In 2020, AdMonsters launched the Wrapper Newsletter. Our aim: To summarize exciting news items that catch our eyes and link them to wider developments in digital media and advertising. And we also point you in the direction of great podcasts and compelling industry voices to follow on social media.

If you’ve been missing out, here are AdMonsters Wrapper archives. And don’t forget to subscribe to receive each issue every Monday in your inbox.

Now on to the the list. (This list is a compilation of readers’ favorite stories from 2023.)

The Top Digital Media and Ad Tech News of 2023

U.S. AD SPEND PROJECTED TO INCREASE IN Q4 AND 2024 

Ad recession where? At the start of 2023, the ad tech industry was filled with fear-mongering rhetoric that an ad recession was bound to sweep the ecosystem. As the year progresses into Q4, ad spend predictions are much more optimistic. (Read more)

THE TRADE DESK WANTS TO CONTROL RETAIL MEDIA

The Trade Desk’s CEO, Jeff Green, told investors he has his eyes set on the $500 million retail media market. Green is confident he can take a large chunk of that $500 billion pie. The Trade Desk plans to leverage the fact that they are a significant source of demand for ad sellers to capture the opportunities in e-commerce advertising.

“I think over time most of that will be available to The Trade Desk — even things like sponsored listings where it’s optimal for those [placements] to get as much demand as possible,” said Green. “There’s more supply than there is demand.” (Read more)

BOT FRAUD ON THE RISE, DOUBLING YOY

People are spending 28% less time online this year than they did in 2022, yet traffic, as many network administrators will tell you, is up. What’s going on?

According to HUMAN Security, a company specializing in fraud prevention, bot traffic is rising, more than doubling YOY. As a percentage of overall traffic, bad bots are rising faster than legitimate users. (Read more)

GOOGLE’S GLOBAL LEGAL TROUBLES; GOOGLE ANNOUNCES DEADLINE FOR COOKIE DEPRECATION

Google’s Global Legal Troubles

Antitrust season is year-round for big tech in 2023.

The tech titan Google has found itself in another antitrust debacle. The EU dropped a bombshell, charging them with violating EU antitrust laws. Google’s dominance in online advertising has led them down a slippery slope, undercutting their competitors left and right. (Read more)

Google Announces Deadline for Cookie Deprecation, for Real This Time

Google has extended the deadline for turning off third-party cookies in Chrome several times, raising doubt around the ad tech community that the cookie would ever crumble.

Joey Trotz, Director of Google’s Privacy Sandbox, eased all industry suspicion at AdMonsters Ops NY conference in a session about why publishers should start testing Google’s Privacy Sandbox now.

“One hundred percent, we are deprecating the third-party cookie in the second half of 2024 – full stop,” said Trotz. (Read more)

THE DOJ SUES GOOGLE (AGAIN). PUBLISHERS RESPOND; STATE OF DATA 2023

The DOJ Sues Google (Again). Publishers Respond

It’s deja vu for Alphabet’s legal team, as the Justice Department once again filed an antitrust lawsuit against the company. This time, the DOJ, joined by eight states, accused the tech behemoth of absolute dominance over the digital ad tech space. (Read more)

Everything You Need to Know About IAB’s State of Data 2023

We will see five new state-level data privacy regulations coming to life in 2023, with a few already brought to life this month. So, it’s perfect timing that the IAB unveiled their sixth annual State of Data initiative, IAB State of Data 2023: Data Clean Rooms and the Democratization of Data in the Privacy-Centric Ecosystem this past Tuesday at IAB ALM ’23 (and it was one for the books). (Read more)

TRIOPOLY AGREES TO AI SAFEGUARDS; AD TECH SCRUBS MFA SITES; OREGON PRIVACY ACT SIGNED

7 AI Companies Agree to Safeguards; the Triopoly Among Them

The Biden Administration is pretty uneasy with AI for numerous reasons and has wrangled voluntary commitments from seven AI companies to put safeguards around the risks posed by generative AI, including algorithmic discrimination and disinformation.

“Companies developing these emerging technologies are responsible for ensuring their products are safe. To make the most of AI’s potential, the Biden-Harris Administration is encouraging this industry to uphold the highest standards to ensure that innovation doesn’t come at the expense of Americans’ rights and safety,” the White House said. (Read more)

ANA Study Leads Ad Tech Vendors to Scrub MFA Sites

Made-for-advertising sites flew under the radar for some time, but thanks to the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) study, MFAs are getting a much-needed crackdown.

