Bauer Media (UK) pivoted away from selling vertical audiences to its advertising (brand) clients and instead adopted a horizontal portfolio approach with first-party data at its core. The results have been significant with the media group boosting revenues 75%.
With Google now pivoting to let the user decide whether to opt out of third-party cookies (*sigh*), there is plenty to think about. Now more than ever, publishers are looking for solutions that enable them to maintain – and increase – revenues as the landscape of the industry changes yet again.
Bauer Media, though already one of the UK’s leading publishers, had a challenge – it needed to find a way to get and stay ahead of privacy updates and frequent browser changes to better reach and engage audiences. The challenge was only exacerbated by the fact that Bauer’s targeting strategy solely leveraged on contextual, as opposed to using audience data.
This had to change.
Changing tact
Bauer turned to Permutive to help the publisher move away from a brand-centric audience strategy to an audience and portfolio strategy. But doing this wasn’t going to be easy, particularly with the siloes that exist within a multi-brand and -market business such as Bauer’s. A massive internal shift was needed to convince teams to sell across the entire portfolio, rather than just individual brands.
Working with Permutive at the centre of its data strategy, Bauer set about making Illuminate – the publisher’s premium targeted advertising solution across publishing and audio display formats – its default solution.
Within the solution, Bauer began utilising Permutive’s Campaign and Audience Insights tool to delve into its portfolio, packaging unique first-party data and insights from campaigns run across its lifestyle and specialist brands. Meanwhile, for more complex advertiser requests, Bauer started leveraging Permutive’s Audience Planning tool.
Bauer has demonstrated that when media owners and buyers collaborate on first-party signals, they can monetise and model at scale and drive orchestrated revenue. We are proud to partner with Bauer and have the opportunity to enhance its first-party targeting solution significantly.
Joe Root, CEO and Co-founder of Permutive
Aligning across the business
The change in focus has helped Bauer to distinguish itself from other publishers. It’s been able to challenge stereotypes around its brands and unlock previously untapped markets – such as when it increased click-through rate by 20% for a tech brand, despite not owning any tech-focused publications.
Moreover, Bauer has prioritised programmatic and direct selling, helping it to build long-lasting brand relationships and perform above publishers who rely solely on the open marketplace.
However, where Bauer has been able to really stand out with Illuminate is in the cultural shift it’s encouraged across the business. Sales teams have started adopting a longer-term perspective and, as a result, are now able to better align strategies with client needs.
Delivering results
Through its partnership with Permutive, and its repositioning of Illuminate, Bauer has managed to achieve significant results. These include a revenue boost of 75%, client roster growth of 152%, and a 31% year-on-year increase in the average CPM across the network.
Looking at individual campaigns, Bauer was able to drive brand recall of 59% – significantly higher than from other channels – for a tech brand, while a retail brand benefited from 69% brand awareness, 59% for action taken, and 73% advocacy.
Elsewhere, an auto brand worked with Bauer to make 23% of users more likely to recall seeing ads for the brand versus a control group, and 12% more likely to agree that the brand is a leader in electric cars compared to the control group. Meanwhile, a book campaign targeting “Book Lovers” saw 1.7% unique ad engagement from an incremental, younger audience (25-44s).
“We have seen anything up to a 53% increase in engagement around our ad campaigns since we made the switch,” said Nat Francis, Digital Revenue Operations Director at Bauer Media Group.
We’ll be sharing more insights on the transformative impact of first party data at our Media Revenue conferences on October 1 in Berlin, Germany and October 9 in Austin, TX, USA. Book your ticket here.
