Samsung Dismisses US Marketing Team; Duopoly Still Gaining Share

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Samsung’s Sneaker Party

Samsung laid off several people in its marketing group for inappropriate dealings with media partners and agencies. While the practice of wining and dining clients is a long established part of doing business in adland, it can become a conflict of interest if marketers are steering dollars toward the partners handing out the most perks. It’s unclear how many people were cut or what exactly they were let go for, but some employees who were dismissed without severance are claiming they’ve been treated unfairly, The Wall Street Journal reports. The probe came at the end of a monthslong audit into its agencies including R/GA and Publicis Media and shortly following the departure of Samsung CMO Marc Mathieu and US marketing chief Jay Altschuler. More.

Duopoly Forever

Of the $590 billion spent globally on advertising last year, Google and Facebook soaked up 24%, or $144.6 billion, according to a study by WARC. That’s up from the duopoly’s 23% share of total ad dollars in 2017. WARC expects that number to increase to 28.6%, or $176.4 billion, this year. The duopoly’s endless gain is publishers’ pain, as the pool of digital ad dollars available outside of their walled gardens shrank for the first time last year, by 0.7% to $111 billion. Other highlights of the study: Google and Facebook are competing for dominance in the online video space, Amazon is coming after Google on search and commerce, and Facebook is losing users of its core app to Instagram. More at Advanced Television.

Flix Bux

Netflix is increasing its marketing partnerships business, with more brands and products integrated into shows and storylines, as well as Netflix-owned characters used in other companies’ shows and promotions. These deals cost between $300,000 and $1 million, Cheddar reports. Growing its marketing revenue will help Netflix stay ahead as powerful new players like Apple, Disney and AT&T’s WarnerMedia get into the streaming subscription business, driving up subscriber acquisition and retention costs. More.

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