Publishers have been aware for several years now that first-party data is absolutely vital to their future survival. However, it can be difficult to effectively harness first-party data in a meaningful and scalable way that drives positive impacts on traffic and revenue.
Quick Catchup: Third-party data refers to information collected and aggregated by entities other than the company or organization directly interacting with users. It’s data collected from external sources, typically by third-party providers, who gather information from various channels such as websites, social media, public records, and more.
This is different from first-party data, which is collected directly from a company's own customers or website visitors. This data is often used by businesses, marketers, advertisers, and other organizations to supplement their own data, enabling them to gain insights into broader audience segments, target specific demographics, and improve ad targeting.
At RebelMouse, our core mission is to deliver an AI-enabled, cutting-edge CMS alongside decades of digital experience to ensure that our clients always stay ahead of the curve. To keep this momentum going, we’ve spent the past year allocating significant resources to research and develop new solutions that yield tremendous results for first-party data.
Additionally, since 2022, RebelMouse has also invested heavily in research and development around AI technologies. Leveraging OpenAI and Google Vertex AI, we have become expert AI integrators. This has been critical to keeping our clients modern in an ever-evolving tech landscape. The breakthroughs in this space, combined with our approach to first-party data, have been essential to the groundbreaking results we’ve achieved.
Our focus on first-party data is centered around two major initiatives:
- Increase programmatic ad revenue.
- Increase site engagement and return visits.
Increase Programmatic Ad Revenue Through First-Party Data
The key to our approach to increase programmatic revenue through first-party data is a deep understanding of both editorial content and digital advertising. Advertising technology partners have long been focused on their own world, and are often far from understanding how editorial teams develop and execute proper workflows. Because of this, technology solutions for editorial teams have largely existed completely outside of ad tech.
From the start, RebelMouse’s DNA has been focused on bringing together editorial, product, and ad tech teams to unify solutions and create incredible leverage. This approach is a key differentiator for our solutions, and the reason we’re making breakthroughs that the rest of the industry is missing.
Thanks to our innovative AI integrations, RebelMouse aligns editorial content with programmatic buyers' taxonomies. Additionally, we harness psychographic data that complements both direct sales and programmatic efforts. This powerful combination not only enhances revenue on the initial user visit, but also leads to substantial increases in CPM upon return visits. As visitor loyalty grows with frequent returns, the revenue potential continues to rise.
Our integrated AI solutions also match editorial content without bothering editors with new steps that they don’t understand. Instead, we’re able to give editors insights and tips through smart learning that enhances their own knowledge of their target audience.
First-Party Audience Targeting vs. Traditional Audience Targeting
Increasing Site Engagement and Return Visits Through First-Party Data
The solutions we have developed are not just useful for serving more valuable ads and increasing CPM.
We can also use this data to:
- Personalize experiences and give better user recommendations for what to read next.
- Enhance SEO and content recirculation for publishers with multiple sites.
- We do this by directly linking users to relevant content across all of a publisher’s sites, irrespective of the originating site, to maximize valuable SEO gains and capitalize on trending content.
- Give context to users on why certain content matters to them.
- Provide personalized conversion units that align with marketing and sign-up goals.
- Create a valuable signed-in experience for users that can generate and nurture paid memberships.
Why Publishers Are Leveraging First-Party Data Now
In July 2022, Google set a target to phase out third-party cookies by late 2024, and they continue to take steps to meet that goal. Google Ad Manager has even introduced new features to assist publishers with managing their first-party data while prioritizing user privacy.
But these changes shouldn’t come as a surprise. The industry has been slowly phasing out the use of third-party data for years. And now with the recent embrace of AI across the publishing space, the time has never been more critical for publishers to embrace and figure out first-party data.
AI's impact on first-party data will enhance the benefits of first-party data in numerous ways, including:
- Better data quality, decision-making processes, and user satisfaction.
- More efficient data collection and analysis, enhancing personalization through tailored user experiences and targeted advertising.
- Enhanced predictive analytics to forecast user behavior.
- Refined audience targeted with AI-driven segmentation.
- Improved data security measures to safeguard sensitive information.
- Improved personalized user support thanks to AI's natural language processing capabilities.
RebelMouse is more than ready to embrace the natural transition to first-party data, amplified by the advantages of the AI revolution. Now is the perfect opportunity to future-proof your website and unlock new levels of user loyalty.
Click here to discover more about RebelMouse. We can quickly help you understand how leveraging first-party data and AI will enhance and grow your business.
