WebProNews

Category: AdvertisingDay

Learn how advertising strategies are rapidly evolving as companies immerse themselves in digital transformation.

  • Text is a Great Way to Increase Your Engagement with Consumers, Says Zipwhip CMO

    Text is a Great Way to Increase Your Engagement with Consumers, Says Zipwhip CMO

    “For businesses, the communication channels of email and phone are just becoming less and less effective,” says Scott Heimes, Chief Marketing Officer at Zipwhip. “Text is a great way to increase your engagement and responsiveness with consumers. They’ll actually respond to a text.”

    Scott Heimes, Chief Marketing Officer at Zipwhip, discusses how two-way text messaging can be an extremely effective way to communicate with your customers in an interview on the B2B Growth Podcast:

    76% of Consumers Have Received Text From Businesses

    Over 76 percent of consumers have received some kind of text from a business. The most common are appointment reminders or bank alerts. This really just scratches the surface. Texting has so many applications beyond just alerts and reminders. There are sales and marketing, discount coupons and giveaways, customer support and service, recruiting and staffing, and internal communications at places like educational institutions. It’s so new and businesses are continuing to innovate in this medium. There are a lot of powerful use cases for businesses.

    We have over 30,000 businesses using our software today. They range from very small businesses like yoga studios or lawn care services all the way up to multi-billion dollar insurance companies that are using our solution in their claim call centers. Industries include financial services, staffing and recruiting, healthcare, legal, and more. We have 156 professional sports teams that use our solution. They use it for ticket sales and customer service. There are lots of fitness gyms, radio and TV stations that use our text solution as well. It really does run the gamut of anybody that wants to communicate with their customers via this preferred medium.

    Report Shows Increasing Use of Texting by Businesses

    I just talked to the Director of Communications for the Sound Transit Authority, the public transit authority in Seattle, who uses our solution. They publish an 800 number to text or call when people see problems on the trains. Rather than get on the phone and calling, more and more people are texting those alerts. It’s really an interesting use case. Another one is during a recent hurricane down in Houston we had an insurance agent that was using our software to communicate with all of his customers in the area because the phone lines were largely down. Texting was working well to create engagement and communication during those tough times.

    We recently created a report called the State of Texting which is a deep research study that highlights the adoption curve of text messaging as a business communication tool. It identifies how many consumers are already being texted by businesses as well as many other key insights and trends. One of the things we saw was that there are a lot of one-way texting tools where you get an alert from your doctor’s office, for instance, but you can’t respond to it. It was actually fired off by a CRM using an API that was just one way.

    Text is a Great Way to Increase Engagement

    Increasingly, consumers would prefer to be able to respond to those texts and have an actual interaction with a human on the other side to either reschedual that appointment or alert them that they are going to be five minutes late or something like that. We are seeing a trend where people want to be able to respond to texts and have an interaction as opposed to continuing to be one way.

    For businesses, the communication channels of email and phone are just becoming less and less effective. Text is a great way to increase your engagement and responsiveness with consumers. They’ll actually respond to a text. One of the things we are doing as a company is everything we can to maintain the purity of the texting medium to make sure that spam doesn’t leak its way into this channel.

    >> Listen to the complete interview with Zipwhip CMO Scott Heimes on the B2B Growth podcast.

  • Create a Marketing Strategy That’s Not Annoying, Says Bombora VP

    Create a Marketing Strategy That’s Not Annoying, Says Bombora VP

    “It’s really about customer experience,” says Nirosha Methananda, VP of Marketing at Bombora. “I think that is something fundamental to marketing. I feel like we have gone down this path of almost over automating and having to constantly pounce on people without necessarily being conscious and mindful of what their experience is on the other end. From my experience, it’s leading to me switching off and ignoring messages. I’m sure I’m not the only one. That’s basically why I’m passionate about creating a marketing strategy that’s not annoying.”

    Nirosha Methananda, Vice President of Marketing at Bombora, discusses the challenges of marketing without annoying your potential customers by bombarding them with marketing messages in an interview with Logan Lyles on the B2B Growth Podcast:

    Marketing Is Really About the Customer Experience

    As a B2B marketer, I get marketed to a lot. It’s something that I have increasingly noticed and I’m probably not the only one. That’s just becoming part of the experience in terms of being inundated with different messaging and different calls and this, that, and the other. Use this, do this, buy this, whatever it is. It’s really not a great experience. It doesn’t necessarily provide value. Marketers are so busy as it is, and I know that is applicable across the board with everyone we are marketing to. Being able to cut through the noise and having an understanding of all these different things is very challenging. 

    Having on top of it being inundated with this constant flow of messaging like meet me, meet me, meet me, is not very helpful. That’s one of the things that I’m passionate about. It’s really about customer experience. I think that is something fundamental to marketing. I feel like we have gone down this path of almost over automating and having to constantly pounce on people without necessarily being conscious and mindful of what their experience is on the other end. From my experience, it’s leading to me switching off and ignoring messages. I’m sure I’m not the only one. 

