The good news is that many publishers felt the worst was behind them, and that the market had stabilized. They seemed to credit a more optimistic outlook on the part of advertisers (thanks to financial markets) and a realization that publishers themselves have to do more to hedge against unanticipated negative business trends. While financial uncertainty will likely continue throughout the year (upcoming elections, Ukraine, the Middle East, etc.), folks were generally more bullish.

Cookie deprecation, while not a new issue, remains a concern. And while Google postponed its decision to do anything about it until 2025, the entire digital marketing ecosystem - advertisers, publishers, ad tech providers - will have to find workable alternatives. Publishers in particular will face the threat of reduced ad revenue and targeting efficiency, challenges with alternative data collection methods, and potential privacy issues.

Possibly, the most pervasive theme of the conference was the importance of diversification in order to hedge against reduced advertising spending in the future and changes in the landscape, such as declining referral traffic from social media. Finding and mining new revenue streams has become a critically important component of every publisher’s strategy. Some talked more about events and ecommerce and others - most relevant to us, of course - the importance of integrating more and more video into their lineup, and into their thinking overall. Digital publishers in every vertical are integrating more embedded videos into their websites. Interviews, tours, slideshows, video ads are all more dynamic when they incorporate video. We heard publishers recognize video’s power as an audience builder and revenue driver. They are increasingly acknowledging the power of video to capture and hold the attention of their readers, not to mention its ability to drive deeper and more lasting connections.

To learn more about how VideoElephant can help you build a sustainable video strategy and a reliable revenue stream, contact us.

Join us at Digiday Publishing Summit in Miami on September 23-25. Let’s meet up!