Wednesday 24th April: AI means you don’t need to give up on SMB display ads

Good morning! Today’s newsletter is brought to you by Peter.

Connect with over 500 decision-makers from more than 40 countries at the 46th FIPP World Media Congress, held between June 4-6 in the picturesque seaside village of Cascais, Portugal. This year’s Congress promises a wealth of insights, featuring keynote speakers like Dr. Seth Dobrin, former Global Chief AI Officer of IBM, who will discuss futureproofing your organization's AI capabilities. Don’t miss out on innovative sessions, networking opportunities, strategic partnerships, and the chance to engage with industry leaders. Register now and take part in shaping the future of media!

P.S. There’s a special 15% discount code for Media Voices readers: MVCongress15

In the latest of our sponsored 10-minute Media Briefs episodes, the CEO of Smartico, Christian Scherbel talks about the revenue potential in providing automated digital-advertising services to small and medium sized businesses.

Christian understands the publisher focus on high-value, key accounts and acknowledges the challenges inherent in taking care of hundreds of smaller clients. “Digital was harder and more complex to sell for the publishers… a small print customer that was investing £500 in print wants to start for £100 or £200 online,” he says. No wonder publishers turned to programmatic.

However, Christian believes publishers can improve on bargain-basement CPMs by keeping things simple using AI. He explains that prospects often say the would love to do online advertising, but struggle providing materials. “Telling them ‘I can use your print ad, I can use your brochure, I can use your last social media post, you don't have to take care of that. That is a big, big sales argument.”

To build or buy is a familiar conundrum for any media exec who has had to wrestle with the complexities of a tech-stack upgrade. But what about legacy brand acquisitions? Jacob Donnelly says, “If what you’re buying is the brand, and the previous owner has destroyed it, are you really buying anything valuable at all? A name only carries weight up until a certain point.” For him value lies in the quality of the site experience, content, traffic sources and audience. Without them, you’re simply buying someone else’s failed strategy.

The Jersey Bee subscribes firmly to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, a theory that says people need to ‘feel physically and psychologically safe to build good relationships, set goals, and grow’. In what amounts to a manifesto for community-focused public service journalism, founder and executive editor Simon Galperin writes: “We make the news useful. We aim to make a tangible difference in our community’s health and well-being.” Bravo!

Stack’s Steve Watson has written a proper deep dive into what is actually going on in the print space. He dismisses the toxic ‘print is death’ trope wheeled out by bean-counting mag execs, but also acknowedges that things are not what they used to be. His long read is worth your time even if only because you’ll learn how to apply the Copernican Principle - the longer something has lasted, the longer it will last - to the print marketplace.

More from Media Voices