This year, Freestar turns 10! Reflecting on the past decade, it’s incredible to see how much the industry has evolved—innovations we couldn’t have imagined then are now the norm. We’ve continually adapted our product offerings and pitch, staying agile and ahead of industry shifts. The digital ad ecosystem is a complex, ever-changing landscape, and we’ve embraced the need to evolve alongside it.

“Our early adopters are teams and companies whose commitment to quality is baked into their ethos, and our partnership with Freestar is a great example of that. They take their responsibility as a top web publisher seriously, and their dedication to doing right by publishers and buyers is evident in every conversation we have.”
— Rocky Moss, Co-Founder, Deepsee

Over the past decade, we’ve grown significantly! By partnering with innovative companies like Deepsee, Jounce, HUMAN, and others, we confidently stand by the quality of the websites we monetize and the inventory we sell.

How We’re Using Deepsee

Supply Quality
Inventory quality standards have evolved significantly to keep up with technology, consumer behavior, advertiser demands, and the need for accountability. Publishers must meet our guidelines before joining our network, and now, Deepsee allows us to run monthly scans to ensure ongoing compliance with these standards.

Transparency
Transparency is the foundation of trust and efficiency in our industry, benefiting advertisers, publishers, technology providers, and consumers alike. Deepsee scans check for essentials like ads.txt files, legal compliance (privacy policies, CMP banners), and other critical elements to uphold trust.

Advertising
At Freestar, we prioritize partnerships with DSPs, SSPs, brands, and agencies. By maintaining robust internal guidelines aligned with industry standards, we ensure seamless collaboration while delivering exceptional monetization performance. Deepsee incorporates signals related to ad-industry expectations, such as frequency, positioning, and quantity of ads.

Notably, Deepsee recently added UI functionality for monitoring refresh rates at the site level, and we adhere to the standard 30-second refresh rate.

Brand Suitability
As revenue from PMP, PG, and direct deals grows, so does our focus on advertiser concerns. Deepsee scans for sensitive issues like adult-oriented content, pirated material, made-for-advertising signals, and more, ensuring brand-safe inventory.

Audience Development
Freestar’s audience development services are a key differentiator. Alongside our in-house traffic experts and partnerships, Deepsee enhances SEO and audience growth strategies with powerful signals. These include page speed metrics, content quality analysis (e.g., low-quality AI content detection, reading time, author performance), and actionable insights to help publishers refine their strategies and boost engagement.

Partnerships That Matter

As we look ahead to Freestar’s next decade, we are energized by the strength of our industry partnerships. Deepsee’s cutting-edge technology and actionable insights empower us with greater efficiency and strategic direction, enabling us to deliver unparalleled service to our publishers. Together, these partnerships drive meaningful innovation and reinforce our commitment to industry leadership—proving that true progress comes from partnerships that matter.

The post How Partners Like Deepsee (and Others!) Have Helped Pave the Way for Freestar’s Next Era first appeared on Freestar.

Publisher quality is a core pillar of our audience strategy, deeply integrated across many aspects of our business. It influences everything from the publishers we target and how we monitor quality signals to how our audience team collaborates with publishers to grow audiences in the right areas. This commitment to quality forms the core of our Freestar DNA. High-quality publishers can deliver better user experiences, attract more engaged audiences, and deliver better ad performance, all of which leads to higher revenue. 

Here’s a breakdown of why quality matters:

1. Audience Trust

High-quality publishers typically have established trust with their audiences, leading to = users are more engaged and receptive to content, including ads. Users who trust the website tend to view more pages per session and stay longer – two key engagement metrics that are consistent with top performing ad revenue per page.

