Outcomes

Edition #459

Outcomes, branded content and what enterprise advertisers are doing wrong.

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Thanks to Pepper for having my hot take on cookies this week! Extending last weeks chat on Meta’s earnings and the role of AI & ML in paving a path forward. 

Similar this week, this tweet caught my eye, about how enterprise advertisers shouldn’t be using ‘click’ as a primary KPI. And he’s right, without careful controls, the advertiser will end up getting any click they can get. A more balanced approach is needed. What’s the point of clicks, that leave straight away? 

The reason the eco-system has gotten this sophisticated is that it is catering to a wide supply of buyers and sellers, from all around the world with varying objectives. In the early days of digital ads, it was only a small sample of advertisers, who often had the same objectives. But now it’s a much bigger eco-system, the ad systems have to handle, mum & pop stores, big brand advertisers, lead gen, video and for all different types of audiences, creatives & objectives. 

Which is why advertisers need to work on their internal scorecard, and bid against that. 

For branded content, a big challenge (for buyers and sellers) is that the distribution & the creative are hand in hand, it’s not as simple to understand success and performance. Or to identify areas that may need improvement. But that’s where our attention model can help, to de-mystify where/what and how a piece of content has or will perform, and data-led insights on how to improve it. This just grounds the art & science into practical steps, that creatives can pick up and implement. 

This is a peek of the future of measurement, leveraging predictive insights built off historical data, to help advertisers buy against outcomes. 

Notable stories this week

• Northwell launches Northwell Studios.
• Canva brings Disney Magic to Content Creation.
• The AP sees ad revenue, traffic upticks following diversification push.
• Summer reading from media folk.
• Criteo earnings hint at Google Chromes direction on opt in solution.
• Zero enterprise advertisers should be using last-click as a primary KPI.
• Meet ScalePost, the AI firm helping Perplexity strike deals with publishers.
• Attention plus brand lift is the new gold standard for brand measurement.
• Dotdash Meredith boosts programmatic ad revenue thanks to contextual tech.
• Why marketers must combat the hidden threat of MFA sites.
• Media rebounds on seismic news cycle.
• Elon Musk’s X sues advertisers, alleging a ‘massive advertiser boycott’. E
• The Global Alliance for responsible media is ‘discontinuing’ after Elon Musk’s X filed an antitrust lawsuit against it.
• Advertisers say their Google ads are showing up on X. Why?
• Walmart among most effective tv advertisers.
• [From me} What Google’s cookie saga means for marketers.
• [Smart] Mass brands without mass media.

Deals/M&A

• Reddit acquires Memorable AI to build its version of Google PMax.
• AI startup raises $25m inks deals with major media companies.
• Red Ventures sells CNET to Ziff Davis.

Smartest commentary

• “This all makes me wonder about the fate of many mass brands without mass media. The rise of both were intertwined. As media decentralizes into millions of niches it makes it harder to build mass brands and maintain the growth of legacy mass brands. Publishing has seen the decline of mass legacy brands and rise of niche brands, particularly built around personalities. The same pressures will exert themselves on homogenous mass consumer brands.” –Brian Morrissey.

Datapoints of note

• The report found that Walmart was the category’s most effective convergent TV advertiser, driving 144% more per-person, per-second engagement than the average department store brand.
• Uber Ads just became a $1b business.
• Mars has moved its media mix from ’60% traditional television in 2019 to mid-30% now, shifting much of its long-form video to digital channels’.

Events

• Attention Happy Hour, next one coming up in September. .

View all 2024 datapoints of note.

That’s it for this week.