This past week, nothing caught the attention of the internet and social media quite like the beef between Kendrick Lamar and Drake. The tension has been brewing for some time — most notably when Kendrick threw shots at Drake and J. Cole during his feature on Future and Metro Boomin’s joint project — but it all came to a head when Kendrick released the diss track “Euphoria” last Tuesday.  

Then a lyrical sparring match commenced spanning a week and seven cumulative songs, each trying to outdo the other. The accusations and insults stemmed from silly jabs (Kendrick’s height or Drake’s plastic surgery) to more serious allegations (domestic violence and pedophilia). 

Regardless of which side someone stood on or whether you believe the accusations in the songs, one thing rings true – the content produced significant engagement.  

Kendrick’s song “Euphoria” broke a rap streaming record, and his song “Not Like Us” shot to number one in the U.S. Spotify and Apple Music charts. In fact, as of this moment, Kendrick and Drake’s diss tracks sit in the top five of the Apple Music chart. With reactions and critiques galore on social media focused on songcraft and political critiques such as cultural appropriation and misogyny in the genre, it was hard to escape the discourse. It’s the amount of engagement that publishers and advertisers dream of.  

Yet, one of the most curious pieces of news to develop relates to the creator economy. Both Lamar and Drake allegedly removed the copyright claims on their diss tracks allowing content creators to monetize videos that include those songs.

Content Creators Experience “Euphoria”: Kendrick Lamar and Drake Allegedly Lift Copyright Claims

Content creators have been a major driving force behind this feud, spreading the news like wildfire. However, dealing with the intricacies of commercial music has proven challenging for influencers, as they frequently encounter Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown orders and copyright claims issued by record labels. Even song snippets in reaction videos can trigger DMCA orders, leading to removing sound, video takedowns, or redirecting advertising revenue to record labels.

This presents a significant dilemma for influencers who rely on sharing their real-time reactions to new music releases, particularly amidst the heightened attention surrounding Drake and Lamar’s feud.

The announcement first came to light from social media influencer FaZe YourRAGE.

My Drake Reactions Are now also uncopyrighted WE EATING https://t.co/vzJGx4kE1l

— FaZe YourRAGE (@YourRAGEz) May 6, 2024

This is a significant and not commonly practiced step. It’s understandable why musicians create copyright claims over their art. As commerce intersects with art, many try to capitalize on artists through predatory practices. But for the content creator community, this could be a gamechanger. For instance, the popular YouTube music critic Anthony Fantano published six videos covering the feud. Fantano could monetize these viral videos since Lamar and Drake removed the copyright claims. 

Even large streamer No Life Shaq touts how much this could benefit small creators. No Life Shaq says he has the power to remove claims because of his connections with record labels, but small creators don’t always have the same access.

Interesting! Popular streamer No Life Shaq said Kendrick helped the reaction community make “life-changing money” b/c he removed copyright claims on his music for video creators.@JustinTinsley asked how much $$ this battle will generate. Looks like the people getting some of it pic.twitter.com/sseAF3wj4Q

— Britni Danielle (@BritniDWrites) May 7, 2024

The Booming Creator Economy “Push Ups” Ad Tech Industry

No one can deny how much social media has changed digital media over the last decade. A major backbone of that is content creators and influencers who garner millions of consumers to watch their content. Even ad tech has taken notice of the booming creator economy. Many brands look to content creators to boost their content. 

Even during this year’s Consumer and Electronics Show (CES), the creator economy received ample airtime. The media company Omnicom became the first holding company to strike a deal with Amazon, integrating creator content into Amazon’s Posts API, a social media-like platform within the e-commerce giant. This partnership enables influencer content distribution on a global scale, with a focus on driving sales and providing measurement tools for effectiveness assessment.

Omnicom’s integration with Amazon Posts allows organic influencer placements on the world’s largest e-commerce platform, now trackable through unique attribution capabilities. This move expands influencer marketing beyond traditional platforms like TikTok and Instagram, allowing advertisers to measure sales directly resulting from influencer content.

In the context of the rap beef, it’s not yet clear why Kendrick Lamar and Drake allegedly lifted copyright claims on their diss tracks. Maybe they’re becoming more in tune with the woes of the content creator community. With the TikTok ban looming over our heads, the struggle of influencers, publishers, and advertisers has been pushed forward to the national political stage. 

Still, as the ad tech industry intersects with the creator economy, experts reveal it is a significant boost for advertisers. As Jack Koch, SVP, Research & Insights, IAB, wrote in the IAB’s Creator Economy study, “Creator content marketing is a powerful vehicle for driving full-funnel impact, and advertisers are finding tremendous success adding it to their marketing mix alongside studio content advertising.”

The post Kendrick Lamar and Drake Served Up a Side of Beef and The Creator Economy Eats Good appeared first on AdMonsters.

Without a doubt, Possible was the place for digital media and marketing professionals. The 3-day conference was jam-packed with tons of digital advertising content, and just about everyone you know from the industry was there. Even Ad Tech God was there…allegedly.

