{"id":598303,"date":"2023-01-17T05:50:56","date_gmt":"2023-01-17T11:50:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.sellorbuyhomefast.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/17\/digiday-research-buzz-aside-how-are-publishers-and-marketers-really-experimenting-with-blockchain\/"},"modified":"2023-01-17T05:50:56","modified_gmt":"2023-01-17T11:50:56","slug":"digiday-research-buzz-aside-how-are-publishers-and-marketers-really-experimenting-with-blockchain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/17\/digiday-research-buzz-aside-how-are-publishers-and-marketers-really-experimenting-with-blockchain\/","title":{"rendered":"Digiday+ Research: Buzz aside, how are publishers and marketers really experimenting with blockchain?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>This is the fifth part of a research series on the most popular emerging technologies. <\/em><em>The series follows up on a report Digiday produced <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/digiday.com\/marketing\/digiday-research-companies-fund-emerging-tech\/\"><em>five years ago<\/em><\/a><em> to discover how technologies previously reported on have evolved and to explore new technologies that have since emerged. In this segment, we look at how publishers and marketers are using blockchain technology.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Despite a lot of hype surrounding <a href=\"https:\/\/digiday.com\/media\/wtf-is-an-nft\/\">non-fungible token<\/a> drops and cryptocurrency investments, <a href=\"https:\/\/digiday.com\/media\/digiday-guide-how-publishers-and-marketers-can-use-the-blockchain-in-their-businesses\/\">blockchain technology<\/a> is lagging well behind other emerging technologies in widespread adoption. In fact, of all the emerging technologies Digiday+ Research has examined in this series, blockchain remains the most theoretical and speculative in its use.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div id=\"piano-meter-offer\">\n<div>\n<p>NFTs and cryptocurrency were hot buzzwords in 2021, with brands and publishers ramping up investments and experiments \u2013 or at least paying lip service to doing so. But by late 2022, the daily market size of NFTs on <a href=\"https:\/\/digiday.com\/media\/wtf-what-is-ethereum\/\">Ethereum<\/a>, a cryptocurrency platform supporting the majority of NFTs, was much lower than in 2021. The daily average sales value dropped from $178 million in August 2021 to just $90,000 by Nov. 29, 2022, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statista.com\/topics\/8513\/nft\/#topicHeader__wrapper\">according to Statista<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>And cryptocurrency itself suffered a major market crash late last year, with <a href=\"https:\/\/digiday.com\/marketing\/how-the-ftx-crash-reveals-the-esports-industrys-crypto-partnership-problem\/\">crypto exchange FTX filing for bankruptcy<\/a> in November. The crypto market in general tends to be volatile as cryptocurrencies are purely speculative, backed by little inherent value or meaningful regulation. Waning consumer interest in cryptocurrency was also reflected in Google search trends, as searches for the term \u201ccryptocurrency\u201d rose and fell rapidly between 2020 and 2022 with lower and lower peaks, according to Digiday analysis.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Of the small set of publishers and marketers who do use blockchain technology, the majority have found the most practical applications in NFTs, with cryptocurrencies coming in third in actual usage. To ramp up consumer interest, some early adopters aim to make the technologies more accessible and easy to use. Publishers are <a href=\"https:\/\/digiday.com\/media\/publishers-use-nfts-to-increase-event-revenue\/\">incorporating blockchain experiences into live events<\/a> by turning event tickets into NFTs, while marketers are hoping to demystify NFT sales by letting consumers use <a href=\"https:\/\/www.glossy.co\/beauty\/how-beauty-brands-are-making-their-nfts-accessible-to-the-general-public\/\">credit cards rather than cryptocurrency<\/a> for transactions. Other marketers are adding <a href=\"https:\/\/www.glossy.co\/beauty\/the-beauty-industry-is-starting-to-bet-on-bitcoin\/\">bitcoin payment options for transactions<\/a> on their websites. But across the board, both companies and consumers are struggling to find a true purpose for the technology.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf there\u2019s a term that is overused more than AI, it\u2019s probably blockchain,\u201d said Gannett\u2019s CTO Vincent Cirel. \u201cI don\u2019t think the general public out there has anything but the vaguest idea of what some of the use cases for blockchain are.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>For this report, Digiday+ Research surveyed 388 industry professionals at organizations including agencies, brands, retailers and publishers to uncover how they\u2019re currently using blockchain technologies, like NFTs and cryptocurrency \u2013 and how they plan to incorporate the technologies in the future.<\/p>\n<p>01<\/p>\n<p>Key findings<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Only 16% of marketer and publisher respondents invest in or use blockchain, making it the most theoretical emerging technology in Digiday\u2019s series. More than 70% said they do not use it at all.<\/li>\n<li>Of those who do use blockchain, more than half (51%) rely on third-party vendors to build their blockchain technology.<\/li>\n<li>NFTs are the most used blockchain technology, with 64% of respondents using them. Supply chain transparency and cryptocurrency are the second and third most common uses at more than 45% each. Security is last at slightly more than one third of respondents.