Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here.
Rage Against The Machines
Last week, Meta quietly rolled out Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns, the black box ad engine it previously parceled out to some advertisers upon request.
Advantage+, like Google’s Performance Max, puts creative, targeting and optimization controls fully in the hands of the platform with next-to-no visibility for the advertiser.
Yet Advantage+ and PMax have gobbled up media budgets, because they perform. But are they the future?
Over at Mobile Dev Memo, Eric Seufert identifies some of the powerful incentives working against them. (Seufert also correctly notes that the products are referred to as “AI,” but actually do machine-learning-based ad optimization. Who wants to die on that hill, though?)
One issue with AI-based (sorry, ML-based) platform tools is the loss of creative control. With PMax and Advantage+, advertisers are deprived of creative decision-making. The platform is able to repurpose copy and creative to fit other formats and surfaces. Advertisers don’t even get to see which creative was used or where it ran.
Media investments are also often too large to entrust to a non-auditable ad platform, Seufert argues. “Advertising systems are fragile and composed of many components,” he writes, “and an edge case or unforeseen feedback loop in an automated advertising process could cost an advertiser an unacceptable sum of money.”
Getting The Banned Back Together
TikTok should be accelerating down a clear runway toward ad revenue growth. It’s still shiny and new, advertisers are obsessed with it and the platform boasts a massive pool of desirable users with crazy-high levels of organic engagement and purchase activity.
But TikTok advertising is stuck in a holding pattern because of the looming prospect of a ban in the US and/or UK, The Drum reports.
The problem isn’t that TikTok would take a hit to its organic user numbers if government phones or college WiFi networks block the TikTok app. The issue also isn’t that advertisers are nervous about appearing on TikTok because of potential bad PR.
Rather, the problem is that advertisers won’t commit to TikTok in a long-term or systematic way if there’s a probable chance of it getting banned.
Advertising on TikTok means investing in new creative skills and production, new influencer relationships, new research, analytics and potentially one or more new hires.
If there’s a ban, brands face a real risk of having wasted their investments.
Uber Ads
Uber is launching a self-service product that serves ads through digital billboards perched atop vehicles, Insider reports.
The rideshare company hopes to entice small and midsize businesses, including non-endemic advertisers, such as real estate agents and mom-and-pop shops.
The pitch is that Uber’s digital out-of-home media is like a fleet of billboards on wheels. Uber operates roughly 3,500 car-top screens in seven US markets, including New York, LA and Chicago.
Uber’s goal is to achieve a $1 billion run rate by 2024 – and it’s on its way. Although Uber’s ad platform is still relatively new, it reached a $500 million revenue run rate at the end of last year. Doubling ad revenue in two years isn’t farfetched.
Uber is also getting more aggressive with targeting on its platform. Advertisers can’t target Uber riders by name or ID, but there is the option to reach people at specific locations or even while they’re in the vicinity of a competitor’s store location.
Lyft Media, by contrast, is slow-rolling its location-based targeting, starting with passengers going to and from airports.
But Wait, There’s More!
Regulatory scrutiny of Big Tech is rekindling buyer interest in ad tech. [Digiday]
IPG’s MediaHub picks Tremor-owned Unruly as its preferred supply-side platform. [B&C]
Prescient AI, an ecommerce marketing attribution startup, raises $5.5 million. [release]
Mastercard-owned Dynamic Yield launches Element, a tool that opens its aggregated consumer data to marketers. [release]
OpenAI partners with payment firm Stripe to monetize ChatGPT. [Bloomberg]
You’re Hired!
VMLY&R Commerce, part of WPP, expands its global and US executive team. [MediaPost]
