Verizon Media’s data strategy is built on customer trust.
The company, which owns media titles including Yahoo News, Yahoo Sports, Huffpost, TechCrunch and Engadget, has content at scale second only to Google and ahead of Facebook, according to Jeff Lucas, Verizon Media’s head of North American sales and global client solutions. That positions it between two content hubs that rely on user-generated content, making brand safety at scale one of Verizon Media’s top differentiators and value propositions.
“We have an extremely close relationship with our user, who leans in every day to consume professionally produced, premium content that’s totally brand safe,” says Lucas, speaking with Beet.TV at Advertising Week. “It puts them in an environment of trust. We would never betray that trust.”
First-party data, transparency around data practices and customer trust shapes Verizon Media’s work with advertisers – Lucas says he feels Verizon Media offers the best data in the business. He says the company has created a data ecosystem that includes customer data, customer safety and brand safety. That’s good for both customers and for marketers, because in the right environment, customers are more likely to convert from ads. “If you’re in an environment that’s not brand safe, and you’re seeing bad content, you’re not likely to trust the advertisers that are building around that.”
As a media company part of the broader Verizon umbrella, Verizon Media is also looking ahead to coming developments around the 5G network, which Lucas says is “limitless.”
“Really, what’s endless is – think about production,” says Lucas. “There’s so much to do where marketers can get right there in the middle of it and see how it’s going to affect their business. When it starts to get more widespread, you’ll see it’s a new revolution.”
This video is part of a series of interviews conducted during Advertising Week New York, 2019. This series is co-production of Beet.TV and Advertising Week. The series is sponsored by Roundel, a Target company. Please see more videos from Advertising Week right here.