Attendees indulged in poolside conversations and meetings, which offered a refreshing change from the typical Zoom and office settings. The event content was diverse and engaging, ensuring that there was something of value for everyone in the industry. 

“While Possible’s second year did not have the Elon/Yaccarino jaw-dropping headliner, it matured into an impressive gathering of decision-makers,” said Richy Glassberg, Co-founder and CEO of SafeGuard Privacy. Possible tackled many important conversations, including brand safety, sustainability, the health of the ecosystem, DEI, and more, in a spirited environment with brand marketers everywhere.”

Last year, Possible emerged as the first conference to headline AI, and this year, it extensively focused on the application of AI. The event united diverse viewpoints across media, communication, ad tech, and MarTech industries. Stepping away from New York and immersing ourselves in a new environment with varied perspectives really inspired out-of-the-box thinking.

Since the Fontainebleau was right alongside the ocean, it was hard to hear at times. But here is what we heard beneath the wind. 

Navigating The Discomforts of DEI

Before getting hot and heavy into the bulk of ad content, the event launched with a lunch focused on diversity. Panelists discussed the power of ensuring inclusivity in your workplaces to provide a safe space for your team to show up as their whole selves. Tish Archie Oliver, Chief DEI&B Officer at Unilever, talked about being completely comfortable wearing her hair naturally curly to work and not hiding her identity. She explained that reaching this point took a long time.

Brianne Boles-Marshall, Global Marketing Services Diversity Media Strategy & Investment specialist at General Motors, fueled the conversation by encouraging the audience to embrace their discomfort in the workplace. “The fact that something is making you uncomfortable should let you know that there is something to be learned. Take it as an opportunity to grasp the situation in a way you never have. We should call it an opportunity to learn and grow with that person or through that situation versus feeling like, I’m going to mess this up,” Boles-Marshall said. “That’s how learning and growth take place.”

Your Business Strategy Comes First, AI After 

Sean Downey, President of Americas & Global Partners at Google, outlined a few steps publishers and advertisers can take to fully leverage AI. 

His sense of humor tickled the audience when he mentioned how his industry friends always asked him for AI advice. “My CEO said I have to have an AI strategy by Monday. Please tell me what to do,” Downey said. “Who here has gotten that question from their board meeting? Probably every single person. The answer is always that you don’t need an AI strategy. You need a business strategy that you want to apply AI to.”

According to Downey, focusing on a business strategy is paramount, and then you apply AI to solve specific business problems. To establish an effective business strategy, companies must do the following:

1. Understand the importance of consumer behavior and the need for real-time insights to reach them effectively. 
2. Embrace AI applications for measurement, media, and targeting to enhance marketing strategies and ensure quality data fuels AI to make accurate predictions and connections. 
3. Breakdown silos within marketing departments and adopt a holistic customer-focused approach.

The Art of Partnering for Impact 

While discussing all things programmatic with Rose McGovern, Head of Programmatic & Digital Ad Sales at DirectTV Advertising, she emphasized the importance of publishers prioritizing collaboration to thrive. 

“Publishers need to be very deliberate and discerning with the partners they choose as those partners will steward their content and inventory in a compliant way,” McGovern explained. “At DirectTV, our viewer experience and consumer data are critical to us because we have such a loyal fanbase, and that loyal subscriber base differentiates us.”

Any publisher must maintain a focus on their loyal audience. You can’t just offer your inventory to every buyer. Publishers need to develop a framework for evaluating potential partners and ensuring alignment regarding distribution, ad tech, and data partnerships. 

The Biggest Programmatic Trend Right Now? DOOH & OOH  

At Possible, we also chatted with 2024 Top Women in Media & Ad Tech awards honoree Laura Manning, SVP of Measurement at Clint/Lucid. When we asked her about the biggest programmatic trend of the year, she promptly identified DOOH. “It’s a lot easier to transact DOOH inventory, and therefore, more people are including it in their plans, even if they are just a traditional agency,” she said. 

What is the biggest challenge for DOOH? According to Manning, its measurement is hardly surprising. The ecosystem is continuously trying to solve this issue. Tracking who saw an ad can be tough, but the right partners can help agencies and buyers tie it together. 

What is her advice for publishers navigating today’s programmatic challenges? Education. She recommends engaging with others, reading industry newsletters, attending industry conferences, and discussing trending topics like AI— even if some are weary of the topic.. There is value in learning more about it. 

Regarding OOH, Lucy Markowitz, SVP, GM US Marketplace at Vistar Media, offers her insights on the space”

“The fragmentation in OOH has been part of the reason for the rise of programmatic buying in this space,” Markowitz said. “Being able to leverage multiple publishers as part of a single campaign simply and easily has helped to create opportunities to do better work on behalf of clients as opposed to taking what could be viewed as an “easy route” only leveraging a few publishers to mitigate work.”

