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Rules Of The Game
In September 2021, Google Ads switched from last-click attribution as its default measurement mode to “data-driven attribution.” The latter is Google’s term for modeled attribution without preset rules, like that a brand’s first ad exposure or the last click should be assigned credit. Other rules include “position-based attribution,” where credit is mostly doled out to the first and last click with a smaller portion for all impressions in between. The “time decay” rule attributes based on the duration between an ad exposure and a conversion.
But even after Google began defaulting to data-driven attribution, it still supported other attribution models for advertisers with a preference.
That goes away this year, though, Google announced on Thursday in a support page update. Starting in May, new Google Ads accounts will have no option but data-driven attribution. Current advertisers will lose rules-based attribution models by October.
“Rules-based attribution models assign value to each advertising touchpoint based on predefined rules,” according to the support page. “These models don’t provide the flexibility needed to adapt to evolving consumer journeys.”
Eye On The Target
The targeted advertising value prop is that consumers prefer relevant or personalized ads.
But targeted advertising also exposes consumers to more expensive, lower-quality products, according to a New York Times column by tech and privacy journalist Julia Angwin.
Angwin cites a recent Carnegie Mellon and Virginia Tech study finding targeted ads promote products that are more expensive than similar products found through a web search. The products featured in targeted ads also tend to be sold by lower-quality vendors, according to Better Business Bureau ratings.
For example, Angwin points to a Facebook ad campaign for “anti-woke” razor company Jeremy’s Razors, which targeted fans of hunting, Johnny Cash and the UFC. While its customers liked the political message, its products netted only 2.7 out of 5 stars based on 280 reviews.
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Daily Roundup
Angwin argues that consumer brands could just as easily reach audiences through contextual ads without any of targeted advertising’s privacy concerns.
Angwin also claims the shift from contextual to targeted advertising has had a disastrous effect on newspaper revenue, although she offered little proof for this claim in her column, prompting pushback from ad industry thought leaders.
ID Or I Don’t
For all the talk of testing IDs and building for a post-third-party blah blah blah, the buy side is still just not buying it.
At least not yet. Although, this has been a hot topic for years, so at what point does “not yet” become “not ever”?
Part of the issue is that Google’s deadlines turn out to be more like lifelines in that they extend as far as people need. Maybe there was urgency when Google first said it would remove third-party cookies from Chrome, but that was January 2020. There have since been multiple deadline extensions, and third-party cookies are now slated for retirement at the end of 2024.
“The lion-share of web transactions happen on Chrome and third-party cookies are still there,” Garrett McGrath, Magnite’s SVP of product management, tells Adweek.
The whole alternative ID category is in a bind, since the value is having sustainable, post-cookie ad solutions for a world that’s never quite post-cookie.
“There is usage,” says Mike O’Sullivan, co-founder of Sincera, which monitors online ad tech and RTB data. “But I also agree there isn’t enough usage to really make it obvious the benefits it’s driving.”
But Wait, There’s More!
Apple’s $165 billion cash hoard creates M&A mirages. [Bloomberg]
Disney has named Asad Ayaz as its first-ever chief brand officer. [Ad Age]
Publishers’ Q1 ad revenue was better than forecasts, but not by much. [Digiday]
Google’s senior director of product management for its Privacy Sandboxes, Victor Wong, on Google’s core privacy and business tenets. [blog]
How brands can tailor their audio ads to target “co-listeners.” [Marketing Brew]
You’re Hired!
Sophie Vershbow is promoted to head of social marketing at Eventbrite. [tweet]
Vivvix adds Matt Young as chief commercial officer. [release]
