Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up … Want it by email? Register Here.
Killer out
The departure was exciting news for WarnerMedia CEO Jason Killer Bloomberg About the HBO Max ad, now that WarnerMedia has merged with Discovery (and it’s headed by Discovery chief David Jalsav).
Get rid of the wreckage of AT & T’s one-time ambitious plan to build a top global advertising business with Xandr that will monetize Time Warner and outside media powered by AT&T mobile data. Killer said AT&T has provided the necessary cover for short-term goals to make difficult changes without pressure from investors.
When AT&T bought Time Warner, the ad was a nightmare for HBO. But as of last year, HBO has an ad-supported level.
“Nearly 50% of each new one [HBO Max] Customers are choosing the level of advertising, ”said Killer. Soon, ad-based sign-ups will be in the majority – partly because WarnerMedia likes it. He says WarnerMedia earns slightly more than the average ad-supported user – who still pays $ 10 per month without being $ 15 ad-free.
Hulu has made its level of advertising more enticing than ad-free over the years, as it does more per customer. Three of the five new Hulu sign-ups are ad-supported.
Killer added that it introduces “inevitable” Netflix ads, because if it wants to have 220 million to 400 million, 800 million, one billion users, it’s not just a rate, it has to provide options.
Etsy makes it Betsy
Etsy is in an awkward adolescence because it tries to turn from a specialized product market into a legitimate ecommerce player.
Sellers also prefer mandatory investment in its online advertising platform, The Wall Street Journal Report sellers are also protesting Etsy’s pressure to offer them free shipping – another chip off profit margins. Also, the company has introduced its first sales fee increase since 2018.
Etsy sellers who sell more than $ 10,000 online each year must reinvest a portion of Etsy’s managed advertising service, which targets off-site ads that return to Etsy stores. There are examples of this type of requirement, such as mandatory retail media investment, including a brand-carrying grocery chain. Etsy’s fees are still lower than the advertising costs and the mandatory fees for Amazon or eBay sales.
Craft vendors face a different dynamic, though. They do not send pallets from the factory to the warehouse. Anyone who carves wooden bowls by hand and has long queues of customers to buy does not benefit from Etsy ads. People who view and click products are ticked to discover a waiting list. And any conversion driven by Etsy ads is entirely taken from the seller, who will fill the sale regardless.
Piece at Broking
Speaking of HBO, With John Oliver tonight last week Data brokers shine in the industry.
LiveRamp, public-owned Epsilon, IPG-owned Acxiom, Gravy Analytics and Cuebiq received callouts as key players “which you may have never heard of.” (Ouch.)
Oliver explains why first-party cookies exist for legitimate purposes – and why third-party cookies have annoyed web users since they were invented.
The cookie-based audience segments compiled by data brokers are fun – “kids and cabernets,” “golf carts and gourmets,” “ambitious singles”, etc. – but sensitive data is also available. A local TV station has proven this by purchasing family lists with pregnant women and going home to look for pregnant women. The zip code can be broken by diabetics, cancer patients or people struggling with depression.
Medical data is protected between a doctor or healthcare provider and a patient, but not between the user and the search engine. The same goes for financial information, but only if you consult a professional without typing “help im behind bills” into Google.
Oliver reveals how fragile “de-identification” can be … claiming he has run embarrassing ads targeting potential congressmen and using first-party data on ad clicks (a “Can you vote twice?” Ad, a For divorce services and another… Ted Cruz erotic fiction) to conceal information.
Want federal privacy laws? Insult legislators with targeted data.
But wait, there’s more!
Following $ 80 million in private equity rounds, Food52 retires 10% of employees in an apparent shift from a content-based media business to a business focus. [Insider]
Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite, has collected $ 2 billion – $ 1 billion, valued at $ 31.5 billion – each from Sony and LEGO. [release]
Uber wants to create a travel “super app” by adding planes, trains and rental cars. [CNBC]
According to a new industry report, outdoor advertising exploded in Q4 2021. [The Drum]
Shields: Advertisers are still gaming, without any clear direction. [blog]