Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here.
Whoever Attributes, Wins
When people refer to the control that Apple and Google exert over the mobile ecosystem, they usually focus on onerous app store fees.
Which, okay, fair enough.
But “there’s a looming, more subtle, and much more esoteric form of control to be considered: advertising attribution,” writes Eric Seufert at Mobile Dev Memo.
Apple and Google are manifesting their monopoly power by creating ad attribution systems that, unsurprisingly, benefit them most.
Yes, Apple and Google are making positive privacy enhancements, Seufert writes. Both are cracking down on mobile identifiers for advertising (which he likens to hydrocarbons).
“But while the privacy protections implemented by Apple and Google are, unambiguously, positive developments, they introduce wholly separate concerns that are worthy of consideration,” he argues.
For instance, Apple and Google each have their own first-party ad systems. Apple has App Store search campaigns, while Google has YouTube, Gmail, Search and Google Play. These systems don’t use the same attribution framework that Apple and Google have foisted on third-party providers.
In essence, Apple and Google are sidestepping their own policies.
Don’t Call It A Cutback
Stagwell, which bills itself as a challenger agency holding company, echoed IPG and WPP in attributing this year’s sharp revenue declines to a tough macroeconomic environment.
Weakness in the tech, banking, auto and entertainment sectors hurt Stagwell’s Q3 net revenues, which declined by almost 4%, CEO Mark Penn told investors on Thursday. For the rest of 2023, Stagwell expects an organic net revenue decline of approximately 4%.
And so Stagwell is in retrenchment mode.
On Halloween, Stagwell divested prescription drug marketing agency ConcentricLife and sold it to Accenture for $245 million. The holdco also reduced headcount by 7% this year.
“We will continue to monitor our staffing levels to ensure a strong finish to ’23,” said CFO Frank Lanuto.
But Stagwell is still investing in acquisitions and AI tools for its marketing cloud business. It announced the acquisition of social content production agency Movers+Shakers on the same day as earnings. The deal is Stagwell’s fourth creative-strategy-related acquisition this year.
Hot For Hulu
Disney intends to acquire Comcast’s one-third stake in Hulu.
The Mouse House expects to pay $8.6 billion for its share of the streaming platform, Bloomberg reports, which represents roughly 31% of the $27.5 billion valuation of Hulu that Disney and Comcast previously agreed on.
Hulu is very valuable to Disney’s current streaming strategy. For one, Hulu’s programmatic stack is the unified platform for Disney+ ads. (Hulu has been streaming ads since 2007, whereas Disney+ is only one year in.) Hulu also brings more live programming to Disney’s streaming slate at a time when Disney is reportedly trying to offload some of its linear networks. (Looking at you, ABC.)
But Comcast isn’t impressed.
“[Hulu] is way more valuable today than it was then,” Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said during a Goldman Sachs conference in September, referring to the previous $27.5 billion valuation.
But Wait, There’s More!
MediaRadar acquires Vivvix, Kantar Group’s North American advertising intelligence business. [Axios]
Google tweaks its AdSense take rate and shifts to paying publishers on a per-impression basis. [blog]
How an SMB law firm built almost entirely on Twitter and LinkedIn landed more than 270 clients. [Insider]
Facebook will let creators test different versions of Reels. [The Verge]
Amazon boosted junk ads and deleted messages to avoid a probe, according to the FTC. [Bloomberg]
“Prompt injection” isn’t a problem yet, but chatbots are vulnerable to hackers and trolls. [WaPo]
