Digital media firm Dotdash Meredith, an IAC company, notched its second consecutive quarter of double-digit advertising growth, largely due to the continued performance of its cookieless targeting tool called D/Cipher.
The media company, which houses a portfolio of titles including People, Serious Eats and Southern Living, saw a 12% increase in year-over-year digital advertising revenue, growing from $212 million to $238 million, according to its second quarter earnings announced Tuesday.
Overall, it generated $425 million in quarterly revenue, up 3% from the same period last year, and grew its adjusted Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) by 25% to $66 million.
The growth is a product of a variety of factors, but its cookieless solution D/Cipher has played a key role as a sophisticated targeting tool that has no reliance on cookies — and in fact consistently outperforms them, according to Lindsay Van Kirk, senior vice president and general manager of D/Cipher.
In a recent case study with jewelry brand Pandora, D/Cipher performed better than any other form of targeting — including third-party cookies and demographic targeting — in two key areas for Pandora: foot traffic and sales lift.
“The performance is amazing because the industry is always trying to find ways to tie media buys to real results,” said Van Kirk. “This proves that Dotdash Meredith can drive national brick-and-mortar sales for a brand without any cookie or identifier.”
The results, detailed below, help explain why Dotdash Meredith has seen consistent digital ad growth over the last three quarters, bucking the industrywide trend of decline or stasis. The company now uses D/Cipher in more than 50% of its direct transactions, according to IAC CEO Joey Levin.
“Advertisers are adopting our marquee ad targeting product, D/Cipher, which outperforms cookie-based offerings and reaches a differentiated audience — a powerful weapon for our premium sales force,” Levin said in a shareholder letter.
D/Cipher performs for Pandora
Pandora was the first advertiser to test the D/Cipher guarantee, in which Dotdash Meredith promised brands that its cookieless tool would outperform any other targeting solution or it would re-run their campaign.
For Pandora, its goals for the campaign were to elevate brand perception, create style relevancy and consideration, and fuel sales, according to Annie McAndrews, Pandora’s director of media and CRM. The jewelry company also wanted to drive in-store foot traffic.
