Today in Digital Marketing - Could Amazon's Next Feature Dethrone Google's Ad Business?

Starting point is 00:00:01 It is Wednesday, March 15th. Today, the dream job that isn't. Tech workers say they were paid to do nothing. Roblox gives up advertising to its biggest market. The ad market is perking back up and TV is leading the charge. Snapchat explains why your brand's videos are being throttled and the ad campaign against TikTok filters. I'm Todd Maffin. That's Ahead, today in digital marketing. You know, with how difficult it is sometimes to get someone, anyone at Meta to help you out when you're locked out of your ad account or your campaign isn't spending

Starting point is 00:00:34 or your personal login was flagged, you'd think the reason why is they just don't have enough people. Well, if recent reports are to be believed, they had the people, but those people were just sitting on their butts being paid to literally do nothing. We've heard this about several companies, including Google, and one laid off Meta engineer has confirmed it. Brittany Levy, an employee who lost her job in the tech giants first round of layoffs, recently posted a video on TikTok in which she said Meta was hiring employees so other companies couldn't.

Starting point is 00:01:07 I am one of those employees that was kind of hired into a really strange position where they immediately put me into a group of individuals that was not working. I mean, like we were just sitting there. We had to basically, like she said, you had to fight to find work. It was a very strange environment. And it kind of seemed that Meta was hiring people so that other companies couldn't have us. And then they were just kind of like hoarding us like Pokemon cards. She added she's able to speak about her work at the company because she didn't sign its severance agreement. Levy, who is a member of the Sorcerer Development Program, told Business Insider that she spoke with fellow employees and found that several of them

Starting point is 00:01:46 were frustrated with the lack of work and that they felt Meta was stalling their careers while others became more protective of whatever work they had as news of upcoming cuts spread. Even though being paid to not work might sound like a dream, Levy said very

Starting point is 00:02:02 few people at Meta were happy with the situation. Roblox will no longer allow advertisements targeting children under 13 as part of a new set of standards the company rolled out today. The company's updated set of rules now defines advertising as any content within its metaverse world designed to promote a product or service outside of Roblox. And that means that branded activations will also be subject to this. Roblox will be adding more specific requirements around disclosing advertising content. Adweek reports today that the rollout comes as the gaming platform

Starting point is 00:02:36 has become an increasingly popular venue for advertisers to set up virtual stores, branded experiences, and in-game billboards. The report noted that while Roblox is in the beta stages of making its official ad server widely available to brands, most advertising currently on the platform comes from third-party deals with developers and content constructed by brands. According to the company, these new standards are intended to align these kinds of ads with the policies Roblox already has in place for its own ad business. Well, despite the downturn in traditional TV advertising, early signs for the second quarter indicate it's now beginning to rebound.

Starting point is 00:03:19 Over the past few weeks, advertisers have had the chance to cancel their upfront commitments to TV networks for Q2. Digiday reported today that while some advertisers did cut their spend, cancellation rates were actually relatively low, according to TV executives, with some networks experiencing cancellation rates in the high single digits compared to the mid-teens about a year ago. Executives attributed the recent improvement in the marketplace to some advertisers' businesses recovering or proving more resilient than expected. Automobile advertisers, for example, have begun to increase their spend again after canceling upfront commitments and cutting budgets last year. Networks also benefited from pharma and entertainment advertisers, which offset tech advertisers' decreased spend. Meanwhile, network executives

Starting point is 00:04:05 also said the scatter market for traditional TV has firmed up a bit, with prices up by about 10% year over year. The report noted that scatter pricing remains higher than upfront rates, so brands looking to continue advertising on TV may not be motivated to cancel upfront commitments and redirect those dollars to the scatter market, where networks sell the inventory unclaimed by upfront advertisers. The direct response TV ad market has also improved, indicating that TV networks advertising businesses are not in terrible shape going into upfront season. Want to know the type of content that is eligible for recommendations on Snapchat? Well, the company made its content guidelines public today for the first time,

Starting point is 00:04:50 which explains how it vets and moderates stories and spotlight content. These guidelines cover Snap's rules in the app, including content that's eligible for recommendation, what is considered sensitive, and what it prohibits from distribution. The rules are pretty much what you'd expect in terms of sexualized content and violence and hate speech, but there are some interesting elements, like content that doesn't qualify for recommendation based on its creative quality. Your brand's content is not eligible if it includes QR codes, and that includes snap codes, or polls that ask questions about sensitive personal information, or videos with flashes or strobes without a warning for photosensitive users, tile headlines that might be hard to read, or partner tiles with obscured or missing logos. There are also rules around engagement bait, which the company defines as content where the intent is not to entertain or inform the viewer, but to manipulate them to boost the Snap's views or interactions.