    Create a Marketing Strategy That’s Not Annoying

    It also leads to this annoyance and irritation which leads to distrust of brands and that’s not great for this industry. From a customer perspective those bad experiences, unfortunately, more than good experiences, they stay with you for longer and you remember that. Another thing that we don’t necessarily think of is that it’s wasteful. It’s wasteful of time and it’s wasteful of money especially for marketing and sales where money is a precious resource. It’s not something to be wasted. That’s basically why I’m passionate about creating a marketing strategy that’s not annoying.

    As an example, our Intent Event was our first flagship event that we did last year. It was a closed event so we did have limited numbers and we were limited as to what we could do with promotion. What we did was try to have mindfulness around what we were sending out and ensuring that it was helpful. Making sure that the recipients, the people that we invited, were given all the relevant information, but there was brevity in the communication as well as encouraging them to participate without forcing them to be there. 

    There was certainly some urgency around some of our communication but it wasn’t you need to attend this and this is why you must attend this. It was more about being a bit more subtle in presenting them the idea and the concept of what it was, why it would help them, and exactly the information that they needed. What that meant was not sending out multiple emails, being very controlled around it, really thinking about what the experience was before the event, to during the event, to after the event. We were really focused on the customer and making sure that all of the content and communication was educational and helpful.

    Create a Marketing Strategy That’s Not Annoying, Says Bombora VP Nirosha Methananda
  • YouTube Is Ending Overlay Ads

    YouTube Is Ending Overlay Ads

    YouTube is ending its overlay ad format, with April 6th slated as its termination date.

    The company made the announcement in a blog post:

    Starting on April 6th, 2023, the “Overlay ads” ad format will no longer appear on YouTube to help improve the viewer experience and shift engagement to higher performing ad formats on desktop and mobile devices. Overlay ads are a legacy ad format that only served on desktop and are disruptive for viewers. We expect to see limited impact for most Creators as engagement shifts to other ad formats.

    As the company highlights, this particular ad format only appeared on the desktop, so the overall impact should be relatively minor.

    YouTube recently had a CEO changeover, with long-time CEO Susan Wojcicki resigning to focus on “family, health, and personal projects” she is passionate about. Neal Mohan, YouTube’s Chief Product Officer, is taking over as the company’s new CEO.

    While there’s nothing to suggest that the change of CEO is behind the ad format decision, it wouldn’t necessarily be surprising. It’s not uncommon for companies to make changes under new leadership, and it could be that trimming an under-used format is Mohan’s first move.

  • Microsoft Angering Users With Overly-Aggressive Edge Ads

    Microsoft Angering Users With Overly-Aggressive Edge Ads

    Microsoft is hell-bent on keeping people using its Edge web browser, resorting to overly-aggressive ads to accomplish its goal.

    Edge is the company’s default browser and successor to Internet Explorer. By all rights, Edge is a very capable browser, but Microsoft seems intent on pushing it as much as possible, even resorting to ads within Windows.

    According to Windows Latest, the company is displaying a popup whenever a user visits the Google Chrome website from within Edge. Interestingly, the popup seems to engage in a bit of false advertising.

    “By continuing, you will set Microsoft Edge as your default browser. Offer valid for 1 person/account within first 14 days of joining,” the popup reads.

    Microsoft Edge Ad – Credit WindowsLatest.com

    It’s unclear why the popup says the offer is only valid for 14 days, since a user can obviously use Edge as their default browser any time they want. The popup was likely recycled from another promotion, and someone forgot to clean up and change the verbiage.

    Clicking on the “Browse securely now” button doesn’t do anything — evidently another bug — but clicking the “X” in the upper right corner closes the dialog box.

    While it’s good to see Microsoft playing nice with other companies, unlike how the company behaved under Gates and Ballmer, it’s more than a little disconcerting to see the company cluttering up its product with ads — especially after users have paid a premium to use those products.

  • FCC May Fine Fox for Illegally Using Emergency Broadcast Tones

    FCC May Fine Fox for Illegally Using Emergency Broadcast Tones

    In a “what were they thinking?” moment, Fox is facing fines for using Emergency Alert Tones (EAS) to promote NFL Sunday.

    The EAS is for federal, state, and local authorities to warn citizens of impending danger, as well as child abductions. As such, aside from specific Permitted Uses, the EAS Tones may not be used for any other purpose. The government’s goal is to ensure the public does not get “alert fatigue” and become desensitized to the EAS Tones.

    Despite the importance of protecting the use of EAS Tones, Fox Sports downloaded the tones from a YouTube video and proceeded to use a three-second segment to promote NFL Sunday, according to the FCC’s report.

