The Publisher's Guide to Data Management Platforms

Built with the expertise of:

Right about now, you may be wondering if I’m able to capture all of this first-party data, why do I really need to worry about the third-party cookie? Because, even with all the above data, you're only capturing data from your website or app, which is just a small sliver of the larger data pie.

In this case, size really does matter, the size of your audience that is. Working with a centralized DMP, which pools together first-party data from other publishers in order to create scalable audience segments, will generate more interest from advertisers than your first-party data alone. 

It’s important to note that this is not something typically offered by DMPs but rather a unique benefit Playwire provides to each individual publisher.

How a Quality DMP Uses Your Data: Step-by-Step

Now that you have a pretty good understanding of the types of data that a DMP collects, we can discuss exactly how a DMP works to collect, analyze, and use first- and third-party data to benefit you, your users, and potential advertising buyers.

(Click here to enlarge graphic)

1. Raw Data Collection: The most straightforward part of the process, a DMP will help you collect raw data about the interests and behaviors of your audience.

2. Combine with Third-Party Data: Most DMPs, but not all, will also complement your first-party data with existing third-party data other sources know about your users.

3. Process and Store Data: The combined data is then stored with the DMP for easy audience segmentation and centralized advertiser access.

4. Make Data Valuable to Advertisers: The more available data you are able to collect and combine about your individual users, the more attractive it will be for advertisers. There are two different ways that DMPs can go about this step. 

The first is what most DMPs offer, which is selling your first-party data on various marketplaces in order to enrich and make it more valuable for advertisers. This process involves quite a few moving parts, including setting up the proper signals between platforms, which can be quite time-consuming, and doesn’t necessarily guarantee the most desirable results as you may still need to do a ton of legwork after segmentation to get the data in front of advertisers.

The second option is one that very few DMPs do, which is pooling data from a wide variety of publishers across a DMP’s internal network into a single location in order to create scalable audience segments worthy of more advertising dollars. Again, it’s important to keep in mind that this unique option to bundle together first-party data from one site with a vast network of first-party data is only offered by a select few DMPs, including Playwire’s.

5. Audience Segmentation: Data is then segmented into audience cohorts based on interests and behaviors for campaign targeting by advertisers.

Now that you have a concrete idea of what key features to look for during your DMP research, let’s discuss what you should expect with selection, implementation, and overall management.

1. First, you’ll need to determine which of the above features is most important to have in your DMP, keeping in mind that most DMPs do not offer all the above features.
2. Once you’ve selected a DMP, you’ll need to integrate your website or app with the DMP. This goes back to the feature labeled “Automatic Tagging”. Some DMPs can automatically scan your content and meta-data to appropriately tag users with interest or behavior-based tags, such as Playwire’s DMP. Others require a ton of manual lifting in terms of getting the appropriate data tags onto your website or app and assuring the appropriate information is being retrieved and pulled back into your DMP.
3. Finally, you have everything in place and your data is being stored in your DMP. What you do with your data is very much dependent on the capabilities of the technology and reinforcement from the team you have chosen to partner with to segment and optimize your data. This takes a ton of testing, often manual, and constant overall governance of your DMP.

Implementing a DMP into your ad monetization strategy is not as simple as plugging the platform in and watching your revenue grow, far from it in fact. The technology will collect your chosen data sets but it takes a village to manage and properly utilize your audience data in order to grow your revenue and your business.

Here is a visual depiction of what it might look like to build and operate your own DMP, without the support of "the village" behind you:

(Click here to enlarge graphic)

Custom Targeting with Google Ad Manager (GAM)

With all that said, there is a less customizable, albeit more straightforward data management solution available for small to medium-sized publishers: Google Ad Manager (GAM). 

Option 1: If you’re working with a third-party DMP, creating first-party audience segments, you can enable the DMP to push those segments into GAM to use for targeting, forecasting, and reporting purposes. However, this is only an option for Google Ad Manager 360 users.

Option 2: Setting up key-values, which will allow you to define custom targeting. You can set key-values with ad tags on specific ad units or based on data provided by users who have visited your website or app. 

In this case, rather than tracking data on a per-audience-member basis, you will be focusing on passing data based solely on the content the user is viewing. This is a pretty decent starting point if you aren’t quite ready for a full DMP solution just yet. Additionally, GAM recently rolled out updates to their Audience features, which allow you to use key-values as the basis for audience segments in GAM. This is another feature only available for Google Ad Manager 360.

