WebProNews

Tag: lorem

  • Bud Light’s Super Bowl Ad Features Giant, Real-Life Pac-Man

    If a Super Bowl ad with a slightly drunk bro getting chased by giant, lit-up ghosts inside a giant, lit-up real-life Pac-Man game, featuring generic EDM, with the sole prize of more bud light doesn’t scream America, 2015, then I don’t know what does.

    Bud Light has just dropped (at least part of) its Super Bowl XLIX commercial. The company is sticking with the “Up for Whatever” theme it’s been running since last Super Bowl. This time, a dude finds a giant quarter in the middle of the sidewalk, and when he inserts it into a giant coin slot, doors open and he’s inside a real-life Pac-Man game.

    For many people, the commercials are the only reason they watch the Super Bowl. That, and the likely never-ending discussion of Tom Brady’s deflated balls. Does this one bode well for this year’s crop? I dunno, what do you think?

  • Facebook Exchange (FBX) Is Apparently On The Way Out

    Facebook launched Facebook Exchange, otherwise known as FBX, back in 2012, and from the sound of it, it may already be going away.

    FBX enables advertisers to reach Facebook users based on specific actions they’ve taken online, such as visiting their website. This way targeting has increased relevance due to the interest the user has already shown in the advertiser.

    Digiday reports that Facebook is downplaying the importance of FBX since it’s for desktop-based retargeting, and we’re living in an increasingly mobile world. FBX will not come to mobile apparently. John McDermott writes:

    Yesterday, during Adexchanger’s Industry Preview conference, David Fischer, Facebook’s vp of advertising, said FBX will not be a focal point for the company going forward.

    He also shares this tweet from Beeswax CEO Ari Paparo, who was apparently in attendance:

    AdExchanger managing editor Zach Rodgers also shared some tweets from the session:

    Facebook is all about convincing brands to use video. Earlier this month, the company revealed that the number of video posts per person has increased 75% globally and 94% in the US.

    SocialBakers found that Facebook has even surpassed YouTube for brands posting video.

    Image via Facebook Exchange

  • Report Looks At Yahoo Firefox Deal’s Impact On Paid Search

    In November, Yahoo and Mozilla announced a new partnership, which would make Yahoo the default search experience in the Firefox browser beginning with version 34, which was released in early December.

    On Thursday, Merkle | RKG released its Digital Marketing Report for Q4 2014 (download page) looking at performance data and trends for Google, Yahoo, and Bing. It looks at a variety of aspects of search, but a section in the middle deals specifically with the effects of the Yahoo/Mozilla deal on paid search.

    “We’re now able to assess the impact of the deal on Yahoo’s share of Firefox paid search traffic, which grew from 12% at the beginning of December to 30% by the end of the year,” it says. “However, digging deeper reveals that Yahoo’s share of Firefox 34 paid clicks has been in decline ever since the first big wave of updates in the second week of December. While the initial rollout saw Yahoo’s share rise to a peak of 43% on December 10th, that figure was just 36% by December’s end.”

    “This is primarily the result of users switching the default search engine of their browsers back to Google, as shown by the corresponding increase in Google’s share of Firefox 34 paid clicks throughout the month of December,” the report says. “All in all, it appears the deal will move about 2% or less of total paid search traffic from Google to Yahoo. This is far less than the 10%+ of paid traffic that stands to be on the table if Safari default search were to change hands, which news outlets have reported is a possibility in 2015.”

    Google has been showing concern about users sticking with Yahoo. It’s been showing Firefox users who visit its homepage a message saying, “Get to Google faster. Make Google your default search engine.”

    On Wednesday, the company tweeted:

    According to the Merkle | RKG report, Bing and Yahoo outpaced Google in paid search growth, not only because of the Yahoo Firefox deal, but also rapid growth from Bing Product Ads.

    Images via Merkle | RKG, Google

  • Interactive Advertising Bureau Weighs In On Obama Proposals

    During Tuesday’s State of the Union Address, President Obama briefly touched on some proposals that may have an impact on the digital advertising industry. These include laws to combat cyber attacks and to protect the data of minors.

    Here’s the full speech in case you didn’t watch it:

    From the prepared remarks:

    We are making sure our government integrates intelligence to combat cyber threats, just as we have done to combat terrorism. And tonight, I urge this Congress to finally pass the legislation we need to better meet the evolving threat of cyber-attacks, combat identity theft, and protect our children’s information. If we don’t act, we’ll leave our nation and our economy vulnerable. If we do, we can continue to protect the technologies that have unleashed untold opportunities for people around the globe.

    The follows Obama’s proposal last week to require companies to notify customers of breaches within 30 days as a “single, strong national standard”. This is part of what’s known as the Personal Data Notification and Protection Act. The President says this will not only let consumers know when their info is stolen, but also make it easier for companies to deal with hacks.