    FOX describes the Promotional Segment as a short comedic advertisement for an upcoming game, aired as part of the FOX NFL SUNDAY pre-game show. FOX admits that the Promotional Segment used an approximately three-second excerpt of the EAS Attention Signal commonly used to precede broadcast emergency alerts: two simultaneous tones of 853 Hz and 960 Hz. The three-second excerpt of the EAS Attention Signal was downloaded or recorded from a YouTube video. FOX further admits that its transmission of the Promotional Segment, and the EAS Tones, was not made in connection with any Permitted Use, i.e., an actual emergency, authorized test of the EAS, or qualified PSA.

    The clip was broadcast across 18 of Fox’s stations, as well as transmitted to 190 affiliated stations. The company also used the clip on Fox Sports Radio, reaching nearly 15 million listeners.

    As a result of the incident, the FCC has proposed fining Fox sports $504,000.

  • DOJ & Eight States Sue Google for Monopolizing Digital Ads

    DOJ & Eight States Sue Google for Monopolizing Digital Ads

    Google is once again in the crosshairs for alleged monopolistic behavior, accused of dominating multiple digital ad products.

    The US government has been trying to crack down on Big Tech and Google has been a prime target. The Department of Justice has once again taken aim at the company, this time over its ad business. The DOJ was joined by Attorneys General of California, Colorado, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Virginia.

    The lawsuit alleges that Google abuses its control of the various components of the online advertising technology, called the “ad tech stack.” Because Google controls the entire stack, the company is in a position to unfairly dictate terms. The lawsuit claims Google has leveraged that position to force competitors out of the market or buy them out, as well as force companies to increasingly use its products exclusively.

    “Today’s complaint alleges that Google has used anticompetitive, exclusionary, and unlawful conduct to eliminate or severely diminish any threat to its dominance over digital advertising technologies,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “No matter the industry and no matter the company, the Justice Department will vigorously enforce our antitrust laws to protect consumers, safeguard competition, and ensure economic fairness and opportunity for all.”

    In particular, the DOJ’s claims focus on four areas:

    • Eliminating competition through acquisitions.
    • Forcing customers to use Google’s ad products.
    • Interfering with ad auction competition.
    • Manipulating ad auctions to protect its own business at the expense of competitors.

    “The complaint filed today alleges a pervasive and systemic pattern of misconduct through which Google sought to consolidate market power and stave off free-market competition,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco. “In pursuit of outsized profits, Google has caused great harm to online publishers and advertisers and American consumers. This lawsuit marks an important milestone in the Department’s efforts to hold big technology companies accountable for violations of the antitrust laws.”

  • Conversational Marketing Closes the Gap Between B2C and B2B, Says Drift Marketing VP

    Conversational Marketing Closes the Gap Between B2C and B2B, Says Drift Marketing VP

    Conversational marketing is a whole new way of thinking about marketing and sales, says Dave Gerhardt, VP of Marketing at Drift. “We go to our jobs in B2B and none of the tools that we use match how we actually buy as real people,” he says. “That’s the most exciting thing to me about conversational marketing. It’s really closing the gap between B2C and B2B. We just call it B2P, marketing to people.”

    Dave Gerhardt, VP of Marketing at Drift, was recently interviewed on the B2B Growth podcast by John Rougeux who is VP of Marketing at Skyfii. Gerhardt discusses conversational marketing as a new B2B product category and how it is changing marketing from reaching out to you later to a conversation that is happening now:

    Conversational Marketing is About Connecting You Now

    Conversational marketing is a whole new way of thinking about marketing and sales. The traditional way of doing marketing and sales is all about later. Come to my website and fill out this form and somebody is going to reach out to you later, when it’s convenient for them. The big shift that is happening in marketing and business over the last five to ten years is customers have all the power today. You can’t make people wait. Information is free now.

    I can find anything I want to know about a company without ever having to go to your website. It’s crazy to think that you are going to force people to go to your website, fill out a form, wait three days to hear back from your sales team, and then get a demo. Conversational is all about connecting you now with the people who are ready to buy now while they are live on your website.

    B2P – Marketing to People

    It’s not about buyers. It’s not about sellers. It’s not about sales. It’s not about marketing. It’s about people. That’s how people all communicate online today. I pressed one button in my car and I got a list. I ordered something from Amazon while I was here this morning to send back to my house and it’s going to be there tomorrow when I get home. There are countless examples of that. That is how we all behave online in our real lives today.

    But then something happens weird happens. We go to our jobs in B2B and none of the tools that we use match how we actually buy as real people. That’s the most exciting thing to me about conversational marketing. It’s really closing the gap between B2C and B2B. We just call it B2P, marketing to people.

    What Ties Our Products Together is Conversation

    We have an email product and we have a landing page product. Black and white versions of those people would say everybody has email, everybody has landing pages. The thing that ties those together is conversation. That forces us to think about what is conversational email? What is conversational landing pages? What is conversational whatever? That one word forces our product team to think about how can we change this? If our fundamental stance as a company is that the internet should be one conversation, then how does that weave into everything that we build?

