End Of Third-Party Cookies, What Is There For Marketers: Takeaway!
Introduction
Google has announced that Chrome will not support Third-party cookies. Following this, other browsers are following the footsteps of Google. Also, one must not forget that Google has the largest market share of the advertisement business. Therefore, it would not be false to say that it is the end of an era and the inception of effective advertising is taking place.
Understand the behavior of Third-party cookies!
Since the Third-party cookies will perish soon, it is not a tutorial on how the third-party cookies work. However, you can consider this as good information. It will help you understand and devise new strategies for launching an upcoming advertising campaign effectively.
Cookies
Every time you visits a website, a cookie-enabled website monitors the user behavior. It stores the information in its stores so that when someone visits the website next time, it can populate the results according to the choices made by the user on their previous visit.
Cookies are small storage units that can save a proportion of data for the user, and later the advertisers can use the data to study the user behavior and ease their experience by providing them with the results according to their interests. The cookies used by the website are known as first-party cookies. It solely belongs to the website and can only be accessed by the development and advertising teams of the website. They use this data for understanding the user behavior, and populating advertisement and results based on the user’s preferences.
However, the Third-party cookies do not belong to any website. They connect to an advertising server that also reads the user behavior the same way as the first-party cookies. Third-party cookies are independent of any website and can use the data to trace the overall journey of a user on the internet and later map the data and provide advertisement across the internet as per the preferences made by the user on any channel that they might have used. This data is vulnerable and can be accessed or purchased by different organizations to fulfil their goals of running successful advertising campaigns and portraying their products so that users can be drawn to a particular website and compelled to purchase products.
How advertisers will be affected by the discontinuation of Third-party cookies?
The news has created a commotion in the advertising world and left the advertisers thinking about their next step. There is a rumor that things will worsen for the advertisers, and there will not be a freeway that will lead them to success. However, it is not all true!
Yes! Ending third-party cookies will have some drawbacks, and the small advertisers who were gaining benefit from small investments in the marketing world will have to suffer for a short period. However, the ending of third party cookies has opened a void that is also a gateway for opportunities for the new ecosystems to emerge. An example of this is the emergence of Amazon who is ready to fill the void with its informative system. Amazon is in word with several companies to come together and create a new informative system that will be solely working on the Amazon ecosystem.
Soon the other companies will see the opportunity and will try to Ancash it with their ecosystems. Therefore, there is a greater chance that Google will lose its monopoly in the advertising world.
Firstly, it will help the advertisers to frame their campaigns better. Keeping in mind their needs and the audience they want to reach. Secondly, it will ensure that the user data is safe and secure. If there is a breach user will know whom to blame.
The step to end the Third-party cookie is an aftermath of continuous interrogation and questioning about the security of user data by authorities of various countries. Companies like Google and Facebook have faced a lash from government authorities for their failure to prevent the security breach on their server. Hence, the discontinuation of Third-party cookies is seen as a positive reinforcement to prevent the user data from getting public and sold on the dark web.
Due to this step, there will be more transparency, and advertisers can benefit from it along with the users. It will lead to an authorized sharing of data with authorized publishers and with trusted partners only. Hence, creating a secure ecosystem for all.
It will lead to security, and now the advertisers can even make a stronger bond with the customers as the end-users will be able to put deeper trust in the brands. The approach will end the leakage of the data to unauthorized sources. It will give an upper hand to the brands which customers trust and ultimately eliminate the untrusted brands creating a sustainable ecosystem. However, this does not mean that new brands can not emerge. They will have to go through vigorous security checks and have to prove their loyalty to the customer and promise the security of their data.
Revolution has started!
The revolution has already begun! Advertisers and marketers have already started shifting their focus from third-party cookies to first-party data. It is a good thing as there will not be any manipulation in the data received from the first-party websites and the campaigns can be run effectively generating better results for the advertisers.
In the age of pandemic, people were forced to shop online on a more frequent basis compared to earlier. Hence, the first-party data can prove to be highly useful for the advertisers as things have started to relax. Advertisers approach the user more confidently with trusted data provided by the authenticated websites.
