Category: Commentary

Commentary

Strategic Analytics

Edition #378 On strategic analytics, metaverse and YouTube shorts. One big thing Daily rituals drive behavior. Like reaching for a cup of coffee each morning, one hand coffee, other hand phone. As you sip, you read, or watch, or interact. On the other side of that screen is billions of dollars of R&D, to keep you engaged. And largely, it is successful. For any business, in that equation, most of us got attention by turning up. But that’s no longer good enough, we have to provide a richer experience. Whereas being in the inbox used to be enough, that no longer works. Because everyone is a swipe away from something else more interesting. It’s like when I pop into the local pub, they could open their doors in a good location and get foot traffic. Now, you’ll see someone on the street, checking the reviews before deciding to pop in. And even walking off if the reviews don’t line up. Ok, so right location and right reviews. In delivering excellence, we need to be smarter with strategy. And that’s why analytics needs to be more involved in what goes on in strategy. To provide context for strategy and to give the lay of the land. Not only internal but also external context. We’ve recently polished up our enterprise services page. To highlight where companies are allocating resource and capital, to get ahead. It’s no grand secret, like most solid advice, it’s the basics, done well, which make all the difference. Which ties into this post on strategy, planning and improving execution. With Brady Moore, a former Green Beret, getting into the weeds. Worth a read. So as you look to navigate the ever changing market, consider, what is our strategy? How do we know we’ve made progress on that strategy? And how do we know when we should change? Or pause or abandon ship. Speaking of ships, it was only this week I discovered that Chelsea Piers was the destination for the Titanic, and that some of the survivors were brought there aboard the Carpathia. There are discoveries to be found around every corner. Notable stories this week Paul Graham shared a video of him writing/editing a piece from scratch. Would love to see more of this type of content. YouTube shorts could steal TikTok’s thunder with a better deal for creators. Netflix’s new ad chief has an appetite for danger. With first CMO hire, OpenWeb hopes to de-troll the discussions and data space for publishers and Contently names Dawn DiLorenzo as new Head of Marketing. Spotify now sells audiobooks. Hints at opportunities to advertise within audiobooks. TheAtlantic is pushing into film and TV projects. Ted Lasso and AFC Richmond are coming to FIFA 23. NFL signs Apple Music as Super Bowl halftime sponsor. As we saw Prime Video rocket up the app charts are debut of football. Publicis Sapient ‘all in’ on the metaverse, finds VR adoption not so hot. Netflix is opening a video game studio in Finland. Attentive, Galloway dives into the analogies between the oil business and attention businesses. Podcasters are buying millions of listeners through mobile=game ads. Arghh. Hacker breaches Fast Company systems to send offensive Apple News notifications. Brands blast Twitter for ads next to child pornography accounts. Google focuses on making search more visual. TripAdvisor built a travel media biz before retail media took off - and now it’s got a creative studio too. "Marketing needs marketing” The curious case of Tony’s Chocolonely. Continue reading