How to Increase User Trust:

• To establish a strong and authoritative brand presence online, it’s crucial to ensure that comprehensive information about your company is readily available for users and search engines alike. Start by creating a detailed About Page and featuring it prominently in your top site navigation. This page should provide a clear, engaging description of your business and the value it offers, making it easier for platforms like Google to generate a knowledge graph around your brand. Don’t forget to include essential details such as contact information and an updated privacy policy to inspire trust and transparency.
• Prioritize UX over monetization. Websites cluttered with excessive ads, pop-ups, and other disruptive elements not only frustrate visitors but also erode trust, making users less likely to engage with content or ads. A modern, streamlined website design, especially optimized for mobile users, is imperative. Navigation should be intuitive, with critical sections easily accessible from the main menu, and the addition of breadcrumb navigation can further enhance the user journey by simplifying content discovery.
• Relevancy should be a guiding principle across your site. Google tends to reward content that demonstrates authority in a specific niche, so focusing on a well-defined area of expertise will make it easier to build credibility and brand recognition. Rather than attempting to be an expert in every field, carving out a specialized domain allows for a more organic and effective growth strategy, positioning your brand as a trusted thought leader in your industry.

2. Ad Viewability

Ads that appear on quality sites are more likely to be seen by users because these publishers prioritize clean layouts, faster loading times, and optimal ad placements. Better viewability leads to higher ad effectiveness, as ads are more visible and accessible to users, which increases CPMs. 

Since August, we’ve achieved a 147% increase in the volume of PMP deals across our network. These deals are designed to meet the high expectations of premium advertisers, with most requiring a minimum viewability rate of 70% to ensure optimal ad performance. As a result, only sites that consistently meet or exceed this standard are considered for inclusion in these premium packages, emphasizing our commitment to delivering quality inventory and driving value for both publishers and advertisers.

3. Brand Safety

High-quality publishers provide a brand-safe environment for advertisers. Advertisers are increasingly cautious about where their ads appear to avoid being associated with inappropriate or harmful content. 

Because quality publishers reduce the risk of brand damage, they attract premium advertisers willing to pay higher rates for safe, reputable placements. One of the reasons that audience curation is on the rise is the ability to select a collection of domains that the advertiser is confident in.  

Partners That Keep Us Honest

For years we have relied on Jounce Media for their data on high-risk supply, and their insights around MFA and keeping supply paths clean. Freestar is proud to be a Jounce Bellwether Publisher, recognized for the high-quality supply that spans our 800+ enterprise publishers.  

We recently launched a partnership with Deepsee.io in order to track key quality signals for publishers, both legacy and prospects. By leveraging Deepsee’s robust data insights, we now have greater confidence in demonstrating to advertisers that our publishers provide a brand-safe and highly desirable environment. Deepsee’s advanced analytics allow us to monitor and validate key safety metrics, ensuring our inventory aligns with the highest industry standards and offering reassurance to advertisers looking for quality, and secure placements.

Additionally, here are the  Freestar publisher requirements that must be met prior to eligibility. 

4. Better Ad Relevance and Contextual Targeting

Contextual targeting often presents the best possible ad experience for a user.

Quality publishers typically provide specialized, well-curated content that allows for effective contextual targeting. Advertisers can serve ads that align closely with the content, creating a more relevant experience for the user. This boosts ad performance and monetization potential, as relevant ads are more likely to convert.

5. User Retention and Ad Block Avoidance

Users on high-quality sites are less likely to use ad blockers since ads are often integrated thoughtfully and presented in non-intrusive ways. This improves the publisher’s ability to monetize, as they can reach more of their audience with ads and build long-term revenue through user retention.

Low-quality sites are also much more likely to be added to an advertiser block list, either based on the full domain or just by keyword exclusivity.

Low-quality sites face a significantly higher risk of being added to advertiser block lists, whether through full domain exclusions or keyword-based restrictions. This not only limits monetization opportunities but also undermines the site’s ability to attract premium ad campaigns, highlighting the importance of maintaining high standards to meet advertiser expectations. 

6. Long-Term Partnerships with Advertisers

In a recent Hubspot trend report, 68% of publishers believe more direct deal revenue is the best opportunity for increased revenue in 2025. 

At Freestar, we maintain strong, direct relationships with many premium advertisers, and work with them on behalf of our publishers, in order to increase the amount of revenue brought in by ID-based deals and curation packages. This approach ensures our publishers can tap into exclusive opportunities, optimizing their inventory while delivering targeted, relevant experiences.  