    The Interactive Advertising Bureau has some thoughts about the President’s proposals, and sent us a statement from Mike Zaneis, EVP, Public Policy & General Counsel.

    “Among these ideas, were some extremely positive legislative vehicles that IAB wholeheartedly endorses,” he said. “The mission of securing the internet through stronger cybersecurity laws is vitally important. This is why the IAB created an Anti-Malware Working Group and formed an information partnership with the FBI in September of 2014. We also laud the President’s call for a single, national data breach notification standard. Having a patchwork of 46 disparate state laws does not adequately protect consumers’ identities. The President rightly called for new free trade agreements that would allow the internet to flourish. We also applaud the President in his effort to craft a new Federal law to secure students’ data when they are using innovative digital tools.”

    “The President laid out many areas where there can be bipartisan cooperation to enact new consumer protections that also allow industry to continue to innovate and create new jobs. These are ideals shared by the IAB, so much so that the digital marketing industry has taken a lead role in ensuring that consumers have the ability to control their privacy online, creating the first ever comprehensive digital self regulatory program called the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA). The DAA was developed in coordination with the FTC and endorsed by this Administration in 2012.”

    “We want to build upon these successes, but some of the President’s proposals could derail our collective efforts,” he added. “A push for controversial, European-style privacy restrictions, such as enactment of a ‘Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights,’ would make the U.S. less competitive in the global economy. This nebulous concept is ill-advised and could undermine the opportunities to deliver real results to the American public. ”

    “We look forward to working with the Administration and the 114th Congress on their pro-growth agenda and to having the $50 billion U.S. digital advertising industry continue to lead our economy in the right direction.”

    Not all of this was explicitly discussed in the State of the Union Address, but here’s the President’s speech about protecting consumers and families in the digital age from January 12:

    And his speech on Cybersecurity the following day:

    The White House Blog runs down the key takeaways from the privacy speech here.

    Images via YouTube, IAB

  • Twitter’s Latest Acquisition Could Help Advertisers

    Twitter announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire Bangalore-based ZipDial in an effort to make Twitter more accessible around the world. The company says the deal “significantly” increases its investment in India where Twitter is already seeing great growth, and also gives it a new engineering office in the country.

    According to Twitter, the acquisition will help it combat high data costs for those getting online for the first time in countries like India, Indonesia, and Brazil, where many are getting Internet access on mobile devices.

    “ZipDial has built a mobile platform that lets people follow and engage with content across all interfaces,” explains Twitter VP of Product, Christian Oestlien. “The user experience combines SMS, voice, mobile web, and access to mobile apps to bridge users from offline to online. For example, through ZipDial, it’s easy to engage with a publisher or brand by making a toll-free ‘missed call’ to a designated phone number. The caller will then begin receiving inbound content and further engagement on their phone in real time through voice, SMS or an app notification. These interactions are especially appealing in areas where people aren’t always connected to data or only access data through intermittent wifi networks.”

    Twitter has already worked with ZipDial on the Indian elections, Bollywood film promotions and @MTVIndia’s #RockTheVote “Dial the Hashtag” campaign.

    “Today, people across India use ZipDial’s platform to access great content, including cricket scores, audio programming, Tweets from their favorite Bollywood stars – and much more – on their mobile phones,” Oestlien adds. “Leading figures, including actors, politicians and athletes, also use the platform to instantly reach millions of citizens on Twitter through text and voice messages. By coming together with ZipDial, we’ll help more people around the world enjoy great and relevant Twitter experiences on their mobile phones.”

    While ZipDial might help increase accessibility for Twitter, it should have a significant impact on the company’s advertising efforts. ZipDial says it has achieved over a billion connections with brands across 60 million users. The company ranked number 8 on Fast Company’s 2014 list of the world’s 50 most innovative companies.

    Fast Company wrote about the company:

    In India, friends intentionally call each other, let it ring once or twice, and hang up. That’s their way of sending a signal, like “I’m home safe,” without being charged for a call in a country with pricey telecommunications and limited Internet accessibility. California native Valerie Wagoner moved to Bangalore, noticed the missed calls, and is now responsible for 416 million of them: That’s how many times people have used her company, ZipDial, to connect with brands including Gillette, Disney, Procter & Gamble, and IndiaInfoLine.

    It works like this: She issues the brand a number, which it prints on its ads. Consumers call, hang up, and get a text or call in return—and thus are entered in contests, receive coupons, or place an order. In 2013, she expanded to Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, and is now setting up in Indonesia, Singapore, and the Philippines.

    Wagoner said at the time, “Our thesis has engagement at its core and is truly designed for emerging markets consumers. It amplifies consumer-to-brand engagement and therefore data at a personalized level. This then enables targeted marketing of the right message to the right user at the right time, thus maximizing ROI and impact for brands.”

    ZipDial will continue building upon its existing platform, and as a part of Twitter, it will be able to expand on a global scale.

