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Why Does It Take A Platform To Raise An Industry?
Here we are, amidst a personality crisis in ad tech, and instead of the industry taking steps to clean up its act, it’s taking companies who refuse to admit they’re even media companies to push for change in the industry. A quick look at some of the articles below reveals the trend quite plainly. Platforms like Facebook — despite their insistence that they’re not even a media company — are starting to force advertisers (and the industry at large) to make the changes end users have been demanding for the last decade. It doesn’t just end with Facebook, either. Google has now gone to war with obnoxious interstitial advertisements. The company, that’s quiet easily the largest advertising company on the web, will now be deducting virtual page rank points from media companies that use the technology in less than ideal ways.
Both are welcomed changes, but I have to ask, where are the traditional media companies? Why is it platforms making these demands of marketers and advertisers?
Curiously, time and again, when platforms begin to push for an evolution in advertising, the worlds largest media and news websites are mostly silent, letting others drive change on their behalf. It’s a scary proposition, when you consider the ad revenue these new-age media companies (Facebook, Twitter, SnapChat) are eating, while old-age-media continues to stock platform shelves with fantastically fresh, new content for free. Rare are the days when news breaks about a media company parting with obnoxious technology vendors or retiring shady ad practices. It’s long overdue.
If there was ever a moment when media companies needed to start transitioning to a more technology-first model and recapture control of their advertising revenue, it’s now. Media companies are no longer distinguishable from tech companies. The more we look, the more it’s becoming increasingly evident that media companies are quickly turning into technology companies, and those companies are built on gargantuan profits rooted solely in advertising. The difference between this generation’s media companies and the media companies of yesteryear? Complete control over their advertising stacks.
Call them what you want — news aggregator, platform, or social network — it doesn’t really matter. They’re all media companies, and they’re driving advertising innovation without their predecessors because they control the media consumption from beginning to end. It’s time we all stop and think twice about who we’re partnering with before it’s too late.
P.S.
If we could also convince Google and the rest of the internet that a 30 second video advertisements before EVERY single YouTube video isn’t appropriate, that’d be great.
Todd Garland, CEO, and Founder at BuySellAds
AdTech News And Editorial
Facebook Tells Advertisers to Pick Up the Pace With Fast Ads
Facebook has repeatedly found that people don't stick around for pages that take too long to display -- 40% click away if a page takes three seconds to load, according to Facebook.
Contestants Must Meet Diversity Requirement For General Mills Moving Forward
In another rather unusual twist, General Mills is requiring that participating agencies are staffed with at least 50% women and 20% people of color within the creative department.
EU proposals could see news publishers paid by Google and Facebook
News publishers would have stronger rights to demand payment from digital giants such as Google and Facebook in exchange for using their content, under proposed European rules that are designed to shore up the collapsing revenues of traditional media companies.
Snapchat is rolling out behavioral targeting later this year
Now advertisers can tailor campaigns based on what kind of content Snapchat users consume.
Why Facebook is a media company even though it says it's not
"We're a technology company. We're not a media company. When you think about a media company, you know, people are producing content, people are editing content, and that's not us. We're a technology company. We build tools. We do not produce the content. We exist to give you the tools to curate and have the experience that you want, to connect with the people and businesses and institutions in the world that you want."
Celebrities charge '£143,000 on average' for sponsored videos
Social media stars and celebrities are charging an average of $187,500 (£143,000) for each video sponsored by brands, according to a US talent agency.
Ad Blocking
EU blocks network-level ad blocking
"ISPs [internet service providers] should not block, slow down, alter, restrict, interfere with, degrade or discriminate advertising when providing an IAS [internet access service,]" the clause, on paragraph 78 of the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) guidelines, states.
Privacy And Ad Tracking
WhatsApp is going to share your phone number with Facebook
Global messaging service WhatsApp says it will start sharing the phone numbers of its users with Facebook, its parent company. That means WhatsApp users could soon start seeing more targeted ads and Facebook friend suggestions on Facebook based on WhatsApp information
Acquisitions
Mobile ad startup AppLovin in talks for $1.5 billion acquisition
Mobile ad startup AppLovin is in talks with a Chinese buyer for an acquisition of around $1.5 billion, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the company.