Editor’s note: This is one of 17 case studies featured in INMA’s strategic report “Making Big Data Smarter For Media Companies,” released in December.

Argentina’s Grupo Clarín is developing its data plan and considering third-party data sources as well as software solutions, says Santiago Bozzano, an analyst in Grupo Clarín’s corporate strategy department.

In early 2014, the company began talks with several data vendors that also offer products such as search, analytics, sales, and advertising segmentation. 

The goal is to expand the company’s understanding of its audience and advertisers. Grupo Clarín plans to select a provider that has the ability to interact with third-party technology at a low price point. 

The company has also been evaluating ad-serving software, Bozzano says, including Google’s DoubleClick, Smart AdServer, and E-Planning, a provider of online marketing tools headquartered in Argentina. 

Bozzano believes it is important that Grupo Clarín understands the differences between users whose information is captured in its various databases — such as users from an e-commerce site in its portfolio and those from a coupon site — and players of its online game for soccer fans.

“We must take into account that we should not cross these databases to make e-mail offers since a content consumer is a very different one from a game consumer,” he says. 

Protecting the personal information gathered is also a “key point” for Grupo Clarín. Says Bozzano: “We must protect our customer’s privacy since it’s vital for every business. We do not pressure our clients/readers to give us information they do not want to share.” 

Bozzano outlined his view of the process of converting casual visitors to Grupo Clarín’s portfolio of sites into paying customers: “I think the big first step is to identify the audience that visits the portfolio of digital sites. 

“Then I believe that a simple registration could give us basic information about our readers, and finally it’s time to push a more aggressive information request that involves the validation of the customer through a payment process of content/services,” he says.

The key, Bozzano says, is the initial step of identifying the “‘anonymous Web surfers” who currently make up 80% to 90% of visitors to Grupo Clarín sites.

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