- Detailed demographics
- Spending transparency
- IP (internal traffic) exclusions
- Who doesn’t resonate with your unique selling points?
- Who clicks your ads but doesn’t become a lead or make a purchase?
- Who fills out a form but never follows through to become a client or customer?
- 15 images
- 5 logos (5?!)
- 5 videos (make sure you have vertical!)
- 5 headlines
- 5 long headlines
- 1 short description
- 4 long descriptions
- Brand search terms (yours or competitors)
- More offline sales tracking
- More self-serve options, including in-store placements like the TV wall
- Taking the partner program (Roku, TikTok) wider
- Microsoft Click ID (is this really new?)
- something something AI
- A new hotel tool means the old hotel tool is getting the hook
- Event = measure specific interactions or occurrences on your website or app
- Key Event = measure an event that you mark as important to your business
- Conversion = measure performance of your ad campaigns and optimize bidding
- Scaled content abuse (aka made by AI)
- Site reputation abuse (junk third-party content on quality sites)
- Expired domain abuse (grabbing an expired domain and starting a spam farm)
- The Reports section provides insights into how users engage with your websites and apps so you can improve your product and user experience.
- The Advertising section will become the hub to monitor and analyze your campaigns whether you’re a publisher or an advertiser.
Netflix will launch an in-house advertising technology platform, by the end of 2025
…
This summer, Netflix will also expand its buying capabilities to include The Trade Desk, Google’s Display & Video 360, and Magnite who will join Microsoft as the main programmatic partners for advertisers.
The streaming platform removed the Basic plan for new subscribers last July, not it’ll get rid of it for good.
I wrote this last March:
If Netflix goes the roll-your-own route to replace the Microsoft stack, I wonder how long the ad-free basic tier will last.
A mystery no more.
A year ago, Google said that it believed AI was the future of search. That future is apparently here: Google is starting to roll out “AI Overviews,” previously known as the Search Generative Experience, or SGE, to users in the US and soon around the world. Pretty soon, billions of Google users will see an AI-generated summary at the top of many of their search results.
How does this impact your ad strategy?
via The Verge
More Shiny New Ad Toys
Meta
Marketers get ready: ads are coming to Threads a lot sooner than expected.
The tech platform recently told ad execs that they will be able to buy ads on its X-rival, text-based platform as early as the second half of this year
Increase revenue potential and decrease CPMs (maybe), sounds like exactly what Meta wants right now.
If experimenting on Threads was on your 2024 To Do list, now is the time.
via Digiday
Snapchat
Use GenAI to create AR ads and filters.
& place them next to unconventional sports like extreme ironing.
via TechCrunch
Amazon
New ad types are coming to Prime Video, which should garner a lot of attention as ads are added to the streaming platform (which won a chunk of NBA broadcast rights).
The new formats include shoppable carousel ads, pause ads and brand trivia ads.
via Adweek
Microsoft
starting to test ads inside the Start menu on Windows 11. The software maker will use the Recommended section of the Start menu, which usually shows file recommendations, to suggest apps from the Microsoft Store.
A new ad channel for app developers enters the chat?
via The Verge
Roku
The patent centers around the idea of displaying ads on these TVs whenever they’re tuned to an HDMI input that’s paused or idle. Theoretically, this would allow Roku to present ads throughout your whole TV experience — and in places where it’s not viable to do so today.
Advertising is the go-to revenue stream for companies seeking bottom line growth. Even more so when consumers are especially price sensitive.
via The Verge
New AI-powered features are coming to Performance Max campaigns. Here are the ones that should be more widely available now/soon:
Detailed demographics in audience insights empower you to understand your untapped demographics so you can craft ads that resonate directly with specific age and gender groups.
At a glance, you can analyze your campaign pacing to identify potential areas for strategic budget shifts, such as moving budget from a campaign that’s underpacing to a campaign that is close to becoming budget limited.
exclude specific IP addresses (e.g., your company), reducing wasted budget on unwanted ad interactions.
Apple
Apple is really leaning into being the anti-Google. Enter “Web Eraser”:
The feature is expected to build upon existing privacy features within Safari and will allow users to erase unwanted content from any webpage of their choosing. Users will have the option to erase banner ads, images, text or even entire page sections, all with relative ease.
Also, Safari may act a little more like Arc—the current new browser on the block pulling a Hansel (I like the Arc Search app).
Expect more on-device AI features soon, this is Apple’s differentiator in the space.
via Apple Insider
I kind of love this idea:
How to transform your Google Ads headlines with anti-audiences
To define your anti-audience, think about who’s least likely to say “yes” to your offer:
Your brand can’t be for everyone.
