Skip to content
Edition #467
On the problem with game metrics, Adweek AI and loads of deals this week.
Thoroughly enjoyed the AI in Marketing panel that Chalice AI hosted, turning the tables and having the journalists as the panelists, Sara Fischer, Lara O’Reilly, Allison Schiff and Kendra Barnett. Thanks for hosting.
I haven’t had a chance to read through the latest in Google / DOJ but there’s no rush, any outcome is going to be years in the making with appeals dragging this process out. It’s good to be attentive but whenever any enforcement gets put in place, the media landscape will have evolved meaningfully. TikTok may not even be around?!
Whatever the outcome, it’s going to be like a slow train rolling in, you’re gonna see the smoke, and hear it coming in for a long time before it arrives.
And Twitter is still benchmarking itself on attention paid to the platform, which is up 12% YOY.
Roblox this week, got some heat from activists, around metrics, overstating users and time in game. And this is actually a rabbit hole I’ve been down before on a project. Just examining game metrics in general, and I’m not saying Roblox is or isn’t. But the whole game industry does seem to have a cavalier approach to metrics, counting use of bots, overcounting time in app, downloads vs plays, etc. It’s almost like you could never compare any two announcements, because the basis of their measurement wouldn’t be the same.
Where it gets tricky, is when those metrics are used to report to the public because you’re a listed company. Or even, with brand partnerships. You need to be a lot more tidy then.
If you end up operating in an environment like this, what do you do? When this is the case, you might look to other sources of data to get demand, i.e. Tweets, or Searches. Rather than expressly looking at the ‘downloads’ look at the expressions of demand from consumers, that would indicate that demand.
When it comes to advertising this might be as simple as a meaningful change in direct traffic to your site, in geographies or times of day when major ads are running. But a useful framework when measurement is challenging.
And this is kind of what MMM’s try to do, to weight through al the noise, and find where one thing shifts another.
Notable stories this week
- Who’s the new sucker? As Hollywood comes for brands, new models emerge.
- Facebook is bringing more content monetization tools for creators.
- OpenAI and Hearst strike content deal.
- Publisher traffic spiked thanks to Google’s GenAI overview tweaks.
- How to find your Story.
- BoiseDev’s winning secret to selling newsletter ads.
- Publishers are bringing vertical video to the Open Web with Webflix.
- The new rules of influence.
- Substack wants to do more than just newsletters.
- Advertisers are scrutixzing the value of AI tools as some early efforts.
- Why brands should give a f**ck about trends.
- Adobe launches content authenticity web app to protect creators work from generative AI misuse.
- Google opens a NZ front in the news war.
- Adtech Firm Chalice’s tool ups buyers access to quality media on the Open Web.
- PayPal just opened a new ad business.
- Microsoft looks set to shutter its retail media business.
- Retail media networks under scrutiny amid calls for transparency and accountability.
- Buyers can now target high-attention inventory in The Trade Desk.
- WPP and Roblox strike new global content and advertising partnership. Amidst activists saying Roblox inflated metrics.
- The Rebooting at 4.
- [Long read] Taylor Lorenz’s plan to dance on legacy media’s grave.
Deals/M&A
- Zeta Global to acquire Liveintent for $250m. Congrats Matt & team!
- AirOps raises $15.5m for generating and managing AI-based marketing content.
- Siteimprove to acquire content marketing strategy firm MarketMuse.
- Connatix and JW Player merge to create a one-stop shop for video monetization.
- Human raises $50m in growth funding.
- Data validation software Truthset raises $5m.
Campaign of the week
- Why branded fast channels are the next big thing in streaming tv. Amagi with AdAge.
- BCG with Wired on the rise of agentic AI.
View all 2024 best campaigns.
Smartest commentary
- “Trends are still relevant, but they have evolved. Micro-trends are now playing a bigger role in culture, and it’s hard for brands to keep up. Each week, we see new aesthetic shifts on TikTok and Instagram – think “blokecore,” “weird girl aesthetic,” or “mermaidcore.” These trends explode overnight, captivating niche communities, but they often vanish just as quickly.” –Melo Meacher-Jones, Accenture Song.
Datapoints of note
- Together JW Player and Connatix reach more than 1 billion unique users.
- Beehiiv analyzed 5b emails to find the optimum send time.
- X had 8.9b daily video views in Q3.
- Across 2k+ advertisers it was shown that retargeted ads life baseline conversions by >4.6%.
Events
- Watch this space!
View all 2024 datapoints of note.
That’s it for this week.
|
|---|