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Pass The DOJ
Google faces a DOJ lawsuit that could compel the company to spin out its sell-side ad tech business. But the company isn’t overly concerned about this development, per a conversation between Marketing Brew and Google VP of Global Ads Dan Taylor.
The DOJ argues Google maintains an unfair advantage over online advertising because it acts as both a buyer and seller. But this pillar of the case holds no weight, Taylor says, because providing both buy-side and sell-side tech is a common ad industry practice. Amazon, Comcast and Microsoft do it, among others.
The DOJ also contends that Google enforces an unfairly high margin on publishers in particular.
“Our buyers and our sellers know the fees,” Taylor says.
Although, there’s a difference between failing to disclose a fee being taken and being upfront with a high fee that simply cannot be refused.
The ad-based web publisher business – free content in exchange for ads – is “core to our mission,” Taylor says. “As I’ve said to multiple folks, we really look forward to defending this business.”
Short-Lived?
The two biggies, GoogleTube and Facebookagram, bet big on short, vertical-video products (i.e., TikTok clones).
The results – YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels – report eye-popping numbers. But Google and Meta may have been faked out by a supposed TikTok tidal wave.
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Influencers, brands and publishers flipped to new short-form formats because that’s where the purported growth was and as a platform-backed best practice. In recent weeks, views for Instagram Reels are way down.
But what about YouTube Shorts? Shorts were clocking more than 50 billion views per day as of a month ago. Which, by the way, is a number beyond human fathoming. Still, YouTube Shorts represents a huge revenue shortfall because it doesn’t monetize 1% as effectively as longform content. If viewers aren’t coming to YouTube from TikTok or aren’t incremental but are only pushed from longer-form content to Shorts, then it’s a revenue killer.
TikTok, meanwhile, is rewarding creators who upload compelling longer videos where it can run pre-roll ads, writes Ezra Cooperstein, president of the creator-focused agency Night, in a LinkedIn post.
“I’ve seen enough,” he writes. “I think in two to three years YouTube will look back at the Shorts strategy as a huge waste.”
The OpenPath Less Traveled
A year after introducing OpenPath, The Trade Desk is enjoying a “clean, unadulterated” look at the programmatic supply, says VP of Inventory Development Will Doherty, who oversaw the rollout, to Digiday.
Unified ID 2.0 must push, pull, beg and threaten marketers to invest their time and resources (mostly time) into committing to that system. Publishers, who must sing for their supper, will always meet buyers more than halfway for even a whiff of a better yield.
And OpenPath has a very compelling incentive, since it funnels demand from the DSP with fewer fees taken out of the middle.
The Trade Desk is, in a sense, the publisher’s natural enemy. As a professed representative of the buy side, TTD’s incentive is to bring down price and improve ROI for the advertiser.
“I think it’s healthy for the industry and publishers in particular to operate with a trust but verify mentality,” Doherty says.
But Wait, There’s More!
How social fragmentation is creating more opportunities for advertisers. [Digiday]
WPP acquires German healthcare specialist 3K Communication. [release]
Dentsu agrees to acquire Tag, a digital marketing production company, from Advent International. [Adweek]
IRI and NPD complete their merger, and the new combined shopper data and analytics business is called Circana. [release]
Ari Paparo and co-founders launch Launch Science, a platform for product releases. [thread]
You’re Hired!
OpenX adds TTD vet Stacy Bohrer as VP of sales, Midwest and West. [release]
CafeMedia taps new Dotdash Meredith execs to unlock advertising opportunities. [release]
Gannett hires Kristin Roberts as chief content officer. [MediaPost]
