Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here.
The CMA Checks In
The CMA, the British antitrust regulator, released the latest update on its evaluation of Google’s third-party cookie deprecation plans laid out in the Chrome Privacy Sandbox.
This is a situation that comes with the caveat that anything can change right up until the moment Chrome gets rid of third-party cookies (and, frankly, probably for some time afterward as well). But the CMA gives Google reason to anticipate that it can meet the current plan to well and truly deprecate cookies by the end of this year.
One important point is that the CMA “will consider any impacts (e.g., revenue loss) in the overall context of the Privacy Sandbox changes.”
That “(e.g., revenue loss)” parenthetical is carrying a lot of weight.
One of the main contentions with the Privacy Sandbox proposals is that publishers, data providers and ad tech companies (those not named Google, at least) are bound to suffer revenue losses following its cookie deprecation. The CMA will not hold Google to former standards of revenue or monetization, but it will weigh losses against the net gains to consumer privacy and data security. The sandbox can pass muster as long as it “minimises the impact” (stetting the Britishism).
Pining For Progress
Speaking of the Privacy Sandbox, IAB and Google execs met this week to discuss its promise and limitations, Digiday reports.
The point of the meeting was to discuss Privacy Sandbox coverage gaps, such as ad placement guarantees, budget management, reporting and dozens of other advertising use cases.
Sources aware of the meeting say it draws attention to the fact that Google must still cater to the Privacy Sandbox proposals to address the industry’s needs while third-party cookies slowly go away.
In Google’s defense, the Privacy Sandbox was never meant to provide “one-for-one replacements for cookies and cross-site identifiers. Full stop,” Anthony Chavez, VP of product management for the Privacy Sandbox, tells Digiday.
But that puts pressure on publishers to figure out how to fill the emptying cookie jar.
Some pubs are fervently testing tools in their arsenal, such as alternative identifiers or seller-defined audiences.
But thinking that there will be a clear-cut silver bullet is naive, IAB CEO David Cohen told AdExchanger during the event.
The Cow Says Tee-Mooooo
In 2023, Temu pushed the frontiers of unprofitable online advertising.
The company rocketed up app store charts and into the American consumer consciousness by spending billions of dollars to promote impossibly cheap Chinese-manufactured items.
The Temu ad spend just doesn’t stop.
During the post-Christmas/pre-New Year’s lull, when ecommerce and consumer advertisers go quiet, Temu kept pumping. And the train isn’t slowing down.
Temu has a Super Bowl spot coming up, so it upped the ad ante in January, the Financial Times reports.
Temu itself is a shell – there is a company incorporated in America called “Temu,” but it’s a handful of accountants and lawyers, plus a PR firm. It is a fiction constructed of paid media.
“‘We’re seeing the impact of word-of-mouth referrals grow and become even more influential than advertising,’ it said.”
“It said,” mind you. Because there’s nobody home. The company could be a post office box.
But Wait, There’s More!
In defense of SSPs. [New Digital Age]
Brave, the browser and search engine operator, launches a self-serve Ads Manager. [release]
The CEOs of Meta, TikTok, X, Snap and Discord defend accusations from Congress that their platforms are unsafe for children. [WSJ]
Consumer threats to cancel Amazon Prime subscriptions may be just talk. [Business Insider]
Netflix is taking after cable TV in its quest for growth and scale. [Techdirt]
You’re Hired!
Nexxen hires Gretchen Johnson as chief people officer. [release]
Stagwell-owned consultancy Redscout appoints Ashley Shaffer as CMO. [release]
