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This week is a full on edition, so buckle in as it’s full of gems, from datapoints on Amazon, DrainerBot, to Apple acquiring a digital marketing firm. ?
Notable stories this week
- This News Corp Australia story is interesting, the Outbrain vs Taboola showdown. Ultimately Taboola won this round. This is a battle which goes on every month.
- Hulu’s latest influencer marketing campaign should give you second thoughts about using one. Great read.
- Medium is launching four of its own subscription publications. Having a second crack at building magazines on the platform.
- [Long read] DTC brands are shunning digital for TV and real-world events.
- Outstream video ads playing out of view leading to strife with advertisers. Why buy them then?
- Bing has started integrating in to the Microsoft suite, i.e. showing results if you search from Word. These types of opportunities are additive to the ecosystem so I’m a big fan. Bid accordingly of course.
- TikTok testing sponsored video ads.
- Verizon Media builds out new native ad options to allow gaming, carousels and shopping.
- NYTimes pauses its Snapchat activity.
- Via Ari Paparo, the slowest ad scripts on the web.
- Moat uncovers DrainerBot, another android bot network.
- NBA and SAP partner on a long form tv show.
- Media Ecosystem: It only works if everybody wins. This is a good read.
- More on how 5G (arriving in 2020) will open up new opportunities for marketers. The key thing is speed and response time.
- Did Burger King’s Super Bowl Ad actually work? CMO shares some insights into the planning, very robust. I liked pairing search, knowing that people would Google.
- Here’s why we’re entering the golden age of podcasts.
- Apple seeds update to ITP to patch some of the workarounds that have been developed.
Deals/M&A
- Apple acquires UK based digital marketing startup. Very very curious. A focus on customer journeys. And they also picked up Pullstring, a startup that enables the design and publishing of voice apps.
Campaign of the week
- Visa on Bustle, how women in Hollywood are using awards season to call for pay equality. Using the big stage to get an important message across.
- Microsoft on The Hollywood Reporter, an Awards predictor powered by Microsoft AI. A good demonstration of what the product can do, tied to audience participation (you vote) and cultural relevance.
- Submit your own and view the best campaigns of 2019.
Smartest commentary
- “Why is consistency so important in branded content? First of all, if you’re seeing inconsistent messaging, from a recall perspective it becomes really challenging. If you’re a consumer it’s just hard to follow and because of that friction you’re going to have less impact.” –Grant Munro, Shutterstock Custom
- ^ Often forgotten in a world where content lives in multiple places at once.
Datapoints of note
- Payments to Medium contributors was up 168% in 6 months. 8% of participants earned over $100 in January. Homepage featured stories often earn up to $500.
- CPVs in Buffer’s study of vertical vs square video were 68% lower with vertical video.
- [A Verizon Media Study] Most people accepted advertising as a form of content, and with 79% of respondents agreeing that they would prefer to see ads blending in with the page.
- 500 scripted original shows were developed in 2018. Up from 266 in 2011.
- This year digital revenue is set to surpass all other media, last year it surpassed tv.
- In 2018 an average of 575 podcasts were started every day.
- 60m people listen to podcasts a few times a week, or 91m listen at least once a week.
- How is Amazon faring against Google and Facebook? 54% said ROAS was better, 38% said CPMs were better and 44% said attribution was better. That’s a killer combo.
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.
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