Could the implementation of 'enclosed landscape designs' help secure the future of publishing companies?
In a bid to regain control and independence from tech giants like Google, Meta, and Apple, leading publishers are turning to a novel approach known as the "hedged garden" strategy. This metaphorical concept, derived from the literal meaning of a hedge as a protective boundary, represents a controlled, semi-closed digital ecosystem where publishers manage and restrict user interaction and content distribution within their own platform or environment.
The idea was first proposed by David Rowley, the vice president for revenue technology at News Corp, at the Cannes publisher roundtable, hosted by Press Gazette and PubMatic, earlier this month. The roundtable, which also saw the attendance of big names like Bloomberg, Mail Metro Media, and the Wall Street Journal, focused on the limitations of open-web programmatic and the need for new ad metrics.
By creating a hedged garden, publishers aim to maintain greater control over content presentation, monetization, and user data. They seek to limit exposure to the unpredictable algorithms or policies of big tech platforms and protect revenue streams from being diverted by external platforms. Moreover, the hedged garden concept allows publishers to build direct relationships with their audiences within a controlled ecosystem.
Some publishers, such as Bauer, Immediate, and others, have already started using Utiq - a telco-backed, privacy-first identity network - to implement their hedged garden strategies. Nathaniel Francis, Bauer's head of data, believes Utiq will empower their first-party strategy by providing a scalable, privacy-compliant solution.
The economics of publishing are grim, and the web is under threat. Many browsers block third-party cookies by default, and publishers are uneasy with surveillance-led ad models but feel stuck with them. The hedged garden offers a more sustainable path for publishers by focusing on trust, transparency, and editorial quality at scale.
However, the execution of a hedged garden requires scale, alignment, and trust among competitors, which can be difficult to achieve. The commercial politics and technical lift of clean rooms, ID matching, and taxonomy standardization are challenging aspects of implementing a hedged garden.
Despite these challenges, a hedged garden could be the last patch of ground worth cultivating in a scorched and shrinking ecosystem. Matthew Rance, Immediate's head of data strategy, stated that the web is under threat, and the only thing publishers can rely on is a direct relationship with the customer.
Recent partnerships, such as the one between News UK, Future, Immediate Media, and The Independent with Ocado Retail on a clean-room alliance using Permutive, demonstrate the growing use of shared standards, compatible identity, and publisher control as a potential way out of the cookie trap. As the industry continues to evolve, the hedged garden strategy may prove to be a crucial tool for publishers navigating the challenges posed by big tech platforms.
- In an effort to combat the dominant influence of tech giants like Google, Meta, and Apple, publishers are adopting a novel strategy called the "hedged garden" approach, which aims to create a controlled digital ecosystem to manage content, monetization, and user data.
- The implementation of a hedged garden strategy involves overcoming technical challenges such as clean rooms, ID matching, and taxonomy standardization, as well as addressing commercial politics among competitors for successful execution.
- As the web faces threats and traditional ad models are questioned, partnerships like the one between News UK, Future, Immediate Media, and The Independent with Ocado Retail on a clean-room alliance using Permutive are evidence of the growing use of shared standards, compatible identity, and publisher control to break free from the cookie trap, advocated by strategies like the hedged garden.