    “Our ambitious goal is to make Twitter’s unique, great content accessible to 100% of the world’s mobile users, including those in emerging markets who will be experiencing the mobile Internet for the first time,” the company says. ” We could not be prouder to join the flock.”

    Gary Bourgeault, an analyst at Seeking Alpha, says ZipDial could help Twitter add value to non-logged-in users, and notes that the “missed call” advertising offering is a form of permission marketing.

    “When consumers opt-in to a dropped call service, they are giving marketers permission to contact them. That signals a level of interest in future marketing communications — a vital datapoint for marketers,” adds Lara O’Reilly at Business Insider. “The missed call format could also extend to sponsored units — Twitter’s bread and butter when it comes to ad formats. Twitter could give brands the option to sponsor some of the news or information services signing up to use the format. Twitter already has its Amplify program, in which it partners with media and sports brands like the NBA and the NFL to showcase video and images from live events, complete with sponsorships from brands like American Express and McDonald’s. ZipDial gives Twitter the chance to extend this initiative beyond the handful of US partners that have joined it to date.”

    The companies aren’t disclosing terms of the acquisition, but analysts are estimating it to be between $30 million and $40 million.

  • Promoted Pins Are Really Good At Getting Clicks

    Promoted Pins Are Really Good At Getting Clicks

    When 2015 started, Pinterest made reservation-based Promoted Pins available to all advertising partners. Early indication is that the ad format could be a major driver of revenue for the company.

    Pinterest first began testing Promoted Pins in the fall of 2013, and officially launched the beta last May. They started with a few partner brands, but over the course of the summer, gave more businesses the opportunity to create their own do-it-yourself Promoted Pins.

    eMarketer is pointing to some data from a survey by Frank N. Magid Associates finding that Promoted Pins getting clicked on by a significant amount of Pinterest users. They seem to be more effective than promoted posts on Facebook and Twitter, at least in terms of user clicks. According to this, 30% of U.S. Pinterest users between the ages of 13 and 64 said they clicked on Promoted Pins at least weekly. 33% clicked on them at least monthly, and only 15% said they did so less than once per month.

    Last last month, Pinterest shared some of its own findings from testing. Promoted Pins perform just as well or better than organic ones.

    “Brand advertisers achieved about a 30% bump in earned media (free impressions!) from their campaigns,” said Pinterest Head of Partnerships Joanne Bradford. “That’s from people who saw a Promoted Pin and thought it was good enough to save to one of their own boards. Engagement is strong— the average Pin is repinned 11 times, and that remains true for Promoted Pins (if not higher).”

    “Promoted Pins perform long after a campaign ends. Since Pins are evergreen and last forever, we often saw an extra 5% bump in earned media in the month following the end of a campaign,” she added. “Brands both in and out of our core categories found success. From financial services to food to auto, brands from a wide array of industries saw results. Auction-based Promoted Pins (CPC) are seeing success, too. Many of our self-serve beta partners are seeing major gains in traffic and impressions.”

    Pinterest will be adding additional formats and advanced targeting options to Promoted Pins.

    Image via eMarketer

  • Facebook Smartly Adds Warnings to Graphic Videos

    When it comes to dealing with violent and/or potentially offensive content, Facebook has made a lot of missteps. Now, the biggest social network in the world is looking to find a satisfactory medium between a completely hands-off approach and stifling gatekeeping that would (and has in the past) elicited cries of censorship.

    Facebook is beginning to show warnings on top of content flagged as graphic, forcing users to agree to continue before watching or viewing said content. The company is also looking to restrict all such content among its younger user base (13-17).

    The past couple of years have seen Facebook flip and flop around when it comes to how the company wants to deal with graphic content on the site. In 2013, Facebook bowed to public outrage, online petitions, and harsh criticism from family groups and made the decision to ban a graphic beheading video that had been circulating around the site.

    Fast forward a few months, and Facebook was singing a different tune. The company reversed the ban on the video, and in doing so instituted a new policy to govern similar content.

    Soon after, Facebook made an official change to its community standards. Here’s Facebook’s current stance on graphic content:

    Facebook has long been a place where people turn to share their experiences and raise awareness about issues important to them. Sometimes, those experiences and issues involve graphic content that is of public interest or concern, such as human rights abuses or acts of terrorism. In many instances, when people share this type of content, it is to condemn it. However, graphic images shared for sadistic effect or to celebrate or glorify violence have no place on our site.

    When people share any content, we expect that they will share in a responsible manner. That includes choosing carefully the audience for the content. For graphic videos, people should warn their audience about the nature of the content in the video so that their audience can make an informed choice about whether to watch it.

    But here’s the thing – expecting people to share content in a responsible manner and hoping that they’ll warn people that they’re about to see someone’s head being chopped off is naive at best. Facebook isn’t naive about these sorts of things – not really. That’s why the company laid the groundwork for this latest move way back in 2013.

