How the ‘Trump bump’ and first-party data increased Q4 revenue for a politics website

There are two areas that “owning your audience” should be divided into: how a publisher reaches an audience and how a publisher earns revenue from that audience. Until recently, the latter was much more difficult for most digital publishers, but a shift, enabled by the maturation of technology that allows publishers to directly trade their own first-party data across programmatic channels, has given publishers the ability to leverage that data and widen the revenue gap from publishers who don’t. 

A study performed at Ezoic of how individual publishers after implementing first-party on their site revealed  one recent case from a publisher that had started using Ezoic’s ezID in the 4th quarter of 2024. The publisher, “Adam” (an alias), had implemented a first-party data-driven strategy that resulted in a $50,000 revenue increase in less than three months during Q4 2024. It demonstrates how first-party data can enhance business practices, efficiency, growth and strategy.

Adam agreed to share how he combined a first-party data strategy with the “Trump bump”—a term used here to describe the increased political news consumption spurred by Donald Trump’s presidential campaign—to thrive in a competitive space.

Adam is an experienced publisher with a small team managing several digital properties. In recent years, he decided to transform his political history website into a hybrid news and fan site for Trump supporters, recognizing that producing evergreen content and relying solely on SEO was becoming an outdated strategy.

Adam’s vision was twofold: First, he wanted complete control over reaching and engaging his audience without relying on external platforms like Google or social media. Second, he sought to monetize his audience directly, without intermediaries taking a cut of his ad revenue. First-party data would be the key to achieving both.

He started by leveraging paid social media campaigns to refine his targeting. Testing different headlines, images, and content types, he learned what resonated most with his audience—information he then applied to email newsletters and organic content strategies. This iterative approach helped him build a loyal and valuable readership.

As privacy regulations and browser changes make third-party tracking less reliable, first-party data has become critical. For Adam, this shift opened up opportunities to match his audience with advertisers eager to reach politically engaged readers.

In one example, Adam’s team identified a large audience segment earning 89.3% higher revenue per session (RPS) that was highly engaged with stories about businessman Elon Musk, a specific government policy and Trump. This allowed him to create targeted content and marketing campaigns to great success, demonstrated by improved email open rates, increased returning visitor percentages and higher revenue from social media and email campaigns.

Before Q4 2024, Adam implemented ezID to integrate first-party data identity protocols. Almost immediately, his revenue per session (RPS) jumped by 21%. He soon discovered that advertiser platforms used first-party data not only for targeting but also as a proxy for site quality, driving higher bids and more competition for his ad space.

For audience segments matched to advertiser ad-IDs via ezID, the results were even more impressive: a 53% increase in RPS. In total, Adam’s first-party data efforts generated an additional $50,000 in Q4 revenue beyond his projections. He dubbed this effect the “Thirst for First”—as advertisers actively sought out high-quality, first-party data-driven inventory.

The results were staggering. His new Trump-focused site rapidly expanded, surpassing 600,000 subscribers. His daily email campaigns began generating between $38,000 and $68,000 per month. By segmenting his lists and tailoring content to the highest-value readers, he doubled his newsletter CTR and dramatically increased engagement.

Higher, better-quality ad revenue:

• Ad-ID matched segments earned 50.2% more per session compared with non-matched and unknown segments.
• The implementation of first-party data identity protocols led to a 21.8% average increase in RPS across all traffic.

Top-performing content segments:

• Segments engaging with content related to Elon Musk, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and Donald Trump demonstrated 91% higher RPS compared with the average RPS prior to implementing first-party data.

Record-setting, data-driven growth:

• Revenue per visit increased by 40%, resulting in over $50,000 of additional revenue in Q4.
• This growth was driven by refined strategies for identifying and targeting high-value readers through both paid and organic digital marketing efforts.

Lower costs, faster profitability:

• The first-party data initiative boosted ad fill rates by 16%.
• Data-driven segmented email campaigns revealed a 60% overlap between readers engaging with Trump news and related political updates. This enabled smaller, more targeted campaigns that achieved nearly two times click-through rates (CTR).
• Insights from email campaign data and high-RPS visitor profiles allowed Adam to improve paid social campaigns, reducing costs by 30% while increasing ROI.

Replicating the strategies that helped Adam’s site secure an extra $50,000 in the final months of 2024. Here are the key takeaways for publishers looking to adopt first-party data strategies:

1. Start with logged-in users: Encourage account creation or newsletter signups to collect meaningful, consent-based data.
2. Segment and target: Use data to identify high-value audience segments and tailor content and ads to their preferences.
3. Invest in a total audience strategy: Implement identity protocols to unlock revenue opportunities. Platforms like Ezoic’s [ezID] simplify the end-to-end process and can be paired with marketing and analytics tools to build and connect with readers.

As advertisers shift budgets toward privacy-first solutions, industry momentum is painting a clear picture: publishers who embrace first-party data stand to gain the most. Whether through email campaigns, logged-in users or targeted ads, the opportunity to capitalize on these trends has never been greater.