Optable to provide Quebecor with cleanroom technology
Quebecor has picked data platform Optable to provide it with advertising products that fit within privacy-safe environments.
Through its Quebecor Expertise Media unit, Optable’s platform will support all of Quebecor’s digital channels, including display, video, connected TV, digital out-of-home and audio advertising.
Optable specializes in cleanroom technology, which allows for first-party data to be handled and analyzed in a secure, privacy-safe way. This is useful for companies like Quebecor, who have their eyes both on the degradation of cookies and the impact it will have on ad targeting, as well as privacy regulations that would govern how first-party data can be used to reach authenticated users.
“The advertising landscape is evolving, and we have to adapt our data strategy to match that,” said Jean Péladeau, VP of operational convergence at Quebecor. “With Optable, we can work alongside advertisers to allow them to utilize their own first-party data sets in advertising campaigns with us, without worrying about privacy concerns. It gives us peace of mind.”
Tribute signs first ad rep deal
Ideon Media has signed a deal to become the exclusive ad sales partner for Tribute Entertainment Media, owner of entertainment sites including Tribute.ca, Frontrowcentre.com, Canadamovies.ca and Enprimeur.ca. (650,000 visits, Google Analytics).
This is the first time Tribute has had ad representation, and the deal brings it to programmatic, private marketplace and Google Ad Manager 360 for the first time.
Currently, Tribute’s group of sites reach 650,000 unique viewers monthly. But Brian Stewart, CEO of Tribute Entertainment Media Group, says its network has been seeing a return in its audience in line with the return of audiences to movie theatres. The partnership is aimed at helping the company expand its reach with advertisers, helping them reach entertainment- and movie-interested audiences, which Stewart says are in high demand, as they tend to be urban, early adopters with higher household incomes.
Toronto Star launches a redesign
Today’s edition of The Toronto Star had a bit of a different look, as the paper unveiled a redesign as part of an investment in print.
Led by Fadi Yaacoub, Torstar’s VP of multimedia, podcasts and design, who worked with Canadian designer Gayle Grin, the new design was described by editor Anne Marie Owen as “clean, airy and engaging,” with more white space, photos, and a more modern visual identity.
On the content front, Owen says the redesign includes a greater emphasis on sports, with extra pages in the section four days out of the week; the combination of the Life and Entertainment sections into a single “Culture” section, which will include new Toronto-focused food content once a week; the addition of more world news into its coverage; and rebranding the “Homefinder” section to the simpler “Real Estate” section.
“I can hear people saying, ‘Why change?’ or ‘Why invest in print now?’,” says Yaacoub. “We value our print readers and wanted to make their print experience even better and make it more delightful and engaging.”