<\/li>\n<li>Publishers and marketers mainly use NFTs with the goal of generating brand awareness (81% of respondents). Establishing new revenue streams and gaining new customers come next.<\/li>\n<li>The most common goal for using cryptocurrency is for transactions (58% of respondents chose this), with new revenue streams, brand awareness and customer acquisition also top of mind, similar to NFTs.<\/li>\n<li>Third-party NFT marketplaces (70%) and cryptocurrency exchanges (45%) are platforms marketers and publishers commonly use to sell virtual goods in exchange for crypto payments. But owned and operated platforms rank high too, in second place at 60%.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Publishers and marketers alike are struggling to find practical ways to implement blockchain technology, with the majority (71%) saying it is not relevant to their business.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>02<\/p>\n<p>Blockchain\u2019s potential has yet to be realized, as real-world applications are lacking<\/p>\n<p>When considered alongside the other emerging technologies Digiday has examined over the course of this series, such as <a href=\"https:\/\/digiday.com\/media\/digiday-research-how-publishers-are-using-ai-to-enhance-reporting-personalize-content-and-provide-customer-service\/\">artificial intelligence<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/digiday.com\/marketing\/digiday-research-ahead-of-a-functional-metaverse-how-marketers-are-actually-using-ar-and-vr\/\">augmented and virtual reality<\/a>, blockchain is lagging behind other emerging technologies in widespread marketer and publisher adoption. Only 16% of marketer and publisher respondents invest in or use blockchain and nearly three quarters (72%) of marketers and publishers said they don\u2019t use the technology at all.<\/p>\n<p>Adam Simon, executive director at IPG Media Lab, said this lack of adoption is keeping blockchain stuck in the realm of a largely theoretical emerging technology, rather than one with widespread usage. \u201cNFTs and Web3 technologies have gotten a lot of attention, but if you look at the real numbers, they\u2019re quite small,\u201d Simon said. \u201cThe number of people who have activated a crypto wallet is less than a million people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A primary reason behind the lack of adoption is that companies are struggling to find real-world opportunities to use the technology beyond creating buzz through one-off events like NFT drops. NFTs <a href=\"https:\/\/digiday.com\/media\/wtf-is-an-nft\/\">act as a non-duplicable digital certificate<\/a> of ownership for any assigned digital asset. They are easier to market to consumers in the form of digital artwork or collectibles, but maintaining consumer interest in NFTs is something companies are still experimenting with, according to Simon.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are potential long-term interesting applications of things like tokenized access \u2014 using an NFT on the blockchain to provide access to unique experiences,\u201d he said. \u201cThe experiments we\u2019ve seen with tokenized access so far have been very similar to things you could easily build using traditional technologies like ticketing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere has been talk about reducing the cost of coordination and offering experiences that are unique to someone who is a holder of multiple NFTs from different providers,\u201d Simon added.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Cryptocurrency has its own hardships to face when it comes to business investment and consumer interest. It took a major hit recently \u2014\u00a0 both financially and in terms of public perception. FTX, a popular cryptocurrency exchange based in the Bahamas, collapsed in November 2022 after a CoinDesk report revealed that the company lacked funds to back customers\u2019 withdrawals. <a href=\"https:\/\/digiday.com\/marketing\/how-the-ftx-crash-reveals-the-esports-industrys-crypto-partnership-problem\/\">FTX declared bankruptcy on Nov. 11<\/a>, with founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried stepping down as his net worth dipped to near-zero from almost $16 billion. In December 2022, Bankman-Fried was arrested on eight federal counts of fraud and conspiracy after being accused of organizing a plan to defraud FTX investors.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In general, the crypto market tends to be volatile, as cryptocurrencies are currently purely speculative, backed by no inherent value and no federal governing body yet regulating the market. Likewise, the value of NFTs can be unpredictable, since they tend to rely on hype to drive and sustain consumer interest.<\/p>\n<p>For companies that have found a reason to invest in blockchain technology, most rely on external vendors to build their technology applications, with just over half (51%) of respondents saying they use a third-party vendor. Only about one quarter (24%) use an in-house team to build blockchain technology \u2013 likely given its complexity and security implications \u2013 and another 25% use a combination of in-house and third party vendors.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/digiday.com\/media\/decrypt-studios-is-selling-brands-and-creators-on-producing-nfts-and-metaverse-presences-without-worrying-about-the-technical-legwork\/\">Decrypt Studios is one such third-party vendor<\/a> that helps provide brands with the means to mint their own NFTs and produce other blockchain-related products. The studio is owned by the media arm of the blockchain investment company ConsenSys Mesh and opened in October 2021. It focuses on producing projects using blockchain and Web3 technology for both brands and individual creators, ranging from NFT drops to metaverse-adjacent activations.