The monetization of the media has been a controversial issue since the internet took traditional media to its deathbed, especially after social media gained popularity. that the media is slowly leaving this deathbed and finding new ways to get back to their old days.

Fundamental Problem

Two crucial facts underlie  the fact that many important media brands no longer exist.

The first one is traditional media brands’ inability to meet the changing readership needs. The fact that these organizations have seen digital media as a threat for a long time and therefore refuse to produce digital content is the most important reason why they lost a war that did not exist.

The second reason is that content consumers perceive it as a “free” service. Especially the amount of free content that can be accessed after social media has played an important role in the formation of this perception.

But slowly, things are changing. There is an audience willing to pay for quality and convenient content and a media eager to use digital media more.

Subscription Economy

The concept of “subscription economy” started to become important, especially after streaming services became able to deliver quality content to users conveniently. Offering thousands of shows and movies for just a few dollars a month, Netflix, and Spotify, which has almost all the music in the world, as  well as the others alike have paved the way for the adoption of the subscription concept. The subscription economy is expected to reach $1.5 trillion by 2025.

Recently, the heavyweights of the print media are also trying to get a share of the subscription economy. It is possible to access all the content of The Wall Street Journal by paying only 4 dollars a month.

Many publishers see their subscription systems as an essential part of their financial future. The fact that content consumers are ready to pay -a reasonable amount- for quality content created under editorial control shows that this expectation will be met to a large extent.

Advertising and Sponsorships

Advertising and sponsorships have been among the important financiers of the media since day one. This situation does not seem to change much. However, there is a remarkable transformation.

Especially after the restriction of the use of third-party cookies, data generation will become a tricky business. In this new environment where many advertisers will focus on contextual advertising, it is imperative that the media is ready for this change.

E-Commerce and Affiliate Marketing

Today, media is not only an area where content is consumed but also an area for shopping. People get news of products and services from the media. Therefore, media organizations that cleverly combine content and sales can make good money off of it.Founded by Gwyneth Paltrow, Goop is one of the best examples of this.

Thanks to affiliate marketing, media brands can sell their own product inventories or mediate the sales of other e-commerce platforms. Media organizations that can keep up with technology and offer robust and diverse data can significantly increase their revenues with affiliate marketing.

What Do Media Brands Need to Do to Fill Their Crates?

Let’s summarize all that we talked about.

A subscription model that makes sense for the audience can be developed: The audience will pay for quality content. However, this money must be at an acceptable level, and the designed system must ensure easy access to the content. Subscriptions can be diversified to make things easier. For example, the readers can be allowed to subscribe only to the content titles they are interested in, or packages, such as family subscriptions, can be developed.

Advertising revenues can be increased with first-party quality data generation: A loyal audience and content is the most important asset in the media’s ability to produce data without being dependent on others. However, in order for this asset to function, it is necessary to develop solutions with the proper perspective. With software-supported data processing solutions, it is possible for the media to create a more productive space for advertisers.

Relevant e-commerce can make a big difference: It’s time for the media to hire e-commerce professionals. A media brand with high credibility can turn into an e-commerce platform in a short time. Selling with original content may be one of the most important tools to rekindle the power of the media.

The affiliate marketing business has been booming over the past few years. The most important reason for this rise is the increase in the global e-commerce volume due to the closures. However, we have to admit that this rise in affiliate marketing makes everyone’s mouths water, and therefore the competition is getting harder day by day.

Let’s take a closer look at what awaits us in affiliate marketing in 2022.

Budgets Will Increase

The budgets allocated by brands to affiliate marketing have been increasing steadily over the last few years. However, the pandemic has accelerated this increase. It is expected to spend $8.2 billion on affiliate marketing in 2022.

Data Will Be at The Focus of the Strategic Approach

Higher budgets allocated to affiliate marketing by  brands means that they take this business more seriously. So, in 2022 they will have a more strategic approach where data is the focus. Considering that 2022 will be the year of preparation for the limitation of the use of third-party cookies, we can say that affiliate marketers need to develop their capacity to provide marketers with more diverse data.

Micro and Nano Influencers. Again…

We’ve been talking about the importance of micro and nano influencers in affiliate marketing for the last few years. The situation is not different in 2022 either. Micro and nano influencers, which have a much stronger influence than large influencers targeting large audiences, will continue to rise in 2022.

AI to Simplify Campaign Design

The increased involvement of micro and nano influencers in affiliate marketing efforts makes campaign administration more challenging for brands. This problem will be solved with artificial intelligence and automation tools. Software-supported solutions will hadle finding the right influencers for the right campaign and optimizing influencer performance.

New Fields. Like Cryptocurrency.

