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Edition #480
On the benefits of our new week, new take culture, Gemini Ads & do we have a Google cookie resolution.
New week, new take.
The common joke is how the public conversation quickly swaps from one topic to another, meaning the experts now need to recalibrate on a new topic. We’re all guilty of this.
i.e.
Deepseek to tariffs. It’s an interesting cultural phenomena, whereby everyone has an audience, so wants to be able to speak to it. But have you thought about the byproduct of this trend?
That’s a neat agency to have, if we want we can go dive deep, as deep as a non-expert can. And learn, but also if we want, we can engage with the experts. This is a vast step up, over the pre-internet era.
And then at a learning level, it means that there’s a lot of learning going on, all the time, from those creating the content but also their audiences.
It can (and does) get wonky, when it filters into health advice. But again, isn’t it a reasonable expectation that a reasoned person should be able to understand an issue. That’s part of the function of media.
It can (and does) get wonky, when it filters into health advice. But again, isn’t it a reasonable expectation that a reasoned person should be able to understand an issue. That’s part of the function of media.
AdExchanger shares more on where Google may land with third party cookies, with the idea of a one time global opt in. And if this is where it lands, it kind of makes sense from a consumer perspective. Opting in once and consistently, rather than slicing between each site.
Is it perfect? No, but I get it and think it makes sense. I’m sure for any individual website you would have dials to adjust further. Anyway, let’s see.
And in Google earnings this week, Google said Gemini will get native ads, at some point. Not yet. But this means game on, game on for Perplexity with their ads, Copilot with theirs. But also game on for the big disruption in search budgets.
And this is part of the incentive of the blackbox media approaches, the platforms can shift your spend to new initiatives/sites in their portfolio. So many advertisers won’t even realise they’re on it!
Notable stories this week
- Google has ‘very good ideas’ for native ads in Gemini.
- On the risks for ad-supported platforms from AI agents.
- LinkedIn rolls out updates to video presentation and discovery.
- Publishers want more control over programmatic. Some are finally making it happen.
- Why LinkedIn is spotlighting the average watch time metric to support its video push.
- Paramount, Nielsen strike multiyear measurement deal ending bitter standoff.
- The latest on Chrome’s Cookie Choice Prompt.
- Snapchat launches first native iPad app.
- Nodals AI Launches As The Latest Custom Algo Replacement For Ad Tech
- Hiding in Plain Sight: The Ad-Supported Piracy Ring Driving Over a Billion Monthly Visits.
- Goodbye, Outcomes Era: Why quality will define the industry’s future.
- ^ And Joe’s counter.
Deals/M&A
- Banks Sell $5.5 Billion of X Loans After Investor Interest Surges.
- StackAdapt snaps up $235m for its ai-based programmatic platform. Congrats Vitaly and team!StackAdapt snaps up $235m for its ai-based programmatic platform. Congrats Vitaly and team!
- Sylvester Stallone Among Newest Investors In AI-Driven Analytics Platform Largo.Ai.
- Ad tech startup tvScientific raises $25.5m.
- Coinbase acquires Spindl, showing an expansion into unchain ads.
- AMO acquires Toolkits. Congrats Shareen & Jack.
Campaign of the week
- Belmond’s Long Shots, reminiscent of slow tv (a fav of mine) they help bring the experience of their premium properties direct to you.
- ^ Discovered via Skift.
- Once Upon a Time in Scotland continues.
View all 2024 best campaigns.
Smartest commentary
- “As cookies disappear, attribution models will buckle under pressure from a dearth of ground-truth data. Marketers will reembrace proper measurement and experimentation like marketing mix modeling and randomized control trials to ensure they are driving incremental lift to business outcomes.” –Erez Levin.
Datapoints of note
- Spotify brought in nearly €2 billion in global ad revenue.
- Closing out on Search with Travel, and sharing another interesting trend where we saw spend expand to “Travel Tuesday”. This contributed to 20% year-on-year revenue growth [from] travel advertisers across Cyber Monday and Travel Tuesday.
- In 2024, people watched over 400 million hours of podcasts each month on living room devices alone. YouTube is now the most popular service for podcast listening in the U.S., according to Edison.
Events
- Native Advertising Institute is holding their first US based event in April.
View all 2024 datapoints of note.
That’s it for this week.
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