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cMinting an NFT is not for the faint of heart. You have to understand things that are endemic to the crypto world that a lot of the folks coming into [Web3] don\u2019t understand yet,\u201d said Alanna Roazzi-Laforet, CRO and publisher at Decrypt Media and head of Decrypt Studios. \u201cThere\u2019s so many open questions in the space and the answers keep changing. So we help demystify all of that.<\/p>\n<p>In other instances, brands themselves are investing in third-party solutions. For example, late last year <a href=\"https:\/\/www.modernretail.co\/retailers\/nike-is-leaning-on-digital-goods-as-supply-chain-challenges-slow-growth\/\">Nike bought digital art studio RTFKT<\/a>, which specializes in virtual product drops and NFTs. With the purchase, Nike became the first major retailer to acquire a company in the NFT space, perhaps signaling that NFTs and virtual product drops could become a more important part of retailers\u2019 digital strategies going forward, despite some post-hype skepticism.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>03<\/p>\n<p>Marketers, publishers primarily use blockchain tech for NFTs<\/p>\n<p>Although blockchain\u2019s early promise for business utility was to securely log transactions between buyers and sellers \u2014 and indeed that remains its most talked-about capability \u2014 the most common reason marketers and publishers use blockchain technology is for NFTs (according to 64% of respondents). Supply chain transparency and sustainability (49%) and cryptocurrency (47%) are second and third, with nearly half of respondents using blockchain for those purposes, respectively. Only a little more than one-third of respondents have found reasons to employ blockchain for encryption and security, making it the least common utility.<\/p>\n<p>NFTs have risen to the top of the list of potential applications thus far because both publishers and marketers can readily market and sell NFTs to consumers as digital art pieces or collectible items, foregrounding the aspect most understandable to consumers. Brands generally make the one-of-a-kind digital tokens available through \u201cdrops\u201d on an app or NFT marketplace, releasing them at an exact date and time and minting them in limited batches.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>An NFT\u2019s value is based on how well received the item is by the people who are willing to buy it, usually using cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin. Once a consumer has purchased an NFT, they have the digital rights to resell, distribute or license it as they see fit.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Some companies, like clothing brand PacSun, have even shifted to a digital-first marketing strategy, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.modernretail.co\/retailers\/it-expands-our-retail-reach-pacsuns-co-ceo-on-centering-its-digital-strategy-around-nfts\/\">with an emphasis on NFTs<\/a>, along with other emerging technologies like AR and VR. The company launched its first NFT initiative in November 2021, which focused on its classic wave logo. In January 2022, PacSun unveiled its own NFT series, dubbed Pac Mall Rats.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is not just a new category, but it\u2019s an important one,\u201d PacSun co-CEO Alfred Chang said. \u201cBeing able to have products, skins and other elements in a virtual world along with the physical world, I think it just expands our retail reach. For us, it\u2019s important that we not only participate today, but it\u2019s something that we absolutely [need to] stay relevant. Our expectation is that we will be right there as well in terms of expanding our offering.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While PacSun has its eye on increasing its future use of NFTs, Complex Networks\u2019 head of experiential Neil Wright said not enough brands have thought about how to use the technology beyond initial experimentation.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA lot of brands have tried to drop an NFT as a knee-jerk reaction to what was happening [in the marketplace], but they didn\u2019t have a long term strategy,\u201d Wright said. \u201cThey\u2019re not monetizing this NFT on the secondary market because there\u2019s really no value, no incentive for people to want to trade it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Notably, brands are unable to make revenue in the secondary market when NFTs are resold because reselling typically happens on platforms other than brand owned-and-operated ones. Since NFTs do not generate lifelong revenue for brands, marketers typically use NFT drops in order to bring attention to the brand and the company\u2019s ability to use emerging technologies.<\/p>\n<p>04<\/p>\n<p>Supply chain transparency and cryptocurrency are next in line, but security has low priority<\/p>\n<p>Companies\u2019 second most used application of blockchain technology is for supply chain transparency and sustainability. This form of blockchain technology provides accountability and security through the production process \u2014- something that\u2019s particularly important for fashion brands as a way to better verify a material or product\u2019s authenticity.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In April 2021, luxury goods conglomerate LVMH, in conjunction with Cartier and Prada, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lvmh.com\/news-documents\/news\/lvmh-partners-with-other-major-luxury-companies-on-aura-the-first-global-luxury-blockchain\/\">launched a global luxury blockchain<\/a> in which users can add information about a product as it makes its way from where materials are sourced to the creation of the finished product \u2014 thus <a href=\"https:\/\/www.glossy.co\/fashion\/what-lvmhs-blockchain-foray-means-for-luxury-fashion\/\">opening a window into the company\u2019s supply chain<\/a> and allowing consumers to follow the entire product journey.