??Adtech Boom, Privacy Failures, and Media Power Shifts: Dive into My Latest Industry Insights!

Welcome all!

Welcome back from summer! This edition covers a surge in ad tech earnings and Core10’s breakthrough. Explore Harris Campaign’s $200M digital push vs. Temu’s $1.2B spend, cookie deprecation progress, and Europe's ad market trends. Plus, August’s revived ad tech M&A, the challenges of pay-or-tracking walls, GARM’s disbandment, tech giants’ carbon removal coalition, noyb’s GDPR complaints against Twitter, and the shifting media power dynamics with curation. Stay informed with these key updates!

??Happy reading!?

??Chart of the week

Rui de Freitas (link to post)

Key Takeaways:

1. Global advertising spend will surpass $1 trillion in 2024.
2. The top five tech giants (Alibaba, Alphabet, Amazon, ByteDance, Meta) will dominate over 50% of the market.
3. New players face challenges in capturing market share.
4. Innovative strategies and targeted investments are crucial for emerging companies to compete.
5. Success depends on navigating this concentrated landscape.

??Expert insight of the week

Alastair (Alex) Rampell

What can be learned?

• AI is driving a massive transformation where software increasingly replaces labor, potentially becoming one of the most significant shifts in history.
• Capital investment in resources like engineers and GPUs now produces software that acts as labor, leading to expanded and new software markets.
• Traditional software digitized physical processes, but now AI can perform tasks that were previously human-only, fundamentally changing software use cases.
• This shift doesn’t signal the end of white-collar work but will likely create new "AI jobs" that weren’t feasible with human labor.

? ?An espresso…

1. QuoVadis 2Q24 Review: Adtech Earnings Surge and Core10 Portfolio Breaks New Ground
2. Harris Campaign’s $200M Digital Ad Push: Significant But Less Disruptive Than Temu ’s $1.2B Spend
3. Cookie Deprecation Progress: Restricted Web Surpasses 58% of Publisher Impressions
4. Exploring Europe’s Online Advertising Market
5. Revived Ad Tech M&A: August Sees Key Deals and Strategic Shifts Amid Economic Uncertainty
6. Pay-or-Tracking Walls: Privacy Promises Fall Short for 33% of Paying Users
7. GARM Disbands, Creating a Void in Brand-Safety Standards for Ad Industry
8. Tech Giants Form Symbiosis Coalition to Invest in 20 Million Tons of Carbon Removal by 2030
9. noyb.eu Takes Action: Nine GDPR Complaints Filed Against Twitter for Unlawful AI Data Use
10. Why AI Struggles with Art: The Missing Ingredient in Creative Machine Learning
11. How Curation is Shifting Media Power Dynamics: Restoring Publisher Influence and Rebalancing the Ad Ecosystem
12. U.S. Court Rules 谷歌 Maintains Unlawful Monopoly in Search Market: A Landmark Antitrust Decision

??More details??

?? ??Most relevant digital news and key take-aways

1.) The QuoVadis 2Q24 Quarterly Review highlights a strong earnings season for adtech, with robust revenue growth and improving EBIT margins across the sector. Adtech stocks have fluctuated within high-low ranges since October 2023, but the AdTech Core10 portfolio surpassed upper boundary resistance in August. (Link to the post)

Thank you, Tom Triscari , for sharing.

2.) Kamala Harris’ campaign plans to spend $200 million on digital advertising over nine weeks leading up to the election. While substantial, this budget is small compared to Temu ’s $1.2 billion spend on Meta in 2023. The Harris campaign will distribute its budget across various channels, with a significant portion allocated to CTV, minimizing the impact on social media advertising prices. (Link to post)

Thank you, Eric Seufert , for all these insights.

3.) Cookie deprecation is progressing, but publishers are already more than halfway through the transition. Recent eMarketer charts accurately predict a cookie-free web in the future but understate the current situation. The restricted web already accounts for 58% of publisher impressions, not 37%, with cookies available in only 42% of global impressions. (Link to post)

Thank you, Scott Messer , for all these valuable insights.

4.) Join the DMEXCO - Digital Marketing Expo & Conference podcast for an in-depth discussion with Daniel Knapp of IAB Europe as he explores the latest trends and insights into Europe’s online advertising market. (Link to the podcast)

Thank you, Daniel Knapp , for all these insights.

