Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here.
Palm Readers
Panera is an early adopter of a palm-scanning biometric data collection product created by Amazon that allows customers to “sign in” with their palms. Doing so links their purchases to Panera’s loyalty program so they can collect rewards.
Privacy advocates have decried this type of product, which is already in hundreds of Amazon Go stores. It’s also the centerpiece of a lawsuit over data tracking in New York City, where companies are required to disclose if they collect biometric data, CBS reports. Amazon Go stores don’t make that disclosure, however, because they maintain that palm-scanning is voluntary and consent-based (as opposed to stores that collect facial info to identify shoplifters).
In a weird way, privacy advocates helped spur the spread of this kind of tech. Data policies and products, such as Apple’s Hide My Email, for example, have made email addresses a less and less useful mechanism for sign-ups and sign-ins.
The federal government may move to stifle biometric data collection, as some states already have. Meanwhile, Amazon and Panera will take the unavoidable PR lumps and their odds in court.
Surviving The Boom
The retail media boom … boomed.
Now, many retail media companies must readjust to realistic expectations. Don’t forget that the $45 billion market for retail advertising is still mostly Amazon, which accounts for around $40 billion-worth.
Once retailers take their share from the meager remaining billions, there just isn’t that much left for a very hungry and competitive group of third-party players, such as The Trade Desk, Accenture and Publicis. (For its part, Publicis has assembled an ecommerce core with the acquisitions of CitrusAd, Profitero and Epsilon.)
And then there’s Pacvue, which cut its teeth in retail programmatic, aka sponsored search listings across retail platforms. But Pacvue’s private equity owner, Assembly, is now packing its other commerce-related startups under the Pacvue name, having acquired more than seven companies over the past two years.
Pacvue will branch into sales management software, stock and inventory management, setting prices and customer support services. Dealing with Amazon and Meta account removals is a too-real headache for small sellers in particular.
“Brands and sellers really don’t need to have 20 different tools to rely on,” Pacvue President Melissa Burdick tells Insider. “The space needs consolidation.”
Measurement Migraines
If you think TV ad measurement can’t get more complicated … guess again.
On Monday, the Advertising Research Foundation proposed an idea to expand the definition of “TV households” to include “TV-accessible households” that stream content but not through a TV.
The number of households with no linear TV contract that still watch some form of TV continues to grow.
Expanding the definition of TV households will “force [the industry] to do a better job measuring mobile and other non-TV devices in a household,” Paul Donato, the ARF’s chief research officer, tells Ad Age.
This isn’t a new idea. The term over-the-top encompasses viewership on a device other than a TV set. (CTV means ads on the big screen on the wall, whereas OTT can be content from Hulu or a broadcaster streamed to your phone or laptop.)
TV measurement services and currencies are crying out for standardization.
Comscore measures linear viewing on mobile, for example, but doesn’t include that data in its TV ratings. VideoAmp tosses mobile streams into a “streaming-only household” category when those streams occur within households that don’t watch linear. Meanwhile, iSpot does its best to separate OTT from CTV in campaign reporting.
Guess there’s only one thing you can count on: TV measurement ain’t easy.
But Wait, There’s More!
AI tools have publishers fretting over “fair use” and revenue loss. [Adweek]
Telehealth apps that share health-related or consumer data for marketing purposes have drawn a full-on FTC crackdown. [WSJ]
WPP acquires social marketing agency Obviously, only days after closing on influencer agency Goat. [Reuters]
TikTok introduces a product for custom branded effects. [release]
Big Tech’s big downgrade. [Insider]
The digital media rollup dream is dead for the moment – now it’s all about core focus strengths. [NBC]
You’re Hired!
Rob Wilk, most recently global head of advertising at Microsoft, joins Snap as its first president of Americas. [Variety]
Greylock’s newest general partner is Jacob Andreou, coming from Snap, where he was SVP of growth. [post]