    Ultimately what we care about is that email becomes a conversation. Meaning, the way that marketers have had to use email the last decade is a one-way channel. Email is meant to be a two-way channel. Marketers have been using it as, “John come to my webinar.” What happens if you actually respond to that email? Most of the time you can’t because it’s donotreply@ or it just goes to some inbox where nobody is answering it. That is a terrible experience. Our belief is that if you reply, “Hey actually I can’t make it. Can you reregister my colleague?” That should get handled. We are thinking of that from an evolution standpoint.

    The same thing with landing pages. Most landing pages today are static. You go to the landing page, put a bunch of info in and you are gone. What if that was a real-time conversation on the page? That one topic has to weave itself into everything we do from a product perspective.

    >> Listen to the complete interview with Drift Marketing VP Dave Gerhardt on the B2B Growth podcast.

  • FBI PSA: Use A Browser Ad Blocker

    FBI PSA: Use A Browser Ad Blocker

    The Federal Bureau of Investigation has issued a public service announcement, urging people to use ad blocking browser extensions.

    Ad blocking software and browser extensions are a popular way to improve the web browsing experiencing, speed up browsing, and protect privacy. Virtually every major browser supports ad blocking extensions, or have such measures built-in.

    In a PSA issued on December 21, 2022, the FBI endorses the use of ad blocking measures as a way to protect users against cyber criminals.

    Cyber criminals purchase advertisements that appear within internet search results using a domain that is similar to an actual business or service. When a user searches for that business or service, these advertisements appear at the very top of search results with minimum distinction between an advertisement and an actual search result. These advertisements link to a webpage that looks identical to the impersonated business’s official webpage.

    The FBI makes the case that ad blockers can help protect against this kind of scam.

    Use an ad blocking extension when performing internet searches. Most internet browsers allow a user to add extensions, including extensions that block advertisements. These ad blockers can be turned on and off within a browser to permit advertisements on certain websites while blocking advertisements on others.

    It’s good to see the FBI come out in favor of ad blocking and hopefully more individuals will follow their advice.

  • A Guide to YouTube Advertising

    A Guide to YouTube Advertising

    YouTube is a compelling opportunity for businesses in their digital marketing and advertising strategies. One of the reasons advertising on YouTube can be advantageous is because it’s the second-most popular website in the world, with two billion visitors a month.

    YouTube is owned by Google, so when you advertise on the video-based search engine, you’re working in the Google Ads network.

    The following is a guide to advertising on YouTube and the basics of what you need to know to get started.

    Types of Ads

    There are a few main types of YouTube ads that are available. These include:

    In-Stream, Skippable Ads

    These ads are what you see playing before a video or during it, which is technically pre-roll or mid-roll. The key feature of in-stream, skippable ads is that a viewer can opt to skip them after the initial five seconds.

    If you’re the advertiser, you pay when viewers choose to keep watching past the first five seconds. Your ad has to be at least 12 seconds long, and you pay once someone watches the first 30 seconds or the whole thing. You’ll also pay if they interact with your ad via a click—it’s whichever comes first that advertisers pay for.

    Non-Skippable Ads That Are In-Stream

    Around 76% of people on YouTube report automatically skipping ads. This leads advertisers to run ads pre-roll or mid-roll with no skip button. If you want a lift in brand awareness and you think your creative will hold the attention of your audience for a full 15 seconds, you might use these ads.

    With non-skippable ads, the advertiser pays per impression.

    There’s also a sub-category of these non-skippable ads—bumper ads. These are six seconds long, and they’re the same as the non-skippable in-stream ad in that you pay for impressions. They’re best for awareness and reach campaigns.

    Discovery Ads

    In-stream ads are like commercials on traditional TV, but discovery ads are more like what you see when you’re using Google to search for something.

    A discovery ad will show up with organic search results.

    A discovery ad includes three text lines and a thumbnail. When someone clicks on your ad, they’re directed to your YouTube channel or video page.

    Non-Video Ads

    If you don’t have the budget for video, YouTube also offers non-video ads.

    There are display ads that will show up on the right sidebar, and they include text and an image, as well as a link to your website and a CTA.

    In-video overlay ads are something that will show up as floating on top of video content from channels that are monetized.

    Creating a Campaign

    If you want to advertise on YouTube, the first thing you need to do is log into your Google Ads account and choose New Campaign.

    From there, you can choose your campaign goal, such as website traffic, leads, sales, or brand awareness and reach.

    You then choose your campaign type.

    Once you’ve chosen your type, you can choose your bid strategy, which will primarily be driven by your campaign type, and you’ll enter your budget. You can set up your budget by day, or you can do it as the total you’ll spend on the campaigns.

    Targeting Your Audience

    You’ll need buyer personas to target your audience, so if you haven’t already created them, it’s a good idea to do so.

    Demographics include things like household income, parental status, age, and gender. YouTube also goes more in-depth, so you can target groups like students, new parents, or new homeowners, just as a few examples.

    Interests are how you can target people based on their previous behavior.

