Podcast ads are doing great.
iHeartMedia, Spotify and Acast reported revenue growth between 12% and 31% year over year in their podcast businesses during the second quarter of 2023, with better performance compared to the first quarter of this year.
Executives told shareholders they are seeing improvements in the U.S. ad market and are bullish on continued growth in the third quarter and beyond.
Podcast networks report Q2 revenue growth, with positive signs for continued improvements in 2023
Black Friday shopping intent breakdown across generation:
- 38% of baby boomers plan to shop on BF
- 40% of Gen X
- 18% of Millennials
- 3% of Gen Z
Cyber 5 creep is here. Gone are the days of Black Friday kicking off the holiday shopping season. This year:
-
1/3 of shoppers will start before Halloween (more than plan to shop on BF)
- Nearly half before Thanksgiving
Cyber Monday may be quiet too, but the older the shopper the more likely they will shop on the deal days.
Continuing the theme of the year, sales and promos will be the most influential factor in shopping decisions this holiday season.
Branding is all about aspiration, so this technique from Droga5 (via Julian Cole is genius.
Don’t ask the consumer, ask their muses.
Go to the influences. The icons. The aspirational selves.
Plus this quote from Serena Williams:
How you get there and how you achieve victories is as important as the actual victory.
Consumers want 2 things more than they want speed:
- Transparency
- Control
A survey found shoppers are fine with longer ship times as long as they got some mix of the following:
- Free shipping
- Guaranteed delivery date
- Delivery date & location control
- Real-time tracking
The Google graveyard grows.
Starting in early October 2023, any Shopping campaigns using Enhanced CC will behave as if they are using Manual CPC bidding.
Bidding strategies have evolved a lot since the launch of eCPC, so this isn’t surprising. I’m more surprised the announcement wasn’t about the end of standard Shopping Campaigns.
Of Ads & Algorithms: A Meta Rant
Meta’s ad optimization algorithm is an idiot savant (which is the case for most algorithms). It’ll give you what you ask for, even if that’s not necessarily what you want (which is the case for most algorithms).
As humans, the content of what we say is only about 7% of what we’re communicating. Algorithms don’t understand all that other shit, they just get the 7%. So when you ask Meta to optimize for link clicks or landing page views, they’ll give you every single one you can afford. Even if they’re 99% garbage because they came from accidental in-game clicks thanks to the audience network.
The answer isn't news feed only though. For two reasons: 1) it's never good to overly limit the algorithm's choices 2) that's where everyone else is focusing, which means it's more competitive and expensive. (Other placements may be more expensive per action, but traffic quality may warrant the extra cents.)
What is the answer? Optimize for an on-site conversion (and try to make sure you have creative that feels native to each placement option/aspect ratio).
For more on audience network stuff, check out this post by Jon Loomer (your favorite Facebook marketer's favorite Facebook marketer).
For more on algorithms and optimizations, read on below.
Algorithms, especially these days, get treated as akin to magic. Of course, some of the things they can do in our post-ImageNet and deep learning world are plenty impressive. But they're really just super powerful matrix math calculators.
The best way to think of them is like Kevin Kelly said (which is an example I've used plenty before and have heard from many others), they "are best thought of as universal interns." Just like with an intern, you're going to get what you ask for.
The tension comes from the fact that humans and computers speak different languages. The biggest current danger of algorithms is they give us exactly what we asked for, which isn't always what we wanted when the gap between the two gets lost in translation.
To bring it back to Meta, traffic is not link clicks. A link click is an action that happens within Meta's network, which means as soon as that click happens the algorithm stops caring about what happens next. Its job is done.
Tools like Google Tag Manager and Meta's custom conversion builder make it easier to create more and better signals to feed the robots with. Don't settle for optimizing for what you think you want. Take the time to think about what you're trying to achieve, create a trackable event for it, and tell the algorithms to give you as much of that as you can afford.
Disney+ prices are going up…again. Except for the ad-supported options.
The Fed’s rate hikes have changed the math and the days of free money are over, which means:
- No more subsidizing user growth
- Revenue matters more than user count
Consumers will have to pay more or see more ads. Advertisers are about to have a lot more channel options.
Yelp’s ad revenue rose 14% in part (it said) because of “a change in behaviour.”
A shift away from brand advertising and towards performance marketing was noted by Yelp bosses. This is because the latter provides marketers a more efficient way to track and monitor ROI, according to the company.
it should always be a mix of the two. But I think this shift is more a sign of the end of the free money train as interest rates have continued to rise.
Moz rolled out a new brand-level metric, which is fine. But this idea is far more valuable:
Brand value is highly subjective. It’s most accurately measured across multiple attributes, including financial, trust, and popularity. As marketers and stewards of the brands, you help orchestrate – because you can’t control it – the perceptions of your brand over time. They are the sum of promises kept – the spaces in which your customers create their value and look at you in a different way.