Which means it’s actively not for some.
Lean into that.
So about them cookies
Google delays third-party cookie phase-out to 2025 (maybe)
For the third time, Google has postponed the anticipated deprecation of third-party cookies in its Chrome browser.
Consider this a grace period to get your plans in order.
Google Ad Strength: Garbage or Nah?
PPC experts are saying Google’s Ad Strength metric is garbage.
Google says:
Ad Strength is at the centre of what we’re trying to do is because creative is going to be incredibly important, and Ad Strength is going to be the mechanism which we use to evaluate that both in Performance Max and channels like search.
Kraham went on to explain that Ad Strength assesses the breadth and depth of assets within a campaign before assigning a rating. According to Google, breadth and depth of assets is crucial for reaching users across various channels, including SERPs, video display, and other creative opportunities. Google prioritizes breadth and depth of assets as it ensures campaigns are well-equipped to engage users effectively across different platforms and formats.
Putting on my assumption hat (👒), the quality of your creative determines your results. The quantity (“breadth and depth”) determines your reach (amplification, as I like to think of it).
The easier you make it for Google to place your ad in all the placement options they have, the more likely they are to choose your ad in the auction (many other algorithmic signals being equal). That means maxing out the:
(ad specs if you need them)
Part of our job as digital marketers is to be algorithm wranglers, feeding the robots.
———
No matter what you think about Ad Strength, heed this advice:
one of things you need to be aware of is Google’s recommendations are not necessarily the best things for your account
These recommendations are not personalized for your account. And are typically based on Very Large Accounts.
Shiny New Ad Toys
Walmart
it is opening up Walmart Connect to brands that have not traditionally sold their products in its stores, such as automotive and financial marketers – known as “no-endemic” marketers.
Another page from the Amazon ad playbook?
Plus:
Retail media could be a big winner of the cookiepocalypse if its reach can extend beyond classic retail use cases (like advertising a car to someone shopping for a car battery instead of just more parts sold via the retailer).
Microsoft
This month’s top story: Maximize conversion value bid strategy is now available for search and shopping search campaigns
Plus:
via Microsoft
Advertisers can add CTV to their LinkedIn campaigns through a network of partners that includes Paramount, Roku and Samsung Ads.
In addition to LinkedIn’s self-service Campaign Manager, the company also has a managed offering, LinkedIn Premiere via its partnership with NBCUniversal
Ad surprise of the year so far? Benefits of being part of the Microsoft ecosystem.
via MarTech
Google is testing a new format for search ads, the ads go in a slider or carousel that let you swipe through various ads, instead of scrolling past them.
The carousel looks a lot like the new Arc Search look for links from summary pages. Imagine it’s top 1.5 slots or bust for clickthrough and performance with this layout.
Chase (?(!))
This week, JPMorgan Chase launched Chase Media Solutions, its new digital media business. It’s the first bank-led media platform, allowing advertisers to send relevant promotions to some 80 million financial customers.
Any aggregator with first-party data in the post-cookie world could become a media network, Chase’s performance may open the floodgates.
Chase’s advantage is transactional first-party data, which allows brands and agencies to target based on purchase history… Chase customers have purchase histories across retailers and other businesses they buy from.
The immediate winners will be those closest to purchase. With time this could become the new paradigm (along with AI-powered contextual advertising).
via MarTech
Sounds like Google is kicking the tires on an acquisition of HubSpot.
This is a really interesting listen on how it fits into their plans:
Saturday Bits & Bytes | 032324
Marilynne Robinson on Biblical Interpretation, Calvinist Thought, and Religion in America (Ep. 207)
On the continuing denigration of John Calvin:
The cure, of course, is to read Calvin, which no one does, and the reason no one does is because they think they know what they’ll find. It’s very self-perpetuating from that point of view when a negative reputation is established.
Once you get a reputation it is hard to shake. And you’re rarely in control of the reputation you get.
This is especially true if you’re challenging the status quo.
5 charts on how third-party cookie deprecation will change ad buys
AI will turbocharge contextual targeting of all kinds.
Demographics are dead (& generations are garbage).
Microsoft Buying Ads On Google Search To Drive More Searches On Bing
When you click on the ad in Google Search, you are taken to the Bing Search results for that query.
I kind of love this strategy.
TikTok’s algorithm has always been a black box. But researchers are finally figuring it out
According to the study’s findings, between 30% and 50% of the first 1,000 videos TikTok users encounter are exploiting their past interests. Recommended videos are driven by a number of factors, most importantly whether the user liked a similar video, as well as who they follow on the platform. Fewer seem to be driven by the percentage of the video a user watched.
