Airbnb’s Inevitable Ads
For Airbnb, “inventory” still refers to rooms, not advertising. (Ba dum tss.) Not that Airbnb doesn’t see the potential of introducing ads – just not right now.
“It’s a huge opportunity,” co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky told Bloomberg TV.
But before considering ads, Airbnb is first expanding its platform to services and experiences, which Chesky said complements its main value proposition as a hotel alternative. Hotels create packages for spa treatments, restaurant reservations and tourist activities, so why can’t Airbnb do the same?
However, as Bloomberg’s co-host noted, Wall Street loves it when consumer tech companies layer in ads. Uber’s stock, for example, became a popular buy with a big assist from the ad platform.
Chesky isn’t gonna rush, though. Ad demand isn’t “perishable,” he said. If Airbnb doesn’t tap into it this year, it’ll still be there next year.
Yet Airbnb’s mentality mirrors that of its ad-devoted consumer tech brethren more than it might appear on the surface. Chesky described the expansion of Airbnb’s services business as a way “for people to monetize the greatest asset in their life: their time.”
Big Tech’s Decency Deficit
The recent wave of antitrust enforcement and overall animosity toward Big Tech companies is about more than their market dominance. It comes down to companies like Google, Amazon, Apple and Meta acting in bad faith.
For example, we don’t really need to know the particulars of the 2018 Jedi Blue agreement between Google and Facebook to squash header bidding. What’s important here is the fact that these two enormous companies essentially colluded.
And that’s just one instance of bad behavior.
Multiple Big Tech giants have been chastised in the courtroom for flagrant attempts to cover up deceitful or potentially even illegal actions. The Wall Street Journal published a whole roundup of examples.
A federal judge recently referred Apple’s alleged efforts to hide documents from legal scrutiny to the Justice Department for potential prosecution. Amazon also now faces potential sanctions for improperly withholding vast troves of unflattering evidence.
The Journal refers to this behavior as “skullduggery.” But it seems to have become business as usual for the Silicon Valley titans.
John Newman, a University of Miami law professor and former FTC deputy director, tells the Journal that these and other practices have contributed to “a culture of lawlessness.”
A Sporting Chance
Broadcasters want to get the ball rolling on sports. (Sorry.)
Anonymous agency execs tell Digiday that linear and streaming budgets will be flat or even down again this year. But the sports market is the complete opposite.
While baseline streaming ad prices for top streaming services are in the mid-to-low $20s, per the buyers, streaming sports inventory starts at a $30 CPM and can reach $45 or more.
During the upfronts, Amazon touted its strong lineup of NFL games this season, including Thursday Night Football. The schedule features many top teams and divisional rivals.
This is the NFL’s way of rewarding Amazon for its streaming numbers and younger average audience, according to Jeff Kaiser, Amazon Prime Video’s head of sports programming and ads, speaking with USA Today. Let’s hope this helps boost the ratings.
Meanwhile, over at YouTube, sports is also a priority.
Google’s Sean Downey, president of Americas and global partners, tells Digiday that YouTube “getting more and more sports content is maybe the most resonant thing that we talk to advertisers about.”
Game on.
But Wait! There’s More
Microsoft steadily increased its requirement for software engineers to use AI-generated code from 20% of output to now at least 50%. Now, Microsoft is laying off thousands of employees, including many software engineers. [The Information]
Why the Financial Times is seeing attention metrics show up more in RFPs. [AdMonsters]
The semantics of SEO are changing as users shift to no-click search pages. [Digiday]
President Trump signed a bill requiring social media platforms to take down revenge porn and explicit deepfakes within 48 hours. [TechCrunch]
How investors and stock market professionals are reacting to the US credit rating downgrade. [Business Insider]