Yet, there is a larger population of advertisers who are still relying on third-party data. According to research conducted by Forrester for Permutive, it was concluded that approximately 41% of marketers are still relying on the data generated by third-party vendors. However, they must understand that it is a peak time to change their approach or they will perish along with the third-party data suppliers. Hence, it is time to get rid of the old ways and adapt to the change.
The Future is here!
As the sun is setting for the third-party cookies, it is expected that approximately 95% of the web will become anonymous. Therefore, creating a huge void on the web providing a basket of opportunities for new ecosystems to emerge and establish a milestone and registering their name and catering for a huge audience.
It is crucial to note that cookies will be of paramount importance in the future. Publishers will have to establish the connection with the users using the cookies, and there will not be another way around.
Using the first-party cookie data by the publishers can build an effective strategy to overcome failures. They will get the data directly from the websites instead of putting their trust in any third-party vendors.
Google has announced its Federal learning of Cohorts (FLoC) which will determine the preservation of privacy. Hence, providing a mechanism that will help advertisers select advertisements based on the user interest.
The cohorts at the publisher’s end will ensure that privacy is maintained preventing leakage of data. It will also allow them to gather and categorize information, as the data and inventory will be connected.
Even though the collection of data via first-party channels will get painless and authentic. Yet, advertisers are in dilemma and unsure about moving to a first-party ecosystem. However, there is no need to panic! It’s all about finding the right partner who can welcome you to their ecosystem and make you feel like family.
Conclusion
We understand that many of you are looking for answers to this problem. However, it is not a time that one should spend worrying. It is an opportunity that must be explored for building a strategy and start experimenting with the ecosystems. It will help you gain momentum and have a better understanding of the ecosystems. Remember that we live in a world of uncertainty, and being prepared for the unexpected is the best we can do.
How Can We Maximize Ad Revenue Per Session For Publishers?
Marketing has seen a high rise in trends over the years and evolution has led to new ways of getting your product out in the market. Of all these, the internet has played a major role in bringing about these changes. The digital transition of marketing gave birth to digital marketing. But digital marketing isn’t all about creating content and channelling it on the available platforms. It has a major aspect that involves running ads and optimizing its own efficiency. This is called performance marketing. So before we proceed further let’s understand what performance marketing is.
What is performance marketing?
Performance marketing is the process of combining data-driven marketing campaigns with advertising platforms. Earlier it was nearly impossible to understand the performance of any campaign run but with the advent of performance marketing, one can not only measure the impact of your campaigns but can also use the data to optimize performance and get better results. Running advertisements is a very complicated process and there are a lot of factors that need to be taken into account when executing these campaigns. So today we will look at some key factors which can help maximize the ad revenue per session for publishers.
How can publishers maximize revenue per ad session?
Content is king: One of the basic lessons that one needs to keep in mind while running an ad campaign is to create meaningful content. Even if the content is simple but lacks quality or value, it will not be able to penetrate the Market. To maximize the ad revenue per session, it is extremely important to create user-centric content that people relate to. This will increase retention and help build a loyal fan base. There are multiple types of content in long forms such as blogs and videos and there exists short-form content such as tweets and Instagram posts. A proper analysis of what engages the users and keeps them hooked to your website is extremely important. Once you’ve identified your best form of content, focusing ad budgets can help you get the best bang for your buck.
Sticky Ads: While it might sound like a vague idea with so many options available that offer better statistics and results, but, sticky Ads have been around for a long time and they are here to stay. After surveying and talking to hundreds of advertisers, it was concluded that despite all mediums, sticky Ads remain a favorite for many. Simply because of its easy accessibility and presence it gets a lot of users clicking it. While people believe that sticky Ads are not as effective as others, experts have a different opinion and believe that these ads drive a very high percentage of the website to your website.
Choosing the correct metrics: For any ad campaign to be successful, especially when it comes to running paid advertisements on digital platforms, it is extremely important to set a list of metrics that need to be focused on. The narrowed the list the better results one can expect. These metrics are a mix of quantitative as well as qualitative factors and by combining them together the campaign can be made efficient. Your major factors are dependent on some key points. The most important question to ask yourself when setting these standards is, “What is the goal of the campaign?” It is the most important point. Additionally, several other things should be noted down such as the challenges one might face while executing the plan, how can testing be done for the ad campaigns, and what is the scope for automating the process. Once you find answers to these questions, you can easily set goals and improve your ad campaigns.