    “First, when we review content that is reported to us, we will take a more holistic look at the context surrounding a violent image or video, and will remove content that celebrates violence. Second, we will consider whether the person posting the content is sharing it responsibly, such as accompanying the video or image with a warning and sharing it with an age-appropriate audience,” said Facebook at the time. And the company did experiment with warnings for graphic content – but they never went wide.

    Now, it appears they are. A new warning is reportedly appearing for some on top of a video of the death of policeman Ahmed Merabet, who was killed in Paris by a terrorist involved in the Charlie Hebdo attacks.

    “Why am I seeing a warning before I can view a photo of video?” asks a recently-posted question on Facebook’s help page.

    “People come to Facebook to share their experiences and raise awareness about issues that are important to them. To help people share responsibly, we may limit the visibility of photos and videos that contain graphic content. A photo or video containing graphic content may appear with a warning to let people know about the content before they view it, and may only be visible to people older than 18,” says Facebook.

    A Facebook spokesperson told the BBC that “the firm’s engineers were still looking to further improve the scheme” which could “include adding warnings to relevant YouTube videos.”

    Apparently, Facebook was pressured both externally and internally – from its safety advisory board – to do something more to protect users (especially kids) from graphic content.

    Of course, there’s a whole other group of people that Facebook is worried about protecting.

    Video is a-boomin’ on Facebook. Facebook serves, on average, over a billion video views per day – almost one per user – and in the past year, the number of video posts per person has increased 75% globally and 94% in the US. And this is important to advertisers. What’s also important to advertisers? That their smoothie ads aren’t running up against beheading videos.

    Adding warnings to graphic content in a smart move. Not only does it allow Facebook to allow the content on the site and thus dodge the “free speech!” cries, but it lets advertisers feel more safe about advertising on the site. It also puts the onus on users – hey, we told you it was bad but you clicked anyway … your choice!

    Remember, Facebook isn’t a haven for free speech. It never will be. Facebook doesn’t owe you free expression. The company can do whatever it wants and censor as much content as it pleases. Considering that, a little warning before graphic content is better than no content at all, right?

    Image via Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook

  • Facebook: Video Is Taking Over, Up 75% in the Last Year

    Facebook says the video party is in full swing and content creators (users, but more importantly – brands) should come join said party. Or if they’re already at the party, they should learn how to party harder.

    We already know that Facebook serves, on average, over a billion video views per day – almost one per user. Here are some more impressive stats about the growth of video on Facebook that the company has just dropped:

    We’re increasingly seeing a shift towards visual content on Facebook, especially with video. In just one year, the number of video posts per person has increased 75% globally and 94% in the US. And with people creating, posting and interacting with more videos on Facebook, the composition of News Feed is changing. Globally, the amount of video from people and brands in News Feed has increased 3.6x year-over-year.

    Since June 2014, Facebook has averaged more than 1 billion video views every day. On average, more than 50% of people who come back to Facebook every day in the US watch at least one video daily and 76% of people in the US who use Facebook say they tend to discover the videos they watch on Facebook.

    Translation: video is the future of Facebook engagement, and you need to get on it.

    Facebook is currently looking to rival video services like YouTube, and it knows it has the user base to do so. Facebook wants you to post your original videos on its site, and it wants brands to do the same.

    Facebook also knows that much of its big opportunity in the advertising arena comes from in-feed videos ads. That’s why the company introduced autoplay videos in the news feed back in 2013.

    But autoplay can only do half the work for users and brands looking to grab people’s attention.

    “Shorter, timely video content tends to do well in News Feed. Keep in mind that auto-play videos play silently in News Feed until someone taps to hear sound, so videos that catch people’s attention even without sound often find success,” says Facebook. “Whether you’re a journalist in the field or a public figure sharing a part of your life, post raw videos that are compelling, shareable, clips that no one else will have.”

    Facebook would like you to know that its video sector is doing great, and that it’s worth your time to create videos specifically for your Facebook audience. You biting?

    Image via Facebook

  • CES: Google Is Making Video Ad Reporting Better

    At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Google made a couple of big advertiser-related announcements. For one, they’ve added over 30 broadcasters, premium publishers, and major brands to Google Partner Select, the premium video service they launched last year. Second, they’re rolling out viewability reporting across their ad platforms.

    The Google Partner Select Marketplace is a programmatic marketplace for connecting publishers who wish to invest in “top-quality” video with brands that want to buy against it. New broadcast and publisher brands include CBS Interactive, Fox News, Discovery, Animal Planet, TLC, HGTV, Food Network, Cooking Channel, Travel Channel, Hearst Television, Rolling Stone, Us Weekly, Men’s Fitness, and PGA Tour. Brand advertisers include Allstate, BMW and Netflix.

    “In our early tests, we’ve seen video ads running through Google Partner Select driving significant audience engagement with 74% video ad completion rates, demonstrating that when brands pick the right moments, engagement follows,” says Neal Mohan, Vp of Video and Display Advertising at Google.

