2022 has been a year of resilience. The war in Ukraine, inflation, supply chain shortages and general uncertainty have greatly affected our lives and the whole ad tech industry.
However, despite all the challenges and against all the odds, we’ve managed to bounce back and grow! We’ve learned resilience from all of you: advertisers, publishers, partners and employees.
We see clarity in this fog of economic uncertainty. Stepping into 2023, we are confident that MGID will be there to help you advertise and grow your revenue streams in good times and bad.
29,253,581,852 views
83,700,714 clicks
4,179,083,121 unique users reached
$60,000 spent
Enjoying the calm before the storm
Unaware of what was awaiting us, we dreamt, planned and launched a new ad format: MGID Motion Ads! The new ad format allowed advertisers to drive higher conversion rates. In fact, the Business Intelligence Department at MGID reported an instant uptick in user engagement for all ad creatives running in GIF, MP4 and MOV formats.
Protecting what’s ours
February 2022 felt like an entire year rolled into 28 days as the deadliest war since WW2 began. In response to these shocking events, we closed all our operations in russia as well as ceased work with all russian publishers.
MGID helped Ukrainian-based employees relocate to safer areas and provided the necessary support for their well-being.
While our Ukrainian office may have been temporarily closed, all team members continued their work, launching fundraising ad campaigns across the US and Europe to collect money for humanitarian aid in Ukraine.
MGID joined forces with 50 other companies, including the Ukrainian Ministry of Digital Transformation and IAB Ukraine, to launch anti-propaganda campaigns. These ad campaigns exposed many russian civilians to the truth about the war in Ukraine.
Working under bomb shelling
While the Kyiv office remained empty and Ukraine-based employees worked from bomb shelters, MGID managed to acquire another company. MetUp Native S.r.l. joined our global advertising platform. The new expansion allowed us to provide more offerings for Italian publishers and advertisers, extending to 55% of the country's reach. Not to mention MGID's expansion into the Polish market, where we also opened operations.
Fighting for ad quality
Committed to thoughtful and ethical advertising, MGID launched Creative Safety Rankings. The new set of guidelines helped advertisers produce higher-quality ad creatives to be displayed on premium publisher websites. Not only did it improve the ad quality and user experience, but it also contributed to the brand safety of news outlets.
Earning some badges along the way
MGID received industry recognition for the Contextual Intelligence solution, winning the Bronze Stevie Award for Innovation in Technology Development. Our global advertising platform beat out 900 other nominees with our privacy-first targeting method. Last but not least; we took pride in meeting rigorous standards of the Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG). The global brand safety certification program acknowledged our content moderation process that minimizes the risk of ad misplacement for brands.
Going beyond the LGBT rainbow
MGID raised the issue of unethical advertising to the LGBT community. Having queer employees onboard, we understood the importance of ad authenticity for Pride Month campaigns. While many brands launch meaningful and sincere ads and show their support for the LGBT movement, some companies “celebrate” Pride for their bottom lines. We brought this issue to the spotlight, discussing LGBT marketing and showcasing examples on how to advertise to the queer community.
Scooping awards for Contextual Intelligence
MGID picked up MarTech Breakthrough awards for the Contextual Intelligence technology and stringent, transparent processes around brand safety. The industry acknowledgement has to do with our advanced multi-term matching technology, which determines the true meaning of content and its sentiment, helping unblock inventory that would have originally been blocked. As a result, advertisers gained access to new opportunities, higher reach and more revenue.
Joining forces with new partners
MGID partnered with LiveRamp, the leading data enablement platform. The new deal allowed advertisers to leverage their existing user data and navigate it in the post-cookie world. Brands can now serve personalized ads to their customers and lean into their own first-party data assets. In addition, MGID’s new partnership with Pubmatic, the independent technology company, enabled brands to reach exclusive new audiences via a single platform.