Target audience: While we are setting our goals or end results or even setting the plan of action for the ad campaigns, the most essential component of the plan is the consumer. The target audience plays the main role in your campaigns and is also responsible for the strategy and execution. It is very important to understand the target audience and to create content based on the overall outlook and demographics of your audience. In the case of multiple types of audiences, a proper classification for each audience category can help you optimize performance and get the best results. Also, there are two categories of audiences, one that is active and the other one is passive. Identification of the active audience can help you capitalize on the same and help increase efficiency through better results.
Ad placement: For many advertisers, ad placement can be a tough task and needs a lot of time and thought before they can decide the same. But, the extra spent is worth it because ad placement is essential to getting the user’s attention, and no matter how good the creative if the ad placement is poor, you will not get the conversions you seek. The best way to get maximum impressions is to place ads based on user interaction with the page. This is possible using AXT and is an optimal way to make the most of your ad spends. Additionally, dynamic ads can help you get the user’s attention in long-form content such as blogs where there is a lot of text scrolling down. In such cases, the ads are displayed dynamically based on the time spent and length scrolled.
So, these are the five key factors that can make all the difference in the world when it comes to optimizing your ad spends. If you are looking to optimize your campaigns and get better returns on your investments get in touch with us today at Adscholars. We are a team of driven individuals and will help you get the best results in your desired advertising budget.
Everything You NEED TO KNOW About Advertising On YouTube In 2020
One of the highly successful digital marketing strategies today includes video advertising. With YouTube becoming the most popular video-sharing platform and second-largest social media site, it is logical for any business big or small to use YouTube advertising. So, whether you are B2B or B2C enterprise, whether you are promoting a product or service, if you want to belong to the 85% of businesses which use video as a digital marketing tool, now is the time to understand, ‘Why YouTube ads’ and ‘How to Advertise on YouTube’ to build the most successful digital marketing strategy. Here, is an overview of everything you need to know about advertising on YouTube in 2020. We’ll take a look at the importance of YouTube, how to use YouTube Ads to grow your business, why are YouTube Ads successful, and how the platform works.
The growing importance of YouTube Ads
In January 2020, YouTube users accounted for 2 billion out of a total of 4.54 billion active internet users. Today most Digital Marketers use YouTube ads as part of their digital marketing plan since YouTube:
- Reaches the right audience
- Offers lots of volume at low cost
- Videos impact the audience faster than most other advertising mediums
- Has a quick and easy means to set up your video campaign
- Can measure the success of the campaign
- Is great for small business looking for attention to their product
Why is YouTube Ads becoming an essential part of every ad campaign in 2020?
Taking a look at the increasing numbers of digital video viewers and YouTube advertisements 2019, video ads are more than just a trend. With the most favorable statistics, YouTube advertising in 2020 is expected to grow and become an integral part of every social media marketing plan. YouTube ads help expand your reach, customize ads, target videos by topics or keywords, and offer a range of cost-effective advertising campaigns. Here are a few defining YouTube and online video statistics: –
- Around 2 billion users worldwide log-in every month on YouTube (May 2019)
- YouTube (85%) and Facebook (79%) are the most widely used platforms among video marketers
- More than 70% of YouTube viewers watch YouTube on mobile devices.
- Most viewers spend an average of 1 hour per day watching YouTube videos.
- 93% of digital video viewers in India (approx 271.9 million) are YouTube viewers (September 2019).
- Users upload 500 hours of video every minute on YouTube. It amounts to approximately 30,000 hours of newly uploaded content per hour.
- Worldwide mobile advertising spending was USD 190 billion (2019) and is expected to exceed 280 billion dollars in 2022.
- By 2021, 82% of all internet traffic will be online videos i.e. 15 times above that in 2017.
How to begin YouTube advertising?