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The nature of a blockchain means that no one can change any information added to the ledger, and LVMH said in a statement at the time, \u201cThe objective is to provide consumers with a high level of transparency and traceability throughout the lifecycle of a product.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Five years ago, as blockchain began to enter more mainstream vernacular, it mainly referred to cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and Tether. However, in 2022, cryptocurrency is only the third most commonly used form of blockchain technology, with 47% of respondents saying they use blockchain for cryptocurrency and digital coins \u2014 mainly by accepting them as payment.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Much of the early hype around cryptocurrencies subsided not long after it began. Crypto values skyrocketed for a while until early 2018, when the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.modernretail.co\/retailers\/blockchain-has-yet-to-hit-the-retail-big-time-but-theres-still-growing-interest\/\">bitcoin bubble burst and prices dropped<\/a>. At the same time, public perception of the technology began to erode.<\/p>\n<p>Early on in blockchain discussions, security and decentralization were main selling points for the entire blockchain paradigm as well. However, the majority of companies do not use the technology in that context \u2014 or at least for that purpose \u2014 with less than 35% of respondents saying they use blockchain for encryption and security benefits.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>When Time launched its first NFT, decentralization and security were front of mind for the publisher, but Time\u2019s CTO Bharat Krish noted the company had to adjust its strategy for future sales. \u201cWe went into the first drop thinking that we have to keep it open and inclusive, but it turns out it was actually the opposite effect,\u201d Krish said. \u201cWe kept it so open that only the crypto-native and people who could game the system could participate. That gave us an important lesson that we really need to focus on the customer journey from the beginning for somebody who\u2019s a novice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Since then, Time has shifted its approach to put more emphasis on requiring advanced user registration and verification prior to NFT purchase, while adhering to the principles of decentralization. \u201cEverything we\u2019ve built is 80 to 90% decentralized,\u201d Krish said. \u201cWe purposely made sure that we don\u2019t use the centralized ways of database management. Everything we do is purposefully decentralized to follow the principles of Web3.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>It\u2019s important to emphasize that security and decentralization aren\u2019t always ends unto themselves, but can be a feature inherent in some other blockchain use cases. So, while survey results show that security isn\u2019t respondents\u2019 main end use, it may factor into other blockchain technology applications, such as supply chain transparency, as discussed above.<\/p>\n<p>05<\/p>\n<p>Marketers, publishers use NFTs to elevate brand awareness<\/p>\n<p>As marketers and publishers dip their toes into the NFT waters, they do so mainly with the goal of raising awareness about their brands. The majority of respondents (81%) said they use NFTs for brand awareness, while more than half (64%) use NFTs as a new revenue stream. New customer acquisition and increased security were less important outcomes for companies.<\/p>\n<p>NFT drops can be a quick way for larger companies with research and development dollars to spend to create attention-grabbing headlines and potentially generate new revenue in the process. The strategy focuses on using the moments in which the brand announces it\u2019s using blockchain technology and then actually releases the NFT to garner interest, but it tends to be employed as a short-term strategy to generate public awareness rather than as a long-term technology strategy.<\/p>\n<p>In July 2021, Campbell Soup Company <a href=\"https:\/\/www.modernretail.co\/retailers\/modern-retail-report-the-new-cpg-brand-limited-edition-and-product-drop-playbook\/\">jumped into the NFT game<\/a> with a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.campbellsoupcompany.com\/newsroom\/press-releases\/campbells-commissions-first-official-nft-collection-by-artist-sophia-chang-to-celebrate-changes-to-its-iconic-soup-can-labels\/\">digital product art drop<\/a> geared toward increasing brand awareness and product purchases after canned goods sales declined post-pandemic. It used the drop to remind customers of its most iconic brand images, including the red and white soup can labels Andy Warhol appropriated in the 1960s to create his famous Campbell\u2019s Soup Cans artwork. The NFT collection could be repurchased on OpenSea, a leading NFT marketplace, and the art pieces were selling at around 0.39 ETH (Ether, equaling $1,283.38) in January 2022. Campbell also used the drop as an opportunity to further connect with the tech-savvy millennial demographic.