Group Nine Media's DTC Ad Solution Has Made 7 Figures So Far

Group Nine Media, publisher of NowThis, PopSugar, The Dodo, Thrillist and Seeker, is making a play for direct-response ad budgets, and it's seeing encouraging early returns. The publisher launched its performance marketing solution, G9 Direct, in October and has billed it as a performance marketing agency that sits within the existing ad sales team. Using G9 Direct, brands can buy social media ads from the accounts of Group Nine's portfolio of brands. Paired with IN-GeNuity, Group Nine’s newly unveiled first-party data platform, G9 Direct has generated seven figures in revenue in the first half of 2021, beating revenue forecasts by over 600%. And it seems to be working for brands looking to go direct-to-consumer: One campaign helped drive more than 200,000 new subscribers to Discovery+, Discovery's over-the-top streaming service, in the first quarter of this year. The publisher has also worked with Casper, by Humankind and Fi. G9 Direct has generated “encouraging efficiencies,” said chief insights officer Ashish Patel, which he attributes to brand familiarity and the tool’s ability to offer proprietary segmentation. While the tool has inspired early optimism, Patel anticipates future challenges stemming from the Apple iOs update that has led the majority of mobile users to opt out of third-party tracking. MySpace Owner Viant Wants Advertisers to Move Away From Individual Tracking “We have G9 Direct set up to iterate and pivot when we need to, but candidly, I'm confident that we will be able to continue to provide more efficient solutions than a lot of other publishers,” Patel said. As marketing budgets went through periods of constriction over the last 15 months, ad buyers grew more comfortable placing bets on performance-based campaigns, where returns are more measurable. At the same time, many brands released DTC services as more consumers observed stay-at-home orders, spurring entrepreneurial publishers to release more DTC-focused products, where previously these brands might not have the budgets or the resource to work directly with media owners. So far, Group Nine has focused roughly 75% of G9 Direct's buying on Facebook and Instagram, though the publisher has also used G9 Direct on Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube. Patel added that Group Nine has so far yielded a $5.06 return on ad-spend for its brand partners, meaning that for each dollar advertisers spent, they generate $5.06 in revenue. In addition, campaigns using G9 Direct came in around 30% under advertisers’ cost-per-acquisition goal targets, according to Patel, who wouldn't share specifics. Overall, the publisher has grown its year-over-year first-quarter digital direct ad sales revenue by 34%, according to previous reporting from Adweek. Younger audiences have driven the growth of DTC brands, and Group Nine has developed a robust social following in recent years, sources say. Pairing the audience insights of Group Nine with appropriate DTC brands makes sound strategic sense, said Justin Ramb, president of marketing agency BigEye. “Group Nine boasts online media brands that are especially popular with consumers in their twenties,” Ramb said, “so its platform enables advertisers to reach qualified audiences whose online behaviors and content preferences are known.” But there is more room to grow. Despite its early success, Group Nine has used G9 Direct in less than 10% of its campaigns in 2021. The publisher intends to increase that percentage, Patel said. Pandemic Pet Boom Drives Group Nine Media’s Ad Comeback

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Group Nine Media's DTC Ad Solution Has Generated 7 Figures So Far

With G9 Direct, the publisher is going after performance budgets

Mark Stenberg

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