{"id":47509,"date":"2023-05-19T13:26:09","date_gmt":"2023-05-19T12:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/videoweek.com\/?p=47509"},"modified":"2023-05-19T13:26:09","modified_gmt":"2023-05-19T12:26:09","slug":"the-wir-montana-bans-tiktok-google-sets-dates-for-cookie-testing-and-ad-woes-hit-future-revenues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/videoweek.com\/2023\/05\/19\/the-wir-montana-bans-tiktok-google-sets-dates-for-cookie-testing-and-ad-woes-hit-future-revenues\/","title":{"rendered":"The WIR: Montana Bans TikTok, Google Sets Dates for Cookie Testing, and Ad Woes Hit Future Revenues"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this week’s Week in Review: Montana bans TikTok, Google says its Sandbox tools are almost ready, and ad troubles hit Future’s revenues.
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Top Stories<\/h2>\n
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Montana Bans TikTok
\n<\/strong>The US state of Montana this week became the first US state to pass a law completely banning residents from having TikTok on their personal devices. The law, signed by governor Greg Gianforte on Wednesday, alleges that TikTok poses a risk to Montana residents, claiming it gives the Chinese government the ability to spy on them.<\/p>\n

Data privacy and national security concerns around TikTok have come to the fore in recent weeks, as a number of governments and legislative authorities across multiple countries have banned legislators and civil servants from using TikTok on work devices. But Montana’s complete ban of the app is a first.<\/p>\n

TikTok responded by saying the ban is an infringement of Montanans’ First Amendment rights. The company is expected to challenge the law in courts – and those court battles could be of real significance. Montana itself is a small state, with a population of just over one million, so the impact for TikTok will be minimal. But court battles over the Montana law could prove the viability (or unviability) of such a ban, having implications for wider attempts to ban the app across the US.<\/p>\n

Google says Privacy Sandbox Tools are Nearly Finished; Outlines Testing Plans
\n<\/strong>Google this week released an update on progress within its Privacy Sandbox, its initiative for developing replacements for third-party cookies within its Chrome browser. Most significantly, the company announced new plans to remove third-party cookies for one percent of all Chrome users at the beginning of next year, providing a testing window for Privacy Sandbox tools (and other cookie-free targeting and measurement tools).<\/p>\n

Google also announced that in the coming weeks,\u00a0 Privacy Sandbox relevance and measurement APIs available to all Chrome users, enabling developers to conduct scaled, live-traffic testing. And the company pledged that these APIs won’t change significantly between their release for testing and their full release once third-party cookies are totally removed from Chrome.<\/p>\n

As VideoWeek has previously reported<\/a>, many in the industry have held back from testing Privacy Sandbox APIs as they’ve not wanted to waste time testing tools which might then change completely, or be scrapped by Google, further down the line. Some may also have been expecting a further delay to Google’s timeline for removing third-party cookies.<\/p>\n

But the message from Google seems to be clear: the Sandbox APIs are set, the timeline isn’t changing, and it’s time to start testing.<\/p>\n

Ad Revenue Woes Hit Future
\n<\/strong>UK special interest publishing group Future was the latest publisher to report a hit to its revenues in its most recent financial results this week. Covering the previous two quarters, Future’s results showed total revenues to be flat, while organic revenues were down by ten percent year-on-year. The tough ad market played a big role, with organic digital ad revenues down by 22 percent, while the business also saw a drop in readership.<\/p>\n

But while ad revenues were weak, the company said that its ad strategy prevented a steeper drop in ad income. “By obtaining leadership positions, we become a must-have partner, enabling strong advertising yields and affiliate commissions with resilience through economic cycles,” the results read. “This resilience is reinforced by the diversified nature of the Group, both from content verticals, geographical locations and different revenue streams.”<\/p>\n

Future added that ad revenues performed better in the UK, due to a better mix of video and direct advertising on its UK properties.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The Week in Tech<\/strong><\/h2>\n