<\/p>\n<p>Time magazine, on the other hand, has taken a slightly different approach in its use of NFTs \u2014 potentially converting a shorter-term awareness tactic into a longer-term strategy \u2014 by stoking a community in which current and future NFTs will maintain value and cachet. The publisher built its encompassing <a href=\"https:\/\/digiday.com\/media\/one-year-after-embracing-the-blockchain-time-has-earned-more-than-10m-in-profit\/\">blockchain business<\/a> bit by bit. The publication represented one of the only companies seeming to use blockchain technology as a long-term strategy.<\/p>\n<p>In March 2021, Time launched its first NFT project, a three-part collection of digitized magazine covers from decades prior. The top-selling one sold for the equivalent of $250,000 (135 ETH at the time). One month later, the company began accepting cryptocurrencies as payment for both subscriptions and advertising deals. That fall, Time launched its TIMEPieces project, which convenes crypto-enthusiastic audiences into one Discord-based club (that had 40,000 community members as of April 2022) and labels all of its NFT drops under the TIMEPieces umbrella.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Keith Grossman, who was president of Time when Digiday spoke with him and is now president of enterprise at MoonPay, said Time\u2019s strategy is meant to engage consumers on a long-term basis. \u201cWhat we learned through all of the ups and downs is the importance of building community,\u201d Grossman said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t make a difference that we dropped all these NFTs. What makes a difference is how much we\u2019ve managed the community. Our community is not about short-term thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe community is about values, and we rally our community around those values every single day,\u201d Grossman added. \u201cThe rationale is that we believe that values create value over time. Our ability to think long about what we\u2019re building allows people to think and care about the community that we\u2019re building through good moments in the crypto cycle and challenging moments in the crypto cycle.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Other publishers see potential value in future use of NFTs and other blockchain technologies to serve multiple purposes at the same time, such as <a href=\"https:\/\/digiday.com\/media\/how-publishers-experimented-with-nfts-in-2021\/\">providing access to events<\/a> or educational certifications while creating brand loyalty. This overlap within blockchain applications harkens back to the security-based underpinnings of the technology and the potential to apply these benefits across uses of the technologies.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Vadim Supitskiy, CTO at Forbes, said he sees many potential uses for blockchain technology among publishers. \u201cOne of the major use cases is access \u2014 membership, access to live events, access to metaverse,\u201d Supitskiy said. \u201cThe second is authentication \u2014 education, certifications, validation that you completed a course. For publishers it could be grading, reading a series of articles or watching a series of videos that are reported on blockchain.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor publications, it creates loyalty and engagement,\u201d he added. \u201cIt gamifies the whole experience and it gives the user that validation, \u2018Hey, I accomplished that.\u2019 [The user] could potentially get perks for [activities] on a website or inside that ecosystem.\u201d For the time being, however, these applications of blockchain are largely theoretical outside of some publishers sporadically using NFTs as authenticated event passes.<\/p>\n<p>06<\/p>\n<p>Companies hope crypto will increase brand recognition and revenue, but it\u2019s a largely speculative endeavor<\/p>\n<p>Cryptocurrency, while a more established use of blockchain than the theoretical authentication and certification applications mentioned above, is still largely abstract. Marketer and publisher survey respondents said that their most common goal for future usage of cryptocurrency is for transactions, with new revenue streams (50%), brand awareness (47%) and new customer acquisition (33%) also top of mind, similar to NFTs.<\/p>\n<p>However, when it comes to real-world use of cryptocurrency, most notably consumers typically use cryptocurrency as a speculative investment. Cryptocurrencies are created, distributed, traded and stored using blockchain technology, which serves as a digital ledger, recording and facilitating the digital transactions. This is the only mainstream practical application of cryptocurrency currently, while survey responses noted here are marketers\u2019 and publishers\u2019 goals for its future use.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Several beauty brands <a href=\"https:\/\/www.glossy.co\/beauty\/the-beauty-industry-is-starting-to-bet-on-bitcoin\/\">have been adding bitcoin payment options for transactions<\/a>, the most common usage goal of cryptocurrencies, with nearly 60% of survey respondents selecting this usage. It is also the only one that most companies can readily implement.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In January 2021, Wake Skincare, a U.K.-based DTC brand designed for millennial and Gen-Z consumers, began accepting cryptocurrency payments by making bitcoin and ethereum payment options available using Coinbase in its Shopify checkout. Wake co-founder Alex Mavor said he sees the payment option as a long-term strategy for the company. \u200b\u200b<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe reason why we wanted to do it is because other beauty brands weren\u2019t doing it,\u201d Mavor said. \u201cWe know that we\u2019re not going to get a load of customers, or maybe any customers, today paying with bitcoin.