Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here.
The Ad-tagonists
Joshua Lowcock, a longtime leader at agency UM Worldwide, where he most recently served as global chief media officer, exited on Friday.
His departure comes only a few weeks after UM’s chief privacy and responsibility officer, Arielle Garcia, left the agency, departing after disappointment and frustration with the ad industry’s failure to reckon with its many issues.
In a post announcing his news, Lowcock struck a similar tone, citing song lyrics by the musician Poppy, which might come off as cryptic if the point being made wasn’t so straightforward.
“What do you believe?
When everybody’s watching, what do you believe?
What do you believe?
When nobody’s watching, what do you believe?”
Lowcock didn’t share what his next move will be, but it doesn’t sound like he’s done with the ad game just yet.
“I have always and will continue to be a fierce advocate for clients, society, democracy, privacy, transparency, holding partners accountable, making the advertising industry better and, of course, ensuring advertising drives business results.”
You can take the man out of the agency, but …
No News Is Bad News
Young people get their news from social media, but social media platforms aren’t a fan of news because it’s not worth the headache. (Cambridge Analytica, anyone?)
X recently revamped its external link cards, hoping journalists would write on the platform itself rather than linking to other sites. Meanwhile, Meta’s head of news partnerships stepped down this month as the company pivots away from news.
And the newest and youngest social net, TikTok, barely feeds any news into its recommendation algorithm, according to Nieman Lab.
Researchers at communications journal New Media & Society created 60 TikTok accounts to mimic people interested in news. But out of more than 6,500 recommended posts, only six could even loosely be considered news-related. And among 700 trending hashtags, only one (#breakingnews) was related to news content.
Which means users who want to see news on TikTok must actively search for it, sifting through a ton of entertainment and influencer content to get there.
Ultimately, the researchers say, “The experience of news avoidance on TikTok seems to happen almost by default as a matter of design.”
But they also put it more succinctly: “TikTok is a news wasteland.”
What’s Round The Bend?
Roundel, Target’s retail media business, is expanding into new data-driven channels, Marketing Dive reports.
According to a survey of Target shoppers, more than half are signed up to an ad-supported streaming service – a 24% YOY increase.
To be fair, some ad-supported streaming types, such as Netflix with Ads, didn’t even exist until last November. Still, Target sees a big branding and entertainment opportunity beyond sponsored listings – and it’s not the only one. Amazon is already a major Hollywood studio, and, last year, Walmart began bundling Paramount+ – with ads, of course – into its membership program (i.e., its version of Prime).
Target is also keen to bundle in-store marketing with programmatic because stores bring the ROI.
Brands like Budweiser and Kraft may spend vast sums to buy rah-rah promotional Target ads for July 4, for example. In that case, the brands would show up momentarily on the card that appears at the end of a commercial and get no value from the media.
But those brands are also no doubt stocked on a special July 4 display that every shopper will see when they want into a store. Target wants that credit, too.
But Wait, There’s More!
Google’s “unique” status in the advertising paradigm emerges as its DOJ battles continue. [Digiday]
The UK’s antitrust regulator says Microsoft’s concession in the Activision Blizzard deal will promote competition, allowing Microsoft to complete the acquisition. [release]
Netflix will dip a toe into real-world stores and pop-up events. [Bloomberg]
Buyers question inventory quality and transparency on Google’s AI-powered Performance Max. [Adweek]
US tech workers offer to help Israeli companies to replace reservists who have been called up after the Hamas attack. [Semafor]
