Smart News Co., Ltd.
-Event Report-Smart News Business Conference “SmartNews Ads Conference 2024” held
～SmartNews aims for “a world with Personalized Discovery”～
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Date and time: February 5th (Monday) Part 1 14:00-15:00/Part 2 16:00-17:00 Location: Tokyo American Club New York Ballroom (2-1-2 Azabudai, Minato-ku, Tokyo) SmartNews Co., Ltd. held the business conference “SmartNews Ads Conference 2024” on Monday, February 5, 2024, bringing together our partner advertising companies and advertiser companies. We announced the evolution of the news app “SmartNews” as an advertising medium and the outlook for the advertising business.
[Image 1: https://prtimes.jp/i/7945/606/resize/d7945-606-be42aaa8949d8871beba-18.jpg&s3=7945-606-bd1166ab1df01e0dd96afc0324b0eee3-3500×2333.jpg] Since last year, Smart News has been actively working to strengthen its management structure and expand its business and services. In November 2023, we plan to form a business alliance with NTT Docomo, Inc. (hereinafter referred to as “Docomo”) and jointly promote further growth of advertising products. In the first part, Kazuya Nobe, SVP of Japan Business at SmartNews, talks about the “now” and “future” of SmartNews, which continues to evolve. Reiko Nagatsuma explained the future vision of the advertising business envisioned by SmartNews. In the second part, Hideo Hamamoto, Representative Director, President and CEO, presents his world view of “Personalized Discovery”, which is the key to future business growth, and explains the world view of “Personalized Discovery”, which is the key to achieving future business growth. In the panel discussion with Mr. Shiro, there was a conversation about the possibilities and ideals of marketing solutions created through co-creation with Smart News.
Evolution and uniqueness of “SmartNews” that creates new discoveries
[Image 2: https://prtimes.jp/i/7945/606/resize/d7945-606-6839bc78afa8671a2d01-18.jpg&s3=7945-606-a5124db518a7d0b9c2a429d7fcb7e58c-3500×2333.jpg] Nobe, who took the podium in the first part, spoke about the features and strengths of SmartNews and its future evolution under the title “The evolution of SmartNews is accelerating now.” To date, SmartNews has grown based on the following three pillars.
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・Personalization (pursuit of interests) ・Aggregation (gathering and sorting of information) ・Providing functions and information necessary for daily life. Machine learning technology has been a focus since the beginning of the service, and has been focused on “general information ( We have developed as a “news app that creates new discoveries” by delivering a balance of “must know” and “personalized
information.” In addition, SmartNews is a news app that delivers an overwhelming amount of information and high-quality content, with partnerships with over 3,000 media outlets and over 1,000 specialized channels that aggregate information in a variety of genres from around the world. Supported by users. SmartNews’ strengths include content coverage that is nearly three times the size of other companies, individualized optimal user engagement based on machine learning technology, and conversion tailored to prime time (commuting/school sessions). One example is the high rate. Furthermore, by implementing this business alliance with Docomo, SmartNews’ ID coverage will be increased, providing “information on content that users are interested in” and “D Point members of Docomo, which has a customer base of approximately 98 million people.” We also plan to focus on developing marketing solutions and advertising products that combine consumer behavior.
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While SmartNews has data on user interests based on content, Docomo has data based on purchases and payments. We believe that we can provide publishers with the ability to discover new audiences by using both parties’ data to deliver advertisements tailored to their consumption behavior and to deploy sales promotions at the right time to facilitate conversion.
New development of SmartNews advertising expanded through business partnership with Docomo
[Image 5: https://prtimes.jp/i/7945/606/resize/d7945-606-8c449363694d5ac566aa-18.jpg&s3=7945-606-2d2d15a571cdf18c42069386eebcd32d-3500×2333.jpg] Next, Nagatsuma took the stage and gave a presentation on the theme of “The Future of Marketing Solutions Depicted by SmartNews Ads.” Smart News reformed its management structure in November 2023, and has worked to strengthen its product and technology base with a management team with diverse backgrounds. Among them, Nagatsuma announced “Four Evolutions of the Advertising Business.”