It’s quality publishers that are able to form strong, lasting relationships with advertisers who see value in the consistency and reliability of their placements. These partnerships lead to repeat business and often open up opportunities for exclusive or direct deals, bypassing intermediary fees and increasing profit margins.

7. Compliance with Industry Standards

High-quality publishers are generally more compliant with industry standards and best practices. Keeping above-board on data privacy, transparency, and fraud prevention makes them trusted partners for advertisers and networks.

For our own business efforts, we see a strong correlation between publisher quality and their agreement to the expectations Freestar internal teams set. Quality publishers have a strong alignment to our internal standards including adherence to timeline, willingness to implement ad layout recommendations, demand approvals and even proactive engagement in communication channels, thus making them long-term partners for Freestar.    

Publisher quality impacts every part of the ad monetization process—from the perception and engagement of the audience to the ROI and trust of advertisers. 

The post 7 Reasons Why Publisher Quality is the #1 Factor to Successful Ad Monetization first appeared on Freestar.

Why Does This Happen?

To best understand this trend, keep in mind what has just ended – Q4! More ad dollars go to publishers in October through December than any other time of the year, making January’s CPM drop seem even more drastic. 

Post-holiday Slowdown

The post-holiday slump in advertiser spending is a predictable trend each year. Aside from a few unique product verticals such as fitness equipment, and wellness products, brands anticipate people will buy less in January as they recover from any financial debt brought on by the holiday season. For the average consumer, January is also a time to regain control of the household finances and monthly budgeting. The goal is to spend less, not more, resulting in less time online searching for the latest luxury products. 

Seasonal Advertising Trends

You know that holiday-hangover, when you awake from a sugar-induced coma only to find an empty wallet and a piercing headache from WAY too much wine and family interaction? Advertisers can also feel that way, as they enter the new year having just spent much of their budget on holiday campaigns spanning across multiple devices and consumer touch points! January often serves as a much-needed breather for publishers—a time to pause, reflect, and strategize for the year ahead to pump the brakes on spend, reassess the budget and analyze the performance of Q4 campaigns.

After January’s brief pause to spend, advertisers will reemerge with dedicated spend for tentpoles that fall later in Q1, such as the Superbowl, Valentine’s Day, President’s Day sales, tax season promotions, and spring break. 

Less Competition = Lower CPMs

The result of less advertiser spend and reduced media consumption by users is lower CPMs. For publishers, this shift means lower RPMs and less total monthly revenue. Not only does less competition among advertisers for ad placements mean lower CPMs, but with fewer active campaigns, there is more ad inventory available, driving down prices further. It’s the perfect storm. 

How To Capitalize on the Slower Season

Proactive steps can be taken in January to maximize revenue in the short-term, while also laying the groundwork for stronger performance in later months of the year. 

Plan Ahead

Every January, publishers express concerns over the drop, but this decline is both predictable and manageable. As you build out annual revenue projections, budgeting for this drop ensures you are prepared and that will mitigate any panic that this revenue decrease brings.

Optimize For Seasonal Content

If applicable to your brand, publish content that aligns with popular January topics like fitness, health, budgeting, organization, and goal-setting. These topics attract advertisers focused on New Year’s resolutions. If more so reliant on trending content, use January to create or update evergreen content that can generate consistent traffic throughout the year.

Invest in the Long-term

With the stress of Q4 behind us, January can be used for those much needed A/B tests. Test article headlines, content formats, or layouts to improve user engagement and conversion rates. If you aren’t yet capitalizing on the growing amount of digital video spend, test the video player in Q1. Early adoption gives you plenty of time to optimize the experience and maximize revenue potential well ahead of Q4 2025. According to Google, “Video ads are on average earning 8.9x higher CPMs compared to standard banner ad CPMs on Ad Exchange.”

Diversify Revenue Streams

As in most cases, diversification is key. Our core competency may be ad monetization but we regularly consult publishers on revenue opportunities outside of that.   

