Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here.
Looking For ADvice
No one likes cruddy TV ads. But how much of a problem are they, really?
Enough for Comcast-owned FreeWheel to unveil The Viewer Experience Lab at Cannes in partnership with research company MediaScience.
The lab will test consumer responses to different ad experiences, including ad formats and ad loads. Paramount, Warner Bros. Discovery, NBCUniversal and AMC are among the participants.
The first research topic is a good starting point for what’s wrong. According to initial findings, one quarter of streaming TV ad breaks are four minutes or longer (yikes). And despite the hype around FAST channels, 25% of streaming ad spots go unfilled, Adweek reports.
If there’s anything TV viewers don’t like, it’s too many ads and “We’ll be back” slates.
“Whether you argue average consumers like advertising or not, what they don’t like is a weird experience,” says FreeWheel GM Mark McKee.
Deathbed Conversions
Apple’s latest privacy policy changes – namely, Privacy Manifests and Network Relays introduced at WWDC this month – take aim squarely at ad platforms with Conversion APIs.
Conversion APIs are server-side integrations that allow for attributing campaigns based on sales and business results as those results enter a marketer’s CRM or data system. Notably, Meta pinned its ambitions to its Conversion API (which Snapchat and TikTok followed) since Apple can’t directly block that data sharing.
The strategy worked, but the server-to-server shield may not last forever, according to Eric Seufert at Mobile Dev Memo, since Apple’s Privacy Manifests rules forbid that data use. Current iOS rules forbid it, too, but Apple doesn’t actively enforce the standards.
Privacy Manifests shifts the balance so developers commit to those policies with users, which means legal repercussions for self-enforcement failures. It’s no longer a pinky promise with Apple.
“It’s fairly obvious that Apple wants advertisers to manage advertising attribution through Apple’s own measurement frameworks: SKAdNetwork on iOS and Private Click Measurement (PCM) in Safari,” writes Seufert.
The 2023 Downfronts?
Media buyers have dollar signs in their eyes at this year’s TV upfronts as ad rates (finally) take a nosedive, AdAge reports.
Broadcast ad prices have plowed ahead through years of slowly diminishing budgets, patchwork viewership, subscription losses and shaky streaming growth (not to mention the writers’ strike). But the inevitable downward pressure on TV prices could still be a shocker this year. One media buyer says linear commercials have fallen as much as 30% compared to single-digit percent declines for digital, with some clients backing away from primetime completely due to low ratings.
Linear TV has its bright spots, though. Live events and sports primarily remain solid tentpoles for viewers and advertisers.
As for streaming, one buyer predicts double-digit price decreases, a major comedown after the heyday of recent years. And a possible exception? YouTube, which boasts lower CPMs than Max or Disney+.
But Wait, There’s More!
The FTC sues Amazon, alleging manipulative Prime subscription renewal and cancellation practices. [NYT]
Warner Bros. Discovery negotiates a licensing deal for old HBO series to go to Netflix. [Deadline]
The internet has been described as a “town square.” But instead we should think of it in terms of citywide sanitation systems. [The Atlantic]
Magnite announces early partners for ClearLine. [release]