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▼Evolution of Video Ads Among the SmartNews ads we plan to offer from this spring is “Top News Video Ads.” In addition to traditional video ad formats, it is now possible to deliver vertical video ads. *1 In preliminary trial cases, the characteristics of vertical videos with high screen occupancy led to higher performance in both view completion rate and CTR than traditional video ads. ▼ Evolution of data utilization Until now, in addition to the time required to search and discover audiences, there were costs associated with distribution and configuration management. To address these issues, automated targeting can reduce costs and achieve high advertising performance. In addition, by building a “data clean room” with advertising agencies, we will be able to analyze performance, discover user insights, and utilize targeting in a more secure environment. ▼ Evolution of advertising products through partner collaboration The overall picture of the business alliance with Docomo announced in November 2023 is as follows.
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・You can now log in to SmartNews with your d account (scheduled for late February 2024) *2 ・Provide the news app “SmartNews for docomo” (scheduled to start in April 2024) ・Marketing that utilizes data and news app functions Joint development of solutions and reinforcement of advertising products Starting in April 2024, Docomo-operated news app “My Magazine” will be updated to “SmartNews for docomo,” resulting in the overall MAU (monthly active users) of SmartNews being 2. We expect it to more than double.
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Starting with these, we are looking at a roadmap that will gradually increase the number of distributed users and gradually distribute advertising products in the brand and performance areas.
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Furthermore, we are considering automatically distributing app advertisements to both SmartNews and SmartNews for docomo, and using machine learning to maximize reach and optimize advertising
effectiveness. ▼ Efforts to create a safe advertising environment From the perspective of brand safety, we will continue to invest in creating an environment where advertiser companies can safely display advertisements, by strengthening the screening system by our dedicated engineering team and collaborating with major industry organizations. Masu.
Personalized experiences that contribute to users and society help overcome filter bubbles.
[Image 10: https://prtimes.jp/i/7945/606/resize/d7945-606-2b8e5548102c3cfe108d-19.jpg&s3=7945-606-51bb5664c6d2a0c7cf637496387c3360-3500×2333.jpg] In the second part, Representative Director and CEO Hinao Hamamoto gave a presentation on future prospects under the title “A world with Personalized Discovery realized with SmartNews.” Since its founding, Smart News has cherished the mission of “delivering high-quality information from around the world to those who need it.”
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“Diversity” of a wide variety of information provided by over 3,000 media partners, “Reliability” of delivering news optimized by algorithms while maintaining neutrality, and thoughts that go beyond the scope of everyday concerns. We have expanded our business with a focus on “serendipity,” which brings unexpected new discoveries and awareness. To support these axes, since our founding, we have also focused on developing technologies such as deep learning and natural language processing, which have brought breakthroughs in the AI field. Recently, we have brought in AI professionals from around the world to pursue personalized user experiences that lead to new discoveries. Furthermore, with the development of AI, there are concerns about the spread of fake news (false information) and biased information on the Internet. Therefore, SmartNews, which focuses on “reliability,” not only improves its algorithm on a daily basis, but also combines the strengths of a content team with a background in journalism to select neutral and reliable information and deliver it to users. I am. Hamamoto believes that while providing personalized information, excessive personalization is creating a “filter bubble” and accelerating the fragmentation of society in order to realize a “world with Personalized Discovery.” He talked about the need to pay close attention to both the “light” and “shadow” of
personalization, such as depending on the situation. The general idea of personalization is to optimize content according to each person’s preferences. In contrast, Hamamoto believes that the Personalized Discovery that SmartNews pursues presents new discoveries tailored to each individual’s situation, leading to experiences that elicit empathy and resonance from users, which in turn will lead to a better direction for society. He concluded his lecture by saying that he believes that this will help change the world.