Companies like Magnite, Sharethrough, and PubMatic are blocking MFA sites to keep them from profiting from alleged deceptive practices. MFAs thrived in the supply chain for years. However, that changed when the ANA launched an investigation and found sites riddled with disruptive user experiences, tactics that compromised content value, and security risks. (Read more)

Oregon Governor Signs Opt-Out Privacy Laws

In a groundbreaking move, Oregon Governor Tina Kotek signed a privacy bill, granting state residents the power to regain control over their online advertising fate. The law allows state residents to opt out of ad targeting based on their online activity.

The Oregon Consumer Privacy Act (SB 619) ensures that consumers have the right to know what personal information brands collect about them and who receives it. In addition, the language around personal data is relatively broad, covering identifiers such as cookies. (Read more)

The post ICYMI — Top Digital Media and Ad Tech News of 2023 appeared first on AdMonsters.

Reflections on 2022 and Holidays Ahead As we wrap up 2022, we wanted to take a minute to reflect on the year as an AdMonsters community.    It’s the time of year when many of us will pause and take stock. Personally, I like to evaluate the things in my life that move me forward, expand my horizons, or simply bring me joy. To me, that is the heart of professional education that AdMonsters strives to create: content that propels your career forward, connections that expand your professional circle, and (for all our event-goers), a good dose of actual fun!    Thank you for joining the conversation in 2022 in a variety of virtual and live learning events (and take a look back on our Best of AdMonsters series for a full rewind of 2022):  AdMonsters will be back in 2023 with more events, webinars, playbooks, awards, and networking opportunities to champion the mission-critical importance of Ad Ops and Revenue Operations within the media organization, and to bring people together for that purpose.   Here’s to you. Here’s to your work. Here’s to growth. And here’s to community!  We hope to get stronger and smarter together in 2023 and beyond.    Best wishes and happy holidays!  Lynne d Johnson Content Director

The post Take a Look Back on 2022 With Us appeared first on AdMonsters.

For example, Microsoft recently announced the creation of a data boundary in the EU for consumers that use Microsoft cloud services. Digital media gave publishers access to global audiences. Consequently, the development affects publishers and advertisers outside of Europe. 

With Wrapper, we connect the dots between developing news stories and well-established ad tech practices. 

Here’s a look back at the top Wrappers of 2022. 

Are We in the Midst of an Ad Recession? 

If any question made the ad tech world stop and think, this one is a great contender. 

The ad spend slowdown created a line of fire that no one escaped. Big tech companies like Meta, Twitter, and Snapchat saw low quarterly results. Even Alphabet, Google’s parent company, experienced its lowest results in two years. The industry wondered if the walled gardens weren’t safe, how would smaller publishers fare? 

Based on the Q2 losses, the industry concluded an ad recession was nigh. It forced advertisers to be more frugal to ensure that they did not waste money.. 

Other headlines featured in this newsletter: Is New York Times Ad Sales Decline a Bad Omen for Digital Media?; YouTube’s Slow Revenue Growth Is Cause for Concern; “The Feedback Loop” 

Recession where? Ad Spend to Skyrocket in 2022 

For the past two years, consecutively, Group M predicted the global ad industry to see a surplus of growth in 2022, despite inflation and recession worries. 

A mid-year forecast released by the WPP agency anticipates an 8.4% increase in global ad revenue, excluding U.S. political advertising. The results were optimistic, especially compared to the sentiments spouted by the rest of the industry. 

“Recession should not be the base-case expectation for how the economy will evolve,” said Brian Wieser, global president, business intelligence for GroupM. It’s “less growth than we might have forecasted a few months ago, but not recession. Deceleration, not decline.”

Group M asserts that overtime correlations have weakened between economic activity and advertising, but marketers are being cautious. They are slowing down the rate they increased their media budgets and fewer new marketers emerged this year. 

Other headlines featured in the newsletter: Potential Netflix and Roku Acquisition; Streaming Services Ad Rates

Could the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA) save local news? 

Inspired by the Australian government, House and Senate lawmakers attempted to pass an updated version of the JCPA. It was a direct attack against the infamous triopoly, one they did not take lightly. 