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA lot of the people at the moment are just using it as an investment,\u201d he added. \u201cBut the thing is that \u2014 with all technologies \u2014 they always say that change happens really slowly, then all at once.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Publisher Time has aimed to use crypto applications to create new revenue streams and to stimulate brand awareness, the second and third most commonly selected answers at about 50% of respondents each. In April 2021, <a href=\"https:\/\/digiday.com\/media\/why-time-sees-opportunity-in-bitcoin-for-advertisers-and-consumers-as-an-additive-business-line\/\">Time started accepting bitcoin<\/a> (and 31 other types of cryptocurrencies) from paid subscribers through a partnership with Crypto.com.<\/p>\n<p>Maya Draisin, chief brand officer at Time, said while current subscribers weren\u2019t asked to switch to the crypto payment options, the method allows the company to introduce the Time brand to native crypto users and to give them accessible payment options \u2014 thereby setting up pipelines to generate new revenue streams. She said she hoped it would also give current subscribers that are \u201ccrypto curious\u201d an entry point to see crypto usage in the real world.<\/p>\n<p>While not an offered survey response, other brands are using cryptocurrencies to create brand loyalty. Lolli, a Rakuten-esque platform, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.glossy.co\/beauty\/the-beauty-industry-is-starting-to-bet-on-bitcoin\/\">gives portions of bitcoin as online shopping rewards<\/a> rather than money. Similar to NFTs, this usage generates buzz for the brand, and the application has gained traction, with more than 1,000 Lolli merchants using the program. Alex Adelman, co-founder of Lolli, said the incentives are not aimed at getting consumers to spend bitcoin just yet.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe saw it as a way to distribute bitcoin to more people, way easier by not making them have to be an investor to get into bitcoin,\u201d Adelman said. \u201cThey could just be a shopper, which is something that everybody [is].\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>While cryptocurrency, like other areas of blockchain technology, has strong potential applications for security by using cryptography to secure transactions, security was very low in importance to survey respondents. Only 11% of respondents said their goal is to use cryptocurrency for its security benefits.<\/p>\n<p>IPG Media Lab\u2019s Simon said one reason for the lack of interest may be the need for users to set up crypto wallets to protect their currency from hacks. \u201cThe complexity of setting up a crypto [wallet] is the biggest consumer block and some of the complexity extends to things like security,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou see high profile people all the time who theoretically know what they\u2019re doing, who get their NFTs phished and lose millions of dollars, everyone from celebrities to people who are leaders in the space have fallen victim,\u201d Simon added. \u201cThe setup and onboarding is complicated, but the security is also complicated. Until we have decent answers to both of those things, it\u2019s going to remain a niche hobby technology.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>07<\/p>\n<p>NFT marketplaces and owned-and-operated platforms are best for crypto transactions<\/p>\n<p>When marketers and publishers are determining where to sell virtual items like digital art pieces in exchange for cryptocurrencies, the majority turn to NFT marketplaces. Seventy percent of respondents said they use the third-party marketplaces to sell virtual goods for cryptocurrencies and digital coin-based payments. Owned-and-operated platforms, where some companies are putting the framework in place now for what could become more wide-scale use of crypto in the future, are their next best choice, in second place at 60% of respondents.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Cryptocurrency exchanges are much less commonly used, with less than half (45%) of respondents saying they use the exchanges \u2013 likely because they\u2019re only accepting cryptocurrencies, not creating them. But, perhaps not surprisingly, almost one-third of companies are finding opportunities to sell goods in gaming environments, with 30% of respondents selling virtual products through online gaming.<\/p>\n<p>The most commonly used platforms, NFT marketplaces such as OpenSea and Rarible, allow companies and individuals to display, sell and buy NFTs in exchange for cryptocurrencies. Consumers can also resell NFTs to other shoppers on the marketplaces, and some NFT marketplaces offer the ability to mint NFTs on the platforms as well.<\/p>\n<p>Time magazine chose not to create its own platform for selling its TIMEPieces NFTs, instead making them available through a third-party marketplace. Time\u2019s Krish said the marketplaces offer a built-in consumer base.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe don\u2019t need to build our own marketplace because the audience is actually in marketplaces like OpenSea and Coinbase,\u201d Krish said. \u201cSo we only take care of the primary mint and then we create our community within our collection within OpenSea for secondary sales.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe journey of going from a primary mint to the secondary sales is also something that\u2019s part of a lifetime customer journey that we\u2019ve built,\u201d Krish added. \u201cUser experience is really important. \u2026 We want to make sure that everybody who comes in could be a novice and participate in this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Other companies find value in offering consumers the opportunity to use cryptocurrencies on their owned-and-operated platforms (60% of respondents). The strategy is interesting considering the majority of respondents said they primarily use third parties to build their blockchain technology. However, having a strong owned-and-operated system in place now could pay off down the road.