Weekly Breakdown – 2.7.20
Weekly Digital Breakdown
Feb 07
Facebook Updates Its Audience Network
Time is running out for advertisers utilizing Facebook’s Audience Network. As of April 11, 2020, Facebook will no longer provide this offering as they focus on other formats across mobile apps and remain committed to moving their mobile app network into bidding.
Existing placements will continue to be supported on in-stream video and mobile web placements until April 10 when the official sunset takes place. All Audience Network placements should be removed from setups prior to the change. The company is encouraging advertisers to seek out other partners to fulfill this need moving forward.
What prompted the decision is unknown, but it may be a response to decisions by other big tech companies to limit use of third-party cookie tracking as concerns around privacy and data-sharing restrictions increase.
https://www.mobilemarketer.com/news/facebook-will-shutter-audience-network-for-mobile-sites/571807/
Ad Sales Win Big At The Super Bowl
The final score has been tallied and in-game ad dollars from this year’s Super Bowl soared to $435 million. The record breaking total surpassed the previous record of $390 million which was set in 2017 and was almost 29% over last year’s total. According to Kantar Media’s report, ads accounted for 24% of the total broadcast time, excluding unpaid promotions from both Fox and the NFL.
The big spenders of the night included Anheuser-Busch InBev with $41 million, PepsiCo with $31 million and Procter & Gamble with $30 million. Across industries, auto manufacturers accounted for the highest spend with $77 million. It was followed by the tech industry at $51 million.
One noticeable difference over past year’s events were the political commercials purchased by candidates to reach their audiences on the national stage.
Based on the numbers, the Super Bowl remains one of the most unifying events for people across the country. To get that kind of exposure in the spotlight, continues to be worth the price.
https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/super-bowl-54-sets-record-with-435-million-in-game-ad-spend/
Feds Don’t Trust Google
Google continues to find itself the focus of an antitrust investigation by the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ). The feds are particularly interested in the amount of control Google Ad Manager, which is the merge DoubleClick for Publishers and Doubleclick Ad Exchange, has over the market and the monetization of digital content. Investigators are interviewing other publishers and ad-tech companies concerning Google’s industry practices.
The company maintains that the merger of its exchange and ad servers was designed to improve the user experience in the increasingly competitive space. However, there is close scrutiny on the integration of the two as well as Google’s practices for paid advertisers.
There is no denying that Google dominates the advertising space. With agencies and in-house media buyers relying heavily on its third-party ad tools for ad placement and measurement, they are making it increasingly difficult for competition to excel in the space.
