The Globe and Mail, in partnership with Via Rail, has selected Optable as their data collaboration platform to improve their advertising strategies.

By using Optable’s data-matching technology and data cleanroom solution, the companies are able to compare Via Rail’s customer data with The Globe and Mail‘s subscriber base, allowing for more targeted and effective advertising.

The collaboration began with a campaign that matched Via Rail’s frequent travelers with The Globe‘s active readers over the past 60 days. Via Rail focused on three segments: lapsed commuters, weekday commuters, and those who commuted in the past three years. This allowed The Globe to create a campaign with a more precise audience strategy, optimizing ad placement and improving results.

Bennett Crumbling, head of marketing at Optable, explained to Media in Canada that using advanced data techniques like “similarity modeling” help advertisers reach new audiences by identifying similar segments based on behaviour and readership patterns. According to Crumbling, the VIA Rail campaign saw a 3.4 times increase in reach and was 2.5 times more cost-effective.

“This partnership also allows advertisers like Via Rail to securely collaborate with The Globe and Mail using privacy-safe technologies, which is essential in today’s advertising ecosystem,” said Crumbling. He also noted that as third-party data technologies become less common, publishers and advertisers need safe ways to work together using first-party data.

Optable has worked with other major publishers, including Hearst and Raptive, to improve data collaboration and identity management. In Canada, Optable’s partners include La Presse, Toronto Star, SJC, and VerticalScope.

The Globe and Mail‘s partnership with Optable comes at a challenging time for publishers, many of whom have faced declining ad revenue. Media companies such as Global News, Bell, and Postmedia have suffered staff cuts, while others have had to cease operations. To support struggling media, the Ontario provincial government announced in July that it would allocate a quarter of its advertising spend to local publishers. And in an effort to strengthen its own ad business, The Globe recently added CNN to its media network this year, giving Canadian advertisers access to CNN’s wide-ranging audience.