Hearst Magazines, the world’s largest lifestyle publisher, today announced the launch of AURA, a revolutionary, first-party ad targeting tool that utilizes proprietary AI-enabled technology and multi-dimensional contextual, behavioral and commerce signals to connect advertisers to their most valuable and engaged customers at scale. The announcement was made by Hearst Magazines President Debi Chirichella and Global Chief Revenue Officer Lisa Ryan Howard.
AURA analyzes and activates Hearst’s broad and deep portfolio of first-party data and hundreds of millions of purchase actions from Hearst’s 145 million monthly visitors across its portfolio of more than 25 U.S. brands. The next-gen tool—which leverages a new, proprietary content taxonomy and sophisticated AI—provides a more comprehensive picture of a user than ever before and makes predictive and informed decisions about which ads to serve. The tool will expand globally across Hearst’s 50 brands and 300 million users in late 2024.
“At Hearst, we’re not waiting to be told that cookies are obsolete. We’ve built a next-generation targeting capability at the axis of privacy and performance,” Howard said. “AURA is the first data solution built off first-party data and AI-enabled proprietary content taxonomies, enhanced with purchase signals derived from thousands of product-specific clicks made across our sites each day. AURA takes into consideration billions of signals from our readers — each of whom has many layers around their interests and shopping intentions — and we’re thrilled to introduce this new solution to the market.”
“Using rich first-party data from our trusted fashion and luxury, lifestyle, autos, enthusiast and wellness brands, AURA provides an unmatched and nuanced understanding of our audience,” said Mike Nuzzo, Hearst Magazines senior vice president of data and insights. “For example, through contextual and behavioral signals, we can derive that a pet food shopper visiting one of our sites also happens to be a trail runner and family vacation planner. This multi-layered understanding of our readers ensures that an advertiser accurately targets its most valuable customers—and unlocks new ones—at the most opportune moments.”
Beta testing of the new ad-targeting tool resulted in a double-digit increase in click through rate at scale compared to third-party cookie-based audience targeting tools.
“At Hearst Magazines, we are focused on premium advertising experiences that drive audience attention and engagement,” said Jen Dorre, Hearst Magazines senior vice president of ad product. “With AURA targeting, this convergence has consistently demonstrated increase in attention quality with more privacy-forward outcomes than third-party, cookie-based targeting solutions.”
AURA marks the latest addition to Hearst’s growing suite of ad and audience targeting products that enhance relevance and scalability. The new offering, part of Hearst’s broader investment in digital innovation, delivers an innovative and performant solution that drives results for marketers.
