In this week’s Week in Review: AOL introduces programmatic TV buying, Carat predicts strong ad spend and Facebook launches live streaming hub. To receive a weekly summary of industry news and other VAN interviews and videos, sign up to the weekly Video Round-Up.
AOL Brings Self-Serve Programmatic TV Buying to ONE by AOL Platform
Following the launch of ONE by AOL back in April 2015, more self-serve capabilities have been added to the platform by the Verizon-owned tech and publishing company. In a move away from the more traditional siloed TV buying models, AOL combine predictive targeting tools, more automation, premium inventory and cross-channel tracking in a self-service package.
Twitter Secures Streaming Deal with the NFL
In a move to help boost the NFL overseas, Twitter will be streaming ten Thursday Night Football games for free during the 2016 NFL season. In addition to the broadcast on NBC and CBS, along with a scheduled simulcast on NFL Network, the Twitter streams add a third string to the NFL’s bow in terms of reach. The move further facilitates a real time football experience for global users wherever their location.
Facebook Push Live Video Streaming with Launch of Dedicated Hub
Facebook have this week bolstered Facebook Live with functionality that allows their 1.5 billion users to live stream their videos in Facebook Groups and Facebook events. Their prioritisation of video continues on the platform with a new dedicated place on the app that allows users to watch live or “go live” themselves. Zuckerberg on his Facebook page says “Live is like having a TV camera in your pocket”.
Carat Predict 4.5 Percent Year-On-Year Increase in Global Ad Spend
In their latest report, Carat have predicted that global advertising spend by the end of 2016 will total US$538 billion. This equates to a 4.5 percent increase in spend on 2015 figures, and will be largely driven by the increased proportion of digital within the global ad spend mix. By the end of 2016 this is predicted to be 27 percent, rising further to 29.3 percent by the end of 2017 and will largely be driven by the upsurge of Mobile (+37.9 percent), Online Video (+34.7 percent) and Social Media (+29.8 percent) in 2016.
Facebook and dunnhumby Partner
Pilot testing is underway with 8 high profile FMCG brands to demonstrate how in-store and online sales can be tracked back to exposure to ads on the Facebook platform using dunnhumby’s Sales Impact tool. The dunnhumby technology, which powers Tesco Clubcard, will allow brands to deliver much more tangible evidence of how their Facebook ads impact purchasing within differing product categories and how different creative and targeting is affecting their sales metrics. With datasets provided by Acxiom, user analytics will be processed anonymously.
Clicks and Ad Spend Have Gone Mobile
As global mobile usage reached an all time high in 2015, Marin Software have reported that mobile advertising spend has followed suit and has grown almost 50 percent, from 33 percent to almost half of all budgets. Mobile click share is also now on the rise versus desktop, and in December 2015 accounted for 35 percent of global search clicks. This represents almost a 55 percent increase on December 2014 when smartphone click share represented only 22 percent.
Twitter Rolls Out First View Ads for UK Brands
Following the introduction to US markets in February, Twitter have announced that First View is now available for test to UK and European brands. Combined with Twitter’s Promoted Trends, First View enables brands to scale up reach by taking the top ad slot in the Twitter timeline for a 24-hour period. The rollout has so far produced success with 20th Century Fox in the US and Jeep in France and aims to help brands further drive sales through relevant social conversations.
Whatsapp Release Full End-to-End Encryption to Over a Billion Users
Placing data security front and centre, Facebook owned Whatsapp rolled out encryption to all users on the current version of the app this week. The change means that every form of messaging across the app is encrypted, and it’s a setting that will be switched on by default to new users. Irrespective of whether it’s a one-to-one or group conversation, the advancement helps users ensure messages go to only intended recipients whilst weakening exposure to hackers.
As Mobile App Downloads Plateau Kik Announces Bot Shop
In the midst of debate around the future of the App, open source chat platform Kik have announced their Bot Shop. Kik has a 275 million-strong user base is aged 18 to 24, according to comScore, and is partnering with big US brands such as Sephora and the Weather Channel to provide personalised chat experiences with their audiences.
Salesforce Report 65 Percent of Marketers Boost Social Advertising Budget in 2016
In their latest State of Marketing paper, Salesforce report that advertising on social platforms is the third largest area for increased investment amongst marketers. In their survey, 63 percent of high performing marketers plan to increase budgets on social platform video advertising and 62 percent also have committed to increased video advertising overall this year. In order to create a unique experience based on real customer identity, 83 percent of top teams are now effectively using customer data (e.g., email or phone data) to segment or target ads.
Promoted Pins Arrive on UK shores
After several success stories in the US, the Promoted Pin ad format has arrived in the UK. Pinterest have signed up John Lewis, B&Q, MADE.COM, Bloom & Wild and Tesco already as partners and look to help Pinners and brands alike get more from the platform. Within the UK, Pinners have grown 50 percent year-on-year.
