Evolving the Publisher Tech Stack: From Fragmented Tools to Strategic Intelligence

By: Katherine Ruane, Director of Strategic Marketing at Mather April 14th, 2025

Many publishers across Europe have made meaningful progress toward digital revenue growth. Pricing strategies have evolved, internal teams are more aligned, and organizations are delivering stronger user experiences across platforms. But one area still slows momentum: the technology stack. Most publishers aren’t short on tools. In fact, many are managing quite a few. The real challenge is how those tools fit together—or, more often, how they don’t.

How Fragmentation Holds Publishers Back

Most publisher tech stacks weren’t built all at once. Tools were added gradually to solve specific problems or support the needs of individual teams. A paywall here. An analytics platform there. Ad tech chosen by one department, subscription tools by another. The result is a stack made up of capable systems that often operate in isolation. This fragmentation can lead to:

Redundant functionality and inefficiencies

Data trapped in silos

Decisions made without full context

Missed opportunities to personalize or capture value from each user

Even with strong technology, it’s difficult to deliver cohesive experiences or optimize revenue when systems aren’t working together. A More Connected Approach to Revenue For most publishers, the goal isn’t to prioritize one revenue stream over another. It’s to support both advertising and subscriptions in a coordinated way. That starts by recognizing the range of value each user can bring—whether they’re anonymous, registered, engaged, or paying—and continues with systems that can respond to that value in real time. Pete Doucette, Senior Managing Director at Mather, envisions the optimal publisher tech stack as shown below, one that supports both sides of the business through a more integrated, intelligence-driven approach. Breaking it down:

On the left, consumer-facing tools support personalization, registration, access control, billing, and subscriber engagement.

On the right, ad systems manage consent, segmentation, viewability, and monetization.

At the center is the user, interacting with both sides of your business.

And running through it all is an intelligence layer, the foundation that helps systems coordinate and make better decisions.

What the Intelligence Layer Unlocks The intelligence layer isn’t just another tool. It’s the part of the stack that allows everything else to function more strategically. It brings together behavioral signals, decision logic, and predictive models so that teams across the organization can work from a shared understanding of user value. This layer helps you:

Align teams around common priorities and consistent data

Balance short- and long-term revenue goals

Serve the right experience to the right user at the right time

Adjust offers, pricing, or access based on behavior and context

It provides a common decision-making framework across editorial, product, marketing, and revenue teams, helping everyone act with more clarity and coordination. Moving Toward a Smarter, More Connected Stack You don’t need to rebuild everything to see results. Here are a few steps that can help you get more from the stack you already have:

Take inventory: Look at your current tools and how they’re being used. Where are there overlaps? Where are teams relying on disconnected systems? Where is data stuck?
Define what success looks like: Choose a clear, organization-wide goal—whether it’s growing digital subscriptions, increasing ARPU, or improving retention—and ensure your stack is built to support it.
Connect your systems :Make sure the platforms powering content, subscriptions, and advertising are integrated. When data flows between systems, decisions can be made with better context and consistency.
Clarify your decision drivers: Identify the behaviors and signals that matter most—such as visit frequency, engagement depth, or churn risk—and outline how your stack should respond to them.
Encourage cross-team collaboration: Technology can’t solve for misaligned goals. Make sure teams are working from shared KPIs and coordinated frameworks so decisions are aligned across departments.

Final Thought

Strong technology is only as valuable as the strategy it supports. For publishers looking to grow revenue in a more coordinated way, the next opportunity isn’t about adding more tools. It’s about helping the ones you already have work better together. If you're in the process of evaluating your tech stack, don't miss our guide on how to frame the decision to build, partner, or buy. It’s designed to help you weigh the options and move forward with clarity. Curious about how our Tech Stack Audit service can support your goals? Connect with Mather's SVP of Technology, Arvid Tchivzhel to learn more.

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