Street Fight Daily: Voice Fuels CNBC’s Efforts to Monetize, Inside Google Maps’ Data Gold Mine

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

CNBC Eyes Monetization After Its Voice Audience Doubled This Year (Digiday)
After promising levels of its audience returned each week to use its Alexa skill, CNBC’s global ad sales team will start selling audio sponsorship packages to advertisers in the next few months.

This Cartographer’s Deep Dive Into Google Maps Is Fascinating (The Verge)
The layers of data surrounding Google Maps basically make it impossible for Apple or any competitor to ever catch up. “Google has gathered so much data, in so many areas, that it’s now crunching it together and creating features that Apple can’t make — surrounding Google Maps with a moat of time,” Justin O’Beirne writes.

Case Study: How a Brooklyn Retailer Brings E-Commerce Shoppers In-Store (Street Fight)
As a local store selling gifts and other mid-century modern vintage items in Brooklyn, New York, Woods Grove has a hard time competing with national chains. But the local retailer has managed to piggyback on the success of e-commerce heavyweights like Everlane and Tradesy.

The Top Stories and Trends of 2017 in Data-Driven Advertising (AdExchanger)
2017 was also a year of upheaval. Fallout from Apple’s Safari changes and Google’s YouTube changes concerned many readers. And there was a tremendous amount of interest in new auction models and new agency structures, as company in-housing came into favor while trade desks fell out.

Apple Changes Business of Selling Users’ Browser Data (WSJ)
Online advertising is under siege from an unlikely coalition of privacy campaigners: Apple and European regulators. The only long-term solution may be for websites to be more explicit about how they make money from customer data.

Amazon Is One Step Closer to Making Deliveries Inside Your Home (Quartz)
Just in time for the holidays, Amazon has acquired Blink, a venture-capital backed startup that makes home security cameras. The deal likely brings Amazon closer to its latest delivery ambition, of placing stuff from its warehouses directly inside your home.

How AR and VR Will Reshape the Food Industry (TechCrunch)
Jenny Dorsey: Three main areas – human resources, customer experiences, food products – have seen the most concentration of AR/VR development so far and will likely continue to push the envelope on what use cases AR & VR have within the industry.

Uber to Sell U.S. Auto-Leasing Business to Startup Fair.com (WSJ)
Uber has agreed to sell its U.S. subprime auto-leasing business to startup car marketplace Fair.com, people familiar with the matter said, bringing to an end the ride-hailing giant’s failed attempt to attract new drivers who lack regular access to vehicles.

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