    Regarding viewability reporting, Google says it will start offering it to all marketers and publishing using the DoubleClick platforms for video campaigns in the coming days. It’s also coming soon to reserved inventory on YouTube, including all of Google Preferred, across desktop and app views.

    Eventually (as in the coming months), Google will start offering the ability to target viewable impressions in DoubleClick, and the ability to buy only viewable video impressions across the Google Display Network. Then, later this year, Google says it will report on audibility for video ads and the total amount of time an ad was viewable.

    “We’re adhering to the industry definition for video viewability (as set by the MRC and Making Measurement Make Sense): 50% or more of the video being on screen for two seconds or longer,” says Mohan. “Viewability, though, is just the starting point, not an end in and of itself. With the confidence that their ads can be seen by a real person, marketers can then go on to strive for–and measure–what really matters, impact and engagement. Along with our commitment to viewability, we’ll continue our investments in other ways to help marketers drive engagement, like our TrueView format (where advertisers only pay when consumers engage) and Brand Lift surveys, which help marketers measure the impact of their campaigns on their branding goals.”

    Google first expressed its aspirations to improve viewability reporting over a year ago. Last month, the Interactive Advertising Bureau released its State of Viewability Transaction 2015 report, which offers guidance on how to manage the “shift of digital media’s audience currency to 100 viewability.” According to that, 100% viewability measurement simply isn’t possible. Instead, it recommends 70% as the best threshold for buyers and sellers. This year, it says, will be a year of transition.

    Image via Google

  • Yahoo To Announce New Ad Platform For Flurry [Report]

    Yahoo is reportedly planning on launching a self-serve ad platform that would enable marketers to advertise across Flurry, the mobile app network it acquired last year.

    This is according to a report from The Information, which says:

    In the past few months, the company has been aggressively hiring for its mobile ads team ahead of a planned revamp of its ad products in the first half of the year. Yahoo plans to give advertisers a self-service platform to place ads on apps that are using its Flurry publisher network, according to a source familiar with the matter and another briefed on it.

    The move could help revitalize Yahoo’s display ad business, which is not performing as well as its search ad business as of Q3.

    Yahoo recently announced its first developer conference, which is to take place on February 19. The new platform is expected to be announced at this event.

    “At the conference, Yahoo will announce and demo a new suite of products to help developers better understand their users and improve, grow and monetize their apps,” the company said last month.

    Simon Khalaf, VP of Flurry products, is to be the featured speaker, and will give a “State of Mobile” address.

    For the new platform, Yahoo will reportedly be combining Flurry with its Gemini mobile ad buying platform.

    Image via Flurry

  • Oracle Announces Datalogix Acquisition

    Oracle Announces Datalogix Acquisition

    Oracle announced that it’s acquiring consumer data collection company Datalogix, which currently aggregates and provides data for over $2 trillion of consumer spending from 1,500 data partners. This data is used to provide ad targeting.

    Datalogix is already in use by 82 of the top 100 advertisers in the U.S. as well as 7 of the top 8 digital media publishers, including Facebook and Twitter.

    Oracle says the addition of Datalogix’s solutions will help it provide marketers and publishers with the “richest understanding of consumers across both digital and traditional channels based on what they do, what they say, and what they buy,” while also enabling brands to personalize and measure customer interactions.

    “The addition of Datalogix to the Oracle Data Cloud will provide data-driven marketers the most valuable targeting and measurement solution available,” said Omar Tawakol, Group Vice President and General Manager of Oracle Data Cloud. “Oracle will now deliver comprehensive consumer profiles based on connected identities that will power personalization across digital, mobile, offline and TV.”

    “Datalogix’s mission is to help the leading consumer marketers connect digital media to the offline world, where over 93% of consumer spending occurs,” added Datalogix CEO Eric Roza. “We are thrilled to join Oracle and extend the value Oracle Data Cloud brings to marketers and publishers.”

    Oracles says the deal represents the further extension of its Public Cloud strategy to combine IaaS, PaaS, SaaS and Data as a Service on a common cloud.

    Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the price is estimated to be in the “high hundreds of millions”.

    Image via Datalogix

  • Google Adds Store Visit Conversions To Estimated Total Conversions

    Google announced that it will be rolling out store visit measurement to advertisers in the U.S. as an enhancement to Estimated Total Conversions, which it launched last year.

    Estimated Total Conversions is designed to show advertisers the conversions they see immediately, like online sales, in addition to an estimate of conversions that will likely take multiple devices to complete. Store visits are a pretty big metric in that department, so this is a major addition to the feature.

    “If visits to your physical locations—like hotels, auto dealerships, restaurants, and retail stores—are important to your business, you can use conversion tracking to help you see how your ad clicks influence store visits,” says Google. “See which campaigns and devices drive the most store visits to your business. Understand your return on investment (ROI) and make more informed decisions about your ad creatives, spend, bid strategies, and other elements of your campaigns.”