<\/p>\n<p>By accepting cryptocurrencies on their own platforms, companies can potentially set themselves up technologically now for what could become more wide-scale use of cryptocurrencies in the future. Additionally, accepting crypto payments may provide access to new and younger demographic groups and to consumers who may not have access to more traditional payment methods like bank accounts and credit cards.<\/p>\n<p>Another platform through which publishers and marketers are trying to reach new consumer groups with cryptocurrency transactions is online gaming. Thirty percent of respondents said they are selling virtual goods for cryptocurrencies and digital coin-based payments in gaming environments.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Companies, including the aforementioned <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prnewswire.com\/news-releases\/pacsun-offers-curated-shopping-experience-during-the-return-of-complexland-3-0--301554488.html\">PacSun<\/a>, sold NFTs in ComplexLand 3.0, the third iteration of a virtual fashion and music festival hosted by BuzzFeed\u2019s Complex Networks in May 2022. ComplexLand sold its own artist-created NFTs within the environment as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Complex Networks\u2019 Wright said although the NFTs were available in the virtual environment, sales took place on third-party platforms. \u201cIn year two, our NFT gallery was in partnership with Nifty Gateway, so everything was a click out to Nifty Gateway\u2019s marketplace for the actual transaction,\u201d Wright said. \u201cThis year, we weren\u2019t rigid to one partner. So many different marketplaces have emerged that we are working with whatever the artist or the collaborator prefers. If an artist is dropping on OpenSea, we could accommodate that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wright said that selling NFTs in gaming environments has the dual value of helping artists monetize their artwork, while simultaneously supporting burgeoning Web3 technology. \u201cThat\u2019s really important that whatever we do within ComplexLand, even if it isn\u2019t happening within the confines of the venue that we\u2019ve created, that we\u2019re still supporting it,\u201d he added. \u201cThe technology is very important to these virtual worlds and we really want to stay curatorial, first and foremost, whether it\u2019s brands or artists, and then be able to support them wherever their transactions are occurring.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>08<\/p>\n<p>Blockchain needs tech improvements before adoption increases<\/p>\n<p>Despite marketers\u2019 and publishers\u2019 new ventures and experiments with NFTs and cryptocurrencies, the majority of survey respondents haven\u2019t found a reason to use blockchain technology yet. Business relevance is the main barrier to company adoption, with the majority of respondents (71%) saying the technology isn\u2019t relevant to their business.<\/p>\n<p>Of the respondents who aren\u2019t currently using blockchain technology, more than half said they aren\u2019t investing in the technology because it isn\u2019t relevant to their business, while another 16% percent cited a lack of customer interest.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>When it comes to NFTs, the digital tokens are often used to create immediate buzz and awareness around a brand, but companies struggle to maintain ongoing consumer interest. Another challenge is getting audiences to care about acquiring digital art in the form of NFTs. The inability to associate value to some level of ownership of an image, video or other digital asset limits adoption by individuals who have never before bought an NFT or invested in crypto.<\/p>\n<p>Complex Networks\u2019 Wright said finding a long-term approach with added user benefits is needed to retain consumer attention. \u201cIn the short term, there\u2019s no equity or utility in the actual [NFT],\u201d Wright said. \u201cIf you are strategic about how you\u2019re launching it, from a brand standpoint, you can really build a deep connection to your community that is giving them skin in the game to a certain degree of decision making. That\u2019s the lowest barrier of entry, giving them perks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Turner Sports has attempted to do that by creating an <a href=\"https:\/\/digiday.com\/media\/how-publishers-experimented-with-nfts-in-2021\/\">NFT-based golf game called Blockletes<\/a> that gives players the opportunity to buy and increase the value of their NFTs. Yang Adija, svp of digital league business operations, growth and innovation at Turner Sports, said perks can help build communities among users and increase and sustain longer-term consumer interest.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you own a particular NFT or digital collectible, you are then given access to other media assets \u2026 and so these become a rewards program and a ticket that you then own and have access to something that has a value,\u201d Adija said. \u201cBecause you own this, you can sell it or give someone else access to it, and you\u2019ve earned it. It\u2019s yours, and you have jurisdiction.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Turner Sports\u2019 approach is similar to Time magazine\u2019s community building approach noted earlier \u2014 here within a game and there within a cultivated community \u2014 of creating a context in which the NFTs are valuable, and sustaining that context so the NFTs maintain value within it beyond the initial purchase. The companies\u2019 efforts to make NFTs matter to specific circles of users, within specific environments, while not banking on the inherent value of the NFTs, seems to offer a winning strategy.