Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here.
The Veil Of Ignorance
Welcome to Week Three of the US vs. Google ad tech antitrust trial. Google started calling its witnesses on Monday, including the first actual advertiser to testify: Kendall Oliphant, the Census Bureau’s chief of contract programs for communications.
She’s no expert on the nuances of ad servers and supply-side ad tech. But that could be part of Google’s point.
“I don’t need to know,” Oliphant told the DOJ on cross-examination, when pressed about her lack of domain expertise. [H/T @Vidushi Dyall.]
One interesting nugget, which came from internal Google docs entered into evidence during her testimony, is that the Census Bureau spent $364 million on ads to boost the 2020 Census and find job seekers for open Census positions.
But for the purposes of its defense, Google is trying to convey that advertisers don’t differentiate between channels and campaign budgets move freely between formats, such as email, display and video, depending how a campaign performs. By arguing that the market is bigger than just open web display, Google can make the case that it faces tough and fair competition.
Arielle Garcia of Check My Ads has a general write-up from what went down in the courtroom on Monday.
Channel Surfing
With referrals from Facebook, Google and other social platforms dwindling, news publishers are turning to WhatsApp for traffic, The New York Times reports.
Last year, WhatsApp introduced its Channels feature, which lets publishers message their followers directly to share links or full articles. Several major media orgs have already built Channels with millions of followers. Some publishers, like the FT, have even launched dedicated channels for individual news topics.
In a short time, WhatsApp Channels has become a larger source of traffic than X, says Noticias Telemundo’s Marta Planells. And, because WhatsApp attracts a primarily non-American audience – 1.9 billion of its 2 billion users live outside the US – it’s well suited for reaching international and non-English-speaking readers.
However, publishers must rely on users signing up to receive push notifications from their WhatsApp Channels, says the FT’s Rachel Banning-Lover.
Meta, which owns WhatsApp, has largely backed away from news, including by discontinuing the Facebook News feed earlier this year. But it considers WhatsApp Channels as more akin to an opt-in newsletter rather than algorithmically served news alongside other content. Meta plans to further support the product by rolling out subscription-only Channels at some point in the future.
Streaming Makes Strange Bedfellows
Every comic book fan knows that to take down a powerful opponent, sometimes you’ve gotta join forces with your rivals.
Comcast, Warner Bros. and Paramount are all still trying to get their own streaming services – Peacock, Max and Paramount Plus, respectively – off the ground. Each accounts for less than 2% of overall US TV viewership and are up against Netflix’s 8.4% market share.
But just like with superheroes, the players have to butt heads first before teaming up.
Executives from all three networks have already discussed partnering with one another, but talks keep breaking down, writes Lucas Shaw for the Bloomberg Screentime newsletter.
Apparently, “nobody wants to give up control” of the customer experience, and each thinks there’s still time to rise independently to the level of Netflix, Apple and Disney, which are the three streaming services that have broken through in terms of time spent.
Hypothetical pitches for bundles or joint ventures aside, one or more of these midsize streamers will likely have to be in more desperate need before agreeing to an Avengers-style collaboration.
But Wait, There’s More!
Attain acquires Merryfield to fuel growth and expand its data portfolio. [release]
Its legal battle aside, here’s all you need to know about TikTok right now. [Digiday]
How to surveil a federal regulator. [Politico]
How Dave & Buster’s prioritizes first-party data collection. [Adweek]
Roku is sticking with set-top boxes as TV manufacturing shifts to smart TVs with built-in streaming capabilities. [Bloomberg]
Nineteen states have passed comprehensive data privacy laws, but only two states included explicit civil rights protections. [The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights]
Inside Meta’s efforts to distance itself from politics. [NYT]
