DNA09: If advertisers ruled the world

What would an ad exec do if he took over a newspaper organisation? Tear up the advertising model, so says Jonathan MacDonald from OgilvyOne to today’s Digital News Affairs 2009 (DNA) audience.

“Take the Profit & Loss (P&L) plan that is based on the next five years of traditional advertising and tear it up,” says MacDonald.

Publishers have to accept the fact that there are six times as many people reading their content that they’ll never know about or be able to monetise, he added.

“These readers are also passing this content to other people you won’t know about or be able to monetise.”

Content producers and news organisations have to consider:

• What their users want – and give it to them; this is content they’ll be able to charge for
• Look to who else is providing that content – and partner with them to create a new

“You need to rethink your business model – create an agnostic layer of aggregate inventory between partners in your space and become a facilitator for advertisers,” he added.

Watch live video from johncthompson’s channel on Justin.tv

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