Joining forces with new partners
MGID brought new leadership on board. Sara Buluggiu joined our company as the VP of Publisher Business Development to drive publisher-focused global strategy in Europe, North America, LATAM and APAC regions. She has a solid digital media background and is an excellent asset to our company. Also, Sergio Vives, the new Global Head of Publisher Acquisition, joined MGID to drive our expansion in Europe. With his 15-year experience in publisher acquisition and monetization strategies, there is great potential for our expansion.
Targeting engaged audiences
We launched the Seller Defined Audiences (or SDA) solution, which enabled publishers to establish high-quality, interest-based audience segments. Coupled with the MGID Contextual Intelligence solution, SDA allowed media outlets to define their first-party audiences: the most active and engaged. Therefore, advertisers can drive higher revenue streams and publishers enjoy greater monetization levels.
Introducing rich media ads
MGID launched interactive rich media ads across its portfolio of premium publishers. The new ad format allowed consumers to slide, drag and engage with banner creatives. No longer do advertisers have to worry about static banner ad blindness. Rich media transformed impressions into meaningful interactions. With engagement rates up to six times higher than static ads, these dynamic creatives drive higher attention metrics and ROI for businesses.
Finalizing Yengo acquisition
MGID acquired a leading advertising network in Thailand, Yengo. The deal opened new opportunities in the Thai market where MGID has worked with brands like Kia, True and DTAC. With Yengo’s advertising technology and MGID’s global footprint, there is a lot of leeway for continued growth in the APAC region. Our platform’s reach in Thailand is expected to grow to 50%.
937,296,365 unique visitors monthly
115,955 new campaigns created
1,787,070,598 clicks
1,439,363 ad units created
5 new languages added for our Contextual Intelligence solution
70+ events attended and organized
*Some of these stats were derived from actual and extrapolated data
While we can't accurately predict what 2023 has in store for us, one thing is clear: the ad tech industry moves at its own lightning pace. However, we invite you to slow down and look at the potential trends on MGID's radar.
Economic concerns that make companies resort to budget cuts will continue into 2023. We expect to see a shift in the general performance-based approach: fewer budgets will force advertisers to ground their ad spending and work with concrete data and metrics. Businesses will prioritize tech solutions that allow quick tracking and optimization for their ad campaigns, so they can double down on creatives and traffic sources that show the best performance.
Consequently, the rough economic state goes hand-in-hand with the continuous shift to online spending. People will keep moving to digital platforms at scale. Those brands that engage in ethical advertising and convey their value will win over the incoming flow of new consumers.
2023 looks like the first year in marketing history when publishers can level up with the more prominent social media platforms. Depreciating third-party cookies and changes to mobile advertising IDs (MAID) bring many opportunities for publishers in the upcoming year. The only challenge for publishers is to take advantage of walled gardens by harnessing first-party data. One way or another, social media giants will own fewer data going forward, so publishers should use it to their benefit.
With third-party data fading away, advertisers will change their attitudes toward ad targeting. As a result, publishers must rethink their audience segmentation and data strategies to produce quality offerings for advertisers. Advertisers should also get familiar with Seller Defined Audiences (SDAs) to ensure a smooth cooperation with the publisher side, so both parties end up in a mutually-beneficial scenario.
With privacy regulations taking precedence over third-party data, there is little doubt the trend will continue next year. Walled gardens will prevail, which is bad news for publishers (who are estimated to lose $10 billion in ad revenue) but an attractive direction for advertisers. However, advertisers who allocate all their budget into walled gardens will lose in the long run. We advise advertisers against relying only on one traffic source and recommend smaller players to take ownership of their consumer data, keeping the increasingly severe privacy regulations in mind.
We entered 2022 feeling optimistic about the future. Despite the recession and russian military aggression, MGID feels just as optimistic.
Unjustified optimism? Really, it’s a matter of perspective: budgets are being cut, but ad dollars are also being spent. So, we choose not to silently endure our challenges: we learn how to respond and flourish.
With that, we wish you a wonderful holiday season full of revenue streams and the ability to bounce, grow and flow!