…
different users have very different experiences and/or are sort of treated differently by the algorithm
The algorithm is evolving. The importance of watch time may be diminishing as the pool of data deepens.
The one constant with any of the platform algorithms is that they change.
Spotify Is Launching New Ad Studio Product
Powered by a model which analyzes behavioral signals, Podcast Streams takes campaigns beyond standard targeting to reach engaged audiences who are more likely to listen to podcasts.
Limited to podcasts…for now?
I expect to see more targeting options like this across platforms as AI becomes further ingrained.
Post by @dsqtView on Threads
Friday Bits & Bytes | 032224
Evolving Google Analytics for more insightful measurement
To make it easier to compare these actions across platforms, we are aligning how conversions are defined across Google Ads and Analytics to give you a consistent view of your Google advertising performance. With that, we are introducing key events in Google Analytics that will replace what currently exists as conversions for behavioral analytics.
Say what? A “conversion” in GA4 was not measured the same as a “conversion” in Google Ads, which is…confusing.
Now (or soon, it’s still rolling out) in GA4, what had been called “conversions” are now “key events”. Conversions will appear in the Advertising reports section and match what is in Google Ads.
From Google:
If you want to know more, this video is the best resource on it I’ve seen from Google so far.
How to write a landing page that converts
Purchase Rate = Desire - (Labor + Confusion)
To increase the purchase rate, increase the visitor’s desire to purchase while decreasing their labor (effort) and confusion
translate features into the value they’ll get from using it. And proactively handle any objections they might have.
Provide no-brainer value and make it easy.
Copywriting Friday: What part of France are you from?
To increase conversions, we need to understand and remove the objections that are stopping qualified prospects.
…
Look for these three types of objections: obvious, embarrassing, and assumed. Then use your best salespeople to help you craft the strongest counter-objections.
Think about your services or processes: Which of them might you combine into a named system that implies the work is being done for your customer?
I’m looking forward to using the “Objection/Counter-Objection” method in a project soon.
Concrete language boosts sales.
from the Nudge newsletter
Specific, tangible language significantly increases customer satisfaction and spending.
Use clear, concrete language.
Easy to understand. Hard to confuse.
February Marks a Turnaround for Existing Home Sales
Sick of waiting for the Federal Reserve to make a move, home buyers and sellers seem to be accepting the market for what it is.
…
In February, contracts closed on roughly 4.4 million existing homes, an increase of 9.5% from the month prior
The median existing-home sales price elevated to $384,500, the eighth consecutive month of year-over-year price gains. However, the sales prices across all US homes jumped only 0.6% from January to February, which resembles pre-pandemic trends
Changes in the housing market can have far reaching ripples.
Are the algorithms starting to turn on generative AI?
Google has updated Search to derank spam including:
The goal is to:
better understand if webpages are unhelpful, have a poor user experience or feel like they were created for search engines instead of people. This could include sites created primarily to match very specific search queries.
This change actually has teeth too, with plenty of manual actions.
Another Podcast’s episode Google Gemini and AI bias unpacks the weights and training data stuff I briefly mentioned yesterday.
Hidden patterns in data and models as bias amplifiers.
Also the excellent quote “the fake is in the caption,” because what is a prompt but a caption for a future image?
Quick Hit Google Bits
Google Analytics 4 launches new trend detection insight
trend change detection focuses on slower changes happening over a longer time. This gives users a detailed view of data changes, making it a useful tool to spot both quick and long-term trends.
Reddit signs AI content licensing deal with Google
reportedly paying Reddit $60 million per year to train its artificial intelligence models (e.g., Gemini).
OG journo-blogger Matt Welch on legacy media, like the Village Voice & LA Times:
Never could adapt to the new reality. It’s a success curse.
When you’re making that much money, you’re that powerful, the people who work for you—including yourselves—are not going to solve the industry once the industry turns and changes.
This is not just a media problem.
Same could be said of Google right now.
How do you change when the change threatens your business model?
Walmart is in talks to acquire Vizio, which sells a popular line of value-priced smart TVs that include an ad-supported free streaming service
which
could make Walmart a significant player in the connected-TV advertising business, competing with the likes of Roku, Amazon and Google/YouTube
via Variety
When users say “platform,” we mean software (increasingly cloud-based).
When platforms say “platform,” they mean hardware.
Every major ad platform wants a hardware platform of their own. For that sweet, sweet first-party data & to not be beholden to someone else (especially a competitor).