Digiday+ Research: Buzz aside, how are publishers and marketers really experimenting with blockchain?
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 are using blockchain technology.
Despite a lot of hype surrounding non-fungible token drops and cryptocurrency investments, blockchain technology 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.Â
NFTs and cryptocurrency were hot buzzwords in 2021, with brands and publishers ramping up investments and experiments – or at least paying lip service to doing so. But by late 2022, the daily market size of NFTs on Ethereum, 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, according to Statista.Â
- Only 16% of marketer and publisher respondents invest in or use blockchain, making it the most theoretical emerging technology in Digiday’s series. More than 70% said they do not use it at all.
- Of those who do use blockchain, more than half (51%) rely on third-party vendors to build their blockchain technology.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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%. Â
- 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.