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The Refresh: Google backs down, streaming soars, a party!

Author

AdTech God
July 25, 2024

Welcome to The Refresh, a weekly newsletter from AdTechGod and Marketecture. Every Thursday we’ll bring you the latest advertising news, commentary, and memes.

Breaking News

  • YouTube earns 8.6 billion in ad revenue in Q2, misses Wall Street estimates. (Hollywood Reporter)

  • MIQ has new Co-CEO (Linkedin)

  • CTV will continue to see growth because consumption is exploding from consumers (Exchangeformedia)

  • Netflix hits 278 million member households (MarketingBrew)

  • Six companies accuse Pluto TV of bid duplication (Adweek)

  • Havas agency loses B-Corp status for work with Shell (MarketingBrew)

  • BIA forecasts record $11.1 billion political ad spend (BIA)

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The Latest and Greatest

AdTechGod Pod

AdTechGod sits down with Tal Almany the VP, Global Supply at Kargo. Tal's impressive career spans key roles at Adconion, OpenX, and SpotX, where he refined his skills and built lasting relationships with key publishing partners in the US and abroad.

Marketecture

Cookie Special Episode: Andrew Casale from IndexExchange and Paul Bannister from Raptive help analyze the Google cookie news.

Reading between the lines, changes seem minimal, except for a new Chrome workflow that may give users control over cookie availability.

Paparo’s Purview

Our dear leader gives his hot takes on the news of the week

No! Hashing doesn’t make your data anonymous

The FTC comes out against hashing. Companies frequently use hashing to obscure personal data, like email addresses or phone numbers, claiming it ensures anonymity. However, hashing still allows for user identification and tracking, posing privacy risks. The FTC has taken action against companies like Nomi and BetterHelp for such practices. The FTC stresses that any identifier, whether hashed or not, can be used to track individuals, and companies must not misuse these identifiers to compromise user privacy.

“This logic is as old as it is flawed – hashes aren’t “anonymous” and can still be used to identify users, and their misuse can lead to harm. Companies should not act or claim as if hashing personal information renders it anonymized. FTC staff will remain vigilant to ensure companies are following the law and take action when the privacy claims they make are deceptive.”

—FTC

Ari’s view: The primary role of hashing is preventing the misuse of sensitive identifiers, but as the FTC notes, it does not not serve to anonymize that data and does not reduce the risk of the re-identification. Of course, in the US, since there is no binding privacy regulation, there isn't much risk of transferring non-anonymized data to third parties.

Amazon cracking down on RTO

Amazon is enforcing its return-to-office (RTO) mandate more strictly, having one-on-one discussions with employees not spending enough time in the office. Amazon believes this policy yields the best results for customers, business, and culture. Leaked Slack messages reveal that employees must now meet specific minimum-hour requirements to count as office attendance. This crackdown follows reports of employees “coffee badging,” or briefly scanning their badge to appear present. Amazon’s stance comes after resistance, including a petition and walkout threats. Other companies like Dell and Google are also tightening their RTO policies, with increasing managerial actions against non-compliant employees.

AdTechGods view: Enough is enough. Coffee Badging? Walk out threats? We are all adults and Amazon should be treating their employees as such. I know this is common sense but employees are responsible to work and deliver on their goals. Employers are responsible for hiring competent people where something as silly as ”Coffee Badging” isn’t even a concern because they know their employees deliver; whether at a desk or at a cafe. It shouldn’t matter in 2024. It gets worse… everyones doing it (see below)

Google reverses course

Google has decided to retain third-party cookies in its Chrome browser, opting instead to provide users with an “informed choice” about their web browsing. This shift, announced in a blog post, comes after extensive deliberation and discussions with regulators like the U.K.’s CMA and ICO. Google will continue to support Privacy Sandbox APIs, aiming to enhance privacy and utility.

The industry has no clue what will happen…

Ari’s view: Regulators told Google that they couldn't remove cookies without approval so Google said “it's not us removing cookies, it's the users.” The net effect will largely be the same.

Streaming Soars: Netflix Surges, YouTube Nears 10% of TV Viewing, Disney+ Dominates

In June 2024, Netflix saw the largest monthly growth in TV usage, increasing by 11.8% and moving to fourth place with 8.4% of total TV consumption. Streaming accounted for 40.3% of TV viewing, with YouTube nearly reaching 10%. Disney maintained the top spot, driven by a 15% increase in Disney+ usage, holding 10.8% of TV time. NBCU retained third place with 8.5% despite a slight drop. Cable channels like A&E, AMC, and Hallmark also saw increases, benefiting from a lack of sports and drama content on broadcast networks.

Ari’s view: This news comes the same week that senior Netflix advertising executive Peter Naylor chooses to exit the company. We all know that Netflix is sitting on a goldmine of advertising revenue, but how much it can capture and how quickly remains an open question.

FAST apps ad spend marketshare drops 64% in Q2

Pixalate's new report highlights significant declines in ad spend for Free Ad-Supported Television (FAST) apps across major platforms in Q2 2024. The data shows a 64% year-over-year decrease in estimated ad spend marketshare for FAST apps on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Samsung SmartTV. This decline suggests market saturation and a shift towards non-FAST apps, perceived as offering more premium inventory. Analyst Richard Greenfield notes increased competition from Amazon Prime Video and pressures on CPMs, impacting platforms like NBC's Peacock and YouTube. Netflix's entry into programmatic advertising is expected to further intensify market competition.

Ari’s view: While the big streaming platforms, including Netflix, tried to make a subscription-only model fly, the early FAST channels like Fubo, and Pluto had a lot of the programmatic landscape to themselves. This is obviously changed.

Community

After Party: Return to the Golden Era of Madison Ave.

MadTech, Marketecture and Aperiam are thrilled to announce our next event in New York City, aptly named "Return to the Golden Era of Madison Ave.”

👉 Save your spot: https://www.adtechgodevents.com/ 👈

Event Details:
▶Located at the Virgin Hotel, NYC.
▶ 300 special guests from advertising, media, adtech and the agency world.

Meme of the Week

Wow, this week was the Super Bowl of cookie memes! Too many to list, but check out Digichad, MediaLad, and my posts on Instagram.

On another note: If I get Jeff Green on the AdTechGod Pod, Ari will make me CEO of Marketecture. Can you help me make it happen?

Connect with Us

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