Street Fight Daily: Local Mobile Ads to Soar in 2018, Amazon Posts Record Profits & Ad Revenue

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

Mobile Ads to Soar in 2018, Especially in Local (MediaPost)
This year, local ads on mobile devices sold by pure-play mobile providers will hit $19 billion, according to a new forecast from BIA/Kelsey. In addition, traditional media players will sell another $3.1 billion in mobile ads in 2018, the research firm predicts.

Upserve Uses Restaurant Transaction Data to Track Industry Trends (Street Fight)
Upserve recently released its State of the Restaurant Industry Report, using data pulled from thousands of restaurants and millions of transactions through the United States. Performing a retroactive analysis, Upserve’s data science team looked at 2017 trends to see which predicted trends lived up to the hype, and which fell flat.

Amazon Posts Largest Profit in Its History As Ad Biz Grows (Reuters)
Amazon.com Inc on Thursday reported a profit near $2 billion, the largest in its history, as the online retailer drew millions of new customers to its Prime fast-shipping club for the holiday season and as changes to U.S. tax law added to its bottom line. Digiday: Amazon’s ad biz grew 60% year over year

Raise Report: Uberall, Snowflake Computing, ContentSquare Secure New Funding (Street Fight)
Every two weeks, we round up some of the biggest fundraises taking place in hyperlocal marketing, commerce, and tech. This week’s edition includes funding for Rokid, Unravel Data, Trifacta, and Prodigy.

Factual Expands Location-Based Ad Tools (TechCrunch)
Factual announced Thursday morning that it’s expanding its Geopulse ad-targeting suite, with new products designed to help advertisers measure whether their campaigns drive in-store visits, and to give them more guidance on overall strategy.

Google’s Ad Business Is Showing Holes (Quartz)
Alphabet brought in a lot of cash last quarter thanks to Google’s swelling ad sales. But the business is starting to show holes. Recode: Apple, too, leaves investors ambivalent

Facebook Aims to Soothe Wall Street Over News Feed Changes (NYT)
Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, has embarked on an overhaul of what people see and consume on the social network. The changes have left investors wondering whether people will still spend as much time on the site and whether brands will continue placing as many digital ads there.

Snapchat Is Selling Merchandise in Its App, Possibly Paving Way for More Commerce (The Verge)
Snapchat has dabbled in merchandise before, with branded towels, backpacks, and the infamous dancing hot dog costume. But now the company is taking things a step further with a full-fledged merch store that launched today in the app, which was first spotted by Taylor Lorenz on Twitter.

Pepsi Will Use VR to Craft an Engaging Brand Experience Before Super Bowl (AdWeek)
As an extension to its Super Bowl campaign airing this weekend, Pepsi has created a pop-up VR experience near U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis where visitors can explore a few short scenes based on the brand’s iconic ads of the past.

LBMA Podcast: Woolrich, Oreo Subscriptions, Amazon GO (Street Fight)
This Week in Location Based Marketing is a weekly video podcast from the Location Based Marketing Association with Asif Khan, Rob Woodbridge & Aubriana Lopez. On the show: Kroger, Yext + Duda, eyeQ launches Atom Research: Gasbuddy.

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Joe Zappa is the Managing Editor of Street Fight. He has spearheaded the newsroom's editorial operations since 2018. Joe is an ad/martech veteran who has covered the space since 2015. You can contact him at [email protected]