    You can also use remarketing, so you’re targeting audiences that have already had an interaction with your business on your website, with your other videos, or using your app.

    Ad Specs

    If you’re using skippable or non-skippable stream video ads, then you have to upload them as a regular YouTube video first. The ad technical specs, like your dimensions and ad image sizes, should be the same as they would be for any other YouTube video.

    The exception to this is with Discovery ads. These have to be a maximum file size of 1 GB. Discovery ads need to have an aspect ratio of 16:9 or 4:3, but YouTube can automatically adapt the file.

    The minimum length for skippable ads is 12 seconds. The maximum length for skippable ads is three minutes, and for YouTube kids, the limit is 60 seconds.

    Non-skippable ads can’t be more than 15 seconds long, and bumper ads have to be no more than six seconds long.

    The Pros of YouTube Advertising

    YouTube advertising is cost-effective. You can choose exactly what you’re willing to pay, and you’re only paying when someone takes a certain action that you determine.

    An upside of YouTube ads is also that it’s very targeted. You can get extremely detailed as you’re targeting the audience you want to reach.

    People tend to feel more connected to brands after watching a video. There’s the chance to better understand the company and see how a service or product works, and there are faces that can represent the brand in a video ad. You can also be the face of your brand, so you’re able to foster a strong connection with your audience.

    The YouTube ad metrics are easy to measure, and you’ll have access to a lot of insight as far as what works and what you could improve.

    The results can occur quickly since there are billions of monthly users. You’re simply getting your ads in front of a potentially huge pool of people, boosting your clicks, traffic, and sales.

    Video has a powerful emotional impact, making it one of the most effective approaches to advertising.

    The Downsides of YouTube Advertising

    As with anything, YouTube advertising does have a few downsides that marketers need to think about and consider too.

    People don’t love ads in their videos. While they might end up watching some of them if they get their attention, overall, they feel they’re intrusive.  If someone feels like your ad is intrusive and not offering them value, it might evoke negative emotions.

    You’re also still going to need an advertising budget, and you may not be able to afford much here, depending on what yours is.

    Best Practices

    If you think YouTube advertising could be right for your brand, there are certain things you should do when creating your ads.

    ·   Create an ad that’s immediately going to hook people. Maybe you choose a good song for the background, or you immediately work to evoke strong emotion.

    ·   Branding should ideally occur in your first five seconds and also throughout your ad if you’re working at the top of the funnel. If you’re creating ads for audiences that are further down your funnel, then you might be able to add branding later in your video, and that’ll increase your watch times while viewers are engaging with the story of your ad.

    ·   You want to have a story for your ad because this is how you’re going to be able to get an emotional response.

    ·   Make sure people know what step you want them to take next with your ad. You need a goal to measure how successful your ads are.

    ·   Answer a few questions when you’re creating an ad. Think about who the people you’re targeting are, what video content they already engage with online, and what aspects of that can be used and integrated with your own brand story.

    ·   Consider the context where your ad is going to appear. To understand this, get familiar with the type of video content your targeted audience is already engaging with and consuming.

    ·   One interesting way you can target your audience is to show your ad to people who have already searched for terms relevant to your business.

    ·   Use cards to encourage people to buy. A YouTube card is something that a viewer can click to expand. You can make the appearance of a card timed so that the users who are engaged with the video are the ones who will see it. You can feature products in the video using cards to drive purchases.

    ·   Use an end screen that drives subscribers to wherever you want them to go. For example, maybe you encourage them to subscribe to your channel to get future updates.

    ·   Use negative remarketing. For example, if you want to show an ad that’s only going to be for new users, you can exclude people who have previously interacted with you in some way.

    ·   Use closed captioning and, if relevant, transcriptions in other languages.

    Overall, YouTube is a powerful place to run your brand ads. Your paid advertising can work hand-in-hand with your organic social media strategy on YouTube. You do have to remember that these ads can get expensive and complex if you’re not working in a targeted way. You want to know your audience and let the preferences of the people you’re targeting guide the creative process to create your ads for YouTube.

  • Amazon’s Advertising Unit the Latest to Suffer a Headcount Freeze

    Amazon’s Advertising Unit the Latest to Suffer a Headcount Freeze

    Amazon’s advertising unit is freezing its headcount as the company deals with economic headwinds impacting the industry.

    Amazon delivered weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter guidance, an indication the company is struggling with the economic uncertainties and challenges facing the tech industry at large.

    According to Bloomberg, by way of Business Insider, Amazon will continue to fill existing roles but will not create any new jobs within the advertising unit. Amazon did not confirm the news, only telling Bloomberg there were a “significant number of open roles” available.

    “We have many different businesses at various stages of evolution, and we expect to keep adjusting our hiring strategies in each of these businesses at various junctures,” the spokesperson added.

    The move to freeze advertising headcount is especially significant since the unit is one of the company’s fastest-growing divisions and is in third place behind Google and Meta. The measure is evidence of the steps Amazon’s execs are willing to take in order to cut costs and increase profitability.

