Why trusted audience relationships matter more in an AI-shaped ad market
By Sylkia Cartagena
The advertising market is changing quickly. Programmatic is under pressure, traffic is falling across the industry and AI is affecting how content is created, discovered, targeted and measured.
For Veebha Mehta, COO of Crain Communications, those changes make some of publishers’ existing strengths more valuable, not less.
“We all have the same headwinds,” she says. “We’re all facing the same problems. But as publishers, we own first-party data and we own these direct relationships.”
At FIPP World Media Congress, Mehta will join a panel on the future of advertising and how publishers can respond to those changes. “We have to talk about what’s possible,” she says.
Programmatic under pressure
Users can reject cookies, third-party data is becoming less reliable and publishers can no longer assume platforms and search engines will continue sending the same volume of traffic.
“Those publishers who have direct verified relationships with their audience, whether you’re doing it through registrations or through subscriptions… that should naturally put publishers at an advantage,” Mehta says.
The value increases when that relationship also reveals behaviour and intent.
“If you know what your audience reads and what event they’re attending, that behavioural data – this is what they’re reading, this is what they’re watching, this is the event they’re attending, these are the topics they want – it’s powerful.”
“Every advertiser wants a return on their spend,” Mehta adds. “Knowing who they’re reaching and knowing that they’re actually reaching them becomes valuable, and they can’t necessarily buy it from a third party in the same way anymore.”
From reach to intent
That is also changing what advertisers want to measure.
“Are you reaching people? Are you reaching the right people?” she says. “There’s so much noise on the internet now.”
For specialist publishers, she says, that can play to an existing strength: highly defined, engaged audiences. “The audience we have, because we’re very B2B and we operate in industry verticals, is quite senior – the decision makers. They’re reading us because they want deeper industry knowledge.”
For advertisers, the value is not just who that audience is, but how actively they engage.
“When someone pays for something, they care about it more,” Mehta adds. “They’re spending more time, they’re consuming more, they’re coming to an event – and then that’s what an advertiser wants.”
Proof of engagement
AI adds another layer to that shift, increasing both the volume of content online and the pressure on advertisers to understand where their messages appear.
“If I were an advertiser, I would begin to question: am I reaching a real audience or not? What is the environment and the context in which I’m advertising?” Mehta says. “Publishers, or media really, offer something that AI-generated random environments cannot – content that’s been generated with some credibility and some data.”
It is also raising expectations around targeting and proof of engagement.
“Advertisers want proof, not just that you reach somebody, but that they actually engaged,” Mehta says. “For media companies that collect first-party data, and for those of us who also have direct subscriber relationships, it’s a challenge we need to meet – and we should be able to meet.”
AI may also help publishers use the data they already hold: “You have the data already. What AI is doing is improving your ability to segment it and target it.”
For Mehta, that makes investment in data capability more important, not less – while reinforcing the value of the assets publishers already control. “Data, that direct access, that credibility, that trust – those are so foundational,” she says. “In a way, AI has made that even more valuable.”
Start with the customer
Mehta joined Crain as CMO, initially focusing on subscriptions, before her remit expanded across more of the business. She later moved into the COO role.
“In marketing, the first thing you learn is to start with the customer: Who’s your customer? What do they need?” she says. “The content we create is because someone needs it. The events we put on are because somebody has a need. The products we develop – everything starts there.”
Trust and credibility
Mehta began her media career as a journalist, and still describes media as a service. “Just to say that we can’t compete and we can’t adapt and we can’t survive is not an answer that any of us should accept.”
Trust and credibility remain fundamental as the tools and platforms change. “It’s become very easy to just be a voice,” she says. “Everyone has a platform.”
In that environment, information grounded in facts and expertise becomes more valuable. “That credibility is hugely important. “That’s what the media is built on.”
This article originally appeared on our FIPP website.
For more information about our FIPP World Media Congress, click here.