Ben Young

September 30, 2022

Commentary

Netflix Ads Measurement

Edition #377 Netflix measurement, who is bringing back blogging and live sports. My riff on Netflix measurement is a bit longer than normal, but it does highlight that what may look like an easy task initially, is not. One big thing Ana Miliceviz of Sparrow put on a Twitter spaces this week with Eric Seufert, Terry Kawaja and Lou Paskalis jumping in. Myself just a regular listener. And the chat is good, you can catch the recording. Of course the conversation naturally touched on the issue of measurement. As Netflix may launch without measurement and are struggling to measure reach. I thought I'd share more on why this isn't as simple as it seems. To think about measurement of Netflix ads, we need to think about what makes Netflix good. And consistently it is the experience, the app, whilst having received flack over time, I would say is consistently better than the competition. Have you ever used YouTube, even on your phone, and the ad has loaded in high quality, then the video itself is slow to load or in low quality? The reason is the ads are hosted somewhere else. This is exactly what Netflix will want to avoid, a diminished experience. And, on tv, sitting on the couch. That’s exactly what you don’t want. So the addition of ads, is a genuine threat on their core product experience. And to make that product experience good, Netflix has pioneered many different creative ways of delivering content to you. They auto generate many different ratios of a tv show, so that if you are on mobile, and your signal drops, it can swap to a different version seamlessly. They have experimented with putting more ‘local hubs’ of storage for content closer to you. And often they have deals with ISPs, who provide your internet, to have local caches of shows with them. All of this to help avoid, what happened with shows like Game of Thrones on HBO, bringing the service down. Each of these content optimization decisions, means, that adding an ad to a tv show, is not that simple. For example, lets say I’m in New Zealand, and I open up Stranger Things, chances are it is cached at the local ISP, which is within 25km of me. So the show loads fast. But the ad, has to ping the Microsoft server, and respond, then send me an ad. That ad isn’t cached on the ISP. So the dynamic relationship with the user changes. Now you want to get measurement in there, in a timely fashion. Then you have to consider all the different ways people watch Netflix! In a browser, on my tv, from my Apple TV, iPad, iPhone. On our iPad mini, we have an old, no longer supported version of the Netflix app, which still works. Xboxes, PlayStation’s, all the Android devices. Each of these, has to be compliant, and then in a way that avoids opening the kimono and having to update all of these apps. We once did a campaign with a telecommunication company, spurred on by direct emails to customers. And we saw over 30,000 different versions of browsers opening the content. And the long tail included browsers that were off the market for over 10 years, Windows 98 etc. It happens. For Netflix, this is no small undertaking. That is the context, at which you need to think about adding measurement. The technical delivery of a measurement pixel, is a herculean effort itself. And that’s without even considering adding third party pixels etc. My inkling is that measurement on Netflix will be a lot longer than anyone thinks, as they navigate these challenges. Once you’ve got technical delivery set, you also need to consider data leakage. Is our methodology retaining privacy. As just by virtue of all of these things phoning home, you can be giving data away. At this point, Netflix can then start to think about what their roadmap should look like. Measurement needs to support the strategic sell. This is where there’s art and science on the positioning, if you measure the wrong things, it can send the wrong signal to buyers. You want to enhance your differentiation in the market, not erode it. Which is a continual challenge for any media sales team. If I was Netflix, I would first just do geography and watches. Keep it super simple. Here’s how many people watched and in what GEOs. This for media buyers, helps them cover off the basics. And lets the sales team weave a narrative. Based off the early feedback, would then look to build upon that. Probably things like time of day, how people are watching. Then, maybe you get into interests and other contextual information. The latter is where Netflix can really shine, viewers of Stranger Things, or people in binge mode, or sports documentaries etc. Timing your ad, to show within those different contexts. Family viewing. The Netflix way would also be to have some sort of dashboard, to really let it shine. Spotify Ads, is probably a good reference for this, as it is functional, supports the narrative. But for any serious spend, you’re still getting the custom report/pitch at the end etc. Longer term, the question will be, what is the ambition? Is it to get to a programmatic ads, like a YouTube, where in niches the CPV is higher. Or like a Twitter or Snap and stick with direct deals. Given the international nature, I would suspect they will stick with the former, for a lot longer. As the markets aren’t as competitive. In prior newsletters I have noted that in local markets Netflix have faced pressure in the past over hurting local tv production etc (like the Walmart going into a small town effect). These local broadcasters streaming services are the current receiver of these ad dollars that will likely switch to Netflix. Hope you can see, why, something so simple an idea, can in reality be quite a process to thread the needle. Especially when the initial guidance is for 500,000 users on the ad supported tier. Notable stories this week Salesforce to co-produce a show with CNBC. TheVerge wants to bring back blogging. ARF launches project looking at measurement of Attention. Interview with Curt Larson, Chief Product Officer at Sharethrough. Wordle debuts ads, Rimowa is the first. New Google update, intends to elevate more helpful content. Barclays esports/crypto crossover - diving into monetization of esports. Continue reading

Ben Young

September 16, 2022

Commentary

Summer ends

Edition #376 The end of summer, rate of change and why attention and reach is so important. One big thing From the sparse editions received over summer you can tell things were quiet. Now we’re back in the hot seat. If you’re in New York during advertising week this year, I’m hosting some drinks. Details to be announced in due course but leave your email here. We haven’t done this one since 2019, quite a time, but glad to be doing it. Inflation is this hot topic, and what it means for media. On top of the last few years of turmoil. Spend continues to adjust. Valuations of private companies are down, impacting ecommerce and DTC brands. Snap faces pressure and Apple is looking to eat share. Whilst Netflix partners with Microsoft to deliver ads. Needless to say, the rate of change remains normal for media ha. Finally, our thoughts go to the royal family. The Queen, a role model for women and girls around the world will be missed. Notable stories this week Finally, some details on Netflix’s ad-supported offering. Media startup aims to capture a chunk of the aerospace industry. Platforms are pulling back on their creator incentives. Why attention and reach need each other. How brands experiment with Web3. Brands are updating their user-generated content strategies to stretch marketing dollars. Tony the Tiger is now a Twitch streamer. SalesForce and NBCU launch new branded series “The Shift” Andreessen Horowitz introduces a new copyright license for NFTs. Vox Media is full steam ahead on its events business, with 100+ in 2023. Instagram scaling back shopping features. Continue reading

