Department of Justice Steadfast In Google Divestiture
Last Friday, the Department of Justice submitted its proposed judgment against Google’s alleged browser monopoly. In a bit of unusual alignment, the Trump department of justice furthered the work of the Biden department of justice in recommending that Google’s ad business break up. What this would mean:
- The DOJ wants Google to provide advertisers with real-time information on ad performance and costs. This measure would provide media teams with unprecedented insight into Google pricing. E.g. Watch out, P-Max.
- Google would have to sell Chrome. The government says that Chrome holds the monopoly on search and collects vast amounts of user data.
Ruling is expected in August. And Google is expected to appeal.
Streaming TV Services Cheat Sheet
This week Digiday published the first of an interesting two-part series “stacking up” the top streaming services. Couple of key takeaways here for brands and media teams:
- The Trade Desk’s CTV platform, called Ventura, is anticipated to cut into share from Amazon, Roku and Samsung. It remains to be seen which TV manufacturer adopts the Ventura operating system. But some industry analysts speculate it could include TV devices in out of home venues, like airports.
- YouTube wins the largest wallet share, YOY – and by a lot, which makes sense for its reach. It’s also the only channel with creator content. But ad spending on YouTube is starting to decrease a bit.
- YouTube and Prime video place #1 and #2 in ad spend – they both have powerful first-party data to map to viewers search/purchase intent. And Prime’s ad-supported service has an audience size of 115 million plus in the US.
- Current ad options for each of the platforms are complex, and I recommend following the below chart for specifics. But it’s a good time to call out that six of the platforms admit to using AI to improve ad targeting. (use includes tactics like analysis of emotional cues; creative content and contextual information; optimal mix of skippable ads; conversion optimization; audience reach/de-duplications, etc.)
- “Gamified ads” and “branded experiences” are emerging, according to five platforms who are experimenting with the new format. Gamers can jump in with QR codes. Phones are controllers. Trivia and polls are popular.