    To be eligible to measure store visit conversions, advertisers must have a Google My Business account linked to their AdWords account, set up location extensions, have multiple physical store locations in the U.S., and receive a large number of both ad clicks and store visits. In other words, it’s not going to be available to the average small business. At least not yet.

    “If you’re eligible, conversions from store visits will be added to the ‘Estimated Total Conversion’ columns in your campaign reports,” Google says. “You’ll also see a new conversion action called ‘Store visits’ added to your conversion reports. If you don’t see store visit data in your account and believe you qualify, reach out to your Google AdWords representative.”

    According to the company, roughly 95% of retail sales take place in physical stores, but 32% of consumers say location-based search ads have led them to visit a store or make a purchase.

    Image via Google

  • Internet Ad Revenues Had A Record Quarter

    Internet Ad Revenues Had A Record Quarter

    The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PwC have released their latest figures on Internet advertising revenues, looking at the third quarter. According to their findings, U.S. revenues hit $12.4 billion, making it the the highest quarter on record.

    Earlier this year, online ad revenues overtook TV ad revenues for the first time. The first half of the year saw digital ad revenues reach $231 billion.

    The third quarter saw Internet advertising revenues in the U.S. reach an historic high of $12.4 billion. This compares to the previous record-setting $12.1 billion in Q4 2013, and represents a year-over-year increase of 17% compared with the $10.6 billion reported for the third quarter of 2013. The IAB also notes that the figures mark a 6.5% increase from Q2 2014, which totaled $11.7 billion.

    “This milestone demonstrates marketers’ commitment to digital,” said Randall Rothenberg, President and CEO of the IAB. “Brands are tapping into the ubiquity of digital screens, now an undeniable vital part of consumers’ lives, as they seamlessly move from smartphones to PCs to interactive televisions throughout the course of their day.”

    “As marketing undergoes the rewards and challenges of the digital sea change, brands and agencies have clearly recognized that interactive advertising offers rich, immersive experiences that signal a new age in advertising,” said Sherrill Mane, the IAB’s Senior Vice President, Research, Analytics and Measurement.

    “Interactive advertising is clearly maintaining its strong momentum,” added David Silverman, a partner at PwC US. “These figures directly reflect how brands are increasingly embracing digital as a must-have in their marketing mix.”

    You can find the report here.

    Image via BusinessWire

  • Instagram Destroys Twitter in Brand Engagement, Says Report

    Brands looking to cultivate a robust social media following should be putting a lot of their time into Instagram, according to recent data.

    Socialbakers says that brand engagement on Instagram is blowing Twitter out of the water. In fact, the average engagement per post for the top 25 most-engaged brands in 50 times greater on Instagram than it is on Twitter.

    “Instagram gives brands an outlet for creative storytelling and engagement with tight communities of people who share a passion for the the brands’ values,” says Socialbakers.

    In other words, if you’re likely to follow a company on Instagram, it’s more likely that you “share its values” and will therefore be more apt to participate with the company.

    This isn’t the first time that we’ve seen data to prove that engagement on Instagram soars above the rest. Earlier this year, a Forrester study showed that brands saw 58 times more engagement on Instagram than they did on Facebook and a whopping 120 times more than on Twitter.

    Instagram recently topped 300 million monthly active users, which puts it barely ahead of Twitter. Though some might not really care about this metric, it’s a pretty big deal to advertisers. More eyes plus more engagement per eye? That’s a big check mark in the Instagram column.

  • Twitter Adds Mobile Targeting Options

    Twitter Adds Mobile Targeting Options

    Twitter announced the launch of two new mobile targeting features for advertisers: mobile carrier targeting and targeting users with new mobile devices.

    Twitter says a number of types of advertisers can make use of carrier targeting, such as carriers themselves, mobile manufacturers, app marketers, and other verticals.

    “Advertisers across verticals can create carrier-targeted campaigns that align with their preferred demographic,” Twitter says in a blog post. “For example, a CPG brand that knows that users of a certain carrier are more likely to be interested in their product can target those users exclusively to optimize campaign efficiency.”

    “Using new mobile device targeting, you can target (or exclude) people who have recently used Twitter on a new mobile device or carrier,” it says. “This feature is ideal for mobile app marketers who want to reach those who are looking for apps to install on their new device. You can target those who have used Twitter on a new device within a certain period of time. And, you can combine new mobile device targeting with any other targeting type, such as keyword, interest or mobile operating system.”

    Over 80 percent of Twitter’s active users use the service from mobile devices.

    The company recently launched tailored audiences based on mobile apps users have on their devices.

    Image via Twitter

  • Twitter Reportedly Torn on Autoplay Videos

    Whether you’re a marketing-minded person who thinks that Twitter is a perfect place for autoplay video ads or a user who absolutely hates the sound of that – you have people inside the company that agree with you.