5.) Ad tech M&A activity is picking up after a quiet period, with recent deals including Outbrain ’s merger with Teads and Adelaide Metrics’ acquisition of Rita. Economic uncertainty had slowed M&A, but improved efficiency and capital flow are reigniting interest. Cookie deprecation's impact has been minimal, with CTV and AI driving current deals. Divestments by major tech firms, including potential changes to Google Ad Manager , may create new opportunities for strategic acquisitions. (Link to VideoWeek )

6.) Assessment of websites' Pay-or-Tracking Walls (also known as "Pay-or-Consent" or "Accept-or-Pay") reveals the following:

• Promises Made: 65.4% of websites with these walls offer "No Tracking" and 34.6% offer "No Ad Tracking" to paying users.
• Privacy Gaps: 32.9% of these sites fail to honor their privacy promises to paying users.
• Improvement Potential: 80% of these sites could meet their privacy commitments by eliminating just one or two trackers. (Link to post)

Thank you, Timo Müller-Tribbensee , for all these valuable insights.

7.) The Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), which played a crucial role in setting brand-safety standards for the advertising industry, has disbanded due to legal challenges from Twitter X . GARM’s closure leaves a gap in authoritative brand-safety guidelines. Established in 2019 after the Christchurch mosque shootings, GARM defined risk categories and established a brand-safety floor. Its standards provided a common language for brands and tech platforms to negotiate safety expectations, though its independence was often questioned. With GARM gone, the industry must find a new, independent organization to maintain and improve brand-safety standards. (Link to ADWEEK ).

Thank you, Cat Perloff , for this article and Gerry D'Angelo for spreading the word.

8.) 谷歌 , Meta , 微软 , and Salesforce have formed the Symbiosis Coalition, committing to purchase up to 20 million tons of nature-based carbon removal credits by 2030. The coalition will focus on projects related to afforestation, reforestation, and revegetation, prioritizing those that integrate advanced data and research while engaging Indigenous and local communities. Symbiosis aims to address challenges such as high costs and low investor interest in nature-based projects by facilitating long-term agreements and ensuring financial transparency. The coalition seeks to help bridge the significant investment gap needed to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. (Link to ESG DIVE)

9.) noyb.eu has filed nine GDPR complaints against Twitter X for unlawfully using the personal data of over 60 million EU/EEA users to train its AI technologies without consent. Unlike Meta , which ceased similar practices, Twitter did not notify users. The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) initiated court proceedings to halt the illegal data processing but settled with Twitter to only pause AI training until September, without fully addressing the legality or handling of existing data. To ensure comprehensive legal enforcement, noyb is seeking involvement from data protection authorities in nine EU countries. (Link to post)

10.) Current AI tools often produce bland or derivative content due to reliance on averaged data and imitation rather than original decision-making. Creating compelling art involves making numerous nuanced decisions, which AI struggles to replicate effectively. While AI may improve, it currently lacks the depth and creativity that human artists bring to their work. (Link to The NewYorker)

Thank you, Michael Jackson , for sharing this information.

11.) Curation is reshaping the media landscape by aggregating and packaging media and audience data, thereby shifting power from Demand-Side Platforms (DSPs) back to publishers. Key takeaways include:

• Curation vs. Traditional Ad Networks: Unlike traditional ad networks or Supply-Side Platforms (SSPs), Curation Houses do not own media but work with publishers to package and optimize audiences, enhancing monetization and targeting.
• Publisher Benefits: Publishers gain better access to premium inventory and revenue through collaboration with Curation Houses, which help in developing audience cohorts and providing fair compensation.
• Power Dynamics: Deal Curation as a Service (DCaaS) restores balance in the media ecosystem by improving publisher control over revenue and reducing DSP dominance.
• Impact on Media Quality: Curation Houses are incentivized to maintain high media quality and optimize outcomes, which encourages publishers to avoid market-eroding practices.
• Future Implications: Curation may further influence media decision-making, with potential for media agencies to reclaim influence by adopting or creating their own Curation Desks.

Overall, Curation enhances publisher revenue and restores balance in media decision-making by focusing on effective audience targeting and fair compensation. (Link to post)

Thank you, Scott Messer , for sharing.

12.) A U.S. judge has ruled that 谷歌 holds a monopoly over internet search, citing its dominant market position. According to the ruling, Google's share of U.S. search queries grew from 80% in 2009 to nearly 90% by 2020, with even higher figures on mobile devices. The court highlighted Google's use of default search engine placements on browsers and mobile devices, which has allowed it to capture a large share of user data and queries. In 2021, Google reportedly paid over $26 billion for these default placements, which limits competitors' access to similar distribution channels. The judge concluded that Google violated antitrust laws by maintaining its dominance through exclusive distribution agreements in the U.S. general search and text advertising markets. (Link to post & link to full decision)

Thank you, Luiza Jarovsky , for sharing.

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