Tag: Online Publishers Association

Thoughts on Apple Subscriptions and Google OnePass from President of the Online Publishers Association

Over the past week, Apple announced its subscriptions plan for the App Store, following the model of "The Daily". Under the plan, publishers set the price and length of the subscription, users choose the length of the subscription and are charged based on how long they subscribe. Apple keeps 30% of the revenue. Google also announced a subscription-based service for publishers called OnePass. More on that here.

Pam Horan, President of the Online Publishers Association (OPA), shared some thoughts with us on both Apple’s and Google’s new subscription services. If you’re unfamiliar with the OPA, it’s a non-profit trade group representing content providers like ABCNews.com, About.com, BBC.com, Bloomberg.com, CBS Interactive, CNBC, CNN.com, Comcast Interactive Media, Condé Nast, ConsumerReports.org, Disney Interactive Media, ESPN.com, Forbes.com, FoxNews.com, Gannett Digital, Gawker Media, Harvard Business Publishing, The Huffington Post, Hearst Coproration, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal Digital Network, and many more.

Regarding Apple’s, Horan says, "Right now, one the most audible reactions I’m hearing from publishers is: what does this mean for the consumer? The concern is that Apple’s latest subscription policy limits one of the major needs that all publishers look to address – seamlessly offering their content on whatever platform the consumer wants to access it on."

"Based on Apple’s policy, specifically, publishers may no longer provide links in their apps (to a web site, for example) which allow the customer to purchase content or subscriptions outside of the app," she continues. "Limiting the publisher to include links with offers or offering direct bundles through their own website, makes authenticating the consumer impossible. Apple’s one click access is great, but consumers have to realize that they are sacrificing portability."

"The second issue is that Apple’s doesn’t allow publishers access to any consumer information – from who is purchasing to what articles and tools that [they] are finding valuable based on their use," she adds. "Consumer insights are paramount for publishers to be able to offer consumers the products they want. We would hope that Apple would take these issues into consideration to ensure that we are all serving their consumers’ best interest."

On Google’s new service, Horan says, "At first pass, the Google OnePass model may address several of the concerns that publishers have with the Apple subscription model unveiled earlier this week. Google is sharing the customer’s name, ZIP code and e-mail address (unless the customer opts out) which will help publishers gain the valuable consumer insight that is necessary to help them evolve their products."

"Another difference between this and the Apple offering is the pricing structure – it appears more flexible as does the ability to purchase bundling solutions," she adds. "With OnePass, publishers can try different models, like subscriptions, so-called metered access and selling single articles. The service also lets publishers give free access to existing subscribers."

Horan is not alone in her analysis. Google’s model seems to be getting a lot better feedback than Apple’s, though Apple’s model certainly has its supporters. Apple’s model has actually been tied to antitrust concerns, though nothing has been made of such concerns on the parts of either Apple or the Justice Department.

February 17, 2011
OPA President: FTC Proposal Both Encouraging and Concerning

As you may know, the FTC released a report this week proposing a framework for balancing consumer privacy and innovation online, which includes (but is not limited to) a "do not track" mechanism in web browsers. Naturally, marketers have shown varying degrees of concern. Some are even calling the proposal a "Google Killer".

Pam Horan, President of the Online Publishers Association (OPA) shared her thoughts on the proposal with WebProNews. "There are elements of the report which we find encouraging and there are some which are concerning," she tells us.

If you’re unfamiliar with the OPA, it’s a non-profit trade group representing content providers like ABCNews.com, About.com, BBC.com, Bloomberg.com, CBS Interactive, CNBC, CNN.com, Comcast Interactive Media, Condé Nast, ConsumerReports.org, Disney Interactive Media, ESPN.com, Forbes.com, FoxNews.com, Gannett Digital, Gawker Media, Harvard Business Publishing, The Huffington Post, Hearst Coproration, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal Digital Network, and many more.

"What we find is encouraging is that the FTC reaffirmed many of the key elements of the FTC February 2009 Online Behavioral Advertising Principles that distinguishes the unique first party relationship publishers have with consumers," she adds. "In particular, the report clearly distinguishes that the collection and use of data for first party purposes is recognized as a commonly accepted practice. The staff report specifically notes that they believe that contextual advertising should fall within the commonly accepted practices category. This is the majority of advertising that OPA members serve."

