Different types of demand generation publishers
Written by Darren Griffin on December 04, 2025
Content syndication remains one of the most reliable ways to fill the top of the funnel in B2B marketing, but not all publishers are the same.
There are a few different types of publishers that specialize in Cost Per Lead (CPL )based campaigns, this article goes into more detail on the different types of publishers, their pros and cons and who you should consider testing.
Quite often Field and Demand marketers are constrained, juggling multiple responsibilities with never enough time. Reaching out to the well-known names – ‘branded publishers’ is often the simplest route to take, you may already be running display or sponsorship campaigns with them and have pre-established relationships. But depending on what your KPIs are, there are many more publishers that are typically not as well known that you should be considering to test.
Below I’ll go through the 3 main different types, the pros and cons of each and what questions you should be asking when engaging with them.
Data led publishers
These are the most common type of publisher within the content syndication demand generation universe.
They are typically aggregating huge amounts of data, enriching, refining and sorting so that they can offer a wide range of targeting firmographics to clients.
They typically market to their databases using ‘legitimate interest’ as the basis for reaching out and directing their contacts to a gated registration page which they will then use to gain a consumer’s firmographic details and consent for you to market to them.
Crucially, one thing to consider is that there is a difference between reach and available audience.
Just because a publisher has 1 millions records that fit your ICP, does not mean they will be sending out your content to all of those 1 million records.
The aim is to generate the amount of leads booked with the least data attrition and wastage, if they can generate 100 leads by only sending out 100 emails, then that is what they will do. Of course, the real number they send to will be a lot higher than that.
Pros
- Cost effective leads
- Extensive global reach across geos, industry sectors, company sizes and personas
- Generating guaranteed price leads and set volumes is their main focus, they are experts in forecasting and overcoming obstacles in this arena
- They are outreach specialists who have methods to get into relevant inboxes, engage users to generate high volumes
Cons
- You must do extensive due diligence and compliance checks to ensure that both you and your legal teams are happy that they are complying with GDPR, CCPA, CANSPAM and other local regulatory requirements
- These types of publishers can be aggressive in nature – the publisher is being paid on the result of generating a lead thus will target the relevant audience with limited frequency control so it should be considered when thinking about brand reputation
- Further to brand reputation, a lot of these publishers may use telemarketing to generate leads, a lot of our clients will only allow leads to be generated via email, make sure you can mandate how the outreach is done on your behalf
- These publishers are usually not a recognised ‘voice’ to your ICP so could be deemed less engaged.
When to use
- These partners are an essential part of the media mix when you are looking to scale up your lead generation programs, they can deliver high volumes at a reasonable cost
Editorial led publishers
These are the more traditional publishers that have the type of relevant content that we read and engage with regularly. These can be in the form of newsletters, editorial content on their website, webinars, podcasts, etc. You will have actively opted in to be part of their database.
These publishers typically make their money through the following routes; traditional display advertising, sponsorship and events. They won’t typically offer the type of demand generation that many of our client’s are looking for as this type of activity can be quite data intensive and can decimate a database in terms of unsubscribes.
The value for a traditional publisher is not usually in demand generation, but, then they do offer some demand generation programs!
You know what, let’s talk about what these look like.
They will typically offer a package such as a webinar, this will contain things such as an editorially led program, lots of advertising and brand exposure, and an expected but not a guaranteed number of leads generated from their audience. The cost to a publisher for these types of packages is very low. They are usually using unsold advertising inventory on their site and in their email newsletters to drive registrations and attendees.
These programs can be great value and deliver some very high value leads, but conversely those leads will be hidden in an avalanche of leads or personas that you don’t want to engage with. Leadscale can help with finding the gold-dust in these types of campaigns.
The other way they will generate guaranteed price and volume leads is by farming the campaign out to a third party, often a data-led publisher. Unless you ask, or know to ask, you won’t often know they’re doing this.
