Street Fight Daily: AMP Delivers on Ads, Agencies Try to Cash In on Voice Tech

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…

Google Says Faster Mobile Ads Are Boosting Clickthrough Rates Up To 200 Percent (AdWeek)
Results showed publishers using AMP, an open-source Google initiative, saw clickthrough rates increase by 200 percent, completion rates increase by 15 percent and ad performance increase 18 percent. Nearly 100 publishers are now using AMP including Mashable, Rodale, L’Express and Trinity Mirror.

Survey of Mobile Marketers Highlights Growing Focus on Location Data, Social Media (Street Fight)
David Card: A new industry-sponsored study of mobile advertisers and agencies offers guidance for hyperlocal marketing providers. Big brands and their agencies are increasing their mobile marketing efforts, with a keen focus on location data and social media integration. eMarketer: Quality and transparency of location data are top concerns for marketers.

What Advertising Companies Are Doing to Capitalize on Voice Tech (Digiday)
Advances in voice-enabled technology are turning services like Alexa, Siri, Cortana and Watson into viable advertising platforms. As a result, agencies are making significant investments in cracking the tech.

How Local Publishers Can Use Email Newsletters to Monetize Their Audiences (Street Fight)
The country’s largest publishers have teams of editors putting together their email newsletters, but local publishers can adopt many of their same strategies with just a little bit of creativity. Here are five strategies for local publishers looking to monetize their email newsletters right now.

Amazon Launches a Beta of Cashier-free, App-based Retail Shopping Experience (TechCrunch)
The straight-forwardly named “Just Walk Out” technology ought to give you a pretty good idea of what Amazon Go is all about. Launching in beta this year to Amazon employees at a single 1,800 square foot location in its native Seattle, Go is a “new kind of store with no checkout required.”

Uber Bets on Artificial Intelligence With Acquisition and New Lab  (New York Times)
With the Geometric Intelligence deal, Uber, which is now valued at close to $70 billion, said it hoped that Dr. Marcus’s team could harness the wealth of data it collects from the millions of daily Uber rides. The company wants to use the data to make major advances in how computers behind self-driving vehicles think and make decisions on the road.

Beacon Maker Gimbal Acquired By Mobile Advertising Film (MediaPost)
Beacons are heading into mainstream advertising. In a major beacon move, Gimbal, the well-known Qualcomm spinoff, was just acquired by The Mobile Majority, a Los Angeles-based mobile advertising firm.

Consumer Citations Are the Future of Local SEO (Search Engine Land)
Consumers mentioning a local brand within an online platform can offer a number of benefits that ultimately allow small businesses to increase their visibility within each major search engine. Here’s why…

Get Street Fight Daily in your inbox! Subscribe to our newsletter.