According to Markowitz, as advertisers better understand consumer ad fatigue, they try other channels, making DOOH and OOH a great opportunity.  

“Advertisers are recognizing the value of OOH ads, which can adapt to real-time contexts and audience movement,” said Markowitz. DOOH can integrate technologies that boost contextual relevance to audiences, whether driving along the highway or browsing the aisle at the pharmacy. According to the Out of Home Digital Advertising Association, the medium has an impressive 82% ad recall.”

The Evolutionary Journey of the CMO

Over the past two years, CMOs and their strategic importance to the industry have gained prominence. We sat down for a poolside discussion with Natalie Bastian, Global CMO of Teads, to hear her thoughts on the future of the role.

“I’d love to see CMOs turning to CEOs,” she said. “That, to me, is a great indicator of the power and the strength of marketing, and if marketing has a seat at the table at the company as part of the business plan and part of those business decisions, then marketing will be successful. It’s about being simple and correlating the value you can bring to your target audience. Accountability is also a big takeaway; CMOs must be more accountable and responsible with their investments.”

Looking to the future, Bastian advises that CMOs maintain a close-knit relationship with the CFO. Speaking the same language and creating alignment between the two roles is the secret sauce to success; ensuring marketing investment can be effective and scale.

The Future of Advertising in Social Media 

Social media has proven to be an extremely resourceful marketing tool and it is only getting more efficient. As social platforms continue to leverage AI and machine learning, advertisers can employ these tools to create more personalized ad experiences. As well, the shift towards video and interactive content will only continue, with social commerce, like the TikTok shop, gaining more ground.

To gain more insight into the future of advertising in social media, we spoke with Bill Schild, GM of Americas at Channel Factory. As a data platform, Channel Factory uses contextual to maximize ad effectiveness while prioritizing brand safety and suitability on YouTube. The company’s partnership with the YouTube Measurement Program grants them unique access to YouTube’s data, resulting in more accurate and dynamic campaign adjustments. 

“There’s enough commentary to tell us that social media often gets the short end of the stick,” Schild explained. “However, there are two sides to every story, and enough positive content is promoted on the internet that can be a force for good. This should be how the future of social media advertising operates, and it’s something we actively help brands uncover. We envision a future where conscious inclusion and suitability are paramount. Brands, agencies, and advertisers will adopt inclusion-first strategies and utilize advanced AI to grasp context and achieve results that enhance their return on investment (ROI).” 

The Publisher’s Advantage In The Shopper’s Journey

By 2026, commerce media will represent over $150 billion in global ad spend. What does this mean for publishers? According to a recent report by Criteo, publishers across all regions can expect to make money through retail media networks in the next 12-18 months. 

With the end of cookies on the horizon, the ecosystem is diversifying revenue and heavily pursuing commerce media as an alternative.

“Like retailers, publishers have a wealth of first-party data, but their differentiation lies in their ability to connect with shoppers higher up in the shopper journey,” said Sherry Smith, Executive Managing Director for the Americas at Criteo. To effectively operate within the broader commerce media environment and drive new revenue streams, publishers must activate their powerful first-party data while building long-term partnerships with brands, agencies, and retailers. This combined effort will unlock direct access to powerful commerce data that provides continued personalized advertising on their owned and operated channels.”

Smith predicts publishers will look more like retailer websites in the next three to five years. The sites will combine personalized commerce experiences with core content, creating tailored user experiences where customers can shop and consume their favorite publications. 

Planning on Attending Possible Next Year?

If not, I am sure the following testimonials from ad tech industry leaders are enough to convince you. 

“In the constellation of industry gatherings, Possible shines as a guiding star, its second year solidifying its status as a premier tent pole event. Under one roof, Gen Z consumers, diligent workers, and esteemed executives converged to delve into the depths of industry trends, challenges, and the transformative potential of AI and other technologies. While Cannes will always retain its allure, Possible democratizes the stage, inviting every voice to contribute their brilliance to progress.” – Heather Macaulay, President MadTech 

“A mini-Cannes, complete with a productive mix of brands, agencies and solution providers. AI was a recurrent theme during the conference. It was exciting to hear how marketers are narrowing in on AI solutions that aren’t just flashy distractions, but instead genuinely help address some of marketing’s most basic challenges – like connecting the right ad with the right viewer.” – Peter Crofut, VP, Business Development – Agencies & Brands at Wurl

“This was my first time attending POSSIBLE and it exceeded my expectations in turns of scale and productivity. As we prep for Cannes and our engagement strategy for the rest of the year, I felt like it provided a nice combination of inspiration, engagement and opportunity to fuel creative ideas to take us through 2024 and beyond.” – Meredith Brace, CMO of XR Extreme Reach 

The post Revealed at Possible: Insights Shaping Marketing’s Future appeared first on AdMonsters.

