Studio clients include Clorox and the wine brand Chateau Ste. Michelle.
Data Studio is powered by an identity graph, a taxonomy categorizing articles according to more than 12,000 terms, and tech that captures 12 billion different intent signals. Advertisers can onboard first-party data or access 800 pre-built segments from Meredith for targeting and activation through Data Studio.
They can also access more than 60 predictive segments, or license insights from Data Studio supported by consulting services from Meredith partner Slalom.
The data comes from insights from Meredith’s content, which reaches 94% of US women, and those insights have historically informed the publisher’s top media clients on how to best connect with its audience.
If clients’ needs exceed Meredith’s data capabilities, it will either extrapolate insights or augment it with third-party data. Clients can also onboard first-party data to see how their customers index against Meredith content and brands.
Data from people who authenticate on site or sign up for emails, for example, can be enriched with data from different partners and to serve as a truth set for larger unrecognized audiences, said Nicole Lesko, Meredith SVP of data, ad platforms and monetization.
But don’t mistake Meredith Data Studio for a data-management platform (DMP).
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“A traditional DMP doesn’t capture all the data you have,” Borsa added. “This new platform allows you to capture all your data.”
Because Data Studio isn’t just for media activation, it’s also designed to help brands answer bigger questions like how should a brand message consumers? Who is the right target audience for a product? What kind of content do they read on Meredith?
For instance, advertisers can survey a Meredith-owned panel of consumers through Data Studio to test creative messaging and audience targeting on a product-by-project basis. Brands that have taken that approach have seen up to 4X the performance on their on-site media campaigns, Borsa said.
Existing media clients access Data Studio insights based on media spend level. Non-media clients can access insights for a consulting fee. Meredith is partnering with consulting firm Slalom to meet demand from non-media clients who want to see this data.
Data Studio will initially roll out as a managed service, but Meredith is working on making it available through a self-serve portal.
In rolling out a separate data business, Meredith is part of a wave of publishers seeking to diversify revenue. While “diversification is key,” Borsa said, Meredith is already well-diversified, with half of its National Media Group revenue from consumers, and the other half from advertising.
Last year, Meredith launched Product Studio, which uses the publisher’s knowledge of what will be trending years from now – such as up-and-coming recipe ingredients that signal food trends – to help brands build products.
Meredith Data Studio was built to meet demand in the marketplace to use its data in a more turnkey way – and it will also help Meredith in its own ambitions to increase consumer revenue.
Alison Weissbrot contributed.