Pros
- They can generate better brand recognition as they will typically have a very engaged audience
- They can provide great trusted editorially led campaigns that can potentially be repurposed for your own use
Cons
- Their lead gen programs can involve a lot of operational work
- It can be difficult to find the gold-dust in the leads that are generated
- They can’t usually provide guaranteed numbers in terms of leads generated and whether they fit the ICP you’re looking for
When to use
- Brand and demand are an essential part of demand generation programs, these publishers are one of the best arenas to run display and sponsorship branding campaigns
- Be aware, that their lead generation programs while providing great exposure, won’t usually fulfil your lead generation volume goals
Hybrid publishers
These are a combination of the previous 2, they will have their own internal data but may also use third party sub-publishers to complete campaigns.
They will often create additional useful tools for demand generation campaigns such as intent and retargeting across their first party networks. This will often be alongside third-party integrations into programmatic networks among others.
Pros
- Can provide great one stop solutions to smaller companies with smaller budgets
- Have some good options around multi-touch leads.
Cons
- Can be hard to scale up demand generation within their sole eco-system
When to use
- These can be useful one stop shops for smaller firms that will fulfil both brand and demand needs, but when looking to scale up demand generation campaigns you will need to look at bringing in several different partners so that you can start testing find the best sources of value
Other options
Blind Networks – Something to be aware of is that there are a lot of publishers who act as a ‘blind network’, what this means is that they will hand out your campaigns to a sub-publisher for completion but don’t usually tell you who they’re using on your behalf. Make sure you’re asking who is generating the leads, how those leads are being generated and that you are seeing all creatives and call scripts that are being used.
Review sites & Peer communities – these are well known sites like G2 and Capterra, you should be on top of keeping your profile up to date here, they are great for organic, high intent traffic. They have various PPC and sponsorship options available to generate more leads for you but as with any PPC campaign, lead volumes aren’t guaranteed
Question you should ask every publisher
Do you use your own data or do you ever use third party publishers? (are they a blind network)
What processes do you have in place for a Subject Access Request?
How do you comply with GDPR/CCPA/CANSPAM and other relevant local regulatory needs?
Do you resell leads? (for instance if you are a cyber security firm, do they then sell your lead onto another cyber security firm)
What processes do you have in place to ensure that you are only buying leads that fit your campaign specifications?
Leadscale offers you access to a demand gen universe that has gone through rigorous due diligence and compliance checks so that you can take advantage of this transparency and control to ensure you are aware of what you are buying.
Contact me @ darren.griffin@leadscale.com if you would like some help shining a light into what can be an opaque journey and to scale up your existing demand generation programs while finding the key areas to gain value.
FAQ: Understanding Demand Generation Publishers
Content syndication is the distribution of branded content (eBooks, whitepapers, webinars) often through third-party channels. Demand generation is the broader strategy that uses content syndication as one of several methods to attract, nurture, and convert leads.
Content syndication is the distribution of branded content (eBooks, whitepapers, webinars) often through third-party channels. Demand generation is the broader strategy that uses content syndication as one of several methods to attract, nurture, and convert leads.
Data-led publishers often deliver lower CPLs due to scale and automation, while editorial-led publishers charge higher CPLs because of brand authority and niche audience quality. Hybrid publishers typically fall in between.
Always ask for written confirmation of lawful data collection bases (e.g., legitimate interest or explicit consent), review their Subject Access Request process, and verify whether they resell data to other advertisers.
Track more than just lead volume. Assess lead-to-MQL/SQL/pipeline contribution conversion rates and effective costs per those metrics by publisher.
Blind networks redistribute campaigns through sub-publishers without disclosing who runs them. They can deliver volume but pose brand safety and compliance risks unless properly vetted.
Combine publisher types: use editorial-led partners for credibility and visibility, and data-led or hybrid publishers for scalable lead generation. Consider orchestrating data to multiple channels to generate more brand uplift once someone has opted-in to your database.