Artificial intelligence has revolutionized how we interact with social media. It powers recommendation algorithms, content moderation systems, and personalized advertising, fundamentally shaping the content we see, the opinions we form, and the actions we take online.

With the average internet user spending 2.5 hours per day on social media, no one has to look far to find where the attention lies. While AI offers immense potential for enhancing user experiences, it raises critical ethical concerns. Here are a few tangible ways we can create solutions to ethical dilemmas.

Transparency and Accountability

First and foremost, we must demand transparency from social media companies regarding their AI systems. Users deserve to know how algorithms make decisions, influence content distribution, and impact their online lives. Moreover, companies must be held accountable for the consequences of their algorithms’ actions, from amplifying misinformation to algorithmic bias.

The impacts on mental health has become such a problem that the Surgeon General issued an advisory on social media and its impact on youth mental health. Ethical AI necessitates an open dialogue between tech giants, regulators, and users to establish clear guidelines and hold those responsible for any harm caused by AI.

Algorithmic Bias and Fairness

Algorithmic bias in social media is a pressing ethical issue. AI models trained on biased data can perpetuate stereotypes, discrimination, and inequality. Companies must design AI to recognize and mitigate these biases, whether it’s biased content recommendations, discriminatory ad targeting, or skewed content moderation. Building fair and unbiased AI systems is an ethical imperative, requiring diverse data, robust testing, and ongoing monitoring to rectify any discrepancies.

User Privacy and Data Ownership

AI’s deep insights into user behavior demand stringent privacy and data ownership safeguards. Social media platforms must prioritize user consent, provide comprehensive data management options, and limit data retention. Respect for user privacy is not just a legal requirement but a fundamental ethical principle ensuring individuals maintain control over their personal information.

Combating Misinformation and Disinformation

The proliferation of misinformation and disinformation on social media substantially threatens society. Information now travels at the speed of light, and it doesn’t take long for something untrue to go viral. Ethical AI can play a pivotal role in identifying and mitigating the spread of false information. Implementing fact-checking algorithms, promoting media literacy, and encouraging responsible content sharing are all crucial steps toward a more ethical social media landscape.

Enhancing User Agency

Empowering users to make informed choices is paramount. Social media AI should prioritize controlling users’ feeds, preferences, and the content they see, not the platforms. Ethical AI empowers users to curate their online experiences, reducing the risk of filter bubbles and echo chambers that can contribute to polarization.

Ethical Oversight and Collaborative Solutions

Ensuring the ethical use of AI in social media requires collaboration among governments, industry leaders, researchers, and civil society. Multidisciplinary ethics committees, external audits, and partnerships between tech companies and independent organizations can provide the necessary oversight to align AI development with societal values. We must have diverse voices at the table for this to work.

Prioritizing the ethical use of AI in social media isn’t a choice; it’s a moral obligation. The consequences of unchecked AI can impact our societies, our democracies, and our individual lives. By championing transparency, fairness, privacy, and user agency, we can pave the way for a more ethical, responsible, and inclusive digital world where AI serves as a force for good and empowers rather than manipulates.

The post Times Up. We Need to Address Ethical AI in Social Media. appeared first on AdMonsters.

There have been many developments in digital design since visual communications platform Canva launched in 2013. Back then, a wall of text was the way to go, but now it’s the quickest way to send someone into a daydreaming frenzy. As visual communication accelerates, business leaders worldwide are adapting to this change. 

So what do business leaders think about visual communication’s role in driving business efficiency, audience engagement and recruitment efforts. We looked at Canva’s Visual Economy Report, which revealed some thought-provoking insights about industry leaders’ perspectives of visual communication in the workplace and day-to-day business activities.

For the report, Canva surveyed 1,600 business leaders across the US, UK, and Australia about their approach to design principles to drive business efficiency, visual communication as a tool to run organizations, creativity, audience engagement, and greater economic impact.

Key Findings

Visual Communications Is a Business Imperative: Visual content is in high demand only increasing and becoming more technologically advanced as time progresses. Our minds are screaming, “give me more!” when it comes to digital information, so everyone is glued to their screens daily. Almost all global business leaders surveyed agree that visual communication methods increased efficiency by 90%, enhanced collaboration by 89%, and are more authoritative than 85% of other forms of communication. 

Increased Audience Engagement: When it comes to internal and external visual communication engagement, it ranks really high with business leaders. Eighty-nine percent of decision-makers believe it helps remote and hybrid employees connect, and 88% agree that visual communication tools have boosted their sales cycles and increased audience engagement. 

Social Media Shook Things Up: Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok have changed how we communicate and consume content forever, personally and in the workplace. On a team call yesterday, we even debated whether people should share their work accomplishments on social platforms. 

We Must all Be Design Literate:  We can’t rely on our in-house design teams to do everything anymore. Canva’s report showed that most business leaders prioritize design literacy for their employees. Sixty-one percent expressed that employees in non-design roles are expected to have extensive design skills. Many leaders are also unsatisfied with their design platforms, with 62% stating that their design platforms are far too complex. Fifty-three percent think their content is not aesthetically pleasing, and 56% find their content inconsistent.