    In fact, the decision-makers at Twitter are split on whether or not to take the next step in video and autoplay them inside users’ streams.

    The report comes from Adweek, which quotes sources familiar with the matter.

    Twitter is divided over whether to allow videos to simply start playing when users scroll over them. It is a feature already adopted by Facebook, but one that scares Twitter purists who don’t want it to stray farther from its text-based roots, according to industry insiders with knowledge of the company’s video strategy.

    “It’s an argument that’s happening—a tug of war,” said one.

    Twitter remains cautious, even though video has become an important tool for the service as consumers and brands have embraced it.

    Twitter has been increasing its focus on video for some time now – especially when it comes to how video can help propel, or even carry, the company’s ad offerings. But autoplay videos inside the Twitter feed? That’s a big step, for sure.

    But it’s one that rival Facebook has already taken.

    Facebook began the wider rollout of its video ad product earlier this year, and by many accounts it’s been a pretty big success. Videos are seeing over a billion watches a day, a number which is surely lifted by the fact that many are autoplay. Time reports that Facebook is making a big push this holiday season, adding more corporate partners to the mix.

    Twitter has a decision to make, and it must balance the potential for growth in it advertising sector with UX. If Twitter starts to autoplay videos, many users will get pretty pissed. It sure happened to Facebook.

    But like most things that users hate on social networks, they get used to it after a while.

  • IAB Gives Guidance On Ad Viewability

    The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) released its “State of Viewability Transaction 2015″ report aimed at offering guidance on how to manage the “shift of digital media’s ‘audience currency’ to 100 percent viewability.”

    Right now, it says, 100% viewability measurement simply isn’t possible. Instread, it recommends 70% as the best threshold for buyers and sellers. 2015, it says, will be a “year of transition.”

    From the announcement:

    The IAB statement heralds the collaboration among the digital trade association, the ANA, and the 4As that has stewarded the historic change in advertising measurement, but labels 2015 a “year of transition,” and calls on advertising agencies, publishers, marketers, and advertising technology companies to work together to assure the new currency can be implemented by all companies in the digital advertising ecosystem. The paper reiterates a statement made in October by the Media Rating Council (MRC), the organization charged by the industry with managing the Making Measurement Make Sense (3MS) processes, that it is “unreasonable for advertisers, agencies and publishers implementing viewable impressions as measurement currency to expect to observe viewable rates of 100% in analyses of their campaigns.”

    “It’s time to set the record straight about what is technically and commercially feasible, in order to get ourselves on an effective road to 100 percent viewability and greater accountability for digital media,” said Randall Rothenberg, President and CEO, IAB. “The MRC said it best – 100 percent is currently unreasonable. Why? Because, different ad units, browsers, ad placements, vendors and measurement methodologies yield wildly different viewability numbers. Publishers, agencies, marketers, and ad tech companies can resolve these differences by working collaboratively to make measurement make sense. We won’t do it by holding guns to each others’ heads.”

    The IAB is offering up seven principles, which it says marketers, publishers, and agencies should adhere to:

    • Billing should be based on served impressions separated into measured and non-measured categories.
    • Measured Impressions should be held to a 70% viewability threshold.
    • If a campaign doesn’t achieve 70% for Measured Impressions, publishers should make good with additional Viewable Impressions until the threshold is met.
    • All make-goods should be in the form of additional Viewable Impressions, not cash, and should be delivered in a reasonable time frame. Make-good impressions should be both Viewable and generally consistent with inventory that was purchased in the original campaign. Determination of threshold achievement is based on total campaign impressions, not by each line item. In other words, some line items may not achieve threshold, but others can compensate.
    • For large format ads (242,500+ pixels), a Viewable Impression is counted if 30% of the pixels of the ad are viewable for a minimum of one continuous second.
    • All transactions between buyers and sellers should use MRC accredited vendors only.
    • A buyer and a seller should agree on a single measurement vendor ahead of time.

    You can find the whole report here.

    Image via IAB

  • Google Adds Impression Share By Device To Campaign, Ad Group Tabs In Shopping Campaigns

    Google announced that it has impression share by device on the Campaign and Ad Group tabs in Shopping campaigns.

    “More than ever, people are shopping on mobile devices,” says Google. “As marketers it is important to reach these mobile shoppers and address missed opportunities, especially throughout the holidays.”

    Google recently announced the launch of impression share by device in the Auction Insights report. That was the first time this info was available for Shopping Campaigns.

    “To make this information more accessible and give you more flexibility in reporting, you can now view impression share for computers, mobile devices and tablets at the Campaign and Ad group level,” Google explains. “Look at your Lost IS (rank) segmented by device to see your mobile share of voice and use Auction insights to understand how you stack up against your competition. Use this information to determine which Ad groups or Campaigns have the most mobile opportunity and increase your mobile bid modifier to achieve your desired goals. In addition to an increase in impression share, increasing your mobile bid modifier makes your ads more likely to appear in the first portion of the mobile ad unit, where CTR can increase by up to 3X.”

