So many publishers, or content creators, are dying to be where you are right now. You've built a great business model, developed and provided a consistent stream of great content creation, which has in turn built up your audience. Now you're considering digital monetization to start bringing in revenue to reward yourself and your team for all the hard work.

Sadly, many publishers never get past step one: building an audience. But you did.

You're in a good spot, but a digital monetization strategy will take you to a better spot if you do it right. That's why it's important to understand the upsides and potential downsides of digital monetization solutions for publishers. And that's what we explore below.

Read on to learn more. For a customized digital monetization strategy that really work, partner with Playwire.

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Sandbox Case Study

Sandbox Case Study

Why Just One Digital Monetization Solution?

Before we get into the pros and cons of digital monetization solutions for publishers, we need to take a quick detour to discuss a classic problem that publishers face. We call it the "single source of truth" problem.

Here's the problem: if publishers hired 10 different data scientists to pull data from their ad sales on a given day and tell them how they performed, they would get 10 different answers. Why? Because you can look at data in hundreds of ways and find different things to say about it.

A Single Source of Truth

Often, providers of digital monetization solutions for publishers capitalize on the confusion created by the 10-different-data-scientists conundrum. They pick and choose the metrics to report to publishers in order to make themselves look as good as possible - even when they aren't actually bringing in the revenue they claim.

The "single source of truth" isn't so much the problem as it is the solution. If you have partnered with a bunch of digital monetization partners, they will all tell you different things about the performance data. But if you partner with one, you can begin to understand your revenue stream at a high level and how to maximize your total revenue. This becomes achievable when you have only one source of truth to compare one day's performance to the next.

Cut Through the Confusion

Having one source of performance data from one digital monetization partner allows you to truly understand the revenue performance of your website, mobile app, or game.

It also gives you the opportunity to streamline communication - everyone at your office is reviewing, reporting on, and discussing the same metrics from the same places. That way, no one lacks the understanding necessary to participate in the big discussions that lead to improvements in your content, monetization model, and, ultimately, your revenue.

Pros of Digital Monetization Solutions for Publishers

With that out of the way, let's get into the pros of digital monetization solutions from a publisher's perspective. Outside of the obvious pro of bringing in money for your content production efforts, there are several more pros of working with a digital monetization partner like Playwire.

Expert Guidance to Grow Your Revenue

Many companies feel like they're flying blind as they try to grow their revenue. Partnering with a digital monetization expert gives you straight-to-the-source access to guidance that can take your revenue to new heights.

You also won't have to play catchup as the digital landscape changes. Because they do revenue share, your monetization partner wins when you win. Like investors, they have a vested interest in growing your revenue.

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Wrestling Headlines Case Study

Westling Headlines Case Study

Access to Ad Creative

Not all digital monetization partners provide access to an in-house creative team, but the good ones do. With access to a creative team, you can sell premium inventory for premium prices to premium advertisers. Most advertisers can't get that kind of custom-tailored inventory anywhere else.

Support Across Channels

Most publishers let their content live on multiple channels. If you've got a website, you probably have an app or over-the-top (OTT) channel, too. If you go it alone, you may put in a ton of work to monetize your website display and/or video content, but if you stop there, you're going to let your OTT revenue opportunities die on the vine.

That's where a world-class digital monetization partner can help in a big way. With the best partners, you get multi-channel support for your ad sales efforts in order to maximize your revenue.

Data Pooling to Drive Revenue

Especially as third-party data is being phased out, access to large amounts of first-party publisher data is becoming incredibly important to an advertiser. As a publisher, you have first-party data. But, how do you leverage it into revenue? It's pretty tough to do on your own.

A successful content monetization partner will have access to mountains of first-party data from hundreds or thousands of publishers. They'll add yours to the mix and use it all to generate high-value inventory sales opportunities as part of your monetization strategy.

The Con of Digital Monetization for Publishers

Digital monetization is the way forward for the vast majority of publishers in 2021, so it's hard to identify the cons of monetization in the digital space and offer any real, viable alternatives. But one possible scenario - and the only real con of digital monetization for publishers - is that certain types of publishers might be better suited to build an in-house ad ops team.

If you are a very large digital publisher who brings in, say, $100 million in ad sales revenue per year, you might find that the cost/benefit conversation favors building an in-house team to bring in ad revenue.

For the vast majority of publishers, it will be far more expensive (and time-consuming) to build a full in-house team. But for some of the largest publishers, an in-house ad sales unit may be something to explore.

The Last Digital Monetization Solution You’ll Ever Need

Of all the digital monetization options, Playwire is the only digital monetization solution for publishers that combines machine learning with human insight to help publishers amplify their ad revenue in ways they never thought possible. Every time your digital content loads on a user's mobile app or website screen, our platform is hard at work to create a custom advertising solution that will maximize your revenue.

To learn more about Playwire's publisher monetization services, reach out to us. Give us a call at 1-561-206-4621 or contact us online as soon as you're ready.

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