Senator Amy Klobuchar brought the bill to the Senate floor a year prior, and the triopoly responded with threats such as restricting their news features. The showdown was one for the history books, but big tech came out on top as Congress announced that the JCPA would not go into effect.  

Other headlines featured in the newsletter: Looming Recession Reduces Ad Spend, but Podcasts Rise Above; IAB Tech Lab’s Ads.txt Updates

P&G Bets Big On (Group) Black

In June 2021, Group Black launched to “dramatically transform the face of media ownership and investment.” They set out to assemble a collective of independent Black publishers with the ability and capital to meet advertisers’ needs. 

In the first quarter of the year, Group Black received their most significant financial investment after Procter & Gamble donated a nine-figure sum. The investment started a multi-year deal and involved mediums such as linear, OTT, digital audio, and print channels.

P&G’s investment was a giant leap forward for Black publishers but also for often neglected marginalized audiences. 

“It’s hard to reach niche audiences at scale,” says Lashawnda Goffin, CEO at Colossus SSP. “And that could be because of their lack of resources or know-how when it comes to the programmatic space.”

Other headlines featured in the newsletter: The EU’s DMA is Busting Open Big Tech; Instacart Platform Cashes In on First-Party Data

YouTube’s New Ad Options Include Frequency Capping

At YouTube Brandcast US, Allan Thygesen, President of Americas at Google, announced a new CTV management solution in DV 360 to enable advertisers to control frequency and manage waste.

“Frequency has always been the hard number, but it’s where the magic happens for brand building,” said Thygesen. 

With the program, marketers set a weekly frequency goal to optimize the number of times viewers see their ads per week across in-stream formats. The early results for the frequency campaigns were positive and showcased that advertisers can prevent over-delivery and waste, stopping unnecessary ad spend. 

Other headlines featured in the newsletter: Maybe Everyone Shouldn’t Launch an Ad Network; Meta’s Big L; RTB’s Big Data Breach; New Media Company to Vet Ad Tech Vendors 

Ad Spend Down, It’s Not All Doom and Gloom

Ad spend slowdown was the talk of the town in 2022, and the upcoming recession caught even the walled gardens in the quicksand of revenue loss. 

Publishers and advertisers bet on holiday sales to mitigate the downturn, but most companies reported a Q3 downward dip in ad spend, with sharper declines projected for Q4.

But the industry is not all doom and gloom. There are bright spots in the industry for  publishers to diversify their revenue: 

• Retail media: QoQ growth sits at 3% for retail media, and their YoY growth boasts an impressive 45% growth rate.
• Podcasting: The medium broke expectations for Q3, boasting 3% industry growth, and 1,878 news brands turned to podcasts as a new venture.

The post The Final Wrap-Up: Best of AdMonsters Wrapper 2022 appeared first on AdMonsters.

Introducing Capital B, a new nonprofit newsroom founded by two mainstream editors, Akoto Ofori-Atta and Lauren Williams, who launched the pub after leaving leadership positions at The Trace and Vox. Their digital media startup is dedicated to publishing hard news, investigative journalism, and practical information written by Black journalists, for the Black community.

At a time where niche and local publications seem to be evaporating, Capital B recently launched with an impressive $9 million in philanthropic backing for its national hub and local newsroom in Atlanta. The Ford Foundation, American Journalism Project, John S. and John L. Knight Foundation, and Yellow Chair are among their largest donors, along with $95,000 received from 550 small donors.

This backing has allowed the publication to quickly expand from just two co-founders to a news team of 16. They hope to grow to 27 employees along with opening another local newsroom before the end of the year. Outside of donor funding, Capital B does have a paid membership program and paid advertising to support their local newsrooms.

A Steady Decline

Capital B boldly comes to the marketplace at a time when local journalism is climbing its steepest hill and many publications are falling to their end. Over the past 15 years, 2,100 U.S. newspapers have ceased publication, resulting in 1,800 communities without a local news outlet since the beginning of 2020. Just when you thought it could not get worse, the Coronavirus came causing 30 additional newspapers to close or merge in April and May 2020, and that domino effect is only continuing.

Ironically, this happened at a time when local coverage was and probably still would be at its peak viewership. The decline in local news options could be the reason why so many have opted out of viewing the news altogether due to a lack of connection with what’s happening right outside their door.

