DIGITAL ROUNDUP - OCTOBER 2024

Welcome to this month’s edition of the roundup to some core updates in the digital advertising industry.

NB: the following represents my own opinion

Google anti-trust lawsuit begins with plenty of newly shed information made public

Google have had their hands full navigating the antitrust case into their ads approach in the US via the Department for Justice.

DEEPDIVE

The ongoing antitrust case of Google vs the US DOJ is without doubt something of a major event within the ads industry. Those that have been in the industry for decades vs even those new to it will know the power of Google in its different elements, but the focus of this antitrust case sits purely within the adserving / advertising business of which programmatic is the core area.

Now i’m not going to take this apart in the critical detail it requires but there are plenty of amazing coverages to take a look at for this:

My thoughts are merely observational & where I think this will net out:

  • Clearly the US DOJ have done their homework and presented evidence well of where Google have somewhat leveraged their power to influence the decision making of certain ad products

  • There are some striking points around the role of AdX/GAM as a SSP & the advent of header bidding / prebid.js making Google have to rethink their approach

  • Email correspondence shows even things like 3rd party cookie deprecation has the implications to Google’s ads business that other partners of the Google ecosystem may not inherently realise (great thread on this here by Jason Kint)

  • In respond, Google’s defence team looks to be going on the “confusion” tactic, by trying to showcase how complicated the adtech ecosystem truly is and how it keep evolving (particularly with the fact they keep updating their platform names every so often)

As the trial enters towards its closing phase, there is still a bit of unknown as to where this would net out. Given that the US have already been successful showcasing that the search part of their business could be seen as a monopoly, there is likely expectation that there would be some form of fallout here too.

But this case is likely not going to disrupt things like the state of YouTube advertising (being only possible through Google platforms) or the current configuration of DV360 as the largest DSP globally. More so, i’d imagine it is more likely that the components of its supply side, the role of GAM in its current state but also looking forwards to the Privacy Sandbox alongside the ever confusing Adsense vs GAM vs Admob question. Brian O’Kelley’s comments on the recent Marketecture podcast (a must watch/listen) was also very interesting to think about. But whatever happens, this could mark the start of a shift in Google’s adtech setup as well as what regional shifts may occur e.g. EU’s DMA focus in the future.

Google Finally moves YOutube Action campaigns into DEmand Gen

Google have continued to make automation the key theme as YouTube action campaigns phase out in favour of Demand Gen (https://blog.google/products/ads-commerce/video-action-campaigns-demand-gen-upgrade/)

DEEPDIVE

The state of Google’s ad products continues to dominate the headlines, as the holy grail of automation / efficiency aligns with its heavy focus on AI, both from the algorithmic perspective but increasingly generative AI. The rollout of Performance Max & Demand Gen as two of the newest campaign types was championed by Google as a more streamlined approach to targeting all their properties from 1 optimised campaign.

Though with this automated approach comes with a lot of limitations, to which PMAX in particular has been rightfully viewed as not exactly the most transparent campaign type created. It is for sure getting better as shown by Google’s latest announcement but my personal view is that you should still be mindful of exactly what these campaigns type do vs other search / display campaigns as well as having a rigorous testing plan to show if it is actually incremental. Ultimately any sane advertiser wants to know where all your ads are being served & how, which is a flaw in these campaigns types.

For the update in question, this is quite a large shift for performance led YouTube activity, where VAC or video action campaigns were the best approach to take. With Demand Gen taking this mantle, there will be a concerns of what this means for control of delivery in YouTube vs not as well as the most critical element of brand safety. The use of inclusion channel lists has already been under scrutiny for this campaign type, with only the most serviced brands able to overcome this. But as I will repeat every opportunity I get, there is no report in Google Ads or DV360 that shows 100% of where you served a YouTube ad campaign on & that is a concern for auditing / brand safety. The main positive here is that Demand Gen is finally arriving to DV360 users this month, which is good timing for this eventual transition of YouTube action campaigns.

OTHeR KEY CALLOUTS

SOCIAL / SEARCH HIGHLIGHTS 📱

  • Google have added a new Campaign Type Conversion column to Demand Gen campaigns to factor in view-through attribution (Google)

  • Snapchat have released some new intentions for where their ads products are going, as per their 13th year anniversary and partner summit (Snapchat)

  • TikTok have fully launched their search proposition into general release, but still remains US only for now (TikTok)

  • Google will be rolling out Paused Ads on YouTube, as another placement to target on (Mediapost)

PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS 🌐

  • Google have released first position as a new targeting option for YouTube campaigns (Google)

  • The IAB have announced a new creative solution called CreativeLi which factors in sustainability into the creation of ads to reduce file size without impacting quality (IAB)

  • Roku have announced a new retail media network with Currys in the UK (Advanced Television)

  • Tesco have partnered with TheTradeDesk for wider audience targeting capabilities on their retail media proposition (MediaLeader)

IDENTITY HIGHLIGHTS 🆔

  • The CMA have made an updated announcement on the state of the Google Privacy Sandbox, doubling down on the intention to still ensure it does not give Google any advantages (Sandbox)

  • Zeotap have announced a more thorough integration with ID5 as a tool for addressability using ID5’s universal identifier (Zeotap)

  • Ocado have become the latest entrant to the Retail Media space with their grocer offering (Grocer)

  • Amazon have rolled out Similar Audiences as a lookalike functionality on DSP, in a direct opposite to Google’s demise of the same tool in favour of Optimized Targeting (Amazon)

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