Welcome To AdTech Weekly
Revenues Down? Try This...
In a previous life, I ran an independent tech blog. It was everything I dreamed of as a kid, mostly. I got to play with new technologies. I got to review neat products. I even got to treat it as a full-time job for a couple of years. There’s not much more a college could kid ask for while trying to pay his way through university. What I didn’t understand, at least back then, was just how intertwined advertising revenue and scale were. During my foray into publishing, it became quite apparent to me that there was a limit to what an independent upstart blog could achieve financially without chasing scale, dabbling in the rumour-mill, or onboarding dozens of other bloggers. Audience quality didn't matter much in an open exchange world.
The moment I realized what I was up against was the moment I managed to snag a call with someone on the Google AdSense team (probably a call center, I’m still not sure) and talked with them about maximizing my revenue. Google, in a rather official capacity, encouraged me to first, add more advertising placements on my site; second, blend those placements into my site by updating the design elements to match site elements; third, break up the text flow of articles and place an advertisement directly into the article between paragraphs. My memory is a bit blurry, but all of this happened around 2010-2011. All three of those suggestions seemed rather nefarious at the time, and I remember leaving those conversations feeling defeated. The only way forward, it seemed, was to mislead my readers into clicking advertisements accidentally, or disrupting their reading experiences.
Luckily, today, conversations abound about the importance of user experiences when it comes to advertising online. Heck, I’ve even participated in several of those conversations, including a podcast recently about advertising honeypots.
It’s hard for me to not point the finger at Google and open exchanges for the mess publishers find themselves in today. They encouraged publishers to engage in these practices.
I’m glad we’re moving beyond that conversation, and a new movement is emerging that prioritizes consumers…
But then I read something like this online (see Tweet Of The Week below), and get sucked right back into it all again. Ad tech is its own worst enemy. When will it start getting out of its own way?
We’re at a moment when trust is at an all-time low, and ad blocker adoption is accelerating, and how does Google recommend maximizing revenues? Get rich quick schemes.
PS. We're working on a podcast series that focuses on the future of ad tech. Can't say too much yet, but we're looking for people across the advertising and marketing industry to chat with, so if you're interested, please reach out. I'd love to hear from you. (adtechweekly@gmail.com).
AdTech News And Editorial
Publishers, It’s Time to Take Back Control of Your Inventory.
Ad exchanges are hurting the quality of online advertising and sabotaging publisher revenue and reputation in the process. A publisher’s value is tied to its readers, who loyally return for great content and experience. Yet publishers allow exchanges to serve ads that distract from the content readers came to consume.
Apple’s Eddy Cue denies interest in purchasing a media giant
Apple’s head of content Eddy Cue has shot down rumours that the technology giant could buy its way into the media industry by mounting a major takeover of an existing player after it unveiled a new TV show.
News Corp. Exits Rubicon Project Investment
News Corp. offloaded its entire 8% investment in Rubicon Project, or 3.9 million shares, according to an SEC filing on Friday.
‘A lot of it is taped together’: Confessions of an ad tech software engineer
Real-time bidding is still slow. It still takes three megabytes of JavaScript to put a basic image on a page. If ad tech were so amazing, we wouldn’t have all of these problems and the performance, attribution and retargeting would be a lot better. I can say from first-hand experience that a lot of it is taped together stuff and nowhere near the sophistication that’s talked about.
Adtech's Massive Failure
So, Ms Advertiser, talk to me. Why don't you insist on a simple transparent buying process in which your agency buys directly from online publishers? You'll know exactly where your advertising is going to run. Exactly whom you're buying from. Exactly what you're paying, and exactly what you're getting.
An Open Letter To The BuySellAds Team
Why do I love BuySellAds, and why do I love what we’re building? We’re helping people realize their goals. We’re helping people realize their dreams.
Publishing
Anatomy of a media failure: Why Scout Media flamed out - Digiday
Scout, a network of sites that once focused entirely on college sports and recruiting, is now part of CBS Interactive, after the broadcaster’s $9.5 million stalking horse went essentially unopposed, with Scout mired in bankruptcy proceedings and the company’s founder and board lobbing accusations at one another.
How Ben Thompson built Stratechery into a one-man publishing empire
“The internet enables niche in a massively powerful way, where you can focus and be really good at one thing,” Thompson said. “And because you’re not constrained to a geographic area, you can reach the entire world. I have subscribers in 30 countries.”
Gannett and McClatchy made digital gains at the end of 2016
Both Gannett and McClatchy showed healthy growth in digital advertising. Subcategories like mobile and video are way up (though on a small dollar base). And rates are leveling or rising as the companies deliver more products and better targeting.
Privacy And Ad Tracking
Methbot’s Hidden Cost: Publisher Data Integrity
Methbot may have been largely dismantled by the significant press coverage and release of associated IPs, but it’s only a matter of time before the next operation arises. Protecting data integrity and brand identity from this kind of fraud in the future will be paramount for both publishers and advertisers.
Future Of Advertising
Content advertising slated to grow into a multi-billion dollar industry by 2020
With a predicted growth rate of 32% year-over-year, and more than 2x the growth rate of digital advertising as a whole, the amount companies will spend on content advertising is slated to grow into a $50bn market by 2021 -- up from $12.8bn in 2016. According to a recent report, it will comprise 14% of all digital ad spend in 2017.
Header Bidding
The winners and losers of the server-to-server programmatic arms race
One big remaining uncertainty is whether user matching is weaker with server-to-server, which can reduce the value of an impression. And that’s a worry for buyers and sellers alike. Here’s a look at the current state of play.
Platforms
Twitter Disappoints With Ad Revenue Tumble, As Past Investments Don't Pan Out
Twitter’s ad revenue for Q4 slumped to $638 million from $641 million in 2015, although ad revenue was up from $616 million in the third quarter.