• Data monetization
• Subscription models
• Content licensing 
• Affiliate marketing
• E-commerce 
• Sponsored partnerships

Improve the UX

Some of the most common issues preventing publishers from brand growth are outdated website designs, unintuitive site navigation and confusing  taxonomies. Newer companies with more modern design and friendlier UX are beating legacy sites who didn’t make the necessary changes. With lower traffic and slower pace, offers an ideal low-risk window to make these changes. Enhancing the website’s design and functionality now not only improves user experience but also positions your brand to compete more effectively down the year. 

Direct Sales Strategy

Start building direct relationships with relevant advertisers in your space. You don’t need to hire an expensive sales team, but you can reach out to these advertisers to evangelize your website and inventory.  

Update your media kit, create customized ad packages that align with annual tentpole events, assign pricing to ad units, and find ways to offer interesting things to advertisers. At Freestar, we follow the same pattern. We leverage our SSP and DSP relationships to ensure that our publishers are well represented in the private marketplace, PG and other premium environments. Annual revenue to our publishers from deal-based IDs and curated audiences is up over 50%. We also work directly with brands and agencies, evangelizing segments of high-quality inventory for relevant direct sales campaigns.  

Focus On Audience Engagement

As we move into 2025 and beyond, audience success metrics are shifting to prioritize engagement, loyalty, and authentication. Metrics like total pageviews and sessions, once the gold standard, no longer tell the full story. Instead, deeper signals – such as engaged users, repeat visitors, and authenticated traffic – paint a more accurate picture of brand value and monetization potential.

Offer unique and customized ways for your audience to connect with you and with each other. 

• Leverage short-form video: Create engaging short-form videos that are shareable and captivating. 
• Optimize your Newsletter: Strengthen your newsletter strategy by offering customized content options, ensuring readers receive the information that is targeted and more relevant to them.
• Build community spaces: Foster community through social media or forums to encourage audience interaction and connections.

Shake Up the Ad Strategy

Just like everything else in your business, the ad strategy should be looked at again each year to avoid growing stagnant. At Freestar, we pride ourselves on white-glove service and the strategic partnership we provide. We bring new ideas for ad layout, ad products and optimizations to our publishers throughout the year.   

The amount of ad units per page doesn’t have to be the same year round. If you typically run a conservative layout, you can afford increasing in January. You can also be strategic about where you increase the amount of units. Instead of across the whole site, you can temporarily add units to a segmented group of top content performers.

Hang In There!

We understand the frustrations of low CPMs! The January drop occurs every year, across every ad network and provider. If you plan in advance, and use this month to complete some outstanding dev tasks or UX improvements, the labors of January can result in even more revenue in later months of the year.

The post Why January is a Chill Month for Publisher Ad Revenue: Seasonal Trends Explained first appeared on Freestar.

Freestar partners with many of the world’s largest publishers, a success made possible through strong, strategic relationships with top SSPs, DSPs, agencies, and advertisers. In the past year alone, we’ve seen over 200% growth in deal-based and audience curation revenue. By raising our standards for publisher quality, we provide advertisers with greater confidence in the value and integrity of our network, reinforcing trust as they invest across our portfolio of sites.

With traffic from major referral sources of the past decade—such as Google organic search, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest—declining, it’s crucial for publishers to focus on UX and content quality. These elements are now essential in building brand reputation and attracting premium advertisers who prioritize engaging, high-quality sites for their campaigns.

Freestar’s Publisher Acceptance Requirements

1. As a publisher, you must be able to show 6 months of historical traffic data. It’s hard to naturally grow the amount of traffic it takes to accumulate meaningful ad revenue in anything less, and even 6 months seems short. Organic audience comes from search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo), social (Facebook, Pinterest, X, Instagram), Google News, Google Discover, YouTube, Reddit, and news syndication sources (Smart News, Flipboard, News360, Newsbreak).

2. Content must be unique to the publisher, and meant for human consumption, with the majority of traffic being unpaid. A healthy diversification of traffic is safest. We require access to Google Analytics (or equivalent) to verify that traffic is from legitimate sources.

3. We do not monetize MFA websites or sites engaging in any level of ad arbitrage. Ad density levels, MFA flags and cheap reach violations are monitored via our partners, Deepsee and Jounce.

