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Say “Nein” To Sharing
The German Cartel Office, Germany’s antitrust regulator, says Google’s data processing policies violate the country’s digital competition law.
Germany’s antitrust regulations go further than the EU’s Digital Markets Act to prohibit data from being shared internally by large companies with multiple consumer brands or services.
“Due to its established access to relevant data gathered from a large number of different services, Google enjoys a strategic advantage over other companies,” says Andreas Mundt, president of the Cartel Office, in a statement.
According to the regulator, Google doesn’t have informed consent for how data collected by one Google service – Google Maps, YouTube, Search, Google Assistant, Android and Google Play are cited in the release – might be used to build advertising profiles or improve services for other Google properties.
Although the announcement doesn’t cite specific examples, consider this: Late last year, Google made a discrete but important change to Google Maps, which went from the Maps.Google.com domain to Google.com/Maps. Google Flights, its travel search engine, made the same switcheroo.
Most people wouldn’t notice, but the change means when users consent for tracking in Maps, that consent applies across the whole Google domain, not just the Maps service. (Nicht gut.)
Seeing Green
Brands and agencies are going green as if there’s money in it – which, there must be, considering that ad tech sustainability has become a sprawling new cottage industry.
Adweek reports that more than one-third of businesses have hired consultants to help with ESG reporting processes, according to a 2022 GreenBiz report. (ESG stands for “environmental, social and corporate governance.”)
Consultants, data providers, rating services and climate-tracking services are among the entrants to this new category, and their numbers are only expected to increase. The clean energy industry has cash on hand thanks to new policies, such as the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, and don’t be surprised if a focus on sustainability becomes part of the standard agency pitch deck.
But moving fast (and potentially breaking things) is not necessarily the best approach to take when it comes to sustainability, experts warn. Measurement errors and examples of greenwashing will proliferate in the void created by a lack of universal regulatory standards. Measuring, reducing and offsetting emissions is not a box-ticking exercise, and companies should be careful about the partners they choose to work with.
Tok Is Cheap
TikTok has reached the billion-user mark, but its ad platform business is still just an upstart compared with other large platforms.
The Financial Times reports that, according to VaynerMedia, the price of TikTok impressions has stayed well below competitors, including Twitter, Snap and Instagram Reels.
The FT insinuates that TikTok may keep rates low on purpose to gain share. As a private company, TikTok can do that.
However, TikTok’s relatively low prices are also purely a question of supply and demand. TikTok has a crazy fudge-ton (technical term) of supply, but, although its ad business has taken off, it doesn’t have the millions – as in, tens of millions – of advertiser accounts that flock to Google and Meta.
In other words, there are fewer brands bidding on a lot of inventory.
And TikTok view counts are Monopoly money. Take Zach King’s Harry Potter illusion, the most popular TikTok ever, which, in its first couple of years, has accrued a multibillion view count similar to Gangnam Style on YouTube. More likely than not, everyone reading this knows the Gangnam Style dance (admit it, liar!), while “Zach King” and “Harry Potter illusion” may ring a bell for only some of you – and yet it has billions of views.
But Wait, There’s More!
Twitter has made the algorithmic “For You” timeline into the default feed – which it tried once in the past before backtracking. [MacRumors]
Trey Titone: programmatic video creative management explained. [blog]
Ryan Reynolds tries a ChatGPT-generated script for Mint Mobile. And it’s … fine. [The Drum]
FAST channels are the new cable. [TV Rev]
Reddit is still fighting to convince agencies and advertisers that it’s no outlier. [Digiday]
Entertainment and media market research company Screen Engine/ASI acquires brand insight firm Coherency. [B&C]
You’re Hired!
MadHive hires Kristin Wnuk as SVP of sales. [release]
Good-Loop promotes Julia Hitchman to chief commercial officer. [release]
Calendly taps Jessica Gilmartin as CMO. [release]
