Media Briefing: Publishers are tapping internal first-party data ‘influencers’ to rally their broader organizations

By Tim Peterson

This week’s Media Briefing looks at how some publishers are appointing executives to serve as internal ambassadors for their first-party data efforts while others adopt committee-based approaches.

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The key hits:

As publishers step up their first-party data efforts, they are working to ensure their broader organizations are on the same page.
Some are creating roles for executives to serve as internal data ambassadors.
Others are opting for committee-based approaches.

Publishers have spent the past couple of years getting advertisers and agencies to embrace their first-party data programs. But they are also having to make sure their various internal teams are similarly on board. To that end, some publishers are appointing executives to roles in which they are effectively serving as first-party data ambassadors inside their companies.

“I definitely had this realization that, if we’re going to be really good at this and really focus on this, we need somebody [who’s] 100% accountable and who can own this but also work across the organization very horizontally,” said Jessica Sibley, chief revenue officer at Forbes.

Sibley had that realization relatively early, appointing Adam Wallitt to be group vp of data sales and strategy at Forbes in September 2020. As the first-party data drumbeat grows louder — and as first-party data takes center stage in publishers’ dealings with advertisers ahead of Google deprecating third-party cookies in its Chrome browser in late 2023 — more publishers are making similar moves or considering how else their companies can come together on their first-party data work.

In September, Penske Media Corporation hired Brett Goverman to be its first-party data lead as associate vp of data strategy. “We have this person now who is this corporate resource who essentially manages our Atlas Data Studio and is working with the tech team, the data team, the legal team, the [revenue operations] team, my position, our brand leaders,” said Mark Howard, chief revenue officer at PMC.

However, while many publishers seem to agree on the importance of getting their broader organizations on board with their first-party data work, not all are opting to appoint individuals to the task.

News Corp., for example, has chosen to take a more committee-based approach by having its various teams on board, said Stephanie Layser, the company’s vp of data, identity and ad tech products and platforms. In November, Layser’s title expanded beyond overseeing ad tech to overseeing data, identity and tech, and News Corp. is expanding its data team with the hires of a data science lead, a data governance head and a data and identity product lead that report to her.

“So we’re staffing up those positions right now in order to make sure we’re best prepared at a corporate level, but those teams are already built at our business units as well. Our business units are already hitting the ground running in first-party data. It’s just a matter of us having the right team …read more

Source:: Digiday