Alessandro De Zanche

Yahoo pulling the plug on its SSP demonstrates how difficult it’s become for supply-side platforms to prove their value in a commoditized marketplace.

Success in the first-party web is based first and foremost on relationships, quality and trust, neither of which are improved by most content currently provided by recommendation engines, writes audience and data strategy consultant Alessandro De Zanche.

Apple is disrupting old business models that refuse to evolve or die. And the entities affected are fighting back with what is left: weak narratives and conspiracy theories, writes audience and data strategy consultant Alessandro De Zanche.

One of the most overlooked caveats around the shift to first-party assets is that no successful monetization strategy can be built in isolation. A future-facing media monetization strategy must work in two concentrical contexts: within the media owner’s environment itself and within the advertising environment, writes Alessandro De Zanche, audience and data strategy consultant.

Google may have a solution to the antitrust regulatory pressure it’s facing from governments around the world: a proactive spinoff. Alphabet, Google’s parent company, is exploring splitting Google’s digital ad business into a separate entity under the Alphabet umbrella. The question is whether Google’s proposed solution will pass muster with regulators, and if it does, who stands to win – and who stands to lose?

The market is not being kind to digital media companies. The nearly 40% drop in BuzzFeed’s stock price on Monday and the decline of its valuation from $1.5 billion when it went public in December to roughly $300 million now is no doubt causing other digital-native publishers to rethink their IPO plans. But any doom and gloom about the long-term viability of digital publishers in public markets is likely overblown.

The debate following Netflix’s recently released Q1 results illustrates the need for a less binary perspective on advertising vs. subscription models, writes audience and data strategy consultant Alessandro De Zanche.

Over the years, publishers have accused advertisers of prioritizing the wrong metrics. But that’s only one side of the story – as gatekeepers of quality media environments, publishers and media owners have a massive responsibility to focus on quality, too, writes Alessandro De Zanche, audience and data strategy consultant.

Last week, a federal judge unsealed previously redacted portions of an antitrust lawsuit poking into Google’s allegedly monopolistic ad practices. Will these revelations actually change the way publishers and advertisers spend with Google, or is Google too entrenched? And how much ammunition do these disclosures give regulators in their quest to rein in Google? We asked the experts.

Media owners today risk losing control of one of their most precious assets. The parasitic nature of certain ad tech is back, as some players try to pull control of resources and assets away from media brands. This time, they’re threatening the very essence of intellectual property: content, writes audience and data strategy consultant Alessandro De Zanche.