The Nonprofit Way

However, Capital B approached its launch methodically, steering away from becoming a for-profit publication and opting for a nonprofit revenue model diversified with philanthropic funding, donations from individuals, corporations, and members, as well as advertising and sponsorships.

This is a growing experimental trend, as more nonprofit newsrooms are popping up around the country including The Ohio Local News Initiative and Houston Local News Initiative also backed by the American Journalism Project. This approach gives local news organizations the opportunity to cover hard topics fully and unapologetically without relying so heavily on ad dollars.

It’s important to note that while these nonprofit publications are largely funded by philanthropic organizations in the beginning, it is up to each outlet to “keep the lights on” going forward with direct monetary support from the local communities they serve.

If nothing else, the nonprofit-funded local news media model is, for some, a welcomed alternative to the private equity investment option.

The Forgotten Cities & People

While organizations like American Journalism Project have made a significant promise to help end news deserts and aid local nonprofit news, it’s somewhat limited to well-known metropolitan areas. There’s a higher likelihood that publications in larger markets will have a more immediate impact which equates to minimal risk. This focus leaves out the underserved local communities (that are usually predominantly Black) who likely need a high-quality news source right in their backyard that they can trust.

Although Capital B is still in the infancy stage, its national hub could provide a localized feel for Black readers, as the narrative will be controlled by reporters and editors who can closely relate to the issues they’re covering.

We admire the tunnel vision and dedication that local news outlets have on the areas they serve and Capital B is no different. They are laser-focused on reporting the good, bad and indifferent pertaining to the Black community and that is what journalism is all about isn’t it?

The post Local Journalism: Down, But Not Out — Nonprofit Media Models Kindle Hope appeared first on AdMonsters.

Our aim, with The Wrapper, is to summarize exciting news items that catch our eyes and link them to wider developments in digital media and advertising. And we also point you in the direction of great podcasts and compelling industry voices to follow on social media.

A lot of exciting happenings went down in 2021, from failed FLoC trials to increasing ad spend shifts to digital after a tumultuous 202o to the big tech crackdown to Apple’s many privacy updates upending how mobile pubs monetize their apps and we tried to catch it all.

Here’s a look back at the Top 12 Wrapper issues of 2021.

Guess Who’s Back? Advertising Spend Makes A Comeback

2020 was a tumultuous year for publishers, but signs that we’re rebounding couldn’t be more clear. For instance, just take a look at this U.S. Ad Market Tracker, a collaboration between MediaPost and Standard Media Index based on total ad spending by the major agency holding companies.

You’ll note a steady growth over a period of four months, starting in August, that came after a precipitous decline in ad spend starting in March fueled by the impact of Coronavirus. Overall, digital has been the major media catalyst for growth, expanding 29.3% in November.

Also in this issue: The New York Times Weathered COVID With First-Party Data; 2021, Say Hello to Email; Ding Dong, Adobe Flash is Dead

66% of Marketers Say Audience Beats Context, Pubs Disagree

Lotame’s new report, Beyond the Cookie: The Future of Advertising for Marketers & Publishers, reveals that, while 66% of marketers don’t think contextual targeting is enough to replace audience targeting, 69% of pubs believe context will win in a post-cookie space. It also notes that just 38% of pubs are searching for a solution to the end of third-party tracking, and 16% are using more contextual/intent data while looking for a more permanent solution.

Also in this issue: Virginia Gets Closer to Passing Consumer Privacy Reg; Facebook Fudges Numbers; TTD Hands Over Control of UID 2.0 to Prebid; Maryland Passed a Tax on Digital Advertising

We’re Not Ready for the Cookiepocalypse

While 67% of data leaders report that their organizations are prepared for the impending loss of third-party cookies and identifiers, a staggering percentage of the industry is concerned about future limitations for targeting (45%), as well as for ad campaign measurement (41%), according to a new report from the IAB. Those numbers reek of bewilderment. No? Then why, oh why, is the industry still spending inordinate amounts of cash on third-party data?

