Native advertising has created a revenue stream that publishers can’t ignore, with eMarketer predicting native ad spend to reach $52.75 billion by 2020. However, choosing the right platform can have a direct impact on your success. Not all content discovery platforms are created equal, so how do you know which one is right for you? Here are some key factors to look for:
Brand Safety Tools
Although brand safety is an industry-wide problem, for publishers, there is little room for error. Choosing a content discovery platform that guarantees brand safety should be a top priority when exploring different content recommendation companies. The last thing you want is content appearing on your site that alienates your audience. The recommended content on your site should resonate with your audience and align with your brand values.
Many content recommendation companies claim to provide a better user experience — but this should come with the guarantee of transparency and trust. Misleading or explicit content, for example, is a fast way to drive your audience away. Ensure that you are protecting your brand and user experience by maintaining control over what content appears on your site.
Performance Monitoring
When choosing a content recommendation network, it’s key to have access the necessary insights to help drive your editorial and revenue decision making. A great part of content recommendation is that there is no waiting period to adjust your strategy. Your content recommendation network should be able to monitor your success as it happens, so you can make the right decisions at the right time.
For example, RevContent offers an internal domain performance tool that provide real-time statistics about publishers’ site performance to help guide their editorial strategy.
Customization Options
It’s important to understand the amount of control and customization options that are readily available to publishers before choosing a platform. A network that offers a cookie-cutter solution to publishers restricts many of the capabilities that make content recommendation so effective in the first place.
RevContent offers proprietary tools for publishers to granularly control exactly what content appears on their sites. Their publishers have complete control over content restrictions, domain blacklisting, and optimizing their widgets to show content that aligns with their overall brand and identity. This amount of personalization is key to driving audience growth and revenue.
