Google Won't Hold Interstitials Against Mobile Apps; Bryant Park Participates In The Location Data Space

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Double Standard

Google will punish mobile sites that allow intrusive interstitial advertising, but it apparently won’t hold mobile apps to the same standard, writes Lara O’Reilly for Business Insider. She points out Google’s AdMob still offers a mobile interstitial unit. It’s not that interstitials are less disruptive to the user experience in an app environment. Rather, bad experiences in apps is just not Google’s problem. “I guess Google sees high bounce rates from sites with interstitials, and that makes for a bad consumer experience for search,” said Jonathan Beeston, managing director at digital ad agency Croud. “It’s not the same thing as in-app, as Google search hasn’t sent the user there.” More.

The Parks Have Eyes

NYC’s Bryant Park is leveraging location data to become a better out-of-home advertising partner. The privately owned park partnered with PlaceIQ to learn more about where its visitors come from and what they do before and after visiting the park. PlaceIQ can anonymize and tie that data back to retail stores, banks and other locations to help Bryant Park find the right sponsors for its public events. “A lot of those brands really help us keep the park active,” said Matt Castellan, brand relations manager for the Bryant Park Corporation. London’s Hyde Park has employed the same strategy. More at Ad Age.

Buzz Cut

BuzzFeed will split in two to strengthen its digital video business, reports Vanity Fair. BuzzFeed News will do hard reporting with a focus on video news, while BuzzFeed Entertainment Group will produce click-baity listicles, quizzes and the like with an eye on mass reach. “Having a single ‘video department’ in 2016 makes about as much sense as having a ‘mobile department,’” wrote CEO Jonah Peretti in a staff memo. Peretti said the company hopes to become a conglomerate for fast-consumption entertainment, but the reshuffle comes after BuzzFeed missed its revenue targets by 32% last year and cut its projections for 2016. More.

The Most Dangerous Game

Amazon’s internal workings are pretty much an enigma to the press, but the ecommerce giant has been quietly ramping up its ad ops in a big way this year. Its Ad Platform division, for instance, is hiring for dozens of open positions, predominantly in product and engineering. Facebook and Google are known for throwing armies of engineers at problems others in the space can’t handle on their own. It seems a good bet Amazon is taking the same approach with its ad tech road map.

But Wait, There’s More!