Group Nine Media is a leading digital publisher with its family of well-known brands, including Thrillist, POPSUGAR, The Dodo, NowThis, and Seeker. The media company’s audience reach is millions — almost 40% of the U.S. population and 80% of U.S. millennials.
Having such a massive audience is one thing, but convincing partners of the value of that audience is a different challenge. So how does Group Nine prove this reach to potential advertisers and brands?
Tubular talked to Bobby LaCivita, VP of Research and Measurement at Group Nine Media, about the company’s content and measurement strategy, as well as its participation in the Global Video Measurement Alliance.
Here were his key thoughts:
Successful Content Comes from Meaningful Measurement
Group Nine Media takes data and insights very seriously. According to LaCivita, the company has always used data and custom research to determine its content strategy.
For example, Group Nine has two research panels it uses to have in-depth conversations with its audiences. Additionally, LaCivita said important metrics like watch time, people coming back to content, and even recall/purchase intent are used to guide content decisions. These metrics prove Group Nine has a lasting connection with audiences.
“We’re asking people what types of content they like, what they like seeing from us in particular, and where our voice is most trusted, so that we can lean into what we get from meaningful conversations with our audiences,” LaCivita said.
“It’s incredibly important because a lot of the things that we thought we knew about our industry and our partners’ industries have changed significantly.”
Qualified Audience Reach Is Key to Proving Value
Within the video industry, “reach” can be defined by any number of methods. It could be when a video starts playing, or a single impression, or a view-through rate mark (which varies by providers and platforms). But that’s not qualified or standardized, LaCivita noted.
That’s why LaCivita loves the 30-second view qualifier from Tubular Audience Ratings™. It makes cross-platform comparisons equitable, which helps Group Nine determine the validity and intentionality of viewers. The company can then take this watch time and present it to advertisers and brands, which produces better results overall.
“It puts things back into human terms of how long did somebody actually watch this piece of content or this creator for over the course of a month?” LaCivita explained.
“We’ve looked at results between viewers who watch things for three seconds versus 10 seconds. And for longer attention times with specific pieces of content, we’ve consistently seen that will also correlate with higher brand impact.”
Consistently Delivering on Expectations Builds Trust
Finally, LaCivita said that it’s always important to listen to advertising partners about what’s valuable to them, what types of audiences they like, and what they view as successful. For example, one advertiser may want to work to retain viewership and interest, while another may be interested in acquiring attention from new audiences.
Once such KPIs are set, it’s important to provide content that consistently meets expectations not just of the partner, but also of the audience. They, too, have expectations about what they’ll be given, especially if a relationship has been established with them.
“What is valuable about our audience is a combination of scale, diversity, and trust, and the long-standing relationships that we have with each of our individual users, the conversations that we have with them through custom research and through our social channels,” LaCivita said.
As such, Group Nine must be “consistently delivering against those expectations that [the audience] developed for us over the years.”
Curious how you can prove your audience reach like Group Nine?