Ben Young

September 9, 2022

Commentary

Anonymous trust

Edition #375 Anonymous trust, more creator solutions and the autostrada of partnerships. I’m traveling a bit this summer, so the newsletter won’t be every week :) But as much as I can. One big thing I’ve been using a car share app whilst travelling. The first I booked looked up someone had ingested polystyrene and spread it throughout the car. Who would leave a car in such a state. The next however was clean, so away I went. Having swapped sides of the roads three times in the last month. All these sharing platforms are akin to brand partnerships. We find something listed and think we can use that to achieve what we want. Hopefully there are some reviews/testimonials, the specs are correct. And we can get where we are going. But brand partnerships are hard. Finding and capitalizing on the points of intersection to a high degree of quality. Do that week in week out. And just one other thing, all your work is in the public domain. So when something goes wrong, it goes wrong. You might be surprised anyone works in media. But the work is good, it’s challenging, always changing and competitive. These redeeming feature are what bring people back for more. And occasionally you get the right partnership where everything just clicks, and you’re cruising down the autostrada at 130 kmph. This week we feature a couple of partnerships which just work. Illimitly partnered with the FT to raise awareness of their offerings. Now it’s not rocket science but it 1) teaches you about the brand. 2) Gets it on your radar as an FT reader. The other is Circular Cities from Bloomberg Media Studios for Holcim, the cement company. Highlighting cities in the race to net zero. Great positioning for the company but also subtle sales, if you’re a city featured and its your mandate, maybe you’ll see what Holcim can offer. Notable stories this week Disney inks major deal with The Trade Desk. And Netflix partners with Microsoft for advertising. The Information launching social network for subscribers. SwapStack crosses more than $1m paid out to newsletter creators. Congrats! ^ Related, Spark Loop launches the partner network. ANA releases first-ever guidelines for measuring influencer marketing. Distributed Trust: The Future of Crowds & Honesty. Via Ben Dietz. PR Newswire expands sponsored placement network to Europe and Canada. Deals/M&A Spotify to acquire music trivia game Heardle. Podcast platform Acast to acquire Podchaser. StoryChief raises $3.4m Campaign of the Week illimity with the FT. The Circular Cities Barometer, Bloomberg Media Studios with Holcim. Continue reading

Ben Young

July 22, 2022

Commentary

Real estate

Edition #373 On those real estate newspapers, retention and new creator tools from Facebook. I’m traveling a bit this summer, so the newsletter won’t be every week :) But as much as I can. This weeks note is from Italy where the sun is scorching the Campari is cold. One big thing As you do when you’re traveling, I picked up a local real estate newspaper. To skim, to learn, to dream about what I could buy. Oh, two bedrooms, that big, good luck finding that in New York. And I’m sure I’m not the only one. I hunted and pecked my way through, and have picked it up several times during the day. Now as a piece of content, you might go, well he did finish it, or he got what he was looking for. So that’s success. It has educated me, it did bring me in, and maybe I won’t buy. But someone else will. And that’s the thing, that piece of content did its job. MrBeast highlights with YouTube, you want to focus on retention, picking up the print and working your way through it. Are readers fully consuming? If not, why not? How can you change the format? Should it be shorter? Longer? Better use of images? Maybe sorted differently. At this point in time you would expect most real estate prints know how to do that. But that’s not always the case when it comes to online comms. We change things because we can, because someone didn’t like something. But the whole goal, the only goal, is to get someone to read the thing. From start to finish. And as many people as possible. Maybe all those things that seem nice are getting in the way of doing the job you were trying to achieve. Which is why we all love newsletters right now, because they’re simple and to the point. If they’re not, we don’t open them and read them. We only remember those that actually deliver on that. Ironic huh. But so, if there’s one thing to focus on, it is retention. Retention even down to each piece of content. Because if you can have a library of content with high retention. You have a top performing portfolio and obtaining results are be a lot easier. Alas, even with all that retention, my wife reassures me, that no we won’t be buying a property here. Cut off at the pass! Content can’t solve all conversion problems hey. Notable stories this week On why retention rate within a video is so vital on YouTube. House of Highlight’s creator-led content triples revenue. Mark Zuckerberg announces new creator monetization tools for Facebook and Instagram. ConvertKit launches their sponsor network, creators can join to get partner deals from them. Your content business model. The Webpage, can it survive the relentless attack? Substack will let you add voiceovers to posts. Congrats to JMJ and WaPo! Interesting tid-bit on Twitter ads starting to work. On why this DTC brand stopped spending on Amazon ads. Malcolm Gladwell's audio company signs a film and TV deal with A24. Can media companies weather a recession? Executives say they’re in stronger shape this time. Deals/M&A Group Black is in talks to buy stake in Bustle parent and has been eyeing a deal for Vice Media. Campaign of the Week eToro with Market Watch, How do we invest in an unknown future? Continue reading