[Image 12: https://prtimes.jp/i/7945/606/resize/d7945-606-8ca69a89a5a21326e8ee-17.jpg&s3=7945-606-abdb65c8256b7196ead7853773ea4a58-3500×2333.jpg] Creating new user experience value through joint development of advertising products and marketing solutions
[Image 13: https://prtimes.jp/i/7945/606/resize/d7945-606-18aae2f616fe22a34686-17.jpg&s3=7945-606-73ebb8109c39ea6551a452baab9656de-3500×2333.jpg] Next, a panel discussion was held on the theme of “Smart News and Docomo’s Expanded Marketing Solutions.” First, opinions were exchanged regarding current marketing issues and points that need to be resolved. Hideki Ishibashi, Director of Marketing Innovation Department, Docomo Smart Life Company, said, “In the cookieless era, we need to organically collect data that can be used by our company, and how can we fine-tune it and deliver a unified brand experience.” has become an issue,” he said. In response, Smart News’ Nobe said, “While ID is important, if it’s just that, it won’t broaden user understanding.While thinking about how to expand user coverage, data collection is a sensitive area. It is important to carefully check usage permissions and explore possibilities for data utilization,” he said, and each expressed their views on marketing issues. Next, he explained the overall picture of the business partnership between SmartNews, Japan’s largest news app, and Docomo, which has a customer base of approximately 98 million people, and the possibilities for mutual use of data.
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Mr. Ishibashi explained that Docomo’s added value is that “With 1 ID (single ID) that utilizes Docomo’s customer data and partner data, we can support full-funnel DX all at once.” Until now, many companies have placed performance-type advertisements in line with Docomo’s d Payment and d Points, but with the various “appearances” created by SmartNews, it is possible to carry out full-funnel marketing measures from awareness to purchase. Mr. Ishibashi said, “We can encourage companies with needs for branded advertising to utilize Docomo’s assets.” Nagatsuma of Smart News said, “We believe that
advertisements, like news articles, are high-quality information that provides users with a brand experience about new products and services.” The business alliance with Docomo is expected to reach a new user base. He emphasized that this will lead to expanding the reach of customers and strengthening advertising products that meet diverse marketing needs.
[Image 15: https://prtimes.jp/i/7945/606/resize/d7945-606-47271f9c3d040155c989-17.jpg&s3=7945-606-5dce5af21c957090d4640b0c22b6f129-3500×2333.jpg] Mr. Ishibashi said that the strength and appeal of SmartNews is that it has “user contact points that can reach an overwhelming reach, and advertising space that can make the most of these points.” However, the value of SmartNews as a marketing solution will increase depending on each end user. He demonstrated the importance of “creating experiential value” that enriches people’s lives by delivering optimal and high-quality content and advertisements. Regarding the possibility of sales promotion, Nobe said, “Incentives for users are not limited to discounts through coupons.We also have d Point campaign measures, including physical and digital ones, and advertising measures at d Point member stores, which boast 100,000 stores nationwide. “We can find new ways to propose new ideas.” Finally, each of them presented their future prospects based on the business alliance, and the session concluded.
[Image 16: https://prtimes.jp/i/7945/606/resize/d7945-606-194a2ac28c128cb17ccf-17.jpg&s3=7945-606-93b081f3c9b8fda89bf5c396698377c4-3500×2333.jpg] *1 “Top News Video Ads” began providing on March 6, 2024. Please see this press release for more details.
https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000602.000007945.html *2 The collaboration between SmartNews and Docomo’s “d Account” started on February 29, 2024. Please see this press release for more details. https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000600.000007945.html ■ About Smart News Co., Ltd. http://about.smartnews.com/ Smart News Co., Ltd. It was established on June 15, 2012, with the mission of “Delivering gifts to the people of the world.” We operate the news app “SmartNews” in Japan and the United States. Through algorithms that continue to analyze vast amounts of information from around the world day and night, and a comfortable interface optimized for smart devices, we hope to deliver high-quality information gathered from around the world to as many people as possible.
More details about this release:
https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000606.000007945.html