Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here.
Go Big Or Go Home
Apple, Amazon and Google (via YouTube) are now presumptive leaders for major sports broadcast deals.
Apple snapped up Major League Soccer and Major League Baseball rights last year, while Amazon and Google had National Football League coups.
These deals have the highest luxury tax in media (until NBC’s Olympics rights end in about 10 years). These Silicon Valley giants outbid all challengers because they don’t need sports deals to be profitable. The deals drive value across a wide range of their products.
YouTube won the coveted NFL Sunday Ticket package, which DirecTV previously sold for $300 per season, Bloomberg reports.
YouTube is offering the Sunday Ticket season package for $449 to nonsubscribers or $349 to YouTube TV subscribers. But, for a promotional window, Sunday Ticket is discounted at $249 if you also sign up for YouTube TV.
The point is Google can eat a larger cost because it doesn’t just add NFL subscribers and ad inventory; it juices YouTube TV subscriptions, and Google will likely use the premium inventory to advertise its own stuff.
Amazon’s first season of NFL broadcasts were chockablock with ads for Audible, AWS, Amazon Studios’ “Lord of the Rings” series and more.
First Bite Of The Apple
French antitrust regulators are poised to investigate Apple based on complaints of Apple not holding itself to the same standards others are subjected to. Since the tech giant rolled out its advertising data privacy policies in 2021, those complaints have gotten louder and louder.
Regulators will likely begin with outreach to Apple and four industry trade groups that raised the complaint, including IAB France and the Mobile Marketing Association, Axios reports.
For instance, iOS opt-out messages didn’t hit every app – Apple didn’t request consent with its own apps until months after the opt-out policy began. And Apple upsells its own products in ways that would get another developer banned, such as through push notifications and on-device inventory other apps can’t access.
Apple’s attribution tech – the only attribution for iOS conversions – also favors Apple’s App Store search.
Antitrust regulation is political. Google, Amazon and Facebook are popular targets because scoring points against them is good politics. But going for Apple has been unpopular. (Everyone loves their iPhones.)
But if incontrovertible evidence exists that Apple has an advertising business (and it does), it’s logical they’d be seeing more antitrust scrutiny.
Crossing Paths
The Trade Desk’s OpenPath direct-to-publisher offering was seen as a “crossing into the Rubicon” moment for the major independent DSP to be encroaching on SSP turf.
The Trade Desk operating both a DSP and OpenPath reminds buyers of how Google operates a DSP and an exchange, a linkage that’s irked competitors for years (and led to rumors, then antitrust allegations, of how it might have created an unequal playing field).
The latest speculation is that TTD might prioritize its own publisher deals rather than the advertiser’s best interest, writes Digiday. For example, the Trade Desk seems to optimize toward low-fee paths to supply, and OpenPath is conveniently a low-fee path to supply.
But as SSPs watch The Trade Desk shift from pure demand partner to competitive frenemy, they’re asking these two questions: Is The Trade Desk an antidote to Google’s end-to-end supply-chain dominance? Or is it just another Google wannabe?
But Wait, There’s More!
Behind the TV industry’s number-crunching to build a multicurrency future. [Adweek]
Laid-off tech workers have ideas for new startups, just as venture capital funding runs dry. [WSJ]
OpenAI launches a bug bounty program for weaknesses or security problems with its AI tools, including ChatGPT. [Bloomberg]
Warner Bros. Discovery will unveil a consolidated streaming service dubbed ‘Max.’ [NYT]
You’re Hired!
OpenX names Joe Worswick as VP Sales EMEA and head of sustainability. [release]
Extreme Reach names Brian Wallach as chief digital officer. [Broadcasting+Cable]
