Moving The Chains
Cleaning the programmatic supply chain is slow going.
On Thursday, the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) released its latest programmatic transparency benchmark study, and the results are okay – but there’s clearly still a ton of work to do.
According to the ANA, for every $1,000 in ad spend that enters a DSP, roughly 44% is spent on quality, viewable impressions seen by real consumers. That’s less than half, which isn’t great – but it’s better than the 36% reported last year.
And in other good news for advertisers, fewer dollars are going to made-for-advertising (or made-for-arbitrage) sites. Marketers surveyed by the ANA saw their media spend on MFA decline to 6.2%, from 15% in 2023.
It must be noted, though, that there are still billions of dollars going to MFA sites. Probably doesn’t help that the number of supply-side platforms is on the rise.
“The average number of SSPs used is slightly above the 2023 [number] of 19,” according to the ANA, “indicating there is significant room for further optimization.”
The ANA released its first programmatic transparency benchmark earlier this year in Cannes together with TAG and Fiducia. The plan is to publish these reports on a regular basis so the industry can track its progress.
Setting Up Shop
Shopify’s ecommerce ad product, Shop Campaigns, will be available to all Shopify merchants, not just those who pay for the enterprise Shopify Plus product, Adweek reports.
That might not sound like huge news, but it’s a notable step in Shopify’s gradual adoption of advertising.
Shop Campaigns launched last year as Shop Cash Offers and is the first example of Shopify taking ad budgets directly. Another tool, called Shopify Audiences, offers a way for ad budgets spent through Meta, Google, TikTok, et al., to target Shopify audience segments.
There’s an important distinction here. Shop Campaigns run on Shopify’s own app, called Shop – but they also run on Google and Meta.
Once Shopify had a taste of that ad revenue, it didn’t take too long to ungate the product. That said, the Shopify Audiences integrations are still exclusive to Plus subscribers.
“We have merchants who are upgrading to Shopify Plus because of Audiences … which naturally creates and allows us to capture value there,” Andrius Baranauskas, Shopify’s director of product, told AdExchanger earlier this year.
At some point, though, the desire for ad revenue will outweigh the value of potential subscription sign-ups. So expect Shopify to continue unlocking new ad demand and supply for its network.
Electric Slide
Automakers dialed back their spending on TV ads for electric vehicles (EVs) this year, Marketing Brew reports.
Research by iSpot found that auto manufacturers spent 22% less on EV ads for linear TV than they did in 2023. EV ads on linear TV also generated 34% fewer impressions than last year.
Nissan had the biggest drop-off, from $129.2 million in 2023 to just $31.4 million this year. Ford cut its spend from $101 million to $55 million.
GMC was an exception to the trend. It increased its spend from $5.4 million in 2023 to $36.8 million this year.
But what explains the overall downturn in EV marketing to TV audiences?
The pullback was ongoing throughout the year, so it’s probably not a reaction to a second Donald Trump presidency. Still, Trump is expected to roll back tax incentives for EV purchases as well as other initiatives promoting EV adoption, which could further depress marketing for these vehicles.
More likely, EV manufacturers are shifting their budgets to digital channels that are more popular with Gen Z.
Regardless, this year the share of consumers considering an EV purchase dropped for the first time since 2021, according to Cox Automotive.
But Wait! There’s More!
The failure of the Kroger-Albertsons merger may also impede plans by both companies to accelerate the growth of their advertising businesses. [WSJ]
French social networking app BeReal was hit with a privacy complaint in Europe over how it asks for consent to track users. [TechCrunch]
Trump won nine out of 10 counties that lack a professional local news outlet by an average margin of 54%. [Northwestern University]
Paramount is undergoing more layoffs following the Skydance merger, this time affecting the TV and streaming distribution teams. [Variety]
BuzzFeed paid off most of its outstanding debt with its $82.5 million sale of “Hot Ones” to Soros Fund Management, which also owns stakes in Vice, Crooked Media and Audacy. [Business Insider]
You’re Hired!
Verisk Marketing Solutions appoints Christine Frohlich to lead product and data governance. [release]
