Social media advertising damaging obesity work

Advertiser Platforms

Article | March 12, 2024

Netflix Takes an Unexpected Route Popular streaming giant Netflix’s subscriber count plummeted for the first time in a decade. After it announced the loss of 200K subscribers in Q1 of 2022, its stocks dipped more than 35%. In addition, a shareholder recently sued the platform for violating securities law after its subscriber growth reached an all-time low and the stock value crashed, making the picture bleaker. It’s not surprising that the platform had a change of heart about bringing advertising to its platform. The decision puts the platform in the same category as its competitors, HBO Max, Amazon’s Freevee, and Disney+, who want to offer cheaper, ad-enabled content to consumers. It also addresses the company’s issue of slow revenue growth. “Those who have followed Netflix know that I’ve been against the complexity of advertising and a big fan of the simplicity of subscription, But as much as I’m a fan of that, I’m a bigger fan of consumer choice.” co-CEO Reed Hastings What Do Advertisers Think? The advertising community had mixed reactions to the announcement. Long commercials are not an option on streaming platforms like Netflix. The ads run only for a few minutes every hour to retain the viewer experience. Despite this, advertisers are excited to target Netflix’s rich audience of over 200 million. There is no clarity on who will sell the ads and how the campaigns will be managed. Only time will tell how Netflix’s move will affect its subscribers and the advertising market. The company will keep ad-free tiers for subscribers who wish to enjoy high-quality ad-free content. It may change its subscription plans to offer low-cost plans with ads and minimize password sharing. There is no set timeline or regions decided for implementing these plans. The company hopes that this “consumer choice” to choose a cheaper plan will revive its subscriber growth graph. What Comes Next? Though Netflix has done the unexpected, it is giving well-established ad-funded broadcasters and streaming platforms a reason to worry. As of now, the potential for a low-cost VOD service equipped with ads is huge for advertisers. Once the plans are introduced, new audience profiles will emerge. Advertisers will want to understand and target them. As an ad platform, Netflix’s performance will only be understood through testing and learning.

Advertiser Platforms

Article | April 5, 2024

Nate Burke, CEO of Diginius, a London-based technology company, who specialise in digital marketing and ecommerce solutions, discusses the growth and exciting future prospects for video advertising, particularly for those seeking unique ways to promote products in a saturated online marketplace. Over recent years, there has been increasing focus on the use of video in just about every marketing context. And as it would seem, all the events and shifts in the market that have occurred ever since have only played into the success of the audio visual format. Take the coronavirus pandemic as a prime example. Lockdown restrictions and stay at home orders across the globe have catalysed our consumption of video content. For anyone sceptical of this statement, just take the sweeping influx of TikTok users, and consequently, development of Reels, Livestream services IGTV and Stories features across social media platforms. These video-based formats often provide a more entertaining and engaging way to consume content. And at a time when we have been looking for just about any way to fill gaps while stuck at home, videos have offered moments of escapism and connectivity, despite people never being so physically far apart. The video content we have consumed has varied from DIY tutorials for making face masks or home renovation projects, through to product reviews and demonstrations for items we would typically like to see in person and in store. And although restrictions are beginning to ease and these in store experiences can resume, many consumers will have adjusted to the new way of doing things, particularly with regards to online shopping and decision making. Therefore, no longer is it enough to simply enable the purchasing of your products through an online channel. Rather, brands need to be supporting every step of the customer journey through their digital offerings, including the awareness, research and post-purchase service stages. And thanks to the continued development of online advertising tools, this is now more viable than ever. For example, the social media features mentioned previously can all be used for advertising purposes too. Whether it’s enticing brand videos posted to your own feed, or promoted via each platform’s advertising network, or even an influencer partnership, whereby a famous face shows your product in action, there are countless ways to get word of your product out there with video. Similarly, YouTube ads have long been praised for being a cost-effective way to earn greater digital reach through better engagement and creativity. As the second largest search engine in the world in terms of number of searches, it’s easy to understand why video advertising on the platform is so beneficial. But while it might be one of the largest, YouTube certainly isn’t the only worthwhile search engine to be advertising on. In more recent times, the sophistication of other search engines, including Google and Bing, have created a strong case for businesses to include video consideration in their SEM strategies too. For example, we’re probably all familiar with the increasing favourability and better integration of YouTube videos displaying on results pages. And although this is separate to PPC advertising, it does require considerable effort in terms of SEO in order for videos to rank. However, more recently, and we suspect moving forward, there is room for the use of video in these traditional PPC search advertising platforms too. In fact, Bing is currently rolling out a video extension feature to its ad accounts, allowing advertisers to include a 6 - 120 second clip in their search ads. On desktop, a thumbnail for the video will be shown to the right of the copy, which when clicked, the video plays in an overlaying window. On mobile, the video simply plays in the frame with ad copy still visible below. As well as helping to secure greater real estate space on the results page, these videos make ads more engaging and can even enable businesses to provide more information about the brand, product or service beyond what is permitted in the copy. Therefore, for businesses looking to implement a strong video strategy, Bing can help you maximise the return on investment required to produce such pieces of content. As well as making use of video to improve PPC efforts, the search engine definitely appears to prioritise the format more than other platforms do. Just a quick search for big name brands, such as ASOS and Sainsbury’s, will show you just how easily the search engine integrates branded and user generated video content, when compared to the likes of Google. Again, with videos that are appropriately optimised, there is great potential to increase the space taken up on the all important first page of results. As well as this, you can provide searchers in the awareness and research stages with greater information and a better brand experience through content in a more engaging format to increase the chances of a conversion. In terms of PPC advertising, the use of video is at no greater expense to the business. Video clicks are charged at the same rate as call to actions or website click throughs, and like in the traditional form, only the initial click incurs a cost. Therefore, users can click to watch the video, and then press the button to call, enquire or visit your website, and despite having spent more time immersing themselves in your brand, there will be no additional price to pay. Undeniably, video advertising is becoming increasingly intelligent, providing businesses with much more opportunity to showcase their products in an engaging way, which can help break through the white noise of the saturated online marketplace. But interestingly, I believe this is only the beginning of what is possible with the format, particularly when it comes to PPC in search. As the retail world recovers from the disruption of the pandemic, and businesses really begin to home in their strategies to accommodate users’ new found preferences in the age of post-lockdown, the creative use of video will become an ever-growing key tactic in advertising.