  • Twitter Loses Oreo Maker Over an Increase in Hate Speech

    Twitter Loses Oreo Maker Over an Increase in Hate Speech

    Twitter continues to lose advertisers in the wake of Elon Musk’s takeover, the latest being Mondelez International, the makers of Oreo cookies.

    Musk has claimed to be a major free speech proponent. In one of this first moves as Twitter’s new owner, the tech mogul slashed the moderation team. As a result, there has been a significant uptick in hate speech on the platform and it is scaring advertisers away.

    “What we’ve seen recently since the change on Twitter has been announced, is the amount of hate speech increase significantly,” Mondelez CEO Van de Put told Reuters. “We felt there is a risk our advertising would appear next to the wrong messages.

    “As a consequence, we have decided to take a pause and a break until that risk is as low as possible,” he added.

    General Mills, United Airlines Holdings, and various automakers have also suspended advertising on the platform in a blow to Musk’s attempts to make Twitter more profitable.

  • Some YouTube Users Seeing 10 Ads Before a Video

    Some YouTube Users Seeing 10 Ads Before a Video

    YouTube is stretching the limits of its users’ patience, testing up to 10 ads before a video.

    A Reddit post popped up earlier this week, with users discussing the fact that YouTube is routinely displaying five or six ads at a time before a video plays. To make matters worse, the ads are unskippable, and the videos still have longer, albeit skippable, ads midway through.

    According to TechViral, some users see as many as 10 ads before the start of a video.

    According to a tweet by TeamYouTube, the company is experimenting with more ads but said each ad is no longer than six seconds.

  • Apple Invites Developer to Purchase App Store Ad Spots

    Apple Invites Developer to Purchase App Store Ad Spots

    Apple is moving ahead with its plans to introduce more ads to the App Store, inviting developers to purchase slots for end-of-year rollout.

    Apple has been widely rumored to be expanding its advertising business, with plans to bring more ads to the App Store, Maps, Apple Books, and more. According to CNBC, those plans are starting to take shape, with Apple reportedly sending an email to developers, inviting them to start purchasing ad space for expanded placements in the App Store.

    “With new opportunities coming to Apple Search Ads, you can promote your apps across the App Store to engage even more customers this holiday season,” read the email.

    The company emphasized that the ads must meet its requirements in order to qualify.

    “Apple Search Ads provides opportunities for developers of all sizes to grow their business. Like our other advertising offerings, these new ad placements are built upon the same foundation—they will only contain content from apps’ approved App Store product pages, and will adhere to the same rigorous privacy standards,” an Apple representative told CNBC.

    Apple’s increased foray into advertising is sure to pose additional problems for the company, especially amid complaints that its privacy crackdown has significantly benefited its own ad business at the expense of its rivals.

  • Google May Be On the Hook for €25 Billion in UK and EU Cases

    Google May Be On the Hook for €25 Billion in UK and EU Cases

    Google is facing its biggest potential fines yet, with the UK and EU pursuing cases that could see the search giant on the hook for €25 billion.

    Google is the dominant online ad platform, but critics have long accused the company of abusing its position in the market and shutting out smaller rivals. Despite the company being fined billions in the past, regulators recognize those fines have done little to alter Google’s practices.

    “The fines we have seen so far from competition authorities have had absolutely no consequence whatsoever,” Johnny Ryan, from the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, told the BBC.

    The company is now facing legal pressure on two fronts, with potentially staggering consequences.

    “Google is under pressure on two big issues – one is anti-trust and the other is data protection,” Ryan said.

    One of the cases in question is being pursued in the Netherlands, with the other being pursued in the UK. Together, the two cases could result in €25 billion in fines.

    “Publishers, including local and national news media, who play a vital role in our society, have long been harmed by Google’s anti-competitive conduct,” said Damien Geradin, of the Belgian law firm Geradin Partners.

    “It is time that Google owns up to its responsibilities and pays back the damages it has caused to this important industry.

    “That is why today we are announcing these actions across two jurisdictions to obtain compensation for EU and UK publishers.”

  • The Biggest Beneficiary of Apple’s Privacy Crackdown: Apple

    The Biggest Beneficiary of Apple’s Privacy Crackdown: Apple

    According to a new report, Apple has benefited enormously from its App Tracking Transparency (ATT) privacy feature.

    Apple introduced ATT as a way for users to opt-out of being tracked across apps and services. Under the program, app developers are required to request permission to track users. While many privacy advocates celebrated the move, other companies warned that Apple’s plans would harm them and give Apple an unfair advantage.

    According to a new report by Appsumer, that appears to be exactly what has happened, with Apple benefiting immensely from its ATT policy at the cost of more established players.

    “The key headline is the comparison between Meta and Apple Search Ads’ (ASA) advertiser adoption and share-of-wallet changes YoY,” writes Appsumer’s Simon Whittick. “ASA joined the duopoly of Meta and Google at the top table of advertiser adoption as it grew adoption nearly four percentage points YoY to 94.8%, while Meta adoption declined three percentage points to 82.8%.”