YouTube offers a choice of five ad formats for businesses to build brands depending on the customers they wish to engage with:
- TrueView Ads
- Non-skippable video Ads
- Bumper Ads
- Outstream Ads
- YouTube Masthead Ads
1. TrueView Ads
True View ads are ads that are skippable after 5 seconds. They may consist of how-to videos, call-to-action, brand building, product demonstrations, etc. While these ads help to reach a larger target audience, they are also equally cost-effective since you only pay (cost per 1000/CPM basis) if the ad has played for 10 seconds (previously 30 seconds) or longer or prompted an action like a click from the viewer.
TrueView Ads are further sub-categorized as, In-Stream and Discovery.
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In-Stream Ads:
An In-Stream Ad or a Skippable In-Stream Ad or a Pre-roll ad is a form of YouTube advertising where advertisements are shown before the YouTube video is played. In this format, the cost is incurred after 10 seconds since users have an option to skip the ad videos after five seconds. Introduced in April 2018, by Google the ads between 6-30 seconds aim to maximize reach. Therefore, it is extremely important that the YouTube ad is compelling, shows the logo/business name in the first five seconds. Towards the end, it can include a call-to-action. 72% of people watch In-Stream ads till the end. The main aim here is to send traffic to your website/landing page. While setting up the campaign for skippable ads, you can thereby select all of these goals – Sales, Leads, Website traffic, Brand awareness and reach, Product and brand consideration.
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Video Discovery Ads:
You would choose to advertise on the display network if you wanted to help viewers discover your company and brand. These TrueView Ads show up on YouTube search results pages and as recommended videos section or as video overlays. Businesses are charged not on the basis of time but only when the Discovery Ad is clicked on. The campaign goal to select for this ad type should be – Product and brand consideration. This ad format, does not limit the video length. A Discovery Ad or Display Ad can also be an Image Ad (non-video ad).
2. Non-Skippable Video Ads
Non-skippable ads or non-skippable in-stream ads are maximum of 15 seconds (Few countries like India, Singapore, Malaysia and others allow 20 seconds). Since non-skippable ads are paid for on a cost-per-mille (CPM) basis, i.e. 1000 ad impressions on one web page, they are mostly used to create brand awareness among specific target markets. The best campaign goal to select to use this ad format is – Brand awareness and reach. There are two types of non-skippable ads on YouTube
- Pre-roll ads that appear before a video plays, and
- Mid-roll ads which appear in the middle of a 10 minute-or-longer video
3. Bumper Ads
Bumper ads on YouTube, are six-second video ads that viewers must watch before they can access the video. This type of ad should focus on a single objective. Even selecting the campaign goal to use this ad format should be only one – Brand awareness and reach. The advertiser pays to run the ad on CPM basis. It is mostly used for targeting mobile users. Some of the famous Bumper ads include Samsung GalaxyS8, Good Knight Activ+, Mercedes AMG GT S, Subaru Forester, Dove’s Project Show Us, Cheetos Win What You See. 9 out of 10 bumper ads drove ad recall globally, with a lift (increase in sales on account of advertising) of over 30%.
4. Outstream Ads
This is a mobile-only ads format used to expand the reach of your video ads on mobile. These play without a sound until the viewer unmutes the video. They are also charged basis viewable cost-per-thousand-impressions (vCPM). The campaign goal you need to select to use this ad format is – Brand awareness and reach.
5. YouTube Masthead Ads
This is the perfect fit when you want to reach out to a massive audience in the shortest period of time. The format is available for desktop, mobile and TV screens. It is used mostly used for sales events. Currently, this ad format is only available by reservation through a Google Sales Representative. They are charged on a fixed cost-per-day (CPD) or cost-per-thousand-impressions (CPM). Masthead ads have a significant impact on ad recall, says YouTube, with an average lift of 92%, and drive an average 46% lift in purchase intent. Therefore, the Goal for Mastheads ads is – To increase brand awareness and reach.