Advertiser Platforms

Article | March 20, 2024

When print publishers transitioned to online publishing, they were keen to find a way to generate revenue. Their revenue model in the print world was advertising, so they needed to monetize their content online. Display ads were a great start for them. They sold their advertising space to interested advertisers directly. Even then, there would always be some ad inventory that remained unsold. The need of the hour was a platform that could help them sell this inventory. That is when ad networks for publishers and advertisers came into the picture. Let us take a deeper look into how ad networks are helping both publishers and advertisers optimize their selling and buying processes. Ad Networks: Simplifying Ad Buying and Selling An ad network is a technology-backed platform that acts as an intermediary between a group of publishers who want to sell their ads and advertisers interested in buying them. Ad networks for publishers and advertisers first appeared in the mid-nineties as the earliest advertising technology to support online advertising. They helped advertisers buy ad space across multiple publishing platforms. The primary purpose of an ad network was to collect unsold ads from different publishers and put them up for offer to advertisers at a lower price than what a direct sale would cost. This kind of ad inventory was mostly referred to as remnant, non-premium ads that publishers struggled to sell directly. Today, ad networks for publishers focus on offering advertisers exclusive ad deals at premium prices. They pre-buy inventory from different publishers and then resell it to advertisers at premium prices to help advertisers get the impressions they expect. Types of Ad Networks Based on your audience, industry, topics, and formats, you have four main types of ad networks to choose from: Inventory-specific networks: Such networks have ads of a specific type, such as mobile or video. Vertical advertising networks: These are ad networks that focus on a specific topic, such as fashion, automobiles, or business. Premium networks: These are the networks that offer premium inventory, mostly from popular publishers. Targeted networks: These networks offer specific targeting capabilities through a built-in ad server. How do Ad Networks Work? Ad networks for publishers and advertisers keep on evolving with technological advancements. To understand how the best ads network works, here are the dynamic steps they follow to benefit publishers and advertisers: Ad networks compile multiple publishers with available ad inventory. Advertisers create campaigns using the ad network’s campaign panel, keeping in mind their budget, target audience, and any other special attributes. The publishers install relevant ad network tags on their websites. When there is a match between an ad campaign set by an advertiser and the publisher’s ad inventory, ad information is sent to the publisher. The ad network provider gets a share of the ad revenue generated from the campaign or by selling the inventory at a higher price than the publisher. Using the ad network’s campaign panel, the advertiser tracks and manages the ad’s performance. Ad Networks in Programmatic Advertising Ad networks for publishers and advertisers are a part of programmatic advertising, which is the process of automatically buying and selling digital advertising space. In this space, demand-side platforms (which help advertisers) and supply-side platforms (which help publishers) streamline the buying and selling process through real-time bidding (RTB). Businesses and enterprises rely on programmatic advertising for their digital advertising needs because publishers are adopting native ads on their websites. Thanks to native ads, ad blockers don’t affect advertising, and marketers can optimize and improve their ads with programmatic techniques for campaign success. It's no surprise that programmatic digital display ad spending is expected to increase by 25.8% this year (Source: Brand Equity). In conjugation with ad networks, an ad exchange connects DSPs and SSPs autonomously. An ad exchange came into the picture in 2005 when ad networks were not enough to solve the cumbersome problem publishers were facing ─ selling unsold ad space. Automation in the open marketplace for buying and selling digital ads was the solution. An ad exchange offers a streamlined platform for advertisers, publishers, ad networks, and other parties to connect their ad serving technologies for efficiency. Ad Network and Ad Exchange: What is the Difference? In the programmatic advertising ecosystem, the ad network and the ad exchange are two important components that are often mistaken to be the same because of their role in media buying. Let us take a look at the factors that