News and Analysis
Ad Tech Execs Weigh in on Coronavirus Ads, Google and Twitter, and Misinformation
I turned to a number of ad tech execs for their expert perspectives on the risks and rewards of digital advertising on this extraordinarily high-stakes issue. While expectedly optimistic about the benefits of coronavirus-related messaging for savvy brands, the business leaders diverged on the responsibility and capability of Google and Twitter to monitor the veracity of the content they host. They also made distinct cases for advertising at a time when brand messaging requires extra sensitivity, arguing that both brands and their customers have something to gain if businesses provide accurate information, focus on customers’ needs, and showcase the ways they are adapting in a time of crisis.
Publishers Create a Lag In the In-App Ad Market By Ignoring New Standards
For more than a year now, we have seen trend data that indicates massive mobile in-app programmatic spend growth, with in-app video leading the way. Our own numbers confirm these trends.
This is a seeming slam dunk for app publishers, but many of them are dragging their feet to take advantage of the new revenue opportunity. Notably, they are not implementing quality measures like app-ads.txt or the IAB’s Open Measurement SDK that brands are looking for. Both of these standards benefit publishers as much as they benefit brands and indicate a commitment to quality in-app inventory. It’s important to get out in front and show proactive initiatives as buyers decide with whom to trade and how.
Covid-19 Is Changing Ad Auctions, Creating New Opportunities for Brands
Amidst all the uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus pandemic, savvy marketers are finding new opportunities to reach consumers at discounted rates. According to data compiled by Goodway Group, competition within ad auctions has gone down 13% since early March, and win rates are up 54% during the same time period.
The drop in competition within ad auctions is largely the result of brands pulling back on digital advertising during the outbreak. Most experts agree that dropping out entirely is a mistake, since it gives competitors an opportunity to convert new brand loyalists, but continuing to run existing campaigns without acknowledging the current economic and global health realities can be costly as well.
Commentary
Selling to Multi-Location Brands: Applying Geotargeting Lessons to Mobile Push
Mobile push marketing is one of the most popular technologies multi-location brands say they’re interested in exploring in the near term. Suppliers of local marketing technologies and services can help them do more than explore by taking lessons from brands that have had success with geotargeting.
Q&A, Reviews, and Fake News on Google: False Content Is Not Just a Facebook Problem
“Given the primacy of Google’s market position, and the primacy of Knowledge Panels in SERPs—also a conscious product decision on Google’s part—the percentage of customers who are likely to come across fake information is great,” David Mihm tells Mike Blumenthal in their biweekly column.
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Building the Essential Digital Marketing Bundle for Local Businesses
“Last time we identified our essential digital bundle for small businesses,” says David Mihm to Mike Blumenthal. “This week I thought we might tackle how agencies and media companies might go about building and selling that bundle — and why there seem to be so few who are actually doing it.”
Local’s Next Hurdle: The Impressionable Use Fallacy
No matter how good the targeting, creative, and “right person, right place,” the vast majority of our time contains urgencies that render us immune to push-based mobile ads. It’s basically a question of how often we’re actually idle, and therefore impressionable to being rerouted from a deliberate course.
Street Fight Daily: Lyft’s Impact on Hyperlocal Commerce, Facebook’s Ad-Counting Troubles Persist
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Lyft Touts Its Benefits for Hyperlocal Commerce… Facebook Reports New Issues with Ad-Counting Tools… In Smart Home Race, Microsoft, Google, Amazon Vie to Be ‘Hub of Everything You Do Online’ …
Street Fight Daily: Target Uses Data to Boost Brands, ProPublica Aims to Fill Local News Void
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Target Capitalizes on Shopper Data, Collaborates with In-House Brands On Programmatic… Attempting To Fill A Local News Void, ProPublica Launches Illinois Unit… Major Retailer Leverages Social To Score During Holiday Season…
TownNews Founder: News Sites Will ‘Perish’ Without Latest AdTech
In 1989, Marc Wilson’s Montana news bulletin board put editorial content into the hands of other local-news publishers more quickly, abundantly, and cheaply. Today, Wilson’s TownNews.com serves 1,600 newspapers — big and small, daily and weekly — as well as pure-plays and other digital publications
Street Fight Daily: Twitter Struggles with Publishers, Retail Marketing and Measurement
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Falling Behind Snapchat and Facebook, Twitter Struggles to Attract Publishers… How Retail Marketing Changes As Measurement Tools Improve… Where the Digital Dollars Have Gone: How 15 Major Media Companies Have Invested in Digital…
PlaceIQ’s New Service Looks to Give Brands the Full Competitive Picture
As more and more brands invest in location-based marketing campaigns, there’s a crucial need to zoom out and see the big picture. In an effort to bring marketers to this full circle moment, PlaceIQ today is debuting LandMark, a new data-as-a-service capability that allows brands access to their location-based audience and insights platform.
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The Road Ahead: What Autonomous Cars Teach Us About Marketing Automation