4. Content must be brand safe. We do not monetize websites that publish, utilize or condone:

• • Piracy
  • Violence
  • Hate-speech
  • Adult content / pornography  
  • Profane speech
  • Illegal drugs or drug paraphernalia
  • Cruelty to humans or animals
  • IVT
  • The breaking of any laws

5. Publishers must be in good standing with all major ad providers. If you’ve had issues in the past with demand flags, penalties or rejections, we may not be able to work with you.

          6. Content must not be accurate and not misleading to users in any way. No fake news!

7. Once accepted, our specified ads.txt file must be in place at all times.

Related: Publisher Services

In order to provide publishers the high CPMs we do today, we are committed to upholding high quality standards.. As a part of this, we may request access to GA4, and ask for insights into your website traffic, revenue historicals and the relationship status with current demand partners.

Rules Around Content

We pride ourselves on being content agnostic, with publishers representing 18 different content verticals. As long as you meet all the guidelines we just listed above, it doesn’t particularly matter the niche. Some of our largest content categories are sports, news, finance, automotive, gaming and entertainment. 

Content should either be original to the publisher, or using content syndication best practices with proper permissions. The most successful monetization comes in the form of engaged website users. Content strategies that will not be accepted: stolen/scrapped, low quality AI-generated, clickbait headlines, and content with potential copyright issues.

Traffic Considerations

In order to bring you meaningful revenue, the average pageviews for our publishers are typically at least a million per month. Once accepted, we have a team of audience development experts ready to work with you on traffic growth strategies!

We do not monetize sites that incentivize users to view ads in exchange for rewards, discounts, or money. We also cannot except websites that allow gambling in exchange for real money.

Ad Layout

Our Onboarding and Yield Specialists will assist in getting ad tags created, and can answer any specific questions on the revenue impact of these modifications. We’re confident that prioritizing user experience with a conservative layout is the best strategy for the long-term revenue of your business.

• Ad refresh rate must be set at 30 seconds or more. The refreshing of non-viewable ads is not tolerated.
• On a given page, only one video ad can play at a time.
• Ad density must not be higher than 30%.
• No more than 5 ads can be in view at any given time on desktop, 3 on mobile.
• Ads cannot block content from users.
• Ads cannot be stacked, neither vertical or horizontally.
• No overlapping ads.
• Landing page layout cannot artificially initiate clicks or impressions.
• No auto playing ads with sound.

If you’re ready to monetize with Freestar, meeting our publisher acceptance requirements is the first step toward unlocking new revenue potential. By partnering with us, you’ll join a network that prioritizes quality, transparency, and value, offering a seamless path to higher CPMs and premium demand

Are you ready for the next steps? Click the link below to get started. We can’t wait to meet you!

The post Publisher Acceptance Requirements: Are you ready to Monetize With Freestar? first appeared on Freestar.

To gain further insights and strategies for managing publisher traffic and maximizing revenue, watch our recorded webinar, The Truth About Publisher Traffic

Watch Now

The post The Current State of Publisher Website Traffic and How to Avoid Algorithm Penalties first appeared on Freestar.

But what does this entail?

Continue reading to discover the most frequently asked questions from publishers about hashed emails. Be sure to scroll to the very end to explore Freestar’s monetization opportunities for this valuable data point.

The FAQs of Hashed Emails

What are hashed emails?

Hashed emails are email addresses scrambled into a fixed-length string of characters using a cryptographic hash function. This process converts the original email address into a unique identifier, ensuring the user’s privacy is protected.

Why are they a part of the cookie deprecation discussion?

The deprecation of cookies is occurring because many consider the functionality of third-party cookies a violation of user privacy. As third-party cookies are phased out, companies are shifting their focus to first-party data—information collected directly from users. Email addresses play a critical role in this first-party data.

Email hashing provides a secure method for managing email addresses by transforming them into a non-reversible, anonymous format. This allows for practical uses such as targeting and tracking while enhancing data privacy and security. As a result, email hashing has become a valuable technique in various applications.

Can they still track users from site to site?

Yes. Similar to third-party cookies, hashed emails can be used to recognize users across different sites and devices. For example, if a user logs in with their email on multiple sites, the hashed version of their email acts as a consistent identifier without revealing the actual email address.