Specifications for YouTube Advertisements
All the above YouTube video ads must follow the same basic specifications:
- Video Codec: H.264, MPEG-2, MPEG-4
- Audio Codec: AAC, MP3
- Resolution: 640×360 (19:9 aspect ratio) or 480×360 (4:3 aspect ratio)
- Frame Rate: 30 FPS
- File Size: Max. 1 GB
Selecting an Ad Format for an Ad Campaign
Advertisers are faced with questions like ‘how do you determine what YouTube ads to run’ and, ‘how to produce video ads to perform well on YouTube’. Well, now that you know there are five different ad formats on YouTube, it is time to select the ad format best suited to your marketing goal. There is no perfect fit but with a little expertise, you will soon find what ad type works best for your product. Remember you can add or remove a goal at any time in your ad campaign. To give you an idea, here are the goals with their ad types: –
Create leads: TrueView Instream ads can be run before or mid-time during a YouTube video to create an impact or influence your most potential customers.
Improve website traffic: You could choose to advertise on the search network if you wanted Google to lead an active searcher to find your product/service on YouTube when he/she searches for keywords relevant to your video campaign. Instream Ads format can also be used for website traffic.
Increase brand awareness and reach: If you are looking to build awareness for your product, bumper ads could be the right fit. Outstream Ads format is also used for brand awareness and reach.
Basis product and brand focus: Clinique’s Chubby Plump& Shine campaign which has a singular focus ‘plumping effect on the lips’ is the perfect example of a bumper ad. Instream Ads and Video Discovery Ads formats can be used basis the individual product and brand consideration.
Once you have your goal and ad format aligned, it is time to get a YouTube business account and begin marketing on YouTube. YouTube offers targeting options basis detailed demographics, personal interests, keyword targeting, affinity audiences, in-market audiences, intent-audiences, life events, YouTube search history, and video remarketing. YouTube also allows you to edit a video or delete a video on its YouTube Video Manager page.
Until a decade ago, video ads were often overlooked as being an expensive digital marketing option. Nevertheless, today YouTube has made video advertising more accessible and affordable. (For more information on YouTube advertising rates sign up to YouTube Ads). Not only has video marketing become a crucial digital marketing tool for video marketers but they believe in the Return-on-Investment (ROI) offered by YouTube video ads, as the ads continue to influence audience attention, traffic, leads, and sales.
How to set up video ads on YouTube
You can create and manage your campaigns in Ads, by selecting the campaign type, “Video” –
- Upload Video ad on YouTube.
- Name the Campaign – Add a budget, schedule, bid strategy, networks, location, language, exclude content.
- Decide people to whom ad will be shown to – your target audience basis demographics.
- Locate where to show the ads – basis topics, keywords.
- Select your marketing video and its placement targeting.
- Confirm your video format from the three YouTube Formats.
- Click ‘Save and Continue’ to campaign and you are ready.
11 best tips to Optimize Your AdWords for Video Ads
As video descriptions are used to automatically generate meta tags by YouTube, first and foremost, ensure your written content is SEO friendly. In addition,
- Define the goal: Once the goal is defined, there are four key metrics to determine the result of the video. They are – Views, Audience, Branding and Conversions. Which of these metrics is especially important to clients who are running a branding campaign, will entirely depend on the company/product.
- Delete low performing placements: Managing placements means selecting exactly the sites that you want your ads to be displayed on. Remove the unnecessary sites from your ad campaign in order to increase your average CPV.
- Have a custom thumbnail image: Video thumbnails to give viewers a snapshot of the video.
- Drive people to buy with cards: A YouTube card is a reformatted notification to advertise your brand and other videos on your YouTube channel. They help boost product purchases.
- Add a CTA button: It’s always better to add a Call-to-Action button that links to your URL, landing page, or any page that you’re targeting.
- Create an end slate: A YouTube end slate is an end screen to increase subscribers to your channel.
- Use negative remarketing/retargeting: When the ad is run for a longer period of time, negative keywords can help advertisers better target their ads by delisting repeat users and adding new customers to optimize the campaign budget.
- Include subtitles and closed captions: Depending on your target audience, you can include transcriptions in other languages. It is also good to know where is video manager on YouTube, should you want to change captions, edit videos, etc.
- Qualify your viewers: Qualify your viewers/target audience, so that you don’t have to pay for views other than the targeted audience who are your potential customers. When you’re using target search page location bidding, you know it’s working because you see your ad on the first page of Google search results or in the top position showing to only qualified viewers’ basis your selected ad groups and keywords.