Starting point is 00:05:50 Examples include a wait for it caption, but then it never happens. Challenges based on non-existent Snapchat features, an attempt to trick people into re-watching or pausing a Snap, or misleading or sensationalized headlines. When it comes to commercial content, sponsored content is only eligible for recommendation if it comes from select pre-approved partners. While overt solicitation from non-approved creators is not eligible, this includes any call to action like buy now, links to purchase, discount codes, and so on, meaning only approved creators can use buy now type CTAs or the platform will limit your content reach.

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Starting point is 00:06:54 starting at $19 per month at zensurance.com. Be protected, be Zen. Is the biggest e-commerce company in the world about to take on Google Chrome? Amazon is said to be looking to join the browser game, which would have a huge impact on the advertising industry. The company has sent a survey to users asking a variety of questions like, quote, Imagine there's a new desktop laptop browser from Amazon available to you. Select which of the following you would most like to know more about before you download and try it. The options include privacy and security features, syncing passwords across devices, shopping features, and so on.

Starting point is 00:07:32 Of course, this comes at a time when the ad industry is bracing for massive change, with Google soon to be eliminating third-party cookies from Chrome, the world's most popular browser. Quoting a piece today by Gizmodo, Part of what makes Amazon so attractive to marketers is the fact that the company sits on a treasure trove of data about what consumers are buying and what their shopping habits are like. If Amazon could match that information with the data collection that comes from a web browser, it could tip the scales of internet advertising in favor of the retail giant, unquote.

Starting point is 00:08:08 Amazon did not respond to a request for comment. You may have seen all the attention paid recently to the new face filter from TikTok called Bold Glamour. It's different than other filters because rather than just painting a mesh over top of where it thinks your face is, this uses AI to redraw your face from scratch, and it provides a much more accurate experience. But not everyone is enamored of it. Dove's latest promotion takes on TikTok's bold glamour filter, which has been downloaded more than 16 million times since its launch last month. As part of its self-esteem project, the new Turn Your Back campaign aims to challenge the unrealistic beauty standards perpetuated by these filters. The campaign began with a TikTok post from the company stating that, quote, the impact of these face-augmenting tools, noting

Starting point is 00:09:06 that 80% of girls use filters by the age of 13, and over half prefer the way their photos look after editing. As part of the campaign, influencers will also be posting paid content, encouraging others to avoid digital distortion. Meanwhile, Dove plans to move the campaign beyond the apps and into out-of-home activations. And that will bring us to the lightning round. LinkedIn is introducing AI-powered writing suggestions today for users to generate content for their profile,

Starting point is 00:09:39 as well as for recruiters to write job descriptions. The professional network is also adding 20 more courses to LinkedIn Learning, focusing on generative AI. YouTube TV launched early access testing for MultiView yesterday, a feature that lets subscribers watch four different shows at once. Right now, the feature is strictly limited

Starting point is 00:09:59 to streaming sports. The company says it will gradually expand access to all members in the coming months. Back to LinkedIn for a moment. They launched a new podcast academy yesterday, which provides support to emerging podcast hosts in its push to expand its podcast network. The new academy connects business podcasts with programming, coaching tools and LinkedIn co-branding to expand and improve their reach. And Reddit is back up and running after it identified and fixed an internal system issue that took its site offline for almost six hours

Starting point is 00:10:30 yesterday. When the platform was offline, users reported seeing blank boxes where threads and comments would normally be displayed. Things are back in order. And finally, speaking of Reddit, during that big outage yesterday, members of the subreddit called SuperStonk, which mostly houses meme stock discussions, they swarmed the comment section of a YouTube video yesterday. And it was the 2012 smash hit Gangnam Style. While the invasion confused many, one user on the subreddit soon solved the mystery. It was all part of the plan. Members of the financial subreddit agreed back in

Starting point is 00:11:06 2021 that if Reddit ever had an extended outage, they would all move to the YouTube comment section of Gangnam Style as a backup forum. And that is exactly what they did. Big day at the house today. It is my wife and I's ninth wedding anniversary, which of course makes us wonder what we're going to do on our 10th, so plans developing for that. I've never been to New York, and I'm a huge musical and play fan, so maybe we'll do that.

Starting point is 00:11:40 I think we've got to start saving now aggressively because New York is awfully expensive. But tomorrow is not as much fun. Dental surgery tomorrow. Why is it that when you turn 50, all of a sudden everything starts falling apart? I had to have eye surgery. I'm now going in for dental surgery.

Starting point is 00:11:59 All that to say, I probably won't be able to talk much tomorrow. So our associate producer, the intrepid Steph Gunn, will be in my stead. She'll see you tomorrow. I'll see you on Friday.

Today in Digital Marketing - Could Amazon's Next Feature Dethrone Google's Ad Business?

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