Is this a new thing?

No, it isn’t! Hashing data became popular in the late 2000s and early 2010s, driven by the growing emphasis on data security and privacy. A series of major data breaches exposed the personal information of millions, highlighting the critical need for robust data protection.

By the 2010s, hashing had become a standard practice for safeguarding email addresses and other sensitive information.

Is there industry standardization?

While there is emerging industry standardization around the use of hashed emails, driven by the need for privacy compliance, interoperability, and consistency across platforms, there is still room for improvement. Discrepancies exist in how different identity providers expect to see and receive encrypted emails.

Initiatives like UID 2.0 by The Trade Desk offer an open-source framework for using hashed emails as identifiers. UID 2.0 aims to create a standardized approach to email hashing and user identification that can be widely adopted across the industry.

Why does advertising value hashed emails?

Hashed emails provide advertisers with a powerful tool to accurately and securely identify, target, and track users in a privacy-compliant manner. They enable enhanced targeting, data integration, and performance measurement while reducing risks associated with data breaches and regulatory non-compliance. As the digital advertising landscape evolves, hashed emails offer a robust and future-proof method to achieve marketing objectives effectively.

What is Freestar doing to help publishers maximize monetization of email addresses?

Expanding deterministic user IDs presents a significant opportunity for publishers to boost ad inventory value, especially as third-party cookie coverage declines. Freestar’s hashed email (HEM) passthrough allows publishers to share a hashed version of a user’s email with vendors, such as Prebid User ID modules and bidders.

As publishers enhance their first-party data strategies and increase the number of collected emails, Freestar helps monetize these at premium CPMs with quality advertising deals. Publishers can pass their hashed emails to major identity providers for monetization.

This solution maximizes revenue by unlocking the full spending potential from advertisers, working with trusted providers like LiveRamp and The Trade Desk, whom buyers rely on to target users.

If you’re already partnering with Freestar, reach out to your support team for more information on our hashed email solution.

By adopting hashing techniques, organizations can build trust with their users, mitigate risks, and uphold their responsibility to protect sensitive information.

The post Hash It Out: All About Email Hashing and What it Means For Publishers first appeared on Freestar.

Several industry experts like Mike King, Rand Fishkin and Danny Goodwin have provided helpful recaps, but these can be highly technical. Here’s a TLDR; a simplified summary of their key points and actionable steps for publishers.

Biggest Takeaways For Publishers

1. Brand Mentions are as Good as Links

Backlinks (ie links pointing to your site from other websites) have long been a crucial SEO factor, based on the theory that people link to content they love, indicating high quality. The API leak confirms that backlinks still matter, but brand mentions are now equally important. Increased brand mentions signal popularity, just like backlinks. For publishers, having a strong presence across various digital channels, like social media, email marketing, and online communities, can help increase the amount of people who know about and talk about your brand.

Actionable Steps:

• Build a strong presence across digital channels outside of Google Search (social media, email marketing, online communities).
• Enhance brand recognition.
• Create quality, engaging content that establishes your brand’s authority and trustworthiness.

2. Monitor your Clickstream Data

The leak revealed that Chrome clickstream data is the most powerful ranking signal. Clickstream data includes user navigation details, such as pages visited, time spent, next destinations, and exit speed. Clickstream data is measured any time a URL loads in a browser, from any referring source.

Actionable Steps:

• Create content that attracts and retains users.
• Use tools like SimilarWeb or Google Analytics to analyze user interaction.
• Monitor metrics like bounce rate, time on page, and click-through rates.

3. All Traffic Matters

Metrics from all traffic types impact organic search rankings. Great content and exceptional user experience reflect positively in metrics, which Google rewards. Conversely, low-quality traffic can harm rankings. Google uses a variety of measurements, including badClicks, goodClicks, lastLongestClicks and unsquashedClicks to determine value of a webpage.

Actionable Steps:

• Focus on attracting high-quality traffic.
• Avoid buying low-quality traffic that results in short sessions.

4. Google Systems are Connected

The leak introduced a factor called “glue,” which integrates signals from other Google platforms (YouTube, Google Maps, Google Reviews) into the organic ranking system.