    That little stat comes from Global Google internal data in November.

    Image via Google

  • Google Makes Mobile Lightbox Ads Available Globally

    Google recently announced it would bring its Lightbox ad format to mobile devices. They’re now available to AdWords advertisers globally.

    “With Lightbox ads, it’s easy to use existing creative assets to create beautiful, engaging ads that look great on any screen size,” says Google’s James Beser. “These ads pull assets from your YouTube channel, can use uploaded images, or your Google Maps listings to build full screen experiences within a standard Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) ad size. The ability to integrate content from other Google products – like Shopping listings, G+ pages – is coming soon. Because these ads are built in HTML5, using responsive design, the assets dynamically fill the publisher site, mobile app, screen, or device — desktop and mobile.”

    “Lightbox ads are great at driving brand consideration because they’re billed on a cost-per-engagement (CPE) basis,” he says. “This helps your digital display dollars go further because your brand’s experience automatically finds a qualified audience — and you don’t pay if people don’t expand and engage with the creative experience. This expansion happens when people hover over your ad for two seconds to expand it on a desktop, or tap to expand it on a mobile phone or tablet. Plus, the optimization engine behind Lightbox ads learns over time so your campaigns get better at reaching the audience most likely to engage with your message as your campaign runs. Like all of Google’s display ad offerings, Lightbox ads work seamlessly with our audience solutions and can be measured using Brand Lift reporting.”

    You can see what Sony and Universal McCann have done with the ads here.

    Google says it will be adding additional functionality to the format in 2015.

    Image via Google

  • YouTube Names The Top Ads Of 2014

    YouTube Names The Top Ads Of 2014

    It’s that time of year. Everybody’s putting out their best of 2014 lists. This time it’s YouTube with the top ads of the year.

    These are ads that debuted on YouTube. They evaluated them based on things like watch time, likes, shares, video views, and audience retention metrics.

    1. Nike Football: Winner Stays. ft. Ronaldo, Neymar Jr., Rooney, Ibrahimović, Iniesta & more

    2. Nike Football: The Last Game ft. Ronaldo, Neymar Jr., Rooney, Zlatan, Iniesta & more

    3. Budweiser Super Bowl XLVIII Commercial — “Puppy Love”

    4. Always #LikeAGirl

    5. Devil Baby Attack

    6. Duracell: Trust Your Power – NFL’s Derrick Coleman, Seattle Seahawks

    7. Galaxy Note 4 — Then And Now

    8. P&G Thank You, Mom | Pick Them Back Up | Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games

    9. Global Be(er) Responsible Day | “Friends Are Waiting” | Budweiser

    10. Heineken | Routine Interruptions | The Payphone with Fred Armisen

    “Thanks to the creativity of this year’s videos, people are spending more time watching videos from brands than ever before,” says YouTube’s Alyson Yaffe. “In fact, we watched more than 1 billion minutes of the top 10 ads this year alone. And while the top ads are nearly 50 percent longer this year compared to last—averaging around 3 minutes each—we stayed tuned longer, spending around 50 percent more time watching them.”

    YouTube also has a rewind video available here.

    Image via YouTube

  • Bing Ads Campaign Planner Gets An Update

    Microsoft announced the launch of a new version of its Campaign Planner tool for the holidays. The tool, which was first released in September, has new features for vertical and product trends, keyword research and competitive insights.

    “Campaign Planner’s search volume research tool can be used broadly to pull general vertical or product trends,” explains Microsoft’s Chan Liu. “The left hand navigation puts you in the driver’s seat, giving you the capability to drill down and browse pre-defined verticals and sub-verticals that may be relevant to your business. Electing a vertical pulls up a default trending line graph, giving a quick snapshot into seasonality, and also provides performance numbers of the last seven days. Included is an actual number for search volume – the total number of times the list of related keywords was searched in the last seven days! The tool also offers a current view of device breakout, and advertising benchmarks including average CPC. Understanding the device mix should be a consideration when making website decisions or optimizing landing pages across devices.”

    “Want more insight into the top products being searched within a vertical? Click on the ‘Products’ tab,” adds Liu. “This view displays search volume by popular products. This information shows the volume differences between similar products in the vertical, and can help guide key business decisions. Define focus areas, review campaign budgets and expand keywords based on current consumer search trends and behavior.”

    With the keyword research feature, you can just type the keyword into the search box, and get recent performance and trends. The view can be modified by daily, weekly, monthly or yearly. There are also options for “Search volume by location” and “Performance by Device”.

    The competitive insight feature gives you info on top advertisers bidding in a vertical or across a selected product. You can see up to 20 top domains, their ad coverage and average position on the Bing search results page.

    Microsoft goes into more detail about all of this here.

    Image via Microsoft