Skip to content
One big thing
Lots of deals happening, acquisitions big and small. Two years ago we were noting the lack of deals, now we’re seeing a flurry of activity.
I had a great chat with a journalist this week, who was asking, at this point – how does a brand justify not doing content? Would love to hear from readers what they think or have heard.
Notable stories this week
- Facebook’s share of ad revenue greatly exceeds its share of audience attention; 9% of digital time vs 20% of digital revenue.
- Don’t be a clickhead, IAB UK nudges the industry to move on.
- Apple is proposing 50% revenue share for its subscription news service. I like Peter Kafka’s take on it, the promise here is Apple can bring volume, it’s not about the 50% it’s about the fact that they got 50 million Apple Music subscribers. If they can do the same for publishers, that’s $250m/month in the back pocket. AND they’re proposing it is split by the attention.
- Pressboard pushes for a cost per read, in the aim to align incentives between the brand and the publisher.
- The Yin-Yang of Luxury as Marketing Opportunity.
- AT&T to put all programmatic spend through Xandr.
- [Long read] This isn’t digital media’s long winter – it will stabilize and support more jobs than ever. A counterpoint from Richard Beech, the CSO at DriveTribe.
- Podcasting consolidates but don’t expect programmatic ad buying yet. Tldr, too much of today’s stack is all Apple.
- Intel dismantles in-house agency.
- WSJ Custom Studios rebrands as The Trust.
- [From us] An update on all things Nudge.
- To attract direct response advertisers, Reddit adds more performance tools.
Deals/M&A
- Fiverr acquires ClearVoice to double down on content marketing. Congrats to Joe and the team.
- Native video company Connatix acquires Kamidoo to boost their video capabilities.
- BrightCove acquires Ooyalas video business for $15m.
- JibJab (remember them?!) have sold to Catapult Capital.
Campaign of the week
- This Ridley Scott short film ahead of the Oscars telling the story of Hennessy tasting notes.
- BroBible brings you Tax Deduction advice for TurboTax. Video + article (the best performing format from Nudge’s data) and multiple calls to action woven through, driving brand recall and conversion.
- College Humor with Orbit – Dating Footnotes. “Your date might stink, but your breath doesn’t have to”. Funny and engaging, just as you’d expect from College Humor’s team.
Smartest commentary
- “I still believe there are more paid opportunities out there for content creators and journalists than ever before, and the best creators no longer have to spend years making tea and coffee in TV studios or newsrooms before they’re allowed to prove themselves, because social media and blogging gave us all an opportunity to build our profile and prove our abilities.” – Richard Beech, CSO at DriveTribe
Datapoints of note
- 77% of Brand Marketers says the pressure to connect marketing spend with revenue results has grown in the past year.
- Digital advertising revenues rise to $26.2 billion in Q3, up 22% YOY.
Events
- ContentTECH Summit – 4/8-4/10, San Diego, CA.
- C3 – 5/6-5/8, New York, New York.
That’s it for this week, happy Friday!
-Ben
Measurement and intelligence for content-first brands.
Nudge is a content marketing analytics platform that drives performance for leading brand advertisers and premium publishers.
|
|---|
