Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here.
Two Days In The Life Of The DMA
The EU’s Digital Markets Act had its first enforcement test.
Under the DMA, gatekeeper companies – like Apple – must allow alternative app stores on their platforms and third-party payment processors.
The yearslong legal battle between Apple and Epic Games, which created the Epic Games Store, centered on side-loading and alternative payments. Apple previously banned Epic’s app developer account from iOS in the US and other regions, prompting lawsuits that Apple mostly won.
But, under the DMA, Apple was required to grant a developer account to Epic Games’ Swedish division.
Except, grab your popcorn, because, on March 6, Apple re-revoked Epic’s account after its CEO Tim Sweeney criticized Apple’s DMA compliance, Bloomberg reports. Apple says it’s responding to a breach of past contractual agreements, but the revocation of Epic’s account was widely seen as retaliatory.
Apple reinstated Epic’s Swedish developer account under pressure from EU regulators the next day, which reinforces the argument that Epic’s brief termination was related to Sweeney’s public criticism.
This all happened within the first 36 hours of the DMA’s gatekeeper rules going into effect.
The First-Party Fray
Brands are feeling the pressure of third-party cookie deprecation.
In Q2 last year, roughly 72% of marketers were actively preparing for cookie loss, up from 56% in 2021, according to Digiday research.
And, in this case, “preparing” is code for building mini-walled gardens of first-party data, says Pat Goggin, CEO of marketing agency Morning Walk.
First-party data has its pitfalls: It’s hard to collect, expensive to maintain and not always accurate to boot. But brands are trying to solve that problem by giving customers compelling reasons to share their info and by investing in other means of identity resolution.
Take Josh Cellars wine, which now spends seven figures on first-party data collection via lead generation campaigns and building its mailing list. The brand also tests lookalike models based on first-party data.
Marketers must justify their investments in data, though, which explains why they’re putting more ad dollars toward retail media networks with that sweet, sweet closed-loop attribution.
Expect marketers to “fuel the retail media arms race,” Goggin says.
Long Live The Retail Long Tail
Kevel, an ecommerce mar tech startup, raised $23 million last week.
It’s notable because it’s rare now to see even large-ish VC rounds, and it brings Kevel’s total fundraising to more than $140 million. Back in 2010, the company was founded as Adzerk, a publisher ad server. With Google as its competition, the company found a niche on the margins, doing custom ad setups for publishers like Strava and Reddit before shifting to retail media sellers.
Kevel CEO James Avery in the release also alludes to an impending retail media inflection point. He says brands will consolidate to the top retail networks and are “cutting back from the retail media networks that are commoditized.”
Many programmatic companies have pivoted to retail media since 2020. And even more have been founded. (Investors had the same idea.)
But the true opportunity for third-party programmatic vendors to earn their keep from retail media was always far slimmer than the gold-rush treatment it got.
Kevel is also a vocal leader (and instigator) of the movement to standardize retail media. Kevel fits the role, in part, because it is new and relatively small – the same initiative backed mainly by TTD or Criteo, say, could become that company’s thing.
Unfortunately, the companies trying not to be “commoditized” out of business are the ones that need to work together most effectively on standardization.
But Wait, There’s More!
The Home Depot believes its specialty status will help it stand out despite competition for retail media ad dollars. [Digiday]
Congress could pass legislation to ban TikTok in the US. The app is fighting back. [NBC]
Reddit pilots new tools to help brands boost engagement. [Search Engine Land]
Could tightening restrictions under the EU’s DMA convince Apple to abandon the European market? [Mobile Dev Memo]
You’re Hired!
FTC chair welcomes Ferguson and Holyoak as commissioners and congratulates Commissioner Slaughter on confirmation to another term. [release]
