Dive Brief:

• Publishers are struggling to monetize data pulled from paywall subscriptions. 
• Advertisers are able to pull reader data at a larger scale from Google and Facebook, dwarfing publishers' first-party data. 
• The Financial Times is an exception in that it targets 75% of its advertising with its finely tuned first party data -- and charges 20 to 50% more for readers identified as C-suite executives, financial advisers and other select, high-value categories from paywall login information. 

Dive Insight: 

The Financial Times has the right idea in focusing on the exclusivity and specificity that only its first-party data can provide. Advertisers can find out a lot of things like location, age, habits, etc, but it's hard to discover who is a C-suite executive from Google or Facebook. 

For some publishers, paywalls may not be the answer. Google released a product called Google Surveys last fall that allows publishers to ask a survey question rather than require a login. That data can then be used to target and sell advertising on the publishers site. Sometimes going with the Google current will be a more viable option for publishers.