ASX-listed media company looks to Google for support to build programmatic advertising, digital and data sophistication
Fairfax has struck a deal with Google to bolster its programmatic advertising and digital audience efforts across flagship media titles including The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the Australian Financial Review and Canberra Times.
Under the partnership, Fairfax said it will leverage Google’s global technical expertise in adtech to sell and market programmatic advertising across its major city mastheads as well as lifestyle properties. It will also work with Google to optimise publishing technology, digital innovation, drive subscriptions growth and improve the way Fairfax teams use data.
Kicking off in 2018, the first focus will be on premium ad products, top-tier client relationships and creating new commercial solutions. The brands coverage are The SMH, The Age, the AFR, WAtoday, Canberra Times and Brisbane Times.
Fairfax CEO, Greg Hywood, said the partnership comes off the back of rebuilding the ASX-listed media company’s publishing technology from the ground up.
“We are ensuring our company, our media and our shareholders benefit from commercial opportunities available to us,” he said. “We expect upside performance from this partnership will allow us to make new investment in our journalism.”
Google managing director A/NZ, Jason Pellegrino, added the joint effort with Fairfax would help demonstrate the power of programmatic sales.
Fairfax managing director of Australian Metro Publisher, Chris Janz, said the deeper partnership would provide advertisers with new ways to work with Fairfax.
“Google’s sales channels and marketing-leading programmatic technology will empower and enable advertisers to access Fairfax brands and reach our valuable audiences,” he said. “We are bringing the very best that Fairfax has to offer together with the smarts and capability of Google.”
Fairfax’s ongoing commitment to editorial has certainly been questioned this year, after the group slashed 125 editorial jobs, or more than one quarter of its newsroom, in May as part of efforts to cut $30 million in operating costs.
The deal with Google also comes as traditional media players fight to retain advertising dollars against the rise of next-generation, walled garden players such as Facebook.
In its FY17 financials, Fairfax reported full-year group revenue of $1.73 billion, down 5 per cent year-on-year, and a 4 per cent drop in underlying EBITDA of $271 million. In total, the group reported a net profit of $83.9 million, compared to a $773 million lost in FY2016.
The shining star on its books, Domain Group, spun out as its own ASX-listed entity on 16 November 2017 after shareholders and the courts voted in favour of a separation of the company from its Fairfax parent. Fairfax remains the largest shareholder in Domain.
Programmatic advertising, meanwhile, is on the up and up, despite concerns around the digital advertising supply chain as a whole. According to a recent AOL report, 22 per cent of Australian advertisers plan to increase spending on programmatic buying by more than 50 per cent in the FY18 year.
Follow CMO on Twitter: @CMOAustralia, take part in the CMO conversation on LinkedIn: CMO ANZ, join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CMOAustralia, or check us out on Google+:google.com/+CmoAu
In the third and final episode of our 3-part CMO50 video series exploring modern marketing and why it’s become a matter of trust, we’re delighted to be joined by Telstra’s former CMO and now digital services and sales executive, Jeremy Nicholas, and Adobe VP Marketing Asia-Pacific and Japan, Duncan Egan.
Flash back to the classic film, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Television-obsessed Mike insists on becoming the first person to be ‘sent by Wonkavision’, dematerialising on one end, pixel by pixel, and materialising in another space. His cinematic dreams are realised thanks to rash decisions as he is shrunken down to fit the digital universe, followed by a trip to the taffy puller to return to normal size.
Why is it there is no shortage of leadership development materials, yet outstanding leadership is so rare? Despite having access to so many leadership principles, tools, systems and processes, why is it so hard to develop and improve as a leader?
As a nation united by sport, brands are beginning to learn money alone won’t talk without aligned values and action. If recent events with major leagues and their players have shown us anything, it’s the next generation of athletes are standing by what they believe in – and they won’t let their values be superseded by money.