- Video length: YouTube playlist length can vary but a video more than 30 seconds is preferred. Also, ensure to include content /marketing message within the first few seconds.
- Try more than one ad in an ad group: If the buyer asks what’s a benefit of having multiple ads in an ad group, let him/her know when using optimize for clicks, Google ads will automatically rotate your ads and give the best-performing ones a better chance for showing up on the users’ screen more often, however, the ad format will have to be the same for all videos.
The 5 best practices to create winning YouTube Ads
To launch and optimize a YouTube advertising campaign successfully, the best digital marketing agencies with their expertise will ensure that they,
- Keep videos short and powerful
- Insert the Company Name/Brand early in the video
- Select the right ad format based on their specific goal
- Use advanced YouTube targeting options to attract the right audience
- Create video ads that tell a story
Don’t forget the most effective YouTube ads include text and audio. Focus on making good quality video content, informative or entertaining, to rank well and achieve its purported goal. Ultimately, take care of the content you post because if YouTube filters not working then it means YouTube Managers have removed the graphic or violent content posted in your video.
Conclusion
Advertising on YouTube is proving a healthy investment. It is gaining popularity with the theme ‘Most Magnetic, Maximum Mileage and Minimum Money’. Even Google Video search often returns to YouTube videos (Google has owned YouTube since November 2006). In 2020, with the evolution of digital advertising, video advertising is booming. In fact, YouTube has become one of the most cost-effective platforms to run a video advertising campaign. It has the unique ability to reach around 100,000 viewers for only USD 2,000.
YouTube has come a long way. Despite the launch of YouTube Premium which is a paid membership giving you ad-free YouTube to experience online/offline viewing across Google’s video services like YouTube, YouTube Music, YouTube Gaming and YouTube Kids, YouTube with its video content marketing and YouTube ads is here to stay.
It is the right time NOW to bring your marketing to life and captivate audiences with YouTube Video Ads!
Google pledges $800 million to coronavirus relief, including Ad credits
Google announced in a blog post that it will be offering $340 million as free ad credits to small and medium businesses that have an account with them. It is committing more than $800 million which will be used towards a range of charities and to support initiatives to help those affected by the global pandemic.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai explained:
“As the coronavirus outbreak continues to worsen around the world, it’s taking a devastating toll on lives and communities. To help address some of these challenges, today we’re announcing a new $800+ million commitment to support small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), health organizations and governments, and health workers on the frontline of this global pandemic.”
Google’s commitment includes the following key areas:
- A $250 million in ad grants will be used to help the World Health Organization and other more than 100 government agencies globally to provide information about the pandemic.
- A $200 million investment fund will be set up that will support NGOs and financial institutions to provide small businesses with capital. This is in addition to the $15 million in cash grants Google.org provides to non-profits to help bridge gaps for SMB’s.
- A $340 million in Google Ad credits to small and midsize business owners with active Google ad account over the past year. Credit notifications will appear in their Google Ads accounts and can be used at any point until the end of 2020 across our advertising platforms”, as mentioned on the blog.
- $20 million in Google Cloud Credits for academic institutions and researchers as they leverage Google’s computing capabilities and infrastructure as they study potential therapies, vaccines and identify new ways to combat COVID-19.
- Financial support and expertise to help increase production capacity for lifesaving equipment which includes masks and ventilators.
In addition to this, Google has increased the gift matching support program for its employees who donate to charities. Pichai said that employees from across Alphabet including Google, Verily and X, are
“bringing engineering, supply chain, and healthcare expertise to facilitate increased production of ventilators, working with equipment manufacturers, distributors and the government in this effort.”
Earlier this month, Verily, Google’s sister company launched a coronavirus testing screening website with 1,000 Google volunteers to test people with symptoms. It’s a significant commitment from the tech giant and growing contributions towards a social cause.
Over the past few weeks, we have seen major contributions for COVID-19 from Silicon giants like Apple, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Salesforce has also funded to relieve the economic stress amidst the global pandemic.
YouTube Shorts: Will it be Able to Capture TikTok’s Audience?