Also in this issue: Is Your CMS Killing Your ROI?; Disney, Discovery, and ViacomCBS are Building Their Own Ad Tech; YouTube Unveiled Plans to Tap Into the Rise of CTV

Core Web Vitals Delayed; Browsers Say No to FLoC

If Google’s new Core Web Vitals benchmarks for the “page experience” became the standard for how sites get ranked in search today — most sites wouldn’t rank highly at all. At least that’s according to analysis from SearchMetrics (reg wall), which parsed over 2 million webpages and found that only 4% of them got “good” scores across all three of the Core Web Vitals. (Interestingly enough, Google’s own YouTube didn’t score well at all).

And: While FLoC testing has commenced on Chrome, other browsers—Edge, Safari, and Firefox—are pushing back on Google’s cookie replacement. The triad of browsers joins the Brave Browser, which knocked the Big G’s cookie alternative for not really being a privacy solution last week. Vivaldi also won’t be participating in the FLoC trials, and DuckDuck Go has released an extension to block FLoC.

Also in this issue: Ad Spend Coming Back Strong; Ad Tech CTV Alliance; Cookie Death Will Compound Ad Tech Issues; Contextual Raises Another Round

PulsePoint Grab Gives Internet Brands In-House Programmatic Pipes

Two quick thoughts came to mind when we saw the news that Internet Brands was acquiring health-focused ad tech platform PulsePoint. First: Internet Brands wants to bring programmatic capabilities in-house. Second: Is Internet Brands, with its 250 million monthly uniques, and a variety of advertising offerings, now the 800-pound digital media gorilla when it comes to health content?

Also in this issue: Apple Vs. Everybody: The Saga Continues; There’s Gold in Them Thar Connected Devices; The Duopoly Continues to Dominate, Even in the Midst of the Pandemic; OpenID Comes to Linear TV to Target Audiences and Measure Campaigns Across Screens

Will IP Address Signals Disappear Next?

Third-party cookies are near death, there’s more unknown than known about UIDs (Universal IDs) and FLoC (Federated Learning of Cohorts), and now, IP addresses are soon to be a targeting method of the past.

Also in this issue: The Audio Boom Continues; Pubs in Search of Post-pandemic Revenue Streams; CTV Is Only Growing

FLoC Trial Ends, None the Wiser

“We’ve decided not to extend this initial Origin Trial. Instead, we’re hard at work on improving FLoC to incorporate the feedback we’ve heard from the community before advancing to further ecosystem testing,” wrote senior software engineer Josh Karlin in a Chromium Blink development forum.

Also in this issue: USA Today Launches Paywall, But Who’s The Target Audience?; How Has Working From Home Shaped Ad Blocking?; The End of Big Tech?; TTD Vs Walled Gardens

What Will Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection Mean for Newsletters?

Spoiler alert: It’s not pretty. Many publications opine that Apple Mail Privacy Protection is going to drastically change the way newsletter marketing takes place and that said marketers must readjust their strategies now before changes go into effect.

Also in this issue: Apple’s ATT Privacy Changes a Boon for Amazon?; FTC Refiles Lawsuit Against Facebook. Is It for the Wrong Reasons?

Whaddya Mean Newsletter Subscription Fatigue?; Half of U.S. Consumers Prefer AVOD

Alex Kantrowitz, writer of the Big Technology Newsletter and the book ALWAYS DAY ONE: How The Tech Titans Plan To Stay On Top Forever, said that the rumblings of newsletter fatigue are mere rumblings. In fact, he believes the opposite is taking place and he dubs it the “Newsletter Network Effect.”

And: Two recent reports, one from Future Today and one from Roku show that consumers love AVOD content, including the ads, because they don’t have to pay much for subscriptions with free ad-supported TV.

Is Google Double Dipping?

Talk about inflating ad deals. In an unredacted lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York, it was discovered that Google takes between 22-42% of each ad transaction that moves through its system. This is anywhere between two and four times the amount rival ad exchanges take.

Also in this issue: Did Google and Facebook Collude Against Apple?; How Apple’s Privacy Changes Really Hurt

IAB Europe in Breach of GDPR; AI Runs Globe and Mail Paywall

Google and countless other advertisers rely on IAB Europe’s consent management system, which has now been deemed in violation of GDPR.

And: AI runs Globe and Mail paywall. And it’s doing a stellar job. So much so that the company is offering it as a SaaS product. Named Sophi, it controls home page placement of stories and the metering of stories—how many free articles a consumer gets before being prompted to subscribe.

Could CMA Commitments Delay Cookie Cutoff Further?

