∞

From Seth:

stories are the basic building block of culture

&

Stories that resonate are the ones that sit with the stories we already believe and value.

∞

Why is Spotify a video platform now?

the reason why there's this big video push is because it's part of an anchor into the company's deeper push into advertising.

advertisers are more accustomed to buying video ad inventory than audio ad inventory. And if Spotify can get new advertisers on board through video, something that's familiar to them, maybe those advertisers will be more likely to spend on audio elsewhere in the surface.

Benjamins, baby

∞

The headline:

OpenAI is thinking about making its own browser

Not a surprise. They’re also rumored to be working on a phone and more integrations with hardware makers.

“The New Google” is a pretty obvious avenue for them to pursue.

This is why regulator’s reasoning for forcing Big G to sell Chrome feels off.

Google is getting chipped away at from many angles as options proliferate. But a better option is the only thing that will knock the company synonymous with search out of its number 1 spot.

∞

The game of “take control, give control” continues, this time with Meta giving advertisers another lever to control their ad delivery

Frequency controls help you control how often your ad is shown to a person. When creating your campaign, you’ll have two options to choose from for your frequency controls. These controls are target frequency and frequency cap.

Now you can better control frequency of awareness and engagement campaigns, at least for Reach and ThruPlay goals.

∞

Regulators have submitted their Google punishment wishlist to the judge, and it rivals many a kid’s Christmas list.

The Justice Department wants:

  • Chrome sold off
  • no playing favorites on Android (& maybe sold)
  • can’t buy default status
  • no favoring Google services in other Google services
  • license search index data to others
  • ad cost transparency
  • blah blah AI training access blah

No. 3 is the most obvious one on the list. The others range from 🤷 to 😮

Not sure this is the obvious outcome:

A sale of Chrome “will permanently stop Google’s control of this critical search access point and allow rival search engines the ability to access the browser that for many users is a gateway to the internet”

How much better does Google Search get if $20B a year gets reinvested instead of paid to Apple?

∞
The good news: While the election was surely a distraction, US consumer spending continues to be strong. Overall spending growth outpaced expectations in September, for instance. And third-quarter earnings reports have looked solid, too.

There’s a tension between the numbers and the vibes.

As whole, the economy is doing well. On an individual level, inflation makes things feel bad.

∞

I like this idea, just might steal it

∞

We’ve started to see performance bounce back for our clients most in danger of a “pre-election slump” (vindication!), so I’m dipping back into that well one more time.

via Sounds Profitable:

Many brands either reduced or outright halted investments in influencer marketing to barricade themselves from political blowback during a heated election season.

Not only did the campaigns spend a lot, but other advertisers spent less, furthering the omnipresence of political messaging.

Consumer focus narrowed and behavior followed.

∞

Google Analytics 4 adds benchmarking data

reference metrics that help you compare your business performance against the performance of other businesses in your industry.

in percentiles (median, 25th, and 75th) based on peer groups of businesses for a wide range of industry categories. The businesses that form the peer groups are determined by an industry category assigned to each property. This industry category is determined by a combination of factors including the broad industry category provided in setup and signals from things like a property’s URLs and App attributes.

∞

Google’s getting ready for shopping szn

Google Lens

Google Lens can quickly show you product insights tailored to the store you’re in. Just snap a photo to find product information, similar products in-stock, whether a store’s price is competitive and shopper reviews.

Shop Via Maps

search for products in Maps and find nearby stores selling them

As the moat around Google’s Knowledge Graph erodes in a post-AI world, the “Shopping Graph” may be the next fulcrum for revenue growth.