Actionable Steps:

• Maintain a presence on relevant Google platforms.
• Create helpful videos on YouTube and embed them in your articles.

5. SEO Basics of the Past are Still Relevant

Factors like Pagerank, backlinks, authorship, entities, meta data, HTML title tags, page speed, and structured data remain important.

Actionable Steps:

• • Read Google’s quality rater guidelines to understand what constitutes high-quality content.
  • Add structured data to your pages (organization, article, breadcrumb, and sitelinks)

Focus on Quality and User Experience, and Signals Will Follow

To succeed in Google’s organic search index, publishers must focus on delivering value to their customers through high-quality products, services, content, and experiences. Google’s advanced algorithms evaluate how users interact with your content and consider signals from other platforms where your brand is present.

When people value your business, they will contribute links, reviews, and brand mentions. They will engage with your site, share your content, and visit regularly. These signals help Google determine your placement in search results, reflecting the value of your brand.

Building a valuable brand leads to better search rankings, as Google measures data from all these interactions to decide who ranks at the top.

The post 5 Big Takeaways For Publishers From Google’s API Leak first appeared on Freestar.

Example of Google AI Overviews

Google will “do the searching for you” by crawling whichever set of trusted websites previously would have been at the top, and then generates an answer in a comprehensive and digestible manner.  Since publishing content makes you a publisher, this makes Google’s AI Overviews (formerly Search Generative Experience) your newest competitor.

Although there is a possible glimmer of hope coming for HCU recovery if you’ve put in the work, publishers have largely continued to face traffic decline over the last 10 months. And now this.  

At Freestar, we’re built on the notion that the website is the main event, the most valuable real estate. For years, as attention increased for Facebook and Instagram, we held strong that investment was better suited for websites. We’re adtech, yes. But without traffic to websites, what will there be to monetize? The same advice to invest in the website is true today, and we believe there’s a positive future for publishers who’ve built sustainable businesses with clear user value.

How To Compete With AI Overviews

The post Meet Your Newest Competitor – Google’s AI Overviews first appeared on Freestar.

Freestar’s partnerships with leaders like The Trade Desk, Liveramp, ID5, Audigent, and our latest, LiveIntent are a major part of our identity strategy. As the industry evolves, we continue to test and build strategic partnerships that underscore our commitment to addressability in a cookie-less world.

Freestar Integrated Identity Solutions:

• Amazon Publisher Audiences 
• Audigent Hadron ID
• Criteo 
• Google PAIR 
• ID5
• LiveIntent
• LiveRamp ATS 
• Neustar Fabrick ID
• SharedID 
• TTD UID 2.0
• Yahoo Connect ID 
• 33across Lexicon ID

Why Is This Important?

Our data shows that leveraging 3rd party partnerships increases the value of unaddressable inventory and provides opportunities to harness the power of first-party data and sophisticated contextual targeting.

While results vary with each ID resolution, our initial testing reflects anywhere from a 5-15% uplift in revenue when IDs are present on unaddressable users. For the logged-in user, we see a 40-60% CPM increase vs. non-logged-in users.

How did we get here?

Why all the fuss about ‘a world without cookies’ and how bad is it really? Rest assured, the sky is NOT falling. Freestar sees this ’new world’ as a positive change for both users and publishers if we work together to adapt and pivot.

Third-party cookies have been used extensively for tracking users across websites, creating detailed profiles of individuals’ online behavior, and targeting them with personalized advertisements. However, this approach raises significant privacy issues and has led to growing concerns about user consent, data security, and the misuse of personal information. While many browsers like Safari and Firefox have already shifted away from third-party cookies, Chrome has just begun the process and will continue to deprecate cookies over the next year.

In response, the industry is creating new “privacy-friendly” ways to target users. The shift away from third-party cookies encourages greater transparency and empowers users to have more control over their data, improving online security and reducing cyber threats.

The shift also encourages innovation through the development of alternative technologies and approaches for digital advertising. This could lead to more innovative and ethical solutions that respect users’ privacy while still allowing advertisers to reach their target audiences effectively. It also shifts power to the publisher who has access to first-party data which is now more valuable than ever.

