This Week in Native Ads 8/16

For August and September, I’m holding “office hours” on Fridays. Simply sign up for a 20-minute slot to have a chat with me about trends, best practices, what we are seeing in the market and even do some troubleshooting.

One big thing

What does the ViacomCBS deal mean for native & content? You may recall that Viacom’s Advanced Marketing Services (AMS) was expected to double this year. And that NBCU sold $1B at upfront to digital-first brands.

I would anticipate the offering will continue to evolve, around integrated TV, OTT and branded content. Data to connect it all. And having AMS being the force taking it to market. In a way NBCU provides the model or framework here.

The thing they will have in their favor is the level of investment in content, only second to Netflix. But open to advertisers.

Notable stories this week

• Complex expanding their branded content teams.
• Five predictions for programmatic without cookies. Contextual native and content will become ever more powerful.
• Amazon grew its native spend 5x over the past year.
• Axios to enter the SAAS game, selling a newsletter product.
• Spotify adds more data for its podcasters.
• Where and how ViacomCBS has room to grow in its advertising and D2C businesses.
• Facebook launches new movie premiere formats.
• [Long read] Why Viacom fell and why it can come back.
• The blacklisting of news stories by many advertisers is starting to impact publishers’ revenue and is spurring some to invest in less controversial types of content.
• [Friday fun] Have a play of the Sanders Pop Game. It’s not content but a fun branded execution.

Deals/M&A

• MediaMonks to merge with influencer agency IMA.
• WordPress buys Tumblr for $3m. WordPress cites the social component as a new dimension to their business.

Campaign of the week

• This HotelBNB Case Study for Honduras Maya Hotel.
• LadBible & Lynx do speed dating over an ice bath.
• Guinness shines a light on a Japanese women’s rugby team who stood together, in the face of societal pressure, to pursue their passion for the game.
• Submit your own and view the best campaigns of 2019.

Datapoints of note

• Spotify has had 100,000 podcasts sign up for its beta since October last year. And 450,000 total shows as part of its catalog.
• ViacomCBS will be one of the largest content spenders in industry, $13b past 12 months vs $15b for Netflix.
• Hearst doubles global digital ad revenue year on year. And has run 200 campaigns with its global team.
• Axel Springer news brands see 10.6% ad revenue decline in the year leading to Q2.

Events

• Native Ad Talks, London – 8/28.

Thanks,

-Ben

This article was originally posted on giveitanudge.com/blog. Subscribe to weekly updates here.

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