Edition #508
Riff on unoriginal takes on ads (ha!), what if all media is marketing? And there’s a new search engine in town.
Grok is launching with ecommerce ads. Copilot is launching with carousels for image ads. So is Gemini.
This has to be the least original idea for this new environment. Ecommerce ads. Now we get why, it’s the hey we gave product recommendations, let’s show an ad for that.
It also, reflects consumer behaviour which seems to be research on LLMs, then Google when ready to buy. The LLMs want to try capture that.
But given the immense potential of these platforms it seems like the most unoriginal idea. Where is the innovation?
Is there even room for innovation in advertising? The answer is yes of course.
But a subtle reason is probably the most likely, they have already completed changed the web experience. It makes sense they should just do a regular ad format. Consumer can only accept so much change at once.
But can you blame me for not wanting some imagination? :D.
The ad experience does have to slot into, what you would imagine is a more mature product line up. This reflects that these platforms have confidence in that their platforms will probably look & act the same in 18 months. Or are at least ok with taking a product to advertisers that they expect to change.
Notable stories this week
- Google revamps Discover page to show content from creators.
- Netflix brings beers to screens in global AB InBev content partnership.
- Emily Sundberg expands Feed Me with first podcast.
- Kimmel Scores Over 6 Million Viewers While Being Unavailable in 23% of US.
- What Google’s Latest Changes Mean for Complex Readers.
- QCODE launches Daylight Media for creator podcasts.
- What If All Media is Marketing?
- Go behind the browser with Chrome’s new AI features.
- CloudFlare sets up a fight over Google’s AI Overviews access.
- Meta courts ad agencies ahead of Zuckerberg’s AI-driven vision.
- Why your favorite brands are making sitcoms.
- Nexxen and Hisense open up smart TV programmatic floodgates.
- Why brands are going long on cinematic short-form content.
- Marketing for bots: How to rethinking online ads for the AI era.
- Why ecosystem brands are more than just big tech.
- Perplexity launching its own Search.
- Inside the New York Times AI newsroom strategy.
- OpenAI looks to build in-house ad infrastructure. Related OpenAI is looking for an ads chief.
- Google hands Smartly creative automation brief to promote hardware range.
- Ankler Media partners with Letterboxd on new newsletter and sales.
- Reddit wants a lot more money from AI companies.
- Microsoft looks to build AI marketplace for publishers.
- Email is still King.
Deals/M&A
- Private equity firm Novacap to buy Integral Ad Science for $1.9 billion.
Campaign of the week
- Mercury sponsoring Sari Azout’s Whoa Vol 2.0 Conversation on AI x Creativity.
- Cluely take on the ‘SF Office’.
Smartest commentary
- “When creation costs collapse and competition explodes, however, content itself stops being profitable. At that point, the only sustainable profits are in owing the complements. Media isn’t what you sell, it’s what you spend: a top-of-funnel cost whose purpose is to drive demand for higher-margin products, services, or communities the media company owns directly.” –Doug Shapiro.
Datapoints of note
- In his return to ABC’s lineup on Tuesday, Jimmy Kimmel’s late night show scored 6.26 million viewers, according to Nielsen fast national data.
- Netflix brings beers to screens in global AB InBev content partnership.
- Instagram hits 3b users.
Events
- AI Breakfast coming up. Ping me to join.
That’s it for this week.
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