Today in Digital Marketing - Ghost in the Machine

Episode Date: October 30, 2024

Google on the hotseat after it admits a rep made ad campaign changes without the advertiser’s knowledge. Platforms report a generally strong Q3. One adtech firm wants to make cars your next billboard. And Google is fined more money than exists on the planet — no joke..Today’s story links.📰 Get our free daily newsletter📈 Advertising: Reach Thousands of Marketing Decision-Makers🌍 Follow us on social media or contact us.GO PREMIUM!Get these exclusive benefits when you upgrade:✅ Listen ad-free✅ Back catalog of 20+ marketing science interviews✅ Get the show earlier than the free version✅ “Skip to story” audio chapters✅ Member-only monthly livestreams with TodAnd a lot more! Check it out: todayindigital.com/premium✨ Premium tools: Update Credit Card • Cancel.MORE🆘 Need help with your social media? Check us out: engageQ digital🌟 Rate and Review Us🤝 Our Slack.UPGRADE YOUR SKILLSGoogle Ads for Beginners with Jyll Saskin GalesInside Google Ads: Advanced with Jyll Saskin GalesFoxwell Slack Group and Courses.Today in Digital Marketing is hosted by Tod Maffin and produced by engageQ digital on the traditional territories of the Snuneymuxw First Nation on Vancouver Island, Canada. Associate producer: Steph Gunn.Some links in these show notes may provide affiliate revenue to us.Our Sponsors:* Check out Kinsta: https://kinsta.comPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

It is Wednesday, October 30th. Today, Google on the hot seat after it admits a rep made ad campaign changes without the advertiser's knowledge. Platforms report a generally strong Q3. One ad tech firm wants to make cars your next billboard. And Google is fined more money than exists on the planet. I'm Todd Maffin. That's ahead today in digital marketing. A haunted house, but it's your Google ad account mysteriously getting taken over by an ad rep without your consent. Ginny Marvin, Google ads liaison, confirmed yesterday that a Google ad rep

recently made unauthorized changes to a client's account without approval. The issue was first flagged by Andy Youngs, co-founder of the PPC People, who posted about noticing changes to their ad accounts and campaigns on LinkedIn. Quoting from his post, quote, we've just had a Google rep actively make changes to a client account without authorization

from us or the client. The changes they made include writing new ad copy, adjusting headline pinning, Following an investigation, Marvin responded to the Post saying, we did not properly follow our processes for ensuring approvals. She said the issue was a mistake and that Google is taking steps to prevent similar breaches. From ad mishaps to strong earnings, Google published its third quarter earnings report yesterday, beating revenue expectations. Ad revenue climbed 10 percent year over year. They're at about $66 billion now. Search and Other, the company's largest segment, was up 12% year over year to nearly $50 billion, driven by demand from financial services and retail marketers in

particular. YouTube saw a 12% increase in ad sales during the period, bringing in nearly $9 billion of revenue. Despite its success, Google faces a turbulent landscape with recent regulatory scrutiny looming over its operations. In August, a landmark ruling determined that Google maintains an illegal monopoly on search, jeopardizing its primary revenue stream. The company plans to appeal this decision, which could let competitors gain ground in the search market. Google is also facing a separate antitrust challenge from the

Department of Justice concerning its ad tech network, which recently wrapped up a three-week trial. During discussions with investors, executives refrained from addressing ongoing litigation but reinforced their argument that Google's dominance stems from a superior product. Google's ad business isn't the only player thriving in Q3. Reddit also posted its third quarter results yesterday, surpassing expectations. The platform raked in nearly $350 million in total revenue for the quarter, up almost 70% year over year. 315 million of that 350 million came from ad revenue, which saw a 55% increase from the previous year. In terms of

demand, performance revenue from mid and lower funnel campaigns made up 60% of Reddit's Q3 ad revenue and fueled more than half of its revenue growth, according to the company. Spend from mid-market, small and medium-sized business advertisers grew 80% year-over-year, while the number of ad-driven clicks also doubled this quarter. On the user growth front, Reddit's average daily user count reached 97 million in the quarter, up nearly 50% year-over-year. With strong gains in both U.S. and international markets, the platform also surpassed 100 million daily unique users several times during the period.

Snapchat's Q3 report card is also in, showing mixed performance results. While its ad business is steadily improving, there are signs of stagnation in user growth. The platform generated $1.37 billion in revenue in the third quarter. That is a 15% increase year over year. Ad revenue reached $1.25 billion, a 10% rise from the previous year, largely fueled by a 15% increase in direct response ad revenue. Snapchat added 11 million users in Q3, bringing its total now to 443 million daily active users.

But its North American daily active users remain flat at 100 million, a number that hasn't changed in more than two years. On the usage front, Snap reported a 25% year-over-year increase in total time spent watching content within the app, while Spotlight, its TikTok-like short-form video feed, has more than 500 million monthly active users in Q3. LinkedIn has a new bot designed to take on the role of job recruiter. The platform's new hiring assistant tool will let HR managers automatically generate a list of LinkedIn users who are well-suited for advertised positions. According to LinkedIn, it will build a pipeline of qualified candidates tailored to your hiring goals.

It identifies top applicants, even drafts outreach messages and responds to basic questions about job roles. It can also schedule interviews, take notes, and manage follow-up. LinkedIn says it's currently testing the tool with a small group of customers, with plans for a broader rollout expected next year. Stick, that's spelled S-T-I-C, a new player in the ad tech industry, is revving up on advertising by turning cars into ad placements. Through its app, car owners can sign up to receive removable ads from participating brands, which they can stick on their cars. Brands can target the areas where they want to advertise, and drivers are free to just go about their daily lives while earning up to 14 cents per mile driven. The stickers track the driver's whereabouts and also calculate ad impressions based on

how many people see them. Stick can also target ads based on the location of the car and the time of day. The service is currently only available in, you guessed it, California, but it plans to expand to Las Vegas and New York. And finally, a Russian court has fined Google 20 decillion dollars. That is 20 with 33 zeros at the end. For what? Well, for blocking content from Russian media stations, of course. And the fines, warns the country, could get even bigger.

Just so we put this in context, the World Bank pegs global GDP at about $100 trillion. So Google would need more money than exists on Earth to cover the fine, which it fell a little short of yesterday, reporting $88 billion in quarterly revenue. Should we start a GoFundMe? That is it for today. See you tomorrow.