Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here.
Excuses, Excuses
Performance marketers blame two scapegoats for recent downturns in their sales or ROAS.
The first is Temu, which has been pouring money into Google and Meta like it’s going out of style.
The second excuse is that the Meta ad platform is bugging out and overspending budgets with nothing in return. “Zuck ate my homework,” in other words.
But while Temu’s ad spend is eye-popping, it doesn’t meaningfully affect marketwide ad prices and customer conversion rates, writes Eric Seufert at Mobile Dev Memo.
Meanwhile, Meta’s ad revenue is growing. Bugs aside, advertisers aren’t ditching Facebookagram for Snapchat, TikTok or any of the others. Meta (and Google, too) are still winning most new incremental ad dollars.
Why? Because the tools work. And if a CMO isn’t seeing results, that’s probably the marketer’s own fault.
“It seems entirely possible,” Seufert writes, “that Meta’s targeting tools have grown more effective at delivering value to such a degree that some advertisers – selling low-priced, generic products to broad audiences – are no longer competitive in auctions because their products don’t monetize or convert well enough.”
Deciding Factors
It’s decision time in the Google Search antitrust trial.
Closing arguments concluded on Friday, but Judge Amit Mehta has concerns to weigh before making his final decision, The Wall Street Journal reports.
For example, Mehta must define the parameters of the search market that the US government seeks to regulate.
The DOJ argues that Google belongs to a marketplace of “general search services” that pull information from across the internet. Google contends this is an outdated mode of thinking and that modern internet users rely on multiple specialized search platforms, such as Expedia for travel and Amazon for shopping. On this question, Mehta has hinted that he’s sympathetic to the DOJ’s interpretation.
Mehta must also consider the impact of Google’s business agreements with its fellow Big Tech platforms, such as the $20 billion annual deal with Apple to serve as the default iOS search engine. If Microsoft couldn’t offer Apple a competitive deal, Mehta says, no upstart company likely could either.
But don’t hold your breath. It could still be weeks before Mehta issues his ruling. And if he sides with the DOJ, the trial will move to a remedies phase, during which it will be decided what, if anything, must be done to promote more competition in the search market.
Home Sweet Home Screen
Smart TV makers are exploiting their home screens for more ad supply in an attempt to package valuable viewers who otherwise only stream ad-free.
The trick, however, is to avoid overrunning their home screen with too many ads – no matter how tempting it may be, Tim Peterson writes at Digiday.
But when newer ad units feel natural or endemic to the surrounding content, they can grab consumer attention without raising the perceived ad load.
For example, Roku announced new video ads that play when users click on CTV billboards displayed on the Roku screensaver, which is a cityscape. Roku will use these formats “sparingly” to avoid overwhelming consumers, said Peter Hamilton, the company’s senior director of ad innovation, during Roku’s recent NewFronts presentation.
Vizio, meanwhile, reserves some home screen spots for entertainment, fast food and food delivery services. Samsung also limits its home screen takeovers to endemic brands to make sure the ads feel organic and, therefore, less disruptive.
A less interruptive ad experience helps “drive total viewing hours,” according to Hamilton, which is the ultimate goal for streamers.
But Wait, There’s More!
Paramount enters merger talks with Sony Pictures and Apollo Global Management. [NYT]
Meanwhile, Paramount’s ad chief addresses the company’s leadership shake-up and the state of streaming competition. [Ad Age]
The Trailblazing Marketplace, an ad network for buying women’s sports media, launched during the NewFronts last week. [Marketing Brew]
Goodway Group has two new marketing divisions, including a “retail media accelerator.” [release]
Agency veteran Cindy Gallop on empowering female voices in the ad industry and revamping the agency model. [Campaign]
BetterHelp will begin notifying customers who are eligible for compensation related to its privacy settlement with the FTC last year. [release]
If the open internet is dying, what could replace it? [The Rebooting]
Instacart and NBCUniversal announce a first-party data collaboration. [release]
You’re Hired!
Twilio appoints Chris Koehler as CMO. [release]