Twitter Bolster Private Messaging with New Message Button
It’s been a big week for one-to-one communications, and Twitter have followed suit with the launch of their Message button. With direct messaging having grown on Twitter by 200 percent in the latter half of 2015, this is a crucial move for the platform as messaging apps grow in popularity.
Facebook Announce Developments in Image Recognition Technology
This week Zuckerberg’s platform also announced the introduction of automatic alternative text as part of their on-going commitment to accessibility. Thanks to artificial intelligence the platform can recognise the image’s component parts providing alt text, acting like subtitles. These not only provide the visually impaired with better ways to use the platform, but allow them new ways of accessing data previously packaged up in an image; thus opening up a vast array of new datasets.
Ooyala Announce New Video Player
Premium video platform Ooyala have launched their HTML-oriented Ooyala Player this week as part of a mobile-first strategy. Supporting both Flash & HTML5, the player promises superior playback across devices, support for all live protocols and recognises industry ad standards set by the IAB.
Google Backtracks with Mic Drop April Fool’s
Gmail users across the globe were left a little cold after the Search giant’s April 1 prank this year. The mic drop button intended to add a little humour by (optionally) ending the conversation; forcing a mic drop moment. Users found it all to easy to hit by accident and several were left looped out of business-related email threads having dropped a minion GIF into the conversation. The gag prompted several complaints, which Google swiftly responded to with an apology and an explanation as to why there was no undo facility, proving that they’re only human after all.
Over 2,000 YouTube Channels Have Over a Million Subscribers
There are now over 2,000 channels on YouTube with over a million subscribers, according to analytics site VidStatsx. According to sources using the WayBack Machine, on February 23, 2010, YouTube’s 5th birthday, there were only five channels with at least one million subscribers.
NBCUniversal and Vox to Begin Cross-Selling Ads Across Platforms
Following a $200 million investment in the media company last year, NBCUniversal have launched a new initiative called Concert. According to the Wall Street Journal the companies will be able to start running ads on up to 20 sites.
Burberry and Snapchat Team Up in First Luxury Brand Partnership
To compliment their Steve McQueen directed TV ad, the luxury retailer has just launched a Snapchat Discover channel to promote their new fragrance Mr Burberry. Snapcodes can be used at retailers to unlock related content, which is a first in this vertical according to sources.
YouTube Remains UK Streaming Heavyweight
Latest research from Enders demonstrates that although Netflix and Amazon Prime increasing audiences in the SVoD market, YouTube still dominates with 35 million monthly unique users in the UK
Buzzfeed Launches Nifty
In the footsteps on their Facebook only cooking channel Tasty, Buzzfeed have launched a DIY-dedicated called Nifty. The move is another in the direction of socially focused short form video, which of course is Buzzfeed’s forté.
Apple Turns 40
As most of us up woke up to a failed April Fool prank by Google last week, Apple celebrated 4 decades of game changing in the technology industry. The NY daily news pays homage.
This Week’s New Hires:
IBM Hires Lord Onboard as Chief Digital Officer
Former President of AOL and CEO of Publicis-owned Razorfish, Lord joins IBM to upscale all aspects of IBM’s digital presence, operations and ecosystem. The move suggests that IBM may well be about to push deeper into ad tech, as some sources report.
Rob Gatto Appointed As Tubemogul COO
Independent advertising software platform Tubemogul have brought Rob Gatto onboard as COO. Gatto joins from his position of SVP of Sales at Neustar, and will head up their Sales and Client Services teams.
Ramsey McGrory Joins Mediaocean As CRO
Advertising software provider Mediaocean announce the arrival of Ramsey McGrory as Chief Revenue Officer. With over a decade of senior executive experience, Ramsey most recently served as President of Scout Media and prior to that at AddThis as President and CEO. At Mediaocean McGrory will be responsible for driving revenue globally.
Omnicom Promote Mark Halliday to MD of Accuen APAC
Halliday will lead programmatic planning and buying for Omnicom Media Group for both its OMD and PHD brands. Mark moves from his current role in one of Omnicom Media Group’s mobile specialist unit’s and will step into his new position with immediate effect.
This Week on VAN:
Millennial-Focused Media Companies are Losing Out to Old Media on Snapchat Discover, read more on VAN
Vivendi’s Content Chief: European Media Industry Needs to Support Homegrown Distribution Platforms, read more on VAN
Ad of the Week: TAYLOR vs. TREADMILL, Apple Music
It has to be Tay Tay. A 431 percent increase in “Jumpman” sales for Drake and Future are not to be sniffed at.
