How the San Francisco Chronicle and SFGate use data and AI to drive revenue: Ginger Neal

By Christi Warren

Media companies should look at the ways Google, Amazon, Netflix and Facebook leverage data to target their audiences. That’s a methodology that Ginger Neal leverages every day in her role as senior vice president for advertising at the San Francisco Chronicle and SFGate. Ms. Neal spoke at the 10^th Data & AI for Media Week at Microsoft in San Francisco on May 3.

Specifically: Google funnels customers to what those customers want at that very moment. Amazon and Netflix make personalized recommendations that increase the usefulness of their services. And Facebook uses deep information about its users’ likes and habits, which make it a favorite for advertisers.

At Hearst, the parent company of the San Francisco Chronicle and SFGate, they did a level-setting about a year ago to completely reimagine how they use their own in-house data to effectively market to consumers. As a result, they are able to produce a better product at a minimized risk for privacy concerns through the use of their first-party data gathering.

“We get so hung up looking at what the other newspapers are doing, but look at what Google is doing,” Neal said. “Look at what Facebook is doing. We need to start thinking about it that way.”