Gen Z’s Got it All Figured Out As Usual: Compared to other generations, 90% of Gen Z consumers and employees find visual communication helpful in articulating ideas. 

Thriving in an Increasingly Visual World 

Data storytelling is now an increasingly important aspect of visual communication for many organizations. It is used in everything from social media graphics to sales and marketing materials and even internal communications. Eighty-six percent of global decision-makers use data visualizations when creating plans and presentations, with nearly 61% using data visualizations daily. 

Ever notice how  TikTok ads look just like user-generated content on the platform? Consumers expect brand content to resemble their favorite social media platforms. Marketing and creative teams are taking cues from social platforms and becoming more fluid in digital design..  

Gen Z: Stop short-changing Gen Z. They are the visual generation, and social media and content creation come second nature to them. Canva’s Visual Economy Report found that this generation is more resourceful, recognizes the power of visual communication, and is embracing visual design tools more frequently in the workplace. Businesses need to include more visual communication in their recruitment efforts to appeal to this next generation of leaders.

By 2025, 27% of the workforce in OECD countries will be Gen Z. Invest in your Gen Z employees as a creative resource. Give them a seat at the table to share their design-forward ideas and allow them to leverage the latest design trends they are tapping into. 

Design Aspects: When it comes to presentations, less is more. There is no reason to do too much, remember attention spans are almost nonexistent. Animations, videos, and GIFs are crucial to increasing design engagement (views and shares). The number of views and shares per design is 70-80% higher for presentations containing one animation, according to the report. Implement talking presentations with the use of recorded videos or audio tracks, which should only take 2-5 minutes each. 

In conclusion, All businesses are now in the content business, and that includes the publisher’s business, and standing out is a priority  for internal and external communication strategies helping businesses thrive for years to come.

The post Decision Makers Say Visual Communication Helps Drive Business appeared first on AdMonsters.

So how can publishers help advertisers maximize their existing content while offering them trusted inventory to advertise on? As alternative ways to distribute social content become more important, publishers are now offering solutions that help brands take their social creative and run it across publisher inventory with Social Display.

In preparation for our upcoming webinar, Unlocking a Creative-First Approach to Social Display, on Thursday, April 22 @ 1 PM EST (Register now!), AdMonsters Advisory Board Chairman, Rob Beeler, spoke with Nikki Gertner, Senior Product Manager, Celtra, about monetizing an advertiser’s content from social media, having a range of ad product templates in your arsenal to leverage an advertiser’s social content, and how to stand out from your competition by offering creative services.

Rob Beeler: Are publishers missing an opportunity to monetize an advertiser’s content from social media?

Nikki Gertner: If a publisher does not offer any kind of ad product that can meet a social distribution KPI, then they are absolutely missing out on an opportunity. It takes a lot of resources on the publisher side to come up with new and innovative ad products. Researching client KPIs, prototyping an idea, building a template, A/B testing, etc. You could dedicate an entire team to this, but with Social Display the majority of that ideation work is already complete. It’s just a matter of getting your hands on the right assets, and how publishers can stand out from the competition by offering creative services to advertisers.

RB: It seems to me with so many different social platforms, it would be complicated to build ad products that can distribute content for each. How can publishers manage all these specifications?

The post How Pubs Can Monetize Advertisers’ Content From Social Media appeared first on AdMonsters.

We haven’t seen major brand advertisers ditch social media advertising like this since MySpace 2009. An ever-growing crowd of well-known brands is pausing their ad spend on Facebook—and other social media platforms—to protest lax moderation of hateful content keeps growing longer. 

Unilever seemed to bust open the floodgates on Friday, June 26, as the highest-profile (and biggest-spending) brand to ditch Facebook and Twitter for at least the remainder of 2020. Other  big names giving Facebook the cold shoulder include Coca-Cola, Ford, The North Face, and Ben & Jerry’s. Most of these actions are tied to the #StopHateForProfit movement, which asks brands to pause their spend on Facebook for the month of July to protest the platform’s lax content moderation against hate speech. 

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg seems a bit rattled by the mobilization, but his initial overtures seem pretty thin considering the breadth of the demands from #StopHateForProfit. 

Why It Matters

Or maybe that should be “Why It Won’t Matter”? Our cynical minds immediately leap back to the great YouTube brand advertising boycott over hate content a few years back, which seemed an ultra-cynical attempt to gain leverage in pricing negotiations. 

After all that hand-wringing, most advertisers came back to YouTube, though some haven’t returned their spend to previous levels. (We have to note that YouTube took this current moment to ditch several major white-supremacist thought leaders, including David Duke, for “repeatedly violating its policies.” ) Once the public’s interest goes elsewhere, watch brands quietly ramp their spend back up as we enter the fourth quarter. 