Testing and Measuring Identity Partners

We continuously evaluate third-party ID vendors using Freestar’s Identity Testing Framework which allows us to measure and adapt as solutions evolve.

What is the Identity Testing Framework?

Freestar’s split testing and reporting technology provides us the ability to measure each identity vendor’s revenue uplift. This data lead feature showcases the benefits of adopting identity integrations by providing a revenue comparison on your site when a provider is enabled or disabled.

The Identity Testing Framework gives us the ability to monitor the effectiveness of different ID solutions and adapt to changes over time. Effective solutions will yield long-term improvements in Cost Per Mille (CPMs) and increased overall revenue or Revenue Per Session (RPS).

Action Items For Publishers

Publishers must have a strategy for first-party data. If you’re not sure the right path forward for your business and want to talk to a team of experts, reach out to Freestar to take advantage of our identity solutions today!

The post Freestar-Supported Identity Solutions first appeared on Freestar.

When it comes to the digital media’s share of that spend, there are strategies to consider that can significantly impact a publisher’s piece of the pie.

Ad Revenue Strategies For Election Years

1. Reconsider Block Lists:

Publishers can reconsider their block lists. This year, there will be a surge in advertising demand as political candidates and organizations allocate substantial budgets for campaigning. In order for publishers to capitalize on any of this increased demand, they must first take a look at their blocklists.

At Freestar, we offer several options for blocklists. In both our default and standard blocklists, political ads remain unblocked. Because of this, we implement strict guidelines to ensure brand safety and detect misinformation or manipulative creatives so publishers can reap the revenue benefits while keeping UX at the forefront.

Regardless of the extra measures around safety, we recommend providing a way for users to flag inappropriate ads. This makes users feel heard and allows them to take immediate action to remove while providing important insights that allow publishers to optimize ad choices.

2. Expand Ad Layouts:

Websites with conservative ad layouts can add units and formats. With all the added demand, increasing the number of impressions you have to sell helps too! If you’re currently on the conservative side of ad quantity, and particularly if you’re not running video format, making these two optimizations during an election year can turn up meaningful revenue.

We always aim for audience (and a positive UX!) over ad revenue, but brushing right up against that tipping point is a perfect place to be with all this extra ad spend. Many of the world’s largest publishers use this strategy during key times of seasonality.

3. Create content relevant to key election dates and events:

Editorial direction can play a big part in the revenue made from an election year. With third-party cookie loss, contextual signals will be a key targeting strategy for many political campaigns. Depending on your content vertical, get creative with articles angled towards the election. News sites, like Reuters and Al Jazeera, lead the trending content creation surrounding the political landscape, but most niches can find a way to speak to a relevant political narrative. Consider content types outside of trending news, like evergreen explainers, DIYs, and op-eds.

Then, publish this content around the time of key races and events that will likely attract significant advertising attention.

4. Offer Political Ad Packages:

For publishers selling direct, create political ad packages. If direct sales are part of your ad strategy, it’s always a good idea to develop specialized ad packages tailored for themes, in this case, for political advertisers. These packages can include various ad formats, placements, and targeting options.

Create a mixture of fully dedicated sponsored posts, homepage takeovers, video impressions, and banners to give the advertiser variety in reaching their target audience.

5. Optimize for Viewability:

One metric that continues to be mentioned in almost every political campaign is ad viewability. Viewability refers to how visible the ads are to users on the publisher’s website. Optimize your site to highlight premium ad placements with increased visibility, such as homepage takeovers or exclusive sponsorships. Make sure units in the sidebar are sticky, and double-check that no ads overlap.

By implementing these strategies, publishers can position themselves to capture a significant share of the increased ad spending during political seasons and maximize their overall revenue. If you’re currently partnering with Freestar and want to optimize for maximum revenue during the 2024 presidential election, reach out to your customer success manager today! And if you are not currently a partner with us, feel free to reach out to info@freestar.com to get started.

The post 5 Ways Publishers Can Maximize Ad Revenue This Political Season first appeared on Freestar.