Ben Young

July 8, 2022

Commentary

Always on

Edition #372 Why tv’s are always on, TheAthletic gets bundled and Twitter product drops. One big thing For many set top boxes, they’re on all the time. And if they’re tuned into a channel, even though the tv is off, chances are that viewership is being counted. Which leads to over counting. Even OTT apps can continue to play after you turn the tv off. This means at least $1b worth of ads are being played to no one each year. This is why viewability for the web was invented, to ensure that ads were shown in view of the customer. Makes sense. However for tv, the existing roll out of set room boxes and lack of universal standards make the implementation of a similar type solution challenging. We saw a few weeks back that NBCU is experimenting with multi ad and content on screen. Initially this may seem a bit grim, but is it an improvement over the ad break? And everyone’s tv is a lot larger than they used to be. Maybe that yields enough to drop one or two ad breaks per hour. I’ll be curious to see how it goes. With all this, the backbone or thread is that measurement enables product innovation. Getting those right things captured in your metrics, helps push things forward. Notable stories this week Twitter tests product drop alerts with Home Depot. Is your TV still playing ads when it’s turned off? WaPo to keep software business. Google offers to let ad rivals place YouTube ads in EU antitrust probe. CheckMyAds starts a campaign to get Fox News removed from exchanges. TheAthletic to be added to the NYT subscription bundle. Publishers like Gannett are using micro-surveys to amass audience data. IAB updates guidelines for measuring 3D ads for the metaverse. Includes things like, what’s the minimum viewing angle for an ad. Bidtellect partners with D&B to deliver ads to key decision makers. A revisit of Kevin Kelly’s 1000 True Fans, The Rise of the Internets Creative Middle Class. Deals/M&A Ad agency Mekanism acquired. Campaign of the Week 10 questions you should ask your advisor this end of financial year. Xero with TheGuardian. Like the format, simple and high utility for the reader.   Continue reading

Ben Young

June 17, 2022

Commentary

Out and about

Edition #371 Green media, BBC to launch marketplace for content and Tom Brady raises $50m. One big thing Getting out and about is fun. Those first few reconnects after covid. What I’m seeing is that more senior people are off to conferences, juniors are off to meetups and everyone else is somewhere in-between. Now it used to be the juniors would go to the conferences to hang and learn and really absorb the industry. So it feels like a bit of a disconnect, that the remote working when everyone comes back, only seems to agitate. This then feels like opportunity, to bring both groups back together. Which is where marketing teams can help, creating events that whole teams can come to, whether that’s affordability, style or event, or just subtle positioning. The old StartupWeekends, the UnConferences, the hackathons. What does this have to do with content & media? Well, it’s where we’re all going to meet the next new partner for that project. Or that new collaborator. Whether someone will challenge our thinking. Which I think is a good thing. Notable stories this week Sharethrough launches its first green media products. How this TikTok creator makes $20k/month. BBC to launch BSP in partnership with Vuulr, a marketplace for licensing their shows. European Baby Brand Bugaboo makes its first US-focused social media and content play. Hubspot is pushing into video. Spotify CEO teases major push into audiobooks. 12-Step Brand and Content Framework. Google Slides link. Another Google Slide deck, Brand Building on Social Media. Deals/M&A Tom Brady & Michael Strahans, Religion of Sports raises $50m. CreativeX raises $25m Series B. PepperContent raises $14.3m to enter US. Contentoo acquires Contentbox. Campaign of the Week DinoTracker from Department of Prehistoric Wildlife, as part of Jurassic World launch. @DinoTracker on Twitter. ^ Extending this to native placements across publishers would be the kicker in the execution of this strategy.   Continue reading

