Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Big Mac Budgets McDonald’s is increasing its marketing spend during the pandemic to gain share as smaller restaurant chains struggle. Doubling down on spend in markets where McDonald’s handles its own operations, including the United States, Australia and Canada, is part of a three-pronged […]
The Federal Trade Commission is recruiting ad tech experts. Specifically, the FTC is looking for two people to gather and analyze information on digital advertising markets to inform how the agency and other policymakers think about policy development and enforcement as they consider potential consumer threats. Usually, the agency relies on a stable of economists […]
Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Gone In A Snap NBCUniversal quietly sold its $500 million stake in Snapchat stock late last year to rebalance its portfolio toward streaming media. The broadcaster invested in Snapchat during its IPO three years ago to expand the network’s digital presence. Since then, NBCU […]
Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Let’s Review Big tech companies are going under the microscope for some of their smaller, long-ago acquisitions. The FTC said it would conduct a review of deals that have been approved, particularly targeting low-cap deals that provided vast power in the market. And last […]
Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Do Not Merge A group of antitrust economists filed comments on the new DOJ/FTC draft guidelines for vertical mergers, calling the new draft “excessively permissive” for large companies. Historically, antitrust cases focus on horizontal acquisitions, when a company buys a direct competitor. But old […]
Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. License To Bill Google is considering a shift in its relationship with news publishers, by paying them direct licensing fees for the right to publish content in a potential free news service, according to The Wall Street Journal. Caveats: Financial terms of the deals […]
Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Hearts & Science & Mar Tech Hearts & Science is launching a mar tech division with more system integrator capabilities. “And in doing so the agency hopes to beat back increased competition from consulting firms offering similar services,” The Wall Street Journal reports. The […]
Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Mobile Detox Are people cutting back on their mobile phone use? Media agency Hearts & Science tracked the phone usage of more than 2,000 Americans over 14 months and found that 64% scaled back their app usage during that period, with the average down […]
Content creators on YouTube are freaking out. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) received more than 175,000 comments in response to a call for feedback on potential changes to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), an abundance of which came from YouTube creators worried that their ad-supported livelihoods are about to go up in smoke. […]
A federal privacy law is still a blip on the horizon. But listening to members of the Senate Commerce Committee dig into the details on legislative proposals to protect consumer data privacy at a hearing on the topic held Wednesday morning, you wouldn’t be laughed out of a room if you said that a bipartisan […]
Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Distribution Dilemma AT&T is leaning into its 34 million HBO subscribers to drive sign-ups for its forthcoming HBO Max streaming service. But it may face roadblocks in working with competitive cable providers on distribution, Digiday reports. AT&T has yet to sign on any distribution […]
Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Reclaiming The News CNN is launching a digital news aggregation service. The news company will pay other publishers to feature both subscription and ad-funded content on the still-unnamed service, called “NewsCo” internally, The Information reports. Like News Corp, which announced its Knewz aggregation platform […]
Big tech can’t swing a cat these days without hitting an antitrust investigation. Google, Facebook, Amazon and Apple are all facing varying degrees of heat from the Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, state attorneys general across the nation, the House Judiciary Committee and competition authorities around the world. It’s hard to keep track […]
A weekly comic strip from AdExchanger that highlights the digital advertising ecosystem…
Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. An Endless Conquest Google’s allowance of aggressive conquesting on search results is becoming a headache for companies relying on organic search. Jason Fried, CEO of Basecamp, sounded off about the practice on Twitter this week after his company showed up below four paid ads […]
Every state in the United States, plus Washington, DC, has an attorney general tasked with regulating, investigating and enforcing against noncompliant marketing practices. They’re known colloquially as “baby FTCs” – but don’t be fooled. They’ve got teeth. “Think of state attorneys general as the top cops in their respective state; they’ve got active consumer protection agendas […]
Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Without Peer Sizmek offloaded its contextual advertising company Peer39 to private equity firm O3 Industries for $18 million, Business Insider’s Lauren Johnson reports. O3 reportedly beat out other bidders including The Trade Desk and Zefr. So what’s the future of Peer39? Mario Diez, whose […]
“Data-Driven Thinking” is written by members of the media community and contains fresh ideas on the digital revolution in media. Today’s column is written by Gary Kibel, a partner in the digital media, technology and privacy practice group at Davis & Gilbert. If the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) were a private business, it would be having […]
Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Not Quite Settled The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), a prominent public research interest group, filed a complaint against the FTC’s $5 billion settlement with Facebook, arguing the deal is an unjustified victory for Facebook that fails to protect consumer privacy. The group is […]
A weekly comic strip from AdExchanger that highlights the digital advertising ecosystem…
Facebook’s stock dipped slightly on Wednesday morning after the Federal Trade Commission formally announced its $5 billion dollar fine over privacy violations. But by the time Facebook reported its second quarter earnings after the bell, the stock had recovered and then some. Facebook is up 3.2% after beating expectations and raking in the ad revenue. […]
It’s a big day for the big blue app. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) formally announced Wednesday it will fine Facebook $5 billion over Cambridge Analytica-related privacy violations and install oversight procedures to prioritize privacy and ensure enforcement at the company. In addition, a more than $100 million fine is expected from the Securities and Exchange […]
Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Asking About Acxiom IPG outperformed its peers in Q2 with organic revenue growth of 3% to $2.1 billion. While the group will continue to face headwinds from client losses through the rest of the year, it was able to offset losses in the […]
Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. No Mo’ CMO Silvia Lagnado, McDonald’s global CMO since 2015, will leave the company in October, Ad Age reports. McDonald’s plans to scrap the global CMO role in favor of two marketing SVPs: Bob Rupczynski will oversee marketing tech and Colin Mitchell will focus […]
Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Watch And Learn Facebook really wants those TV ad dollars – but it’s going to take more than simply showing up at the upfronts. The first thing Facebook needs to do is prove that its video service, Watch, is a hit with audiences. Facebook […]
Regulation Nation The Federal Trade Commission is in negotiations on a settlement deal with Facebook that would install a federally-approved privacy official at the highest ranks of the company and launch an independent privacy oversight committee. CEO Mark Zuckerberg would be responsible for enforcing privacy at the company, and Facebook will still have to pay […]
A weekly comic strip from AdExchanger that highlights the digital advertising ecosystem…
Facebook set aside $3 billion for a potential FTC fine, the company revealed Wednesday when it announced its first quarter earnings. Facebook estimates the fine, which stems from its privacy practices, could range from $3 billion to $5 billion. “We are focused on building out our privacy-focused vision for the future of social networking and […]
The ad tech industry might soon be facing a more punitive FTC. While the consumer privacy and protections agency traditionally came down on blatantly fraudulent advertising, like rebilling scams, or improperly targeting children, the influx of data-driven technology has required the FTC to reevaluate its agenda. With consumer privacy protections becoming a more pressing issue, […]
Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Brand Safe Enough AT&T is advertising on YouTube again after a two-year hiatus. The telco, one of the world’s largest advertisers, pulled spend from the video platform at the height of its 2017 brand safety scandal with a promise not to return until major […]