Dr. Augustine Fou ponders how many brands are jumping on #StopHateForProfit for some good PR in a tough moment, and Ana Milicevic from Sparrow Advisors notes that many of the brands spends are puny compared to the seven-figure monthly budgets of DTC advertisers. 

Still, it’s a powerful message when hefty spenders like Unilever and household names like Coca-Cola and Ford consider your platform too toxic for ad spend. (XTREME BRAND SAFETY?!?) That’s the kind of thing that makes other advertisers wonder whether your platform is worth it… Potentially sending them to seek similar reach on premium publishers a la programmatic?

Well, that would be the hope of premium publishers, who are likely wondering if that paused spend is going to be recirculated to sites that take great pride in their content moderation. Alas, considering we’re in a (reignited?) pandemic where businesses are cutting back in fear of coming economic devastation and consumer spending could nosedive without further economic stimulus… We’re going to lean toward no. That’s another reason to be cynical about brand interest in #StopHateForProfit—how much of that pulled spend was likely getting canceled anyway?

There’s another overarching problem here, one that we’ve written about many times. Sure it makes headlines when major brands like Unilever and Coca-Cola cancel their social media spend, but the bread and butter for these platforms are millions of smaller advertisers. Facebook, Google, and YouTube in particular offer the easiest paths for smaller advertisers to reach vast audience pools while also enabling the targeting to make limited spend worthwhile. 

Truth be told, these advertisers’ other options aren’t great—most publishers need a serious cash guarantee to make a direct sale worthwhile, and the same is true for many programmatic buying platforms. The uptick in publishers integrating self-serve and programmatic guaranteed platforms is heartening, but that’s missing the element of scale. A publisher may have a great audience, but let’s be honest—a lone publisher’s base looks puny next to what the major social media platforms are offering.

What’s needed is self-serve platforms for smaller spends that can reach a host of publishers and their audiences. And it seems the publisher alliances required to bring these to life are getting there—notably Vox Media’s Concert and Washington Post’s Zeus.

We don’t know if it’s worth going into whether Facebook and their social media brethren will acquiesce to #StopHateForProfit’s demands—we predict Facebook will perform some kind of grand-yet-only-symbolic gesture and take some half-measures that will ultimately prove toothless, and we’ll have another advertiser boycott in a year or so. 

As long as there are no other great options for those smaller advertisers, social media platforms can weather the boycotts (and avoid the costs associated with large-scale content moderation). So publishers, if you want to do your part in #StopHateForProfit, join alliances or bring in tools to offer smaller advertisers the alternative marketing avenues they deserve. 

The post A Most Symbolic Boycott appeared first on AdMonsters.

My planned off-site activity in Huntington Beach? Surfing. My biggest fear is not the sharks, the cold or even the wetsuit (okay, maybe that should be). It’s the pop-up. I’ve never gotten up on a board without a kite to help me. Something tells me I’m going to be drinking a lot of salt water. That being said—that’s why we do these activities at AdMonsters. I’m sure my fellow surfers and I are going to come back with a story. Hopefully there are no boats like Miami, and I’m not leading the way (Palm Springs and Nashville). Come. Be part of the story.

Quick, before you overthink it: Are you a media person or a technologist?

For me, it’s both. Sorry, I didn’t give you that option. Consent is not our industry’s strength (oh, just wait until May for GDPR. Also, this).

I know for me that I can’t see myself in media without a certain tech component. I enjoy focusing on the delivery of content to make the content resonate and profitable, helping fund my other content ideas. Tech for tech’s sake isn’t as interesting for me. While it would serve my end goal of total world domination, spending all day building killer robots holds no appeal (yet).

I think this is what Zuckerberg is struggling with right now at Facebook. He’s a tech guy and explicitly avoids the label of media guy. For him, the internet provided all the materials he needed to engineer a platform that disrupted everything. Of course, he’s in the process of learning just how dangerous those materials can be.

But Facebook’s—and let’s throw Google’s in the mix—blind eye to their impact on media is a discussion for others who make their living discussing this stuff. My original question was for you, who I’m assuming are in digital media, in some operational capacity. Facebook and Google are going to do what they do, but why is your answer to that question important?

It’s important because media needs tech people who care about media. Please, don’t consider a love for media a weakness. We will someday learn that technical disruption for disruption’s sake has dangerous consequences. You can deride the newspaper industry all you like, but newspapers were moneymakers, and that allowed them to pay for journalists who took their time to uncover and understand a story. Nixon wasn’t brought down with a listicle.

As I look across the world of ad operations, my main concern is that, as individuals, there is a lack of concern about the media that we help fund, or else the role we’re asked to play in ad operations doesn’t require us to care. Digital media is growing more complex. You may find that using Python is more important a skill than Excel—but don’t let that be your only contribution to the company. People in programmatic positions shouldn’t only be stockbrokers helping game an inefficient system.

