Street Fight Daily: In-House Programmatic Expands, Facebook Demotes Engagement-Baiting Posts

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

Transparency and Brand-Safety Concerns Drive Expansion of In-House Programmatic (MediaPost)
With heightened concerns about brand safety and transparency, more marketers are taking control of their programmatic advertising activities, according to a new survey from the Association of National Advertisers released today.

State of Hyperlocal 2018: Very Early Returns From Street Fight’s Annual Survey (Street Fight)
David Card: It’s a truism in tech businesses that you should be just a little ahead of your customers, but not too far beyond their current focus. Street Fight’s third annual State of Hyperlocal survey aims to assist in that, as well as help companies prioritize their R&D and product marketing and development.

Facebook Will Soon Demote Posts That Beg for Likes, Comments, and Shares (The Verge)
“Moving forward, we will continue to find ways to improve and scale our efforts to reduce engagement bait,” Facebook said. “We want to reduce the spread of content that is spammy, sensational, or misleading in order to promote more meaningful and authentic conversations on Facebook.”

Refinery29 Lays Off Staff, Citing a ‘Correction in the Digital Media Space’ (Business Insider)
The women-focused publisher Refinery29 is the latest media company to trim staff as the industry faces stiff headwinds. The company is letting go of 34 staffers, or about 7.5% of its staff, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Snapchat is Still Teens’ Social Favorite, But Instagram Offers Facebook a Chance to Catch Up (Recode)
Some good news for Snap: Despite its sluggish business and slumping stock price, Snapchat still dominates among teenagers, a core demographic that represents the future wave of internet consumers and what they care about.

Amazon Buying Whole Foods Was a Big Win for Instacart (Quartz)
Michael Cohen: Grocery stores had been keeping a wary eye on Amazon. When word came in June that the e-commerce giant was buying Whole Foods for $13.7 billion, big grocery chains scrambled for a response. They found one in startups like Instacart.

Ikea Is Stepping into Virtual Reality (AdWeek)
Ikea created a virtual-reality experience for one of its store openings in a Dallas suburb, immersing visitors in an Ikea world where they could play a “pillow toss” game with a coffee table or hang out with a panda inside a bamboo lamp.

The Telegraph is on a Mission to Amass 10 Million Registered Readers (Digiday)
The Telegraph wants to grow its registered readers to 10 million. The goal is to shift away from valuing mass-reach audience numbers in favor of building a more loyal readership of logged-in users.

What Apple’s Analytics Tool Means for Podcast Publishers (AdExchanger)
Podcast publishers, rejoice: At long last, Apple has released the beta version of its podcast analytics tool.

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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]