The Spotlight is illumin’s monthly round-up of the latest trends and must-know articles in journey advertising.
Insider Intelligence’s latest on programmatic advertising solutions
According to Insider Intelligence, first-party data activation is emerging as the most promising cookieless marketing solution. Buyers and sellers leverage first-party assets to form more intimate partnerships. Almost 9 out of 10 CTV ad dollars are bought and served programmatically, according to the report. Despite YouTube’s dominance, that share remains around 8 in 10 when it is excluded, but continues to rise as advertisers become more and more reliant on streaming.
Junk websites pull money from programmatic ads
According to a new report from NewsGuard, some are using AI to create junk websites and attract paid advertising. 140 major brands pay for ads on unreliable AI-written sites without their knowledge. In these AI-generated news sites, 90% of the ads from major brands are served by Google, even though Google’s own policies prohibit sites from placing Google-served ads on pages that contain “spammy automatically generated content.”
Ads are placed on various websites based on complex calculations that optimize the number of eyeballs an ad might attract from the company’s target audience. In a recent survey, the Association of National Advertisers found that 21% of ad impressions in their sample went to made-for-advertising sites. The group estimated that around $13 billion is wasted globally annually on these sites.
Audio advertising and podcasting continue to rise
According to Proximic’s survey of marketers in various industries in the U.S., programmatic advertisers are anticipating numerous changes in the upcoming year. This points to marketers adapting to new targeting methods and data partners preparing for regulatory changes.
Audio and podcast advertising experienced significant growth, showing the highest year-over-year gains compared to other channels. Additionally, 5% of marketers are predicted to invest in CTV for the first time this year. According to the report, 47% of marketers are expected to switch to ID-free tactics by the end of 2023, as contextual data is projected to surpass cookie-dependent data.
By 2023, 44% of marketer ad spend will come from third-party ID-based targeting, while 25% will come from audience targeting using first-party data.
Online News Act in Canada
Canada’s new Online News Act, previously known as Bill C-18, requires global tech companies to compensate Canadian news outlets for sharing or using their content on their platforms. A survey by Angus Reid Institute found that 61% of Canadians believe that Big Tech companies should pay Canadian organizations for sharing their content as these platforms benefit from advertising dollars that should have gone to the original content creators.
Losing Google and Facebook as news vehicles would have a significant impact on Canadians, as these platforms are used daily by more than 40% of Canadians for news consumption.
Google implements GA4 fractional, cross-web conversions feature
Google Ads has introduced a new feature that lets the platform import fractional, cross-channel web conversion credits from Google Analytics 4 properties. This update enables Google Ads to import fractional cross-channel conversion credits, even when the last non-direct click was not from Google advertising.
Advertisers can make better-informed decisions when optimizing their ad spend, leading to improved ROI and increased campaign effectiveness. By considering all touchpoints in the customer journey, advertisers gain a holistic view of their marketing efforts, ensuring they allocate resources efficiently and ultimately achieve better results.