From your own career perspective, you should realize that if your only job is to push numbers, AI is going to continually take over more and more of your responsibilities. The result will be you looking at other industries when these jobs go away or you’re going to have to provide some other value to the company you work for. My suggestion for those in this position, or people who employ people in this position: Learn about media. Help shape its future by learning the past and where it needs to go. Those who only focus on media need to learn tech. Tech people need to learn to understand media. The people who do both are the future.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc2pQBdVfDU

The post What Are You—Media Person or Tech Person? appeared first on AdMonsters.

LinkedIn is reportedly firming up relationships with publishers in the U.S. and the U.K., according to Digiday, and a growing number of publishers are getting more serious about using LinkedIn as a content distribution channel. (They’re not just B2B publishers, either). LinkedIn is testing out native video ads, with several publisher partners in tow. That’s all well and good for LinkedIn and those eager pubs testing the waters, but let’s be cautious about raising up LinkedIn as a viable distribution alternative to Facebook. In particular, look at the stats for time spent on the platform. That and other engagement metrics are certainly up for LinkedIn, but there’s a long, long way to go to reach the level of Facebook.

Procter & Gamble Goes Heavy in Ecommerce

Consultancy group L2 gave Procter & Gamble’s marketing skills (in the home care category) a “genius” rating. In the past couple years, P&G has been investing more heavily in large ecommerce platforms, less in programmatic. It’s also been using more ecommerce data to inform its media buying habits. P&G insisted in Ad Age that programmatic is “still an important tool,” but that the company will “continue to optimize its programmatic approach.” That’s not terribly edifying for pubs hoping programmatic spending would someday come back from the CPG crowd—if only the marketplace cleaned house and took care of fraud and brand safety issues. P&G’s focus reportedly will be on PMPs, premium publishers, and taking more of its media buying efforts in-house. That’s maybe not what publishers wanted to hear, but it’s what they need to hear.

Blockchain and Ad Tech: A “Natural Fit”

The IAB put out a report on blockchain and called the technology “a natural fit” for advertising. At AdMonsters, we’ve been down this road before, talking about blockchain’s role in fraud prevention (if it’s adopted widely enough). The IAB report also said it could reduce the number of queries per second DPSs see, which is worth underlining since we’ve been talking about supply-path optimization (and its sometimes seemingly arbitrary or lopsided way of playing out). The report also predicted we’ll soon see an uptick of interest in blockchain among linear broadcasters and pure play video publishers, because of the stakes involved (higher CPMs, less inventory, a real need for efficiency).

Third-Party Data Eases OTT Investment

SpotX issued a report that says buyers are investing more heavily in OTT, and that third-party data is helping them go there. (The report said 85 percent of “leading pay TV providers, pure-play over-the-top (OTT) providers, content owners, and advertisers” cite third-party data as a notable factor in their audience-buying/ad-selling efforts in OTT.) Also, says SpotX, fewer advertisers see a difference in value between paid TV and OTT audiences than content providers themselves do. (36% of advertisers say the reach of OTT is more valuable than TV—and that’s a substantial enough number to take note.) Keep in mind this refers to TV content distributed OTT. Where does that leave digital pure plays? Probably still tied pretty closely to the programmatic market, but let’s see how advertisers’ and agencies’ thinking evolves.

No Buy-Side Fees at PubMatic

And one more thing: PubMatic released a statement declaring they don’t charge buy-side fees. This does sound like a change in policy: Back in November 2017, PubMatic CMO Jeffrey Hirsch told AdExchanger that they did charge both buyers and publishers fees for using their tech, but that those fees were “transparent.” The question of how fees are levied and disclosed has been in the air—back in November, we were talking about it because Rubicon Project had announced they’d done away with buy-side fees.

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The stakes of publishers’ Facebook “addiction” are substantially different, and I don’t want to make light of them, especially in the wake of the platform’s news feed algorithm changes, threatening to demote news-related posts. If I were to get off Facebook immediately (erm… again), there would be no negative impact to my own revenue. Heck, it might even be beneficial to my earnings—it might allow me to focus on things that are ultimately more beneficial to me. Now that I think about it, though, can’t publishers say the same thing?

In short, Facebook serves this need that all publishers have. They need to pump their content out into some centralized conduit where users customarily go to discover and read or watch new content. Otherwise, they’re all sort of scattered points around the internet that users go to intentionally or accidentally, but not so much incidentally, the way a social media platform enables.

Intentional Engagement

But Facebook has never been as good at that kind of discovery as publishers or advertisers might hope—users are engaged, but it’s not always a deep or intentional engagement. Vox Media Chairman and CEO Jim Bankoff said as much in a blog post last week. The Facebook news feed algorithm is not great for building “brand-loyal audiences,” he wrote, because it enables users to consume content “through serendipity, not intent.” And beyond that, Bankoff wrote, there’s no sustainable monetization model for “in-depth video,” so there’s little incentive for a company like Vox to go hard in developing and promoting video for Facebook. Much like how I realized my Facebook posts and comments were becoming “my Russian novel,” and I took a break from the news feed to focus on writing an actual novel, Bankoff said Vox is going to divert video programming from Facebook to OTT and linear TV—Netflix, big broadcast networks.