    Credit: Appsumer

    “This trend also played out with share-of-wallet as ASA gained five percentage points YoY reaching a 15% share, whilst Meta declined four percentage points YoY, still finishing significantly ahead with a 28% share,” Whittick continues. “Meta also recovered share-of-wallet when comparing Q4 21 to Q2 22, suggesting that they’re starting to recover from initial ATT headwinds. Google remained fairly steady on both metrics as most of their inventory sits on the Android platform.”

    The report is bad news for Apple, as it puts the company’s pro-privacy stance in a different light. The company has already faced antitrust scrutiny in multiple jurisdictions as a result of ATT, with regulators worried it gives the Cupertino company an unfair advantage — which the report shows it clearly does.

    Read more: Tim Cook: ‘We’re Not Against Digital Advertising’

    Of course, none of this would be a problem if Apple wasn’t in the advertising business to begin with. As we have stated many times at WPN, it’s both expected and fair for a free service to rely on advertising to support it. It’s an entirely different thing for a company that already charges a premium for its products and services to then subject its users to ads in an effort to squeeze every last bit of value it can.

    Unfortunately, Apple seems to have lost sight of this and is greatly expanding its advertising business, with plans to bring more ads to iPhones, iPads, and Macs. As long as the company continues to try to have its cake and eat it too, by enforcing ATT and still running its own ad business, the company will continue to be plagued with antitrust concerns.

  • AWS Bastion Aims to Help Advertisers Work Within Data Privacy Rules

    AWS Bastion Aims to Help Advertisers Work Within Data Privacy Rules

    AWS is preparing to unveil a new tool that aims to help advertisers work within the various data privacy rules that are currently hindering them.

    AWS is the leading cloud provider and is widely used across a variety of industries. One such industry, the advertising industry, is reeling from various data privacy efforts, both on the part of companies like Apple and Google, as well as various countries’ legislative efforts.

    According to The Information, via Tech Monitor, AWS wants to help advertisers deal with the restrictions in an innovative way with its upcoming Bastion service. The service acts as a “clean data room,” allowing companies to anonymously pool customer data in a way that prevents any company from viewing or accessing the entire pool.

    The Information uses the example of Target and HBO Max being able to see where their customers overlap, giving the retailer useful insight into whether it should target its customers with ads on the streaming platform. The clean data room, however, would still protect the privacy of the customers and help the companies stay compliant with privacy regulations.

    Unlike existing options, such as Google’s, AWS Bastion will allow companies to work with partners of their choosing, not even locking them into the Amazon Ads service. Amazon sees a future where Bastion could be used in other industries far beyond advertising, such as the financial industry, manufacturing, and more.

    AWS will likely launch the new service later this year.

  • YouTube and TikTok Are Blowing Facebook Away in Teen Usage

    YouTube and TikTok Are Blowing Facebook Away in Teen Usage

    Facebook has a major problem in its attempts to appeal to teens, with the platform being blown away by both YouTube and TikTok.

    Younger markets are critical for social media platforms and their future growth prospects. The more attached users are to a platform early on, and the more their online social lives are intertwined with it, the more impetus there will be for them to continue using it in the coming years.

    Unfortunately for Facebook, its usage among this critical demographic — ages 13 to 17 — has plummeted. According to Pew Research Center, the number of teens saying they use Facebook has dropped from 71% in 2014-2015 to a mere 32% in 2022. In contrast, 95% of teens use Google’s YouTube, while 67% use TikTok.

    Pew also found some interesting demographic differences within the target group.

    There are some notable demographic differences in teens’ social media choices. For example, teen boys are more likely than teen girls to say they use YouTube, Twitch and Reddit, whereas teen girls are more likely than teen boys to use TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat. In addition, higher shares of Black and Hispanic teens report using TikTok, Instagram, Twitter and WhatsApp compared with White teens.

    The study is bad news for Facebook and may provide insight into why the company is pivoting so hard toward the metaverse. If Facebook can execute its vision for the metaverse, it may be able to reclaim its crown.

  • Get Ready for More Ads on Your iPhone and Mac

    Get Ready for More Ads on Your iPhone and Mac

    In a move that is sure to upset users, Apple may be preparing to bring far more ads to its iPhone and Mac platforms.

    Apple has positioned itself as a champion of privacy, going so far as to thwart the efforts of other advertising platforms to track its users. Despite that, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says the company “is going to, over time, significantly expand its own advertising business,” bringing more ads to users’ iPhones and Macs.

    Apple already displays ads in some of its products, such as News, Stocks, and the App Store. Unfortunately, for users, Gurman believes Apple plans on bringing ads to its Apple Books, Apple Podcasts, and Maps platforms.

    “I believe that the iPhone maker will eventually expand search ads to Maps,” Gurman writes. “It also will likely add them to digital storefronts like Apple Books and Apple Podcasts. And TV+ could generate more advertising with multiple tiers (just as Netflix Inc., Walt Disney Co. and Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. are doing with their streaming services).”