The ICO’s (Information Commissioner’s Office) outgoing commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, posted a scathing opinion piece where she “warns the industry [behavioral advertising industry] that its old unlawful tricks simply won’t do in the future.”

Also in this issue: The Lingering Impact of the Long Goodbye to Third-Party Cookies; Are Content Creators and Influencers > Media and Brands?; Making Ad Tech and Advertising More Sustainable??

The post Best of AdMonsters Wrapper 2021: Top 12 Stories in Digital Media and Ad Tech appeared first on AdMonsters.

We spent so much time talking bout how hot newsletters are that we decided to jump on the trend!

Since we follow a lot of ad-tech industry and adjacent news (and scroll through even more of ad tech Twitter), and not every happening makes it on AdMonsters.com or to our events, we launched a weekly newsletter featuring a curated selection of ad tech news and analysis written by AdMonsters Editorial Director, Gavin Dunaway and Senior Editor, Lynne d Johnson.

With The Wrapper, we summarize exciting news items that catch our eyes and then link them to wider developments in digital media and advertising. And hey, we also aim to point you in the direction of great podcasts and compelling industry voices to follow on social media.

Here are some of our hottest editions from the year that was 2020.

AdMonsters Wrapper: There Can Only Be One (Supply Path)

A few weeks ago, the biggest independent DSP [The Trade Desk] laid down the law (buyers’ law!) and demanded partners de-duplicate auctions. No more of the same impression coming through three or more different pipes. And because TTD is a major source of demand in the open ecosystem, exchanges, SSPs, and publishers that want to keep seeing those dollars will comply. Read more.

AdMonsters Wrapper: The Mysteriously Missing 15%

It turns out the programmatic supply chain is even more complex than we ever imagined and the flow of funds from advertiser to publisher is a dubious practice. If you’ve been following ad tech Twitter in the past week, then you’d know that that ISBA finally released their long-awaited Programmatic Supply Chain Transparency Study, highlighting that premium publishers receive only half of the ad spend from brands and 15% of that spend can’t be accounted for at all. Read more.

Facebook Problems: Bigger Than Just Ad Fraud

Facebook is ankle-deep in troubles as of late. For one, I’m sure we’ll all be checking into the live stream of the big tech antitrust hearings taking place tomorrow to hear Zuck tell Congress how much America needs his company to be really fit in order to stave off undue Chines social media influences. Senior Editor, Lynne d Johnson, already has her dragon popcorn at the ready. But these are not the Facebook issues we’re referring to. Read more.

Cookie Death Worse For Pubs Than Feared

Garrett Johnson, a marketing professor at Questrom School of Business, Boston University, uncovered a more startling assessment about the value of a cookie that he posted in a Twitter thread. It looks like in the UK Competition and Market Authority’s Online Platforms and Digital Advertising Market Study, the CMA reanalyzed Google’s very own data and found that publishers’ revenues would fall up to 70%. Read more.

AdMonsters Wrapper: Rethinking Allyship in Ad Tech

In the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic, the digital media and advertising industry is bearing witness to America’s civil unrest—in response to systemic racism—by asking itself some very hard questions about diversity and inclusion efforts within its own ranks. There was a flurry of response from brands in support of the protests and #BlackLivesMatter, but most with cookie-cutter templatized messaging that came off like one massive PR flex. Critics handed out gold stars for the performances but collectively wondered, “Where’s the beef?” Read more.

Facebook Boycott Collateral Damage: Pubs

We know what you’re thinking, publisher—all those big brands boycotting Facebook in July means moolah is coming your way fast! Wait, were you being sarcastic? Were we being sarcastic? We just can’t tell anymore. We’re kind of two… Well, maybe three minds at AdMonsters. While we see how premium publishers could see some additional revenue as marketers re-allocate spend, our cynical side thinks many brands were going to cut down on marketing with the third quarter and the pandemic back on the upswing. Read more.

Apple Makes the Web Take a Detour

Scroll CEO Tony Haile gave many publishers a rude awakening on Monday when he posted a gif of a link to an Atlantic article on Google.com redirecting into Apple News+. Yes, the browser (Safari) actually sent him into the Apple News+ app on his Mac. It’s not clear when this feature was introduced in Apple News+, but it seems to be on by default now. It’s also unclear which browsers the redirect works with, but for sure Apple’s Safari. Read more.