That’s an important pivot for any publisher. The media industry is years past the point of figuring out how to measure social media impact. By now, we can say that if something isn’t working, it might be more the platform’s fault, less a measurement problem. And also, just because Facebook’s adoption among users is as close to universal as anything is in digital media, that doesn’t mean it’s universally supportive of all publisher goals and initiatives. It’s not. Premium publishers are annoyed that they’ve been expected to jump through all these technical hoops (new products, new strategies, all subject to change on a whim) to work with Facebook. Why not take a break to focus on monetization strategies you’re confident will bear fruit?

That said, there’s no clear long-term fix on the table for that centralized conduit of attention, and that’s problematic. Take branded content. My colleague Gavin Dunaway has said recently that “branded content is the new premium advertising,” and generally I agree with him. Publishers need to focus on the intersection of “biggest payoff” and “best UX,” and branded content is often right there. Now, social media has proven to be a good way to drive traffic to branded content. So even if publishers ramp up their branded/sponsored initiatives—if traffic drops off, advertisers will start questioning their investments in those initiatives. It’s a conundrum, but I expect it’s one we’ll try to solve at the upcoming Publisher Forum—Adam Hua of CitizenNet will be talking about the branded content boom, including social media’s ever-evolving role in distribution.

There’s has to be something to satisfy people’s desire to discover relevant, quality content, which would also serve publishers’ desire for fresh traffic. Maybe that thing can still be Facebook, or maybe it’ll be something else. Before search engines, the joke was that the internet is great, but you can’t find anything on it. That problem didn’t last long, and I’d expect this current problem we’re talking about won’t either.

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As for national or international media companies—they’ll lose referral traffic in the short run, but this might be the kick in the pants they need to act on their increasing displeasure with Facebook.

I got to thinking about the effect on smaller pubs when a friend of mine—a career reporter for local newspapers, a guy several years older than I who came from print but has eagerly kept pace with digital since the ‘90s—posted to Facebook that their changes are “helping to destroy local news.”

That kicked off a lively thread, with generations of media types chiming in. My friend saw Facebook’s move as a ploy to get media companies to pay more for ads (I expect he’s partly right), and a ploy to save face as the fake news problem becomes clearer and uglier. He added—and I think everyone agrees on this—that Facebook needs human input to weed out fake news. He suggested the company first didn’t want to deal with bad PR from anyone accusing that human input of being politically biased, and secondly, that computers are cheaper anyway. I’m inclined to believe the second of those points is a much bigger concern for Facebook than the first. Facebook knows it has a PR problem, and it’s more cost-effective to tear down part of its established relationship with publishers than repair it.

The “Captive Audience” Advantage

But I question the degree to which local news is in the crosshairs. The media outlets that have to worry the most about Facebook’s news feed algorithm are those who are covering the same stories as 10,000 other media outlets. Local pubs don’t really have that problem. If I want to hear about what’s happening in City Hall in my hometown of Bristol, CT, I’ll have to check up with the hometown paper, the Bristol Press. And pretty much anytime I try to read a news article on their site, I find it’s gated behind a survey.

I know the Press, like a lot of local dailies in smallish cities, has been on and off life support for 20 years, and at first I thought gating their content was a sign it didn’t understand how to engage an audience online. Now I think it’s a sign the paper is onto something. Their audience isn’t large, but it’s a captive audience. If you’re in that position, do you want to focus on driving subscriptions among a captive audience, or do you want to try to drive referral traffic from Facebook? Honestly, if the content is utterly unique and the audience cares deeply, I’d choose the first option.

So I don’t really think local pubs are on the ropes here. I don’t think national news pubs and broadcasters are, either. To that end, here’s what I said on my friend’s thread:

Every major publisher relies on Facebook for traffic… and it sounds like very few of them are happy with that arrangement.

I’m really curious about how Facebook’s move to demote news posts might accelerate publishers’ efforts to become less reliant on Facebook for traffic. Facebook has a habit of rolling out new tools and initiatives, expecting publishers and broadcasters to get on board with them, and then abandoning them. There’s all this time publishers’ developers are spending complying with Facebook’s whims when they could be doing literally anything else to make their own sites more user-friendly and profitable. And publishers/broadcasters constantly gripe about how Facebook brings them all of this traffic, but won’t share enough data insights with them about that traffic.

Being on Facebook has been something of a grudging necessity for a lot of publishers. It would’ve been unwise for a publisher to develop a business model that couldn’t survive if Facebook disappeared. Based on what media types are saying in the trades, there’s some appetite for an alternative, some other aggregator of news, maybe one driven by publishers themselves. For now, maybe larger pubs should take a page from the small players—give users content no one else has, and make sure they know how to find it.

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