We can say that the field of affiliate marketing will expand in 2022. New areas, including cryptocurrencies, will be added to the areas we are used to seeing in affiliate marketing, such as retail, finance, insurance, and entertainment.

Conclusion

The year 2022 will offer excellent opportunities to affiliate marketers. However, increasing competition and rising expectations of brands present both threats and opportunities for those who want to do this job. In 2022, affiliate marketers have to focus on marketing processes as well as content production processes from a more professional perspective. Keeping up with technology and data-driven communication are the most critical challenges ahead of  affiliate marketers in 2022.

The devastating impact of the pandemic on the world economy was severely felt in the advertising world in 2020. 2021 was a strong comeback year, during which digital media was redefined anda growth rate beyond expectations was achieved in digital advertising. Restrictions on the use of third-party cookies were one of the hotly debated topics this year. Let’s have a look at the critical topics in digital advertising in 2021 together…

A Strong Rebound

Global ad spend, which was approximately $650 billion in 2020, increased by approximately 20% to $780 billion in 2021. This way, a strong rebound from the 1.2% contraction was experienced in 2020. This figure is $120 billion more than the 2021 projections made in 2019. Digital ad spending, on the other hand, increased by approximately 29% compared to the previous year, reaching $490 billion. Before the pandemic, this digital advertising global spending was estimated to reach $450 billion by 2021. Therefore, it can be said that the pandemic conditions led to some problems for digital advertising at first, but over time, media consumption habits changed, and it gained a more strategic position for advertisers.

Digital Advertising Is No Longer About Computers and Cell Phones Only

2021 has been a year that witnessed the growth of digital advertising beyond computers and mobile devices. Television is one of these channels.

CTV advertising expenditures in the US stood at $9.03 billion in 2020, increasing to $14.4 billion in 2021. The closures due to the pandemic and the fact that many companies have started to offer services that provide advertising-supported video content have had a great impact on this huge growth. Although CTV ads are more expensive than traditional television ads, their much more accurate targeting and measurement capacity make them attractive to advertisers. The increase in CTV advertising slots day by day is an indication that the prices will also decrease in the coming period.

One of the areas where digital advertising has grown rapidly has been outdoor advertising. In 2021, 12.5% ​​of outdoor advertising expenditures in the USA were made for digital media. On the media purchasing side, 3.9% of OHH media purchases were made programmatically.

User Data Privacy Has Become Digital Advertising’s Biggest Challenge

In 2021companies joined the efforts of national and international institutions on user data privacy. On the one hand, this change was welcomed due to the emergence of stricter regulations on the use of user data. However, it was also criticized for the risk of data monopolies.

The user data restriction that Apple brought with the new iOS caused the balance to change, especially in the mobile world. However, the issue of Google restricting the use of third-party cookies had a more significant impact.

Google postponed the change to limit the use of third-party cookies, which it had announced to implement in 2022 before the pandemic conditions, until 2023. Advertisers who were not prepared for such a drastic change benefited from the delay.

This change will make it very difficult for players who depend on third-party data for targeting. On the other hand, those who have effective data policies and can perform targeting independently of cookies will be the winners of this power shift.

2021 has been a very challenging year in many aspects. Not to mention how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed consumer behavior. On the agenda of the programmatic advertising world, there were restrictions on third-party cookies. All these developments show that 2022 will be a year of significant changes. We wanted to take a look at the trends that will mark the field of programmatic advertising in 2022.

The Death of Cookies

Companies, in addition to international organizations and government institutions, are also taking firm steps on the privacy of user data. Last year, Apple’s regulations had a profound effect on mobile advertising. However, the real significant change seems to be with Google’s decision to block the use of third-party cookies.

Google postponed this change, which it announced to take place in 2022, until 2023. Marketers who are dependent on cookies for targeting have thus gained some time.

It is known that many companies are still unprepared to replace cookies. The prominent solutions seem to be contextual advertising and membership systems. In this field, new technology companies that develop alternatives to the use of cookies have emerged. With the restriction on the use of third-party cookies set to take effect in 2022, it appears that the power balance will shift.

The Return of Television

Television, the golden instrument of traditional media, made a remarkable comeback in 2021 by becoming a digital medium thanks to connected TVs. In 2021, about 80% of advertisers announced that they would significantly increase their CTV investments. This is good news for television, which is way behind the times, when it comes to targeting and metering.

The biggest reason for this change in 2021 was the dramatic increase in television viewing times since 2020 as a result of the pandemic-related closures. Research shows that the time spent watching TV increases up to 40% during this period.