The post AdMonsters Wrapper Newsletter: Top 6 of 2020 appeared first on AdMonsters.

But OMG, we were totally buggin’ when we found out that 37% of marketers are in the dark about what the new protocols mean. Alicia Silverstone’s Cher Horowitz Clueless reference notwithstanding, it’s a little shocking—at this late stage in the game—how much the levels of awareness about what’s happening with IDFA varies among marketers, especially given how dramatically these changes will affect mobile attribution.

Looks like a lot of mobile players are waiting until the change actually comes spiraling towards them at great velocity—at which point they’ll finally figure out just how severe the revenue damages are and which alternatives are working for others.

That’s the word from a recent study conducted by AppsFlyer, which also found that mobile app pubs expect to lose about 50% of identifiers under the new opt-in protocol with targeting, measurement, and attribution very challenged. Ouch!

Marketers are also expecting that probabilistic data will take on greater weight—though the consensus among them is that this data will be less accurate.

Apple’s been positioning SKAdNetwork as the heir apparent to IDFA, but only a third of marketers in the study said they’d be likely to adopt SKAdNetwork, while another 46% said they were unsure about implementing the solution. Besides, word on the mobile ad tech ecosystem streets is that the framework has major flaws.

Meanwhile, 21% of mobile marketers said they’d be able to continue using deterministic identifiers like emails or providing incentives to consumers in exchange for permission to access their IDFA.

These developments bring to mind some trends we’ve been following at AdMonsters:

Privacy expert Jessica Lee on the value of consumer data: “Offering consumers a few dollars while failing to address the more problematic issues surrounding data use seems to miss the mark.” As well, the pay-for-privacy schemes will create privacy inequality between the haves and have nots, according to their income. — From a recent article written by Lee for AdMonsters, The Value of Talking About the Value of Consumer Data

Currently, according to Lee, there is no standard framework for measuring the value of consumer data. Pubs could be playing a really risky game if they choose to go the incentives route.

ID5’s CEO Mathieu Roche’s statement about relying on deterministic data only: “You can only go so far with deterministic approaches. They may be good enough for use cases addressing known users like customer onboarding, but by definition, it doesn’t work for prospecting because you often don’t have an email address for your prospects. So we need to have an open-minded approach and use machine learning for what it’s good at, ie. provide scale.” — From a conversation AdMonsters Editorial Director, Gavin Dunaway, had with Roche, ID5 Is Building a Community to Bolster Its Universal ID

It just so happens, 71% of mobile marketers in the AppsFlyer study said they somewhat trust probabilistic data for audience targeting, and 70% said they trust it somewhat for measurement and attribution.

These two arguments make an overwhelming amount of sense. What do you think?

Either way, the time is now for pubs to plan for the future of mobile app advertising.

We’ll have a session on the mobile app future at PubForum+ on December 10, where publishers will talk about the latest developments in programmatic in-app, as well as how they’re preparing for the upcoming IDFA changes.

The post Marketers Clueless About Apple’s Upcoming IDFA Changes appeared first on AdMonsters.

Our interest in the federal government’s antitrust suit against Google took a huge dive when we learned it would be centered around search. While mainstream publications trotted out the tired descriptor “landmark” for the headlines when the suit became public, many of us in the industry shook our heads and sighed.

Time and again, we’ve seen that the dominance of Google’s search engine is a consumer preference. And even then Amazon has been making gains on Google because consumers are going directly to the e-commerce giant for searches (particularly on mobile devices). Trying to reframe the Microsoft antitrust suit (guess the feds heard the ‘90s are back!) for Google search is a fool’s errand, and we see this suit (as is) going down in flames.

Why oh why did the feds spend six months focusing on Google’s search business? Well, reporting suggests that Attorney General William Barr thought the ad tech angle was too complicated and not sexy enough to sell… Sell to whom? 

Yes, this is an antitrust suit in search of a reason to exist. You can imagine Barr frowning at his desk and muttering, “I know Google’s a monopoly; I just don’t know how!”

This reeks of a political shakedown similar to the constant beating of the “Repeal Section 230!” by prominent conservatives in and out of government. A repeal of Section 230 would actually accelerate the supposed bias against and censorship of conservatives, because the social platforms would be liable for published content and would have to take extreme mitigation measures to avoid legal action. Repeal is an empty threat, but it sends a message, especially coming from people in office—be “nicer” to (cough, promote) conservatives and their causes, or we will give you headaches.