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Cryptocurrency faces some of the same challenges as NFTs in terms of lack of consumer interest, including a need for more widespread use for transactions as opposed to speculation. But a more pressing concern at the moment is market stability.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>With the recent FTX collapse, some prominent companies have begun <a href=\"https:\/\/digiday.com\/marketing\/how-the-ftx-crash-reveals-the-esports-industrys-crypto-partnership-problem\/\">distancing themselves from crypto across the board<\/a>. At last November\u2019s Fortnite Championship Series 2022 Invitational, for example, TSM taped over the FTX sponsor logo. When asked about the move, an Epic Games spokesperson pointed Digiday toward the company\u2019s public event license terms, which restrict the promotion of sponsors in a number of \u201crisky\u201d categories, including crypto.<\/p>\n<p>Gannett\u2019s Cirel, whom Digiday spoke with prior to the recent crypto market crash, said he could see potential for increased use of blockchain if the industry can find a way to move past the technology being discussed theoretically and if cryptocurrencies were narrowed down to a few select digital coins.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen you say blockchain, people automatically think of cryptocurrencies, bitcoin,\u201d Cirel said. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty clear that as those types of services and products and domains become more commonplace that some form of cryptocurrency is an absolute requirement to facilitate the economy. \u2026 One of the things that the industry and the players in the industry have to sort out is how do we divorce the term blockchain from equating to cryptocurrency? Are we going to wind up with hundreds of different ones? I don\u2019t think that\u2019s a sustainable structure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Time\u2019s former president Grossman agreed the technology itself needs to be less at the forefront of discussions and instead must become enmeshed in people\u2019s everyday lives, similar to the way computers evolved. \u201cThe technology right now is leading the conversation, in the way that in the earliest days of PC adoption, people talked about their computers,\u201d Grossman said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat\u2019s really important is [blockchain] will not be mass adopted until the technology is invisible and people are not using the term NFT,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s at the earliest point of the early adopter curve, but we could see, every day, friction being removed from the ecosystem and mass adoption coming.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>IPG Media Lab\u2019s Simon said user experience needs to improve, with more decentralization. \u201cPeople who are theoretically primed to do something like own multiple NFTs from multiple brands and unlock experiences is still a very small number,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of work to be done on the user experience side.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe way those technologies are mainstreamed is that they\u2019re absorbed into the platforms and the platform owners that we already have,\u201d he added. \u201cA lot of the promise of decentralization around Web3 is not guaranteed because decentralization tends to be pretty consumer- and user-hostile.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In order for blockchain technology to see increased future marketer and publisher adoption, further innovations to the technology will likely need to come from tech giants that have the funds and bandwidth to invest in improvements. In the same way that Meta acquired VR headset maker and developer Oculus VR in 2014 and Samsung and Apple are creating AR compatible smartphone camera lenses, other tech companies will need to lay the foundational infrastructure to make blockchain technology readily available before marketers, publishers and consumers alike increase their use.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>So, for now, blockchain remains a largely theoretical emerging technology.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/digiday.com\/marketing\/digiday-research-buzz-aside-how-are-publishers-and-marketers-really-experimenting-with-blockchain\/\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a><br \/>\n Catherine Wolf<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is the fifth part of a research series on the most popular emerging technologies. The series follows up on a report Digiday produced five years ago to discover how technologies previously reported on have evolved and to explore new technologies that have since emerged. In this segment, we look at how publishers and marketers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":598304,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66553,3801,46],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-598303","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-digiday","8":"category-research","9":"category-technology"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=598303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/598304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=598303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=598303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=598303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}