Both are options for a publisher just getting started with their data collection and management, but neither allows a large scale of opportunity for customization or a variety of audience segmentation.

Onboarding a DMP as part of your ad tech stack can be a daunting task depending on your chosen DMP, even more so if you are unaware of what it costs to work with a DMP that includes most, if not all, of the above features. 

On average, a DMP can cost you anywhere from $1000 to $6000 per month. The more quality features that a DMP offers, the more expensive its starting rate is, which is why it is imperative that you do your research before signing on with just any DMP. Additionally, most DMPs require a pretty lengthy initial contract as well as a hefty onboarding fee for the initial setup.

This doesn’t even begin to factor in the costs of the labor it will take to set up your DMP if you are manually tagging and setting up your own taxonomy.

Just like anything else across the digital landscape, there are a multitude of data protection laws in place to protect users’ online privacy, and the pressure for online providers to build upon existing privacy policies is only increasing by the day. Thus, this is an area that cannot be overlooked when it comes to Data Management Platforms. 

Due to data and privacy policies such as GDPR and CCPA, in addition to pages upon pages of others, it’s imperative to discuss with any DMP provider what tools they have in place when it comes to consent management and meeting every industry standard for safe and compliant data collection, storage, and usage.

What COPPA Publishers Need to Know

If you’re a publisher who works with kids’ content, you already know how important it is to remain compliant with COPPA regulations. Not doing so can lead to a multitude of issues including litigation and a reputation for being a site or app that advertisers cannot trust, not to mention massive fines that could be crippling to your business.

If your content falls under this category, data collection is next to impossible as there are entirely unique laws in place for capturing, storing, and using data from kids under the age of 13 without proper consent. In order to protect children throughout their online experiences, data targeting and audience building are off the table altogether. Thus, DMPs are essentially off-limits.

In this case, our best recommendation is to set key values for granular contextual targeting. However, for those who fall under the category of kids’ publisher, but are not fully immersed in the language and laws of COPPA, we do not recommend trying to manage your data internally.

The topic of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion when it comes to reaching digital audiences has become a massive one over the past several years. More and more advertisers are wanting their campaigns to reach more culturally diverse audiences, which are more proportional to that of the general population rather than disproportionately targeting only one demographic. The ability to reach a more diverse audience begins and ends with quality data collection.

Learn more about how the ad tech industry is evolving to solve challenges in reaching culturally diverse and representative audiences with digital ads by watching our webinar: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion when Reaching Digital Audiences.

Playwire's DE&I Efforts

Playwire has devoted countless hours to developing a DE&I solution that can actually do what many others say they can but typically cannot, and our DMP is at the forefront of this offering. Once we have a solid understanding of an advertiser’s campaign goals, our team, and technology work in unison to process all those factors to ensure campaign goals match up against targeting and representation requirements. 

Why does this matter from the publisher’s perspective? Because of our technology and our Direct Sales team’s efforts to satisfy advertiser representation requirements, publishers can rest assured knowing that working with Playwire means more direct relationships with quality brands and more direct dollars to your website or app. Ultimately, everyone benefits from the presence of a quality Direct Sales team and a powerful DE&I solution.

When looking for the best-rewarded video ad networks to serve your needs, you have to strongly consider the technology you are looking to monetize. Mobile apps, desktop apps, and websites are all different animals, so finding a rewarded video ad network that works with the platform you are on is very important.

Spoiler alert: Only one rewarded ad network serves rewarded video ads across all devices, and that's Playwire. If that doesn't qualify us to contend for the title of "best-rewarded video ad network", I don't know what does.

Feel free to visit our Complete Data Management Platform Resource Center, or dive deeper into any of these related articles:

• What is a Data Management Platform?
• Architecting a Data Management Platform
• Playwire's DMP Advertising Solution
• Top Data Management Platform Partners for 2022
• How Does a Data Management Platform Work?
• 4 Key Benefits of a Data Management Platform
• 7 Features to Look for in a Data Management Platform
• Ad Tech Stack Build vs. Buy Series: Data Management Platform

Accelerate your business and uncomplicate your ad tech stack, because you deserve a partner and a platform that demands more for you.

Get Started