separate the two. Attribute Ad Network Ad Exchange Function Intermediary between publishers and advertisers Open marketplace for everyone Identity Company Technology Key Users Publishers, advertisers and agencies Publishers, advertisers, agencies, ad networks, DSPs, SSPs and ATDs Important Characteristic Pre-segmented ads for particular audience. Promotes bulk buying and selling. Pool of various types of ad inventory. Based on an impression-per-impression trade Ad Quality Top-tier ad inventory, often sold for the first time All available inventory on sale including remnant ad slots Optimization Time consuming Optimization possible on-the-go Cost Stable and determined by the ad network Dynamic pricing based on real-time bidding by advertisers Impact on Advertiser Ad prices are higher Advertisers can define the pricing Impact on Publisher Low control over inventory pricing and optimization More control over value per impression Buyer/Seller Information Advertisers are unaware of the placement of their ads Publishers don’t know who the advertisers are Both advertisers and publishers have each other’s information Why Advertisers and Publishers Rely on Ad Networks? A Wider Range of Options With the help of top ad networks, advertisers and publishers can buy or sell more ad space. As a part of monetization strategies for publishers, they can rapidly increase their revenue through premium or remnant inventory because ad networks bring them the highest paying bids. Advertisers, on the other hand, can easily find any type of ad inventory that matches their budget for ad publishing. Higher Return on Investment Top ad networks bring in more revenue from advertising. The better the quality of ads, the higher the revenue for advertisers because they get precisely matched with their targeting needs and they can choose the most profitable deals. Increased Efficiency Automation in matching publishers and advertisers is the biggest advantage of advertising networks. It saves the time of manually looking for suitable deals or favorable pricing. The best publishers that bring the best impressions on ads can easily be approached. Publishers can get their inventory sold for the best price thanks to digital advertising networks. Features of an Ideal Ad Network for Publishers & Advertisers Here is a list of features you can refer to while choosing an ad network that caters to your needs: Size: The size of the advertising network matters because it facilitates a steady traffic. The more traffic it can deliver, the higher your ROI will be. Quality: Identify the quality of the inventory that an ad network offers. It should match the kind of inventory you need. Audience Targeting: Your ad network should support different audience targeting options so that ad campaigns work perfectly well. Format Support: Your ad network should support different formats like responsive, call-only, animated GIF or simple banners so you can diversify into different formats without any hassles. Reliability: Depending on your requirements, ensure that the network doesn’t go down and provides consistent service so your business remains unaffected. The interface should also be easy to use, clean, and rich with data to help your marketing team optimize their personalization efforts. CTV Streaming Platform Used PubMatic to Bump its Revenue by 400% Future Today, a premium CTV streaming platform, used PubMatic’s platform to drive its ad revenue. PubMatic helped Future Today partner with a leading CTV DSP and achieve a lucrative private marketplace (PMP) agreement to create incremental demand through direct integration and optimized engagement. “PubMatic has been one of Future Today's fastest growing demand partners in the last 6 months. The entire team has been a pleasure to work with and they genuinely understand the value of CTV in the market.” – Katya Shkolnik, Head of Partnerships, Future Today Inc. Key Takeaways Display, native, and banner advertising campaigns are critical for marketers like you to scale your business, so understanding how and what an ad network for publishers and advertisers does is important to creating the best, most effective advertising campaigns that bear results.

Article | April 10, 2020

Verizon quietly introduced a new email marketing feature yesterday that it calls “View Time Optimization,” which the company says automatically times emails from companies to arrive the moment you’re looking at your email inbox, so it sits at the very top as a new message. The service is part of Verizon’s suite of email and web advertising properties, which includes AOL and Yahoo, and well-known programmer David Heinemeier Hansson (the inventor of the Ruby on Rails web application framework) called out Verizon on Twitter on Friday for what he calls an “Orwellian” ad placement tool.