Digiday Sunday
Digiday:?An intense week of coverage as this normally quiet news cycle erupted with hugely consequential developments. First out of the gate last Monday was a federal judge’s ruling that Google is indeed monopolistic in its long running dominance of the search sector. Then came the latest report out?of?Adalytics which sounded the alarm bell about use of AI systems for brand safety and pointed the finger at the ad verifications services for not really having a handle on the situation. Then came the massive and aggressive federal antitrust suit against Global Alliance of Responsible Media which, in short order, caused the trade association to collapse and shutter while also alarming associated advertisers that they might be next on Musk/Yaccarino legal agenda in an effort to restore the big brand marketing spend on the platform that has thus far mostly eluded them. As it wound down over the weekend, the Paris summer games, and our Olympic-focused coverage, still held reader interest as did the ongoing fallout from Google cookie left turn. – James Cooper
Story highlights
Seb Joseph and Krystal Scanlon l, with great assists from Kayleigh Barber and Kristina Monllos , teamed up on our excellent and blanket coverage of the X legal jihad against Global Alliance of Responsible Media and the big advertisers that have shunned the platform as an unsavory environment for their brand marketing dollars. Across three separate pieces and long reporting hours out of their time zone, they reported on the news of the lawsuit, the reaction to the legal action and the almost immediate collapse of GARM under the weight and menace of the filing against it. As they reported in that piece, the suit ‘signals that powerful individuals or entities can dismantle industry standards and accountability through legal action, undermining collective efforts to tackle crucial issues like brand safety and ethical practices. Worse, this erosion of established frameworks could embolden other influential figures to challenge such organizations, further destabilizing the industry and eroding its capacity to self-regulate and maintain responsible standards.’
?Here are the three pieces:
Marty Swant pulled together a nicely comprehensive piece on the new Adalytics report and its questions about use of AI systems for brand safety. As he reported, ‘The latest report from the digital watchdog,?released today, claims to have found hundreds of brands appearing next to unsafe content on user-generated content (UGC) websites such as Fandom wiki pages and other websites. Many of the ads have code for using brand-safety tech from providers such as DoubleVerify and Integral Ad Science. According to a draft of the report reviewed by Digiday, the research idea came after a multi-national brand’s global head of media asked Adalytics to review its ad placements for brand safety.’
Alexander Lee wrote a clever piece looking at how anime has shown up in a major way during this year’s summer Olympics in Paris. As he reported, ‘Anime’s moment in the zeitgeist —?already?well underway?prior to the Olympics’ July 26 start — has continued to pick up momentum at the world’s premier sporting event. Athletes from several countries have?made new fans?by striking victory poses from their favorite anime shows, while spectators have populated the internet with memes comparing athletes to anime characters.’
Kimeko McCoy reported out a smart news analysis on how the retail media sector is responding to Google cessation of cookie deprecation. As she reported, ‘The current pitch for retail media networks is that they’re brand-safe environments, first-party data treasure troves, and an opportunity for an advertiser to show up closer to the point of sale. Regardless of Google’s cookie apocalypse, that pitch holds true, said Ethan Goodman, evp of digital commerce at The Mars Agency. Retail media networks are still better equipped to connect advertisers with audiences than other media providers and networks, he added.’?
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Kimeko McCoy ‘s edition of the Digiday podcast featured a lively convo with Rachel Delphin, CMO at Twitch, who discussed her efforts to woo livestream creators in a fragmented digital marketplace. As she wrote in her lead in the chat, ‘Delphin talks about Twitch’s plans to stay in the cultural zeitgeist all while keeping attention from creators and advertisers.’ Give a listen here
?Here are the Digiday + Briefings for the week
—Media Briefing: News Publishers’ AI ad tools show positive lift, but still have to prove themselves
See you next Sunday!