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New Topic, Please
Google recently published its latest quarterly progress report to the CMA, the UK’s antitrust regulator, regarding its Chrome Privacy Sandbox proposals – and there are several notable updates from last quarter.
For one, Google is considering page-level metadata for the Topics API. Currently, Topics (interest-based cohorts created by the browser) are assigned by domain, meaning any URL starting with, for example, nytimes.com or macys.com, gets one “topic.”
Companies typically prefer to sharpen their topics for specific sections or pages of their sites and online stores.
Another important point is Google’s new commitment to refrain from using Topics participation as a search ranking signal. Makes sense why. Doing so would no doubt attract antitrust scrutiny – but getting confirmation on record is important. If publishers and site operators believed it was even remotely possible that not opting into Topics would damage their search ranking, they’d feel forced to participate.
(H/t to Don Marti of CafeMedia for the spot and to James Rosewell, CEO and co-founder of 51Degrees, who forced the enquiry on Topics and search rankings.)
Steaming Along
A thread on Hacker News, Y Combinator’s social news wire, caused a commotion after internet sleuths uncovered what’s really going on behind the scenes at SteamDB, a popular aggregation and discovery service for online games.
Pavel Djundik, who co-founded and operates SteamDB, weighed in on a prompt about examples of side projects where the creator makes $0, saying it costs less than $100 per month to run his platform.
Other people in the thread discovered a tweet from December, where Djundik posted an internal screenshot of monthly traffic and unique audience numbers, which are through the roof.
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Daily Roundup
AdSense and ad tech connoisseurs who saw the post did some back-of-the-envelope math to conservatively estimate that SteamDB could make upwards of $1 million per year based on one ad unit and generic CPMs (disregarding that SteamDB operates in a popular ad vertical and is close to the point of sale). SteamDB also eschews affiliate commissions, although it generates many purchases and downloads.
“I can [take the easy ad money], but I have no interest in doing that currently,” Djundik said to one incredulous poster who pointed out the volume of low-hanging revenue.
The Data Drug Bust
The DOJ has levied a $1.5 million fine against GoodRx for violating the FTC’s Health Breach Notification Rule.
GoodRx claimed to be HIPAA-compliant, but, according to the FTC’s complaint, the company was sharing personal health information about prescriptions and health conditions for advertising and analytics purposes with third parties, namely Facebook and Google, without user consent.
The DOJ also permanently prohibited GoodRx from sharing health data with any third-party advertising partners. GoodRx must also publish a data retention schedule with the data it collects and information on why it’s necessary.
This isn’t the first time HIPAA has been invoked to crack down on sharing health-care-related information via Google and Meta pixels. Hospital sites faced similar scrutiny last year.
But Wait, There’s More!
Marketers turn to meme accounts for humor, news and group therapy. [WSJ]
Data rights agency AWO published its study on digital advertising commissioned by the EU Commission – and it recommends banning Big Tech from collecting data for advertising. [tweet]
Instagram’s co-founders are launching a text-based social news competitor to Twitter. [Platformer]
The Biden administration is taking aim at Apple and Google for operating mobile app stores that it says stifle competition. [AP]
Meta wins court approval to move forward with its purchase of VR app Within, a defeat for Lina Khan’s FTC. [Bloomberg]
Brian Wieser, known as the most quoted man in advertising, has left GroupM to launch a media and ad consultancy for investors called Madison and Wall. [Ad Age]
You’re Hired!
Guillermo Abud joins SilverPush as head of US East Coast and LATAM. [post]
MikMak names Dan Zitting as its new president and COO. [release]
Foundry appoints Manoj Goyal as chief product officer. [release]