The antitrust suit feels like similar blackmail—a conservative government demanding Google prop up its causes or suffer the nuisance of bogus legal maneuvers. Fighting the suit means bumping up legal resources (potentially ponying up more lobbying cash) and suffering bad press and sour public sentiment. The government already received the “landmark case” headlines it was looking for.

The situation is an abuse of government power that at the same time kicks the legs out from a real and deserved look at anticompetitive by Google in the ad tech space. There are several papers laying out anti-competitive practices in Google’s display and video ad tech business. Even the monster-sized Congressional inquiry/report featured criticism about Google’s ad tech practices and using its girth to control industry groups, from W3C to the IAB. And search is tied to this through the promotion of AMP pages, a framework that may be open-sourced but still with Google controlling the gates to monetization.

Let’s be clear—we are not “rooting” for Google to lose an antitrust case. However, within Google’s ad tech business we see a great deal of conflicts of interest, questionable practices, and unreasonable challenges faced by our publisher base. We merely think an investigation is warranted—one that’s driven by the actual situation, not what appears to be a politically motivated shakedown.

But this ain’t over. We’ve been telling you for some time that all 50 states’ attorneys generals were building a parallel antitrust suit against Google. The state AGs and feds were talking about joining forces, and 11 (Republican) state AGs jumped on the fed suit. (Texas AG Ken Paxton, who seems to be chief spokesperson for these state AGs, was just accused of bribery by two whistleblowers—that he subsequently fired!) 

A joint statement from several AGs—from Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Tennessee, New York, North Carolina, and Utah—that declined to join the fed case announced they were forging on with their investigation, planning to close up pieces of it in the next few weeks (after the upcoming elections…). They announced a plan to conjoin with the federal case if they decide to file—and indeed the federal case is open to amendment, with reports suggesting it will expand. 

The Washington Post’s background sources suggested that not all the attorneys were comfortable with the federal direction of the case, “while others fear the potential for a disruption in the lawsuit in the event that President Trump loses the 2020 election — a result that would shake up the federal government’s ranks and delay what is widely regarded as one of the most significant antitrust lawsuits in decades.”

Since the World Series is on, let’s go with the baseball analogy—this is the first inning for the Google antitrust suit, and the federal government just walked the first 10 batters or so. There’s time for the state AGs (or U.S. voters) to make a major switch at the mound.

The post A False Start for the Google Antitrust Case appeared first on AdMonsters.

We decided now was a perfect time to survey publishers to understand their current header (and Open Bidding) setups while seeing what they were plotting for an ambiguous future. We asked 35 publishers of various sizes and content verticals to fill out an intense questionnaire, and the results were extremely illuminating.

Enter your email to download your copy below!

This playbook, created in partnership with GeoEdge, will dive into the results of our survey, highlighting trends, challenges, and solutions. 

The post AdMonsters Playbook: Evolution of the Header appeared first on AdMonsters.

Recently named to the Board of Directors at Prebid as a publisher representative, CafeMedia’s Patrick McCann is tasked with ensuring that publishers’ interests are heard throughout the organization and to communicate those interests to developers.

McCann took to the main stage at AdMonsters PubForum Virtual a few weeks back to provide an overview of the latest rev of Prebid.js, Prebid 4.0.

“Prebid 4.0 is a pretty big release in the sense that it adds a focus on trust. Trust in our partners and trust that the software is compliant with various regulations and that communication is standardized and you don’t have to do customizations for every partner that you have,” said McCann.

Watch his full talk in the video below to learn more about the updates to Prebid.

You might also want to read McCann’s recent article on AdMonsters, “Sellers Need Buy-Side Transparency,” where he wrote:

At Prebid.org, much of our recent work has been around standardizing how buyers and sellers communicate with each other. In the past, prebid adapters have consumed information in very different ways, but as that type of information becomes common to transmit, publishers tire of configuring it for each demand source in a different way…With Prebid 4.0, much of the standard ways of communicating will become recommended behavior, with an eye towards making them required in future major releases.

The post PFV Video: Under the Hood With Prebid 4.0 appeared first on AdMonsters.