FuboTV Taps iSpot for Incremental CTV Measurement
\n<\/b>Sport streaming service FuboTV has announced a partnership with measurement firm iSpot.tv, for CTV measurement across Fubo\u2019s video ad inventory. iSpot\u2019s cross-platform solution quantifies ad impressions delivered to incremental households not reached on linear TV, FuboTV said. The results showed that Fubo provides an average 40 percent uplift in incremental reach, according to the company. \u201cIt\u2019s paramount that we are able to verify the benefit of Fubo\u2019s CTV inventory and differentiate our audience from that of linear TV,\u201d said Fubo co-founder and CEO David Gandler.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Roblox Accused of Inadequately Labelling Advertising
\n<\/b>Games company Roblox violated US advertising guidelines for marketing to children, the Children\u2019s Advertising Review Unit (CARU) said this week. According to the watchdog, Roblox failed to adequately label certain content as advertising, and neglected to ensure paid influencers were doing the same. The company responded that a new policy, effective 15th June, will prohibit developers and brands from serving ads to children, thereby addressing much of the CARU complaint.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yahoo Enlists Samba TV for Targeting and Measurement
\n<\/b>Yahoo has partnered with ad tech firm Samba TV, providing targeting and measurement services on the Yahoo DSP in the UK and Canada. The partnership (the extension of a deal formed in Australia in 2022) helps advertisers pool their TV and digital budgets in order to plan and measure audiences using Samba TV\u2019s data, and target audience segments via the DSP. \u201cOur partnership with Samba TV brings an enhanced Advanced TV solution to our Yahoo DSP and to clients across these strategic markets,\u201d said Yahoo CRO Elizabeth Herbst-Brady. \u201cBridging linear TV and online digital audiences enables advertisers to maximise the effectiveness of their TV budgets and reach the right audiences across every screen seamlessly, without repeating ads needlessly.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Reddit Poised for E-Commerce Push
\n<\/b>Reddit has posted job ads for commerce roles, suggesting a push into e-commerce for the social-sharing company. The US-based jobs include \u201csenior product manager, ads marketplace: e-commerce\u201d and \u201csenior commerce and measurement partnerships manager\u201d, alongside two Amsterdam-based roles for building a Shopping Ads team and launching a \u201cdynamic product ad in 2023\/2024.\u201d <\/span>Digiday<\/span><\/a> also reported that Reddit plans to start testing social commerce in Q4.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hawk Announces Attention Measurement Partners
\n<\/b>Cross-channel DSP Hawk has announced a string of attention measurement partnerships. Advertisers can optimise and measure campaigns on the Hawk platform using tools provided by Adelaide, Contxtful, DoubleVerify, Lumen, Playground XYZ and xpln.ai. The range of partnerships allows for measurement on mobile, desktop and tablet, for in-app and web environments, display and online video formats. \u201cEnabling brands to determine the ads that effectively gain and hold peoples\u2019 attention powers informed decisions that allow creatives to be optimised to reach the right people at the right time and in the right context,\u201d said Hawk UK MD Chris Childs.<\/span><\/p>\n

European Commission Approves Microsoft\/Activision Merger
\n<\/b>The European Commission approved Microsoft\u2019s $68.7 billion takeover of Activision Blizzard yesterday, subject to conditions intended to safeguard competition in the cloud gaming sector. Microsoft agreed to licensing commitments over a 10-year period, requiring the company to license Activision Blizzard titles to rival cloud gaming services. The decision comes after the UK\u2019s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) blocked the deal last month. The CMA said on Twitter: \u201cWhile we recognise and respect that the European Commission is entitled to take a different view, the CMA stands by its decision.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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The UK, US and European competition authorities are unanimous that this merger would harm competition in cloud gaming.<\/p>\n

The CMA concluded that cloud gaming needs to continue as a free, competitive market to drive innovation and choice in this rapidly evolving sector.<\/p>\n

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\u2014 Competition & Markets Authority (@CMAgovUK) May 15, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n