The traditional television world cannot be claimed to have kept pace with this rapid change. There are still important steps to be taken in the field of programmatic TV advertising, and 2022 seems to be a year of great activity in this field.

The Unstoppable Rise of In-Game Advertising

In the last few years, there have been significant developments in the field of in-game advertising, especially with mobile games becoming much more popular. The increase in the number of casual gamers due to the pandemic is the most important driving force of this change.

It is known that there are more than 3 billion players in the world today. Therefore, this huge audience makes advertisers’ mouths water.

Programmatic advertising is a critical tool to reach the right audiences with accurate targeting. Although there will be great developments in the field of in-game programmatic advertising in 2021, it is predicted that the real big change will be in 2022.

But on the other hand, this is a very competitive field. Today, there are over 450,000 game apps on Google Play alone, with hundreds of new games being added every day.

In the 1980s, 90s, and even 2000s, the concept of gaming was confined to computers and consoles, a concept that only concerns enthusiasts. However, with the increase in the technological capacities of mobile devices and the increased popularity of hyper-casual game genre, the game has turned into the mainstream. More than 80 billion games were downloaded from app stores in 2020, with the games category accounting for 68% of the App Store’s revenue share. Advertising expenditures also exceeded $100 billion. Mobile games have been the most significant factor in the growth of mobile advertising.

Because the medium has grown so much and has become mainstream, it is impossible for modern marketers to ignore this medium. This channel, where the level of engagement is high, has excellent opportunities for brands.

What is In-Game Advertising?

Briefly, in-game advertising refers to advertisements displayed within mobile games. These ads can be in static banners, video, or audio format.

Why Should You Be In In-Game Advertising?

Games offer their users a much more attractive experience compared to other applications. That’s why users are much more engaged with the content within games. Considering that in-game ads are also a form of content, we can say that users are pretty receptive to these ads.

But Aren’t In-Game Ads Annoying?

Not really. As a general thought, we know that advertisements within the application are elements that spoil the user experience. However, things are a little different in the game world.

How an in-game ad affects the user experience depends on how the ad is integrated into the game. Ads that are well integrated into the game dynamics can improve the user experience instead of spoiling it. Applications such as giving extra life in exchange for watching ads or unlocking hidden features in the game allow users to have a more sympathetic view of ads.

Are In-Game Ads Safe for Brands?

Programmatic advertising brands are naturally sensitive to the security of the content presented on the platforms where their ads will be displayed. The concept of gaming is also a concept that advertisers skeptically approach.

However, most mobile games are quite safe for brands, contrary to popular belief. The fact that the content of mobile games is much lighter than desktop ones, and therefore does not contain elements of extreme violence or sexuality, and there is usually no user-generated content makes mobile games safe platforms for advertisers.

Now is the time for advertisers to think out of the box and evaluate the new tools offered by the changing media. In-game ads are one of the most important of these tools.

The world’s number one social media platform, Facebook, has been in our lives for a long time. Therefore, Facebook ads are also an important part of our daily work flow.

Achieving better results by optimizing Facebook ads is a task in itself. In this article, we will give you a few tips to better optimize your Facebook ads.

Embed Facebook Pixel on Your Website

Facebook ads are great. However, if you do not fully set up Facebook ads, it is impossible to take advantage of the full potential of these ads. In order to optimize your ads, you first need to be able to measure your ads in a healthy way. To achieve that, the best technique is to use the Facebook pixel.

Start with a Broad Audience

Identifying users on Facebook has become a challenging task, especially after the iOS update. One of the most effective ways to get around this challenge is to keep your audience broad at first, then create a new audience of users who react to your ad and push those users to conversion.

Use Your Existing Posts

It is possible to use your existing posts on Facebook as an advertisement. However, most advertisers ignore this feature.

It might be a good idea to use your organically performing posts as ads. These socially proven posts can act as a locomotive for your goal.

Do Your Ad Timing Well

One of the most critical variables that determine the performance of your ads is when your user sees your ad.

Depending on your target audience and the subject of your ad, there will be differences in users’ interest in your ads. For example, it might be a good idea to run hobby ads on the weekend and business ads on weekdays.

At the beginning of your campaign, you may not have a clear idea of ​​which ad to run and when. To have a good roadmap, analyze the timing of your audience’s reaction to your ads and optimize your campaign accordingly.

Avoid Ad Fatigue with Ad Diversity

No one likes to see the same ad over and over. While everyone is aware of this fact, most advertisers do not stop showing the same advertisement to their target audiences repeatedly. This is not a healthy method to achieve the desired results.

Don’t be lazy when it comes to creating your ad creative. Go for variety in both your ad formats and your persuasive arguments. Note that different messaging strategies may persuade different users.