The Ad Tech Masterclass was attended by 60 of Nigeria’s largest and most influential publishers. Among them, Punch Nigeria, Nigerian Tribune, Ringier (Pulse) and the Guardian, to name just a few. The full-day masterclass covered two keys subjects:
- Website monetisation and developing a holistic approach to revenue generation
- Ad Technology and building for the future
The event also hosted a lively panel discussion between industry experts speaking about their challenges, milestones, new developments and innovations.
Jonathan Zovoe (Punch Nigeria), Obinna Anyanwu (AMNET West Africa), Michael Allen (365 Digital), Felicia Otorlorin (Google, Nigeria), Julian Jordaan (365 Digital)
"365 Digital believes that publishers need to move from selling impressions to showing real value to advertisers through the use of best-in-breed technology, innovation and the standardisation of the supply-side," explains Julian Jordaan, Commercial Director of 365 Digital.
"Publishers that focus on getting the fundamentals right will see huge benefits. These include, partnering with the right ad tech providers, correct ad server infrastructure setup, providing deep audience insights and coupling inventory with audience segments. Lastly, ensure viewability and transparency are pillars in the offering. Once real value to advertisers is shown, then a publisher can start driving demand for the inventory."
The giant of Africa
Nigeria is the most populated country in Africa with 198 million people, and according to Statista by 2050 it is said to be the third most populated nation in the world. The World Bank places Nigeria at the top of the list as the largest economy on the continent with a GDP of $375bn, compared to South Africa which has a GDP of $348bn.
In January 2019, We Are Social in their Digital Nigeria 2019 report revealed that Mobile penetration in Nigeria is at 75% of the total population; a whopping 149.4 million Nigerians.
98 million of those 149 million mobile phone users are connected to the internet; catching up with the latest news, listening to podcasts, accessing their favourite social media platform or shopping online. That’s almost double the population of South Africa!
The report also cited that in 2018 the country added over 4 million more internet users (3.8% increase YoY).
With figures like these, it is no wonder Nigeria is a key market for many international brands.
The shift for brands moving towards programmatic buying has been met with many challenges, most notably, finding quality, brand safe inventory at scale. With only a handful of local Nigerian publishers able to offer their inventory programmatically through deal types such as Programmatic Preferred and Programmatic Guaranteed, many advertisers have resorted to using the open exchange, risking brand safety among others.
Julian Jordaan points to the growing need for brand safe inventory is Sub-Saharan Africa, “there is a definite void of premium, quality, brand safe display and video inventory is SSA (Sub-Saharan Africa) – a safe and transparent ecosystem for advertisers to run programmatic campaigns on. The aim of these masterclasses is to educate and equip publishers in Africa to make the necessary tech changes that will ultimately lead to a cleaner and safer premium advertising ecosystem.”
“The Ad Tech Masterclass led by 365 Digital was an important learning opportunity for publishers,” says Felicia Otorlorin, Business Development Manager at Google.
“The publisher ecosystem benefits greatly from knowledge-sharing, technical support and case studies that help maximize their efforts towards earning revenue via Google platforms. Sessions like these are deeply impactful in stimulating learning through best practices and leveraging on the wealth of experience in the room. It is something we at Google Nigeria look forward to collaborating on again in the future.” she comments.
The online advertising ecosystem in Nigeria is in transformation, with local publishers eager to push the boundaries in ad technology and monetisation and offer real value to international brands. Through partnership with 365 Digital and by using Google’s best-in-breed ad tech Google Ad Manager, publishers making the move to full programmatic enablement will see the immediate benefits in efficiency and increase in ad revenues.
For more information on 365 Digital’s advertising opportunities or publisher solutions, email az.oc.latigid563@ofni or call +27 21 555 1975