- TikTok is incredibly popular for lip-syncing and dancing videos.
- TikTok had nearly 1.7 billion downloads as of February 2020.
- Many have tried to imitate Tik Tok’s features but none could reproduce the success.
- YouTube is reportedly soon launching a short video sharing feature ‘Shorts’ which aims to rival TikTok but not as a standalone product.
YouTube was always the cool kid on the block with little real competition since inception. There are plenty of other video platforms like Dailymotion, Vimeo, and Veoh that aren’t a threat to YouTube until TikTok came in. TikTok is a wildly popular app with over a billion downloads with Gen Z and recently witnessed a surge in its popularity during coronavirus quarantines especially with kids and young adults who are bored at home.
Can YouTube overtake TikTok Audience and Popularity?
YouTube, a Google-owned company has been the most widely used video-sharing platform in the world for 15 years with 2 billion monthly users. Even though 81% of 15-25 years old using YouTube, it doesn’t have the short-form content. Therefore, it is eager to capture the younger audience segment who are crazy about short-form videos around music that makes Tik Tok a hit. As a result, YouTube is reportedly working on a new feature ‘Shorts’ that it hopes will make a dent on the surging popularity of Tik Tok and keep more people on the platform.
The website The Information reported that YT is working on its own short video feature ‘Shorts’ similar to TikTok operation within the YouTube app. According to the site:
“Shorts will include a feed of brief videos posted by users inside the Google-owned app and will take advantage of the video service’s catalog of licensed music, songs from which will be available to use as soundtracks for the videos created by users.”
MSNBC’s Dylan Byers additionally confirmed on Twitter shortly after The Information’s report was live.
YouTube’s new features can have advantages over TikTok. For instance, it has extensive music licensing agreement in place which implies that there would be an array of music options to choose from short clips. It has a larger audience base, so influencers will find an advantage to stay over the platform as they would get access to reach more potential viewers. And lastly, YouTube has better monetization policies and systems in place which is a huge advantage for the influencers.
If the service is easily monetized by the content creators, the associated advertising revenue could fund high-quality content in a short video, which can attract more viewers- a win-win situation for all. On the contrary, TikTok doesn’t offer a way to monetize videos for content creators and ad offering is in pipeline.
Is YouTube Shorts different from other TikTok competitors?
Many established tech companies in Silicon Valley have tried to replicate the success of TikTok but in vain. Facebook tried Lasso in South America, a teen focused short video format app which has yet to gain traction. Instagram and Snapchat attempted to adopt some of TikTok’s features. Byte, launched by the founder of Vine witnessed some early success but is still young. However, none of the’ newly inspired TikTok apps’ have taken off the original.
YouTube has also previously replicated the feature that resembled Instagram stories in 2018 which was successful for creators increasing the subscriber base on average by 8% over those who didn’t use the feature.
The YouTube Shorts app release date is expected to be the end of the year. It would be interesting to see whether TikTok users migrate to YouTube Shorts and YouTube can capture some thunder from the rival. It will be exciting to see how things develop and as a result, TikTok develops a monetization system and comes up with ad offering.
COVID 19 Effect : How Could It Impact The Digital Ad Spend
The Great Recession was the lowest point in the history of advertising. The only time digital spend dropped in absolute terms was in 2009. However, according to the IAB survey of nearly 400 media buys and brands, 74 percent of buy-side decision-makers think coronavirus pandemic will have a larger impact on the digital ad spend than the 2008 financial crisis. The struggle against the ongoing coronavirus pandemic looks grim among the buy-side decision-makers.
Meanwhile, nearly a quarter of all respondents have paused all ad spend for the first and second quarters while another 46 percent have adjusted their media spend during the first half of the year as researched conducted by Interactive Advertising Bureau.
As quoted in Forbes, IAB President David Cohen said,
“This is what happens in times of crisis. Typically marketers will press pause for a moment, take a breath, assess the situation, replay and reevaluate.”
The COVID-19 crisis is going to have a material impact on the calendar year 2020. According to the report, the buy-side expects an increase in spending during May/June but no rebound for the final six months of the year.