Ben Young

June 10, 2022

Commentary

Good Wine

Edition #370 On what we can learn from what makes a good wine. Educational branded content and Stranger Things. One big thing One sip leads to another. Whilst away I read Cork Dork and in answering the question of what makes a good wine. Paul Grieco of Terroir fame would answer that one sip leads to another. The first leads to the second and the second leads to the third. As I lay there in the Mexican sun, I thought that’s a brilliant little analogy. If someone enjoys it they reach for more. Such an idea could bring a lot of simplicity to marketing teams. Instead we dive for more. What else should we be looking at. Over intellectualizing it. Rather than simply going, is the consumer coming back for more. I liked it and thought it was worth sharing. Notable stories this week How Front Office Sports is leveling up its branded content business through educational courses. Lessons on readability for marketing content. Ed Norton talks media measurement. Deals/M&A Substack drops fund-raising efforts as market sours. The charts showing Creator Economy investments this year. Campaign of the Week Leaving a legacy: how to give a gift that lasts beyond your lifetime. Guardian with Cancer Council. Continue reading

Ben Young

June 3, 2022

Commentary

Advertising claims

Edition #369 Regulators are not giving any leeway when it comes to the third dimension. And content marketing not just a pandemic trend. One big thing Law firm Fenwick dug into the implications of advertising in the metaverse, “regulators emphasized that ads in the Metaverse must be truthful and not misleading even if the technological medium for delivery of those ads is nascent.” And it turns out, the metaverse literally adds dimensions to potential legal claims. “One unique issue about advertising in the Metaverse is the potential to make three-dimensional claims. A Metaverse application that purports to reflect how a real-life article of clothing would look could be found to make the claim that the article of clothing would fit as shown digitally if worn by the consumer in reality. This is a natural extension of the law as it has currently been applied to claims made in product images.” They also pointed to that disclosures must be made, even if ‘text disclosures’ are not available in that platform. It seems that there is no longer a this is a new place so you’re off the hook. As regulators are getting savvier and faster to deal with these same issues that pop up repeatedly on new platforms. Notable stories this week Content marketing maintains momentum as pandemic restrictions ease. Why Manscaped is leaning into ads on Tumblr. NBCU leaning into new ad formats to engage viewers. Twitter announces Premium Content Partnerships at 2022 Digital Content NewFronts. And other NewFronts releases from LinkedIn, Meta, Pinterest & YouTube. What are the legal implications of advertising in the metaverse? Is a digital representation held to the same legal standard? Eddy Cue reportedly has bigger plans for Apple’s billion-dollar streaming and ads business. With no third-party accredited measurement, this year’s upfront season is a testing bonanza. Ads may come to Netflix by the end of 2022. Campaign of the Week Anker with BuzzFeed. You should have a home energy kit - and this is the very first thing you should buy for it.   Continue reading

Ben Young

May 13, 2022

Commentary

Headless chickens

Edition #368 Fortune partners with SalesForce+ in this weeks edition, headless chickens & Roku ARPU. One big thing For many in sales it feels obvious that when you’re having multiple conversations and the potential partner is really engaged, that you’re more likely to make a sale. Yet when it comes to this sort of engagement or touch points online it doesn’t feel the same. Conceptually people get it but it hasn’t quite clicked for many. RealEyes released a study this week and have identified where the tide is beginning to shift. 65% of participants in their study report that attention is a conversion stage in the sales and customer journey. That is a good sign. Rather than running around like headless chickens, using the signals consumers give us from their behavior is vital to understanding progress. Notable stories this week TripleLift aims to insert itself into the CTV conversation using native ads. Brand Creator partnerships are prioritizing expertise and diversity over fame. Adland bullish on attention metrics, expects brands to pay. Attention increasingly is recognized as a business outcome in advertising. Twitter says it overcounted its users over the past 3 years. NBCU unveils self-serve programmatic ad manager. Deals/M&A Mavrck raises $135m and acquires link in bio company Later. Vice is looking to sell its studio business. Roku & Apollo team up on Starz bid. Campaign of the Week Fortune & SalesForce, the Ecopreneurs. A video series on entrepreneurs focused on saving the planet. Also a lead in for SalesForce+. Continue reading

Ben Young

May 6, 2022