Plus Or Minus
Congratulations to whoever wished that major streaming services would get over their collective obsession with plus signs. The monkey paw has heard your plea and curled its gnarled fingers accordingly.
According to Variety, Apple is quietly dropping the plus from the title of its streaming service, which will henceforth be called “Apple TV.”
Except, the company has been using Apple TV branding for its actual set-top box devices since 2007, as well as its TV OS app since 2016. That’s presumably why they added the plus sign to the streaming service in the first place.
To put the move in perspective, imagine if Amazon Prime Video cut the “video” out of its name. Or if HBO Max shortened to – oh, wait. Never mind.
Jokes aside, streaming services seem particularly susceptible to branding problems. HBO Max used to be HBO Go; Paramount+ used to be CBS All Access (and also recently changed its ad-free tier, too); and ESPN+ is maybe ESPN Select, now?
Why all the changes? Maybe it’s the speed with which these major streamers brought their services to market. Or maybe it stems from new post-merger parent companies putting their stamp on a business as in the case of Paramount+ and HBO.
What A Tangled Web
Data-driven online marketing was dominated early on by tech and media giants that (arguably) mostly played well together by finding their own lane.
Google and Apple are natural rivals, but not enemies. They actually pair nicely, since Apple took the premium market while Android slotted in with cheaper, high-distribution phones. Not to mention their multi-billion-dollar annual search licensing deal, which was secret until recently.
Salesforce was part of that diplomatic web, too, as an early acquirer of ad tech with its purchase of publisher DMP Krux back in 2016. But Salesforce also kept ad tech at arm’s length. For instance, its commitment not to commit helped Salesforce land an attribution partnership that for the first time allowed Google Analytics data to leave Google’s system.
But a couple things have thrown that equilibrium off forever. One was the arrival of Amazon, which plays nice with no one (not even other internal Amazon orgs), whereas Google is known for encouraging customers to bundle services together.
And another factor, as The Information reports, is the rise of agentic AI services. All the cloud infrastructure and cloud marketing companies are converging messily on the same value proposition.
Which is to say, they all want to be an easy button for marketers – and they’ll fight tooth and nail for the privilege.
Schrodinger’s Search
Don’t worry, guys, AI definitely isn’t killing the search engine business.
That’s what Google says, at least.
Liz Reid, head of Google Search, tells The Wall Street Journal that regardless of where a search occurs, AI responses can’t “substitute the need for the actual pair of shoes.”
In other words, even if AI is used for initial research, users are “still likely to click through” to a publisher’s site, she says.
That’s all well and good for CPG products and other manufactured goods, but is hardly promising for news publishers or other sites focused on distributing information.
Reid’s stance is also at odds with Google’s insistence at its antitrust trials (and Judge Mehta’s opinion) that AI has diminished Google’s traditional search business.
Also, Google’s AI-generated search products, AI Overviews and AI Mode, can still be highly lucrative for Google’s own properties even while the web shrivels. As the Wall Street Journal points out, it’s no skin off Google’s back.
But Wait! There’s More!
Yes, people are still reading long-form text on the internet. [AdMonsters]
Google will start grouping all search ads under a “Sponsored” results label and will allow users to hide the ads – but only after they’ve already seen them. [blog]
Does AI-generated creative further human innovation or detract from it? Creators are divided. [Digiday]
The Trade Desk makes its case for campaign transparency. [Tipsheet.ai]
Supercell vs. the EU: Does Europe risk killing off its golden goose in mobile gaming? [Deconstructor of Fun]
Marketing procurement execs are starting to show up to ad industry events. [Ad Age]
California enacts its own age-gating law with support from both Meta and Google. [The Verge]
Warner Bros. Discovery rejected Paramount Skydance’s acquisition bid for being too low. [Variety]
You’re Hired!
Canva hires Ted Markovic as global head of advertising and creative operations. [Adweek]
