Welcome To AdTech Weekly
The Great Platform Reconciliation Project
Both Twitter and Facebook have taken moves to bring transparency to their platforms. Moving forward, it’s going to be easier to both figure out who bought ads and where precisely those advertisements are appearing.
Facebook: Update on Our Advertising Transparency and Authenticity Efforts
- Customers will be able to click a view-all ads button and get a nice highlight of where the paid content is hanging around on the page.
- Facebook is requiring more documentation for political ads, will add a “paid for by” label to those ads, and is building new AI that will track down people cheating the system.
Twitter: New Transparency For Ads on Twitter
- A new ad transparency center will give users a list of all ads running on the platform.
- Political campaigns will have a new label.
- Stiffer penalties for marketers who cheat the system and attempt to hide the fact that they’re pushing political ads through the platform. Though, the sanctions haven’t been disclosed yet.
Moves from both companies are a massive step in the right direction. The problem, though, is that advertising online has more than a political ad problem. It’d be nice to see the same kind of movement by the entire industry (not just Facebook and Twitter) on topics like data collection, fraud, and other unethical advertising practices. I know we have to walk before we run, and at least the industry recognizes that it’s time we get up on our own two feet.
Blatant Self Promo.
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AdTech News And Editorial
13 things I learned from six years at the Guardian
If someone else’s algorithm change could kill your traffic and/or your business model, then you’re already dead.
The advertising industry has been living a lie
Digital advertising has many, many problems. You can blame ad tech. You can blame agencies. Or the Russians. Or maybe AI. But it's really all Chris Anderson's fault.
Is the Honest Ads Act a viable solution for digital political advertising?
At the forefront of the political advertising debate at the moment, the so-called Honest Ads Act seeks to provide more clarity and transparency around digital political advertising.
Ad Blocking
Study: Use of ad blockers increases 16% in US
In the U.S., 26% of consumers use ad blocking, a 16% increase from 2016. Europe had the highest rates, with more than 30% of consumers using the technology.
Publishing
Facebook Tests a News Feed Without Posts from Publishers
Antsy publishers are starting to fear for their position within Facebook's powerful News Feed, now that tests have begun pushing their posts to an alternate timeline.
Programmatic
‘The art of buying crap’: The Guardian wants publishers to unite to clean up programmatic
The Guardian is in talks with European media owners Axel Springer and Schibsted over how to throttle ad fraud and other opaque practices occurring in the programmatic advertising supply chain.
A Sophisticated Bot Taking Over Major Sports Sites Is Costing Advertisers Up to $250 Million a Year
A discovery from fraud company Forensiq claims advertisers are losing big money from a stealthy bot that’s using a new tactic to siphon millions of dollars away from sports websites including NFL team domains, ESPN and CBS Sports.
‘The tech is good enough’: Why Amazon’s DSP is becoming a rival to Google
Google is still the most dominant company in ad tech, but Amazon is gaining on the search giant. One example of this is the growing use of Amazon’s demand-side platform.
Platforms
Netflix reiterates that it has no intention of introducing ad breaks or live TV
Faced with a looming plateau in the numbers of subscribers Netflix can attract with a market penetration of 190 countries (only absent in China, North Korea and Syria), brands have been hoping the streaming service will open its platform to adverts.