The report suggests digital advertising to fair better than any other medium. Digital ad spends from March to June down by 33% compared to traditional media declined by 39%. Traditional out-of-the home advertising is highly affected by an estimated ad spend down by 51% for March and April and 41% for May and June. This makes sense considering people are home in self-isolation across countries, there would be fewer people to see billboards and digital displays.
With all the changes in the ad spend, 63 percent of advertisers are adjusting their messaging to focus on mission-based marketing and cause-related marketing. Meanwhile, tactical changes are also happening as a 38 percent plan to increase audience targeting and 35 percent plan to increase device marketing for OTT and CTV.
Media consumption is going to increase with this stay-at-home and work-from-home. The report also reflects that the crisis is going to hit the annual Upfronts in late April and May with Disney, Hulu, and Discovery pulling out as 73 percent of buyers said COVID-19 will impact their spending plans for 2020 and 2021. While 20 percent expect a decrease in their Upfront spends versus original plans.
Despite the bleak picture over the next few months, two-thirds of buyers are undecided for making any ad spend changes in Q3 and Q4 and 25 percent plan to make changes due to COVID-19. The IAB surveyed the marketers about the milestones they will be watching to calibrate their decisions. 65 percent said they will be watching the quarantine status while 49 percent are focused on the number of coronaviruses cases. Other milestones amongst the top five were business openings and closing (47%) and stock market (44%).
Speaking to Forbes, Sue Hogan, the IAB’s senior vice president of measurement expanded on the point,
“I would say that I think the optimism right now for the second half of 2020 is heartening,”
He further added,
“There’s definitely a pendulum swing in the minds of buyers to move from a pretty tight decrease in ad spend or pause entirely to what we hope will be close to planned by end of year.”
Brands Get Creative With Their Advertisements To Encourage Social Distancing
Who says Social Distancing can’t be creative? With creative advertisements, it surely can be!
- After Juan Delcan and Valentina Izaguirre’s Safety Match Art went viral, many iconic brands are getting creative with their advertisements to promote the importance of social distancing and creating advertisements to stay home during the coronavirus pandemic.
- As the situation around the world intensifies, the citizens of the world are called to understand and follow hygiene practices, self-isolation, and social distancing. Understandably, it is a challenging phase and including these behaviours in our day-to-day life isn’t easy. Unfortunately, there have been cases of defiance and indifference.
- Therefore, brands have stepped up to spread awareness on social distancing by altering the most essential element of their existence – Logos and slogans. While some consider it as a marketing gimmick and others as an incredible way to spread a vital message.
Whichever side you belong, take a look at brands like Audi, Fevicol, Nike and others spreading the message of “SOCIAL DISTANCING” on social media with their creative advertisements.
AUDI and VOLKSWAGEN
Held under the same ownership, Audi and Volkswagen tweaked their logos to promote social distancing messages on their social media accounts.
- AUDI
Audi took to Twitter to share a short video with a message “Stay at home, keep your distance, be healthy, support each other – we are in this together”. The post shows the interlocked rings of the luxury brand’s logo stretching out so it gets disconnected from each other to be four separate rings.
Keep your distance – stay together. Only together we make the difference. #AudiTogether pic.twitter.com/othOsjRRYA
— Audi (@AudiOfficial) March 26, 2020
- VOLKSWAGEN
Volkswagen also shared a similar video with a message “Thanks for keeping your social distance!” and separated the iconic V and W.
MERCEDES BENZ
The automotive brand unveiled a logo on Instagram account designed by one of its employees Marcel Hobrath. The logo features an iconic three-pronged star implying to keep a safe distance from the outer circle.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B-XZizpC8DX/?utm_source=ig_embed
COCO-COLA
Coco-Cola is presently running its ad in New York’s Time Square which shows the usual interlocked letters are spaced out from each other with a slogan reading “Staying apart is the best way to stay united.”
Before experts jump to any conclusion that the brand is taking advantage of the situation, Coco-Cola through its Coco-Cola foundation has pledged to donate USD 13.5 million to five non-profit organizations in Canada and the United States for those involved in helping the affected to the pandemic.
McDonald’s (BRAZIL)
One of the controversial logo changes from McDonald’s