AdExchanger’s daily news roundup will return on Tuesday, June 20, in observance of the Juneteenth holiday.
As Seen On CTV
Can agencies help fix retail media’s fragmentation problem?
Publicis Groupe launched a retail media platform on Thursday to help clients plan and measure across large networks, Ad Age reports. The platform is built on Profitero, the commerce analytics software that Publicis bought last year.
Profitero has real-time shopper data from major retailers, including Kroger and Target, that advertisers can use to inform their bidding. For instance, if a CPG brand is out of stock at a certain retailer, that brand’s competitors could take advantage by targeting their rival’s customers.
But Publicis is also looking to help brands with awareness campaigns on CTV, which is a sign of where retail media is headed, says Andrew Lipsman, principal analyst at Insider Intelligence.
Although retail media and streaming ad budgets don’t overlap much today, advertisers are reconsidering CTV as a place for retail ad spend because upper-funnel tactics can increase purchase intent.
In related news, Publicis also just launched a retail media joint venture with Carrefour called “Unlimitail” as a launchpad for retail media networks across Europe.
Uber Tube
Have you ever wished you had video ads to watch while waiting for your Uber? No? Too bad!
Uber is launching in-app video ads across its entire portfolio, including on its eponymous ride-hailing app, Drizly and Uber Eats, the Wall Street Journal reports. It also plans to install tablets in select Uber vehicles to display video ads.
Uber will show video ads after users order a car while they wait for their driver to arrive and throughout the duration of their trip. Uber Eats will play ads after a customer has placed an order up until the order arrives. Drizly will display ads in search results.
Ads can be up to 90 seconds long, but will be muted by default. It’s unclear if the ads will autoplay, but that’s likely the case.
The ads will roll out this week in the US before expanding internationally later this year.
Uber sees advertising as a key growth driver, and it’s bullish about using its real-time location-tracking and customer transaction history to target ads.
Cross-promotional opportunities across apps are also part of the vision, including targeting an Uber Eats coupon to an Uber user for a restaurant located near their destination.
A Different Topic
Google announced several changes to its Topics API based on feedback from publishers and advertisers that tested the solution.
On the consumer-facing side, people will now be able to proactively block topics used to target them. For publishers, Google has made improvements aimed at reducing page load times due to latency issues.
And advertisers will no longer be blocked from observing more general topics (like “apparel”) if they’ve already observed a user visit a site associated with a more granular sub-topic (like “boots”).
Google also overhauled its content taxonomy in response to complaints that it did not feature enough contextual categories that are relevant to brands. It’s now adding 280 new commercially focused categories, such as “athletic apparel” and “mattresses,” and will remove 160 categories that had little value for marketers, like “civil engineering” and “equestrian.” (Sorry, horse lovers.)
Google says the taxonomy will change over time and eventually be overseen by an outside industry group.
But the taxonomy changes are prompting new complaints. Simon Harris, director at DPG Media, tweeted that shifting to these new contextual categories will harm publishers who’ve invested in categorizing their own content.
But Wait, There’s More!
Forrester: By 2030, AI will eliminate 7.5% of US ad agency jobs and usher in an era of smaller agencies. [The Drum]
The Digital Advertising Alliance issued a guide for implementing the ad industry’s 2009 privacy code on connected devices, including CTVs and smart watches. [MediaPost]
The Guardian puts the kibosh on gambling ads. [The Guardian]
Twitch announces a partner program featuring 70% subscription revenue share for streamers who maintain at least 350 paid subscriptions for three consecutive months. [release]
