Too Close To The Sun
Google has become its own worst enemy.
The company’s stock price dropped more than 10% after its Q3 earnings call last month, mostly due to a major slowdown in search advertising growth. The culprit: Google’s own AI Mode.
But not every tech company doubling down on AI has had the same misfortune.
Take Meta. Six advertisers and agency execs tell The Information that they’ve moved ad dollars to Meta after determining their budgets weren’t delivering results on Google.
Meta has also been leaning into new AI products and features (its recently launched Muse agent, in particular), but those products don’t compete with Meta’s core ads business.
To be fair, Google’s ads business is enormous, but it’s still looking for ways to make its ad tools more effective for clients. For example, it’s partnering with Hightouch to give advertisers better access to customer data, a person familiar with the partnership tells The Information.
But better access to customer data won’t help advertisers who say they can’t get their ads in front of enough people.
“I want to give Google more money,” Nicholas Verity, CEO of B2B lead gen company Cleverly, tells The Information. But, apparently, Google couldn’t make proper use of his $2,000-a-day budget. Too few people were seeing or clicking on his ads.
Something To Sell
Brands want to test ads in AI search, but available inventory is still limited. The agentic search platforms are working hard to change that, though.
A month ago, ChatGPT announced “visual ads,” its term for ads that appear during the waiting period after someone asks to generate an image. Search Engine Land reports that these ads are now starting to appear.
Google, likewise, announced plans last month to launch multi-turn ads for AI Mode, which surface sponsored results as users ask follow-up questions. Well, those are appearing in the wild now, too, Search Engine Roundtable reports. Meanwhile, Google also made good on another pledge from October with the news that ads for AI Mode are now available in more than 10 global markets.
And not to be left out, Bing Ads has begun showing ads atop responses within Bing AI Mode (formerly Copilot Search) and within AI Overviews, both Google-inspired product names in Microsoft’s lineup. (Microsoft also has its own Performance Max, btw.)
Oh, and Yahoo Scout, Yahoo’s ad-supported agentic search chatbot, also just came out of beta.
That’s just what rolled out this week.
Pivot Point
Digital publishers got burned during the first pivot to video circa the mid-2010s when Meta was found to be overinflating view numbers.
The more recent shift to vertical video, however, has proved far more durable.
Too bad the social platforms are already plotting their next video pivot just as publishers were finally getting used to short-form vertical formats, reports The Verge.
Snap may have been first to short-form virtual video, but TikTok’s explosion in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic prompted every other platform to chase the format. Meta Reels and YouTube Shorts made it so that even publishers that avoided TikTok had to produce vertical video to stay relevant.
The vertical format worked for publishers, though, because it prioritizes a stripped-down, authentic viewing experience, rather than sleek, professionally produced video. Publications positioned their own reporters as news influencers while striking marketing partnerships with actual influencers. Plus, vertical video was perfect for clipping podcasts, which have also surged in popularity since the pandemic.
But social platforms are now experimenting with longer video formats to drive deeper engagement and insert more ads. YouTube is working with creators on full-length shows, for example, and Instagram is testing a 90-minute horizontal video product called Features.
Longer-form video means higher production costs. And so this time, the pivot to video – are we up to 3.0 now? – may not prove as publisher-friendly as the vertical video era.
But Wait! There’s More!
Federal Express will change its practices and pay a $3 million fine after California privacy regulator CalPrivacy accused it of misleading customers. FedEx claims it didn’t sell or share personal data, but rather used it for contextual ad targeting. [release]
Supermarket fridge hacks show the danger in everything being attached to the internet. [WSJ]
The Online News Association announced that it’s pausing in-person events and will not host a conference next year, citing shrinking “professional development and sponsorship budgets.” [blog]
Adobe is maxxing out on AI agents. [The Verge]
OpenAI has a new self-serve Business Hub, now in beta, that lets brands manage their info and get analytics on how people engage with them in ChatGPT. [Adweek]
TikTok Shop now has a paid membership tier that includes order delivery. [Modern Retail]
You’re Hired!
Samsung Ads appoints Nelson Boyce as SVP of ad sales. [Adweek]
Operative brings on Brian Beirne its senior VP of commercial growth. [release]
OneRail names Amit Batra as SVP of supply chain and Nathan Rucker as SVP of strategic growth and partnerships. [release]
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