Weekly Digital Breakdown – 9.26.19
Weekly Digital Breakdown
Sep 26
YouTube Adds Options For Advertisers
This week, YouTube improved video ad capabilities with the announcement of Video reach campaigns, helping marketers create a more efficient way to push brand awareness goals on the platform. Advertisers can now upload multiple video creatives consisting of 6-second bumper ads, skippable in-stream ads, and non-skippable in-stream ads into a single campaign rather than running each ad type independently. Google’s machine learning will then optimize the campaign showing the most efficient combination of creatives to reach audiences.
The strategy was first tested with Ford and the automaker saw impressive results with campaign costs lowered over 20% compared to previous YouTube benchmarks. The overwhelming success of the test was the driving factor for rolling out the feature to all marketers.
The campaign redesign comes with consumers often switching channels on YouTube, making the consumer journey more complex. For advertisers, this has made optimization more challenging. The company hopes the simpler setup will not only help advertisers streamline the process, but all see improved results and a decrease in campaign costs for optimum efficiency.
Comscore Pays Fraud Settlement
Comscore, the industry leader in audience data measurement and analytics, and its former CEO, Serge Matta, have been charged with misleading investors, accountants, and auditors by inflating revenue numbers by almost $50 million between 2014 to 2016, giving a false report on the overall financial health and stability of the company.
According to the SEC report, Comscore inflated the value of data-swapping contracts with other companies and exchanged data with a third party without cash payment. They also overreported customer growth numbers, portraying revenue that exceeded quarterly goals, creating a false sense of growth.
To settle the charges brought by the SEC, Comscore agreed to pay a $5.7 million fine but did not confirm or deny the wrongdoing accusations. Matta paid a separate $700,000 penalty and agreed to repay Comscore $2.1 million for the sale of his Comscore stock as well as other compensation he received while working for the company. He will also be unable to serve as an officer or director of any public company for 10 years. However, he was named president and CEO of ICX Media, a digital media and video intelligence company, in April.
Comscore is hoping to leave the controversy behind them with the settlement complete. With a new CEO at the helm, they remain focused on company growth and maintaining their presence in the industry.
https://www.adweek.com/digital/comscore-securities-fraud-charges-settlement-sec/?
McDonald’s Is Lovin Voice-Initiated Job Applicants
McDonald’s wants to reach more potential employees and is leading the market in its efforts by embracing technology. The company is turning to Amazon’s Alexa and Google Assistant to find job applicants with a new voice recruitment skill, McDonald’s Apply Thru.
Those interested in job opportunities at the company can use voice commands to start the application process by simply prompting either device with “Alexa, help me get a job at McDonald’s” or “OK Google, talk to McDonald’s Apply Thru” with both expected to expand language skills to meet variations of the request.
Once the smart speaker is prompted, applicants are asked their name and location which allows the skill to relay roles that may be available in their area. Finally, the device asks for a mobile number to send the user a text for access to the job board.
Apply Thru is accessible throughout several countries globally with plans to expand. In addition to the job application technology, McDonald’s plans to follow up with a career navigation app in the U.S. to dispel misconceptions about working in the fast food industry and highlight its restaurants as places workers can gain skills that can be useful for future career opportunities.
McDonald’s has been increasing their tech investment recently in a major way to refine their business. From utilizing dynamic drive-thru menus that change based on the current weather to expanding delivery options on their app, to plans to include more initiatives around both recruiting and developing employees. The company sees great value in embracing technological advances to maintain their place in the market.
https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/mcdonalds-jobs-amazon-alexa-global-recruitment/
