Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign-up here.
The PLA Portal
Google’s Product Listing Ads (PLAs) are a dominant unit in retail search and ecommerce, and the end of 2016 revealed a powerful new entrant to PLA listings: Amazon. “The conventional wisdom around why Amazon had refused to participate in Google Shopping has been that doing so would strengthen Google’s position in the battle to be consumers’ first destination for product searches,” Merkle’s senior director of research, Mark Ballard, wrote last week after seeing Amazon’s Google PLAs in the wild. Read it. Amazon appears to be confining its early Google Shopping efforts mostly to home goods products. If Amazon expands this initiative beyond the test phase, it would be a gamechanger in ecommerce. More at MediaPost.
Cimagine That
Snapchat parent Snap Inc. purchased augmented reality startup Cimagine Media for upward of $30 million, VentureBeat reports. The Israeli startup will enhance Snapchat’s augmented reality masks while expanding its global footprint. But Cimagine also brings expertise in commerce, helping brands like Coca-Cola and Shop Direct use augmented reality in product advertising. For Snap, ecommerce could open a new revenue stream, boost engagement and bring in additional advertising opportunities. Related in WSJ: Investors are cautious about Snap’s valuation.
Watchful Eyes
Data from Integral Ad Science revealed that fast-scrolling users are zipping past ads too fast for many to register as viewable – at least according to the IAB’s definition. “Facebook ads are far less viewable than people were expecting,” said Drew Huening, director at Omnicom’s Accuen. That said, Huening doesn’t think the lower-than-expected in-view rates will dent the ad spend going to Facebook. In an interview with Lara O’Reilly of Business Insider, Facebook’s Andrew Bosworth argues that not all platforms can be measured equally. “Different platforms are different, even if some of the pieces look similar,” he said. For example, Facebook defines an impression as an ad in-view for “north of one second,” Bosworth said, which is lower than the IAB standard. More at Business Insider.
Stream Steam
GroupM and Spotify, as part of a multi-year data partnership [AdExchanger coverage], are studying music streaming habits as a proxy for consumer behavior. After examining seven global markets, the groups found that more than 60% of music streamed on mobile devices can be linked to “moods and moments,” as opposed to more typical demos. GroupM estimates that “moods and moments” will account for $220 million in new ad revenue across markets studied. At this point, however, the segments are still nascent and unscaled, said Simeon Duckworth, head of data and analytics strategic development at GroupM. “There’s a real paucity of data,” he said. More.
But Wait, There’s More!
- Q3 2016 Internet Ad Revenues Hit $17.6 Billion, Climbing 20% YoY – IAB
- Fox-Sky Deal Will Reduce Advertising But Boost Addressable TV – Campaign
- Programmatic Agency Of The Year: Hearts & Science – MediaPost
- Seven Ecommerce Players Who Came On Strong In 2016 – eMarketer
- Brands Start Planning For Unexpected Criticism By Trump – NYT
- Vibes Acquires Red Fish Media – release
- Year In Preview: Programmatic Alliances Splinter – Digiday
- How Amazon Innovates In Ways That Google And Apple Can’t – Vox
- How Instagram Is Changing Southeast Asia’s Advertising Game – Forbes
- Growth In Video RTB To Drive Programmatic Display Market Through 2021 – release
- Dentsu Chief Falls On The Sword That He Wielded – Financial Times
- Twitter Rolls Out Livestreaming 360-Degree Video On Periscope – Adweek
- Nielsen: What Topped Digital in 2016 – release
- Customer Loyalty Is Overrated – Harvard Business Review
- New Microsoft Under Nadella Still Looking Good On Wall Street – TechCrunch
