On this week’s episode of TheMadTech Podcast, Laura Collins, Digital Performance Director at Omnicom Media Group, joins ExchangeWire’s John Still and Rachel Smith to discuss Zapp's launch of an advertising platform, Quartz's decision to drop their paywall, and publishers' determination to safeguard their data.

Zapp gets into retail media with launch of advertising platform

Will other rapid delivery apps venture into the retail media space?

Zapp, the quick commerce app, has unveiled a “full-service advertising platform” to give supplier brands access to their marketing channels and sales data. Named Zapp Media Services and powered by commerce media agency Threefold, the platform allows brands to create co-marketing campaigns to run across Zapp’s owned channels and elsewhere.

Zapp Media Services covers campaign planning, creative development, and execution tools, and claims to provide “round the clock and hyper-local data on what time of day and what location products perform best”. The platform is also set to partner with brands on product trials and exclusive product launches. 

With long-standing questions over the sustainability of the rapid delivery business model, as well as over their viability in a market that has quickly become saturated, Zapp may have found a way to differentiate themselves from competitors whilst enhancing their revenue stream. For brands, the platform offers a new avenue to reach consumers and capitalise on an increasingly common expectation of instant access to goods and services.

Quartz removes paywall, but will ask free readers to register

Will we see more publishers ease off on paid subscriptions in a bid to acquire more reader data?

Quartz have lifted the paywall on their website, making “the vast majority” of their content free to read. The business publication says it wants to make its journalism “as accessible as possible” to executives so that they can use it to inform and guide their decision making. 

Readers who frequently visit the site will be asked to register with an email address to retain access, whilst paying subscribers will continue to receive exclusive content via the Quartz Weekend Brief and The Forecast emails. In an official statement, co-founder and CEO Zach Steward said the move forms part of Quartz’s “mission” to “make capitalism more fair and businesses more sustainable and inclusive.”

Publishers look to safeguard their data ownership in the post-cookie future

How can the industry rebuild identity to be effective whilst respecting publishers’ data ownership?

Publishers have expressed scepticism that certain cookieless ID solutions will allow them to maintain control over their reader data. Some publishing executives are (at least theoretically) rejecting alternatives like Unified ID 2.0 and hashed emails, and are united over their desire for the future of identity to be built on a foundation that respects their ownership of data rather than one that replicates the programmatic model (which arguably better serves advertisers).

Determining how exactly to realise this prospect remains a challenge, however. While private marketplace deals may seem like a logical option, they are imperfect and difficult to scale, points out AdProfs’ Ratko Vidakovic. Another possibility is using a content delivery network (CDN), whose ability to act as their own clean room means they can use publishers’ data to target consumers on behalf of advertisers without exposing any reader information.