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Notable stories this week
- Facebook & Google market research. This does raise the threat of being disintermediated by the operating system itself, what happens if Apple bans the app? Apparently Facebook has prepared for such a scenario (shout out to @ow for pointing this out). Very curious turn of events, they’re playing with fire. I suspect there is a research firm who recruits users for this kind of research, that their playbook is somehow involved, given both Google & Facebook were using the same methodology. That being said, they would both have known that it’s in breach of the policy.
- Oh, and chaos ensued inside Facebook as staff couldn’t access genuinely needed internal apps.
- The Ringer podcast revenue exceeded $15m in 2018. And related, Axios turned over $25m in 2018.
- Consumers are doing everything they can to avoid ads. Here’s how P&G, is finding a way around that.
- [Long read] The BuzzFeed Lesson via Stratechery. I’d forgotten that back in 2015, Ben wrote why BuzzFeed [was] the most important news organization in the world. And related, BuzzFeed charts a path to a sustainable business.
- Twitter is trying to align with publishers interests in growing their business relationships.
- Reddit launches CPC ads.
- BuzzFeed, Vice and Group Nine form a measurement alliance. Seeking quantification of their social audiences.
- TripleLift also adopts TTD’s unified ID.
- TikTok is quietly testing ads.
- Google is testing showing text ads on YouTube.
- A call to action for improving branded content.
Deals/M&A
- Knotch raises $20m from NEA. Well done to Anda and the team.
Campaign of the week
- Hulu, pause screen ads. This is genius.
- Also, not specific to content but here’s every Super Bowl ad released so far.
- Submit your own and view the best campaigns of 2019.
Datapoints of note
- Apple News readership grows to 85m.
- Hearst’s branded content revenue grew 40% in 2018. Ramping up over 300 campaigns.
Events
- C3 – 4/6-4/8, New York, New York.
- ContentTECH Summit – 4/8-4/10, San Diego, CA.
That’s it, Happy Friday.
-Ben
Measurement and intelligence in a content-first world.
Nudge is a content marketing analytics platform that drives performance for leading brand advertisers and premium publishers.
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