"We are very encouraged by the fact that the FTC clearly recognized that just like in the physical world, consumers have different types of relationships online," she continues, noting that, "As OPA’s online publishers share a direct and trusted relationship with visitors to their websites they support the FTC in their desire to not only educate the consumer, provide choice but also greater transparency across the industry."

Yet there are still concerns. "Although we are encouraged by some elements of the report based on the fact that the FTC distinguish the first party relationships, we are concerned with the concept of Do Not Track if it impacts the first party," explains Horan. "There are significant unintended consequences that exist for publishers if the FTC pursues a universal choice mechanism which controls what first party data is collected."
As she outlines, "Cookies are critical to the operations of the publishers website including:

– Capping the frequency with which an individual ad is displayed which benefits both advertisers and consumer

– Analytics to measure audience size for reporting and inventory and planning campaigns

– Execute the ad campaign in compliance with the contract for example you may have a campaign that is geographically targeted

– Complying with legal requirements (for example, it may not be lawful to advertise a pharmaceutical product approved in the US to audiences in the UK)

– Preventing click fraud

– Synchronizing and sequencing creative content enabling an advertiser to tell a story through campaign elements that must unfold in a logical order."

"For advertisers and everyone in the ecosystem, the FTC is encouraging us to provide education, transparency and control to the consumer," Horan concludes. "As an industry, we have a strong self regulatory program that includes advertisers and our ability to be active in implementation of the program is important so we can demonstrate to the FTC and lawmakers that we can successful self regulate."

Oren Netzer, CEO of DoubleVerify, which provides online media verification to advertisers, agencies, ad networks and publishers, says, "The report is unclear in its definition of policy vs. law, as well as what constitutes ‘sensitive data’ and how a ‘do not track’ mechanism would and should be enforced." Netzer says however, that the consumer is bearing too much responsibility and the industry needs to do more.

As Cynthia Boris at MarketingPilgrim notes, online advertisers are already working on a self-policing program, but "it looks like the federal government is going to have their say and their say trumps anything from the private sector."

The matter will be on major industry topic to keep an eye on. There’s no question about that. The proposal is open to public comment until the end of January. There is no shortage of commentary so far.

December 2, 2010
Consumers More Likely to Buy From Ads on Media Sites Than Social Media?

The Online Publishers Association has revealed some findings from research on how brands are perceived across content in different online environments. Specifically, it looks at how environments like media publications (such as ESPN.com, iVillage, NYTimes.com, Wall Street Journal, etc.), portal channels (such as AOL News, MSN Money, Yahoo Sports, etc.), and social networks (Facebook, MySpace, etc.) impact content and its advertisers.

"The goal of our research was to help brand marketers better understand why consumers receive and respond to online brand advertising differently depending on the content environment in which the message appears," explains OPA president Pam Horan. "Our findings show that site destination matters as trust and relevant content are perceived differently across content environments. This study concludes that consumers perceive and take action differently depending on where the advertiser’s message appears."

According to the research, 80% of participants who have purchased brands as a result of online ads say they have a strong, positive emotional connection to the sites where the ads ran.

The OPA and Harris Interactive ran statistical correlations to understand whether there is a relationship between how content is perceived in these environments and how advertisers are received and responded to. For reference, correlations measure the strength of the relationship between two variables, and can range from -1 to +1, with zero being no relationship. With that in mind, here are some key findings:

– Sites with relevant content correlate strongly with audiences being loyal to these sites (a correlation score of .445)

– Sites with trusted content correlate strongly with the sites’ advertisers being perceived as reputable (a correlation score of .388)

– Brands perceived as relevant are more likely to have a response to their online ads (a correlation score of .353)

More interesting yet are the environment-specific findings. According to the research, consumers are more likely to trust content on media sites (72%) than on portal channels (60%) and social media (23%). Audiences on media sites are significantly more likely to believe these sites’ advertisers are high quality and reputable (24%), compared to portal channels (20%) and social media (8%), the OPA says.

"The study clearly concludes that online media proprieties offer advertisers a distinct brand halo effect for their advertising messages," says Horan.

Of course social media gives advertisers a direct connection with consumers, by letting them become fans/followers, which can be a brand’s most loyal customers.

June 15, 2010