    On the plus side, Gurman doesn’t believe Apple will try to revive its iAd business and embed ads in third-party apps.

    Even so, the expansion of ads within Apple’s products is sure to ruffle features, and rightfully so. We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: While ads are an expected trade-off for a free service, there’s no excuse for users being subjected to ads when they’re already paying for a premium product or service.

    The issue is even worse when looking at Apple’s financials. In its most recent earnings report, the company generated $83.0 billion in revenue, a record for a June quarter. It’s truly hard to fathom how the company can justify trying to make even more money off of its customers. It’s going to be even harder for the company to justify crippling competitors’ ads, only to then ramp up its own.

  • Is TikTok Replacing Google?

    Is TikTok Replacing Google?

    Digital marketing entrepreneur Eric Siu, asks an interesting question, “Is TikTok the NEW Google?” The idea is that younger people are starting to search immersive social apps like TikTok and Instagram directly instead of searching Google.

    “Is TikTok going to replace Google? 40% of 18-24-year-olds report that they are using apps like TikTok to search for things like lunch. The engagement on Google Maps is also starting to grow down. In addition, people are now using fewer keywords to discover. They prefer immersive experiences instead.”

    “Now, things are changing quite a bit because Google is actually starting to index Instagram posts and TikTok posts. If you use Google as much as I do for my business or you do any search marketing at all, stay tuned.”

  • Microsoft’s Netflix Formula: Promise Big and Don’t Compete

    Microsoft’s Netflix Formula: Promise Big and Don’t Compete

    Microsoft surprised the industry when Netflix chose the Redmond company for its advertising ambitions, but Microsoft had a winning formula.

    Netflix has been working to unveil an ad-supported tier as it looks to revitalize its subscriber growth. The company turned in its first subscriber drop in nearly a decade and sees an ad-supported tier as a way to attract new customers. Google and NBCUniversal parent Comcast were seen as the front-runners to assist Netflix, but Microsoft swooped in seemingly out of nowhere to secure the contract.

    According to Business Insider, there were a combination of factors that led to Microsoft’s win, not the least of which was what the company was willing to promise. Google pulled out all the stops in assembling a team that “went to the top of the company” but couldn’t meet Netflix’s expectations.

    “We got feedback from Netflix that our number was underwhelming,” Insider’s source revealed.

    Read more: AWS, Microsoft, and Google Account for More Than Two-Thirds of the Cloud Market

    Much of the problem stemmed from Google hedging its bets over fears Netflix would eventually abandon it in favor of an in-house solution.

    “This deal only made sense for Google to put the effort and reconfigurations to go to market if Netflix was going to permanently outsource it,” the source continued.

    In contrast, Microsoft approached the deal with a far more optimistic view, meeting Netflix’s targets — reportedly revenue in the “billions” — and viewing the new relationship as a way to eventually poach Netflix as a cloud customer from AWS. In other words, rather than a fearing a potential loss, Microsoft saw an immediate win with the potential for a much larger one down the road.

    “What I see is Netflix is testing the Azure/Microsoft waters with a feature or two first,” a Microsoft employee told Insider.

    Another factor — and one that is becoming a major one for companies choosing a cloud provider — is that Microsoft doesn’t directly compete with Netflix. AWS parent Amazon has Amazon Prime, Comcast owns NBCUniversal and its Peacock streaming service, and Google owns YouTube TV.

    Ultimately, when taken together, Microsoft had the right attitude, approach, and circumstances to pull off the advertising coup of the year.

  • Get Ready for Ads on Your Phone’s Lockscreen

    Get Ready for Ads on Your Phone’s Lockscreen

    A Google-backed startup plans to bring its lockscreen platform to the US within a couple of months, turning lockscreens into another way to serve ads.

    Glance is a subsidiary of InMobi Group, the Indian ad giant. The company introduced a way to display news feeds, ads, games, and more on Android lockscreens. As a result, users are bombarded with content before they unlock their phones. The company claims its software is preinstalled on some 400 million smartphones, with its previous focus being the Indian, Asian, and EU markets.

    According to TechCrunch, the company is now in talks with US carriers to bring its platform to US phones within the next two months.

    It’s hard to fathom users actually wanting to be bombarded with ads on their lockscreens, especially when they’re already paying for both the wireless service and the phone they’re using.

    As we have stated many times at WPN, it’s one thing — and entirely expected — for a company to rely on ads when it is providing a user with a free service. It’s a completely different story when companies that are already making billions of dollars in sales and services want to degrade the user experience by placing ads atop those paid products and services.

    Perhaps the most unsurprising factor in this whole story is Google’s involvement. The company already has a near stranglehold on the online advertising market. It should surprise absolutely no one that the company is backing Glance.

    Here’s to hoping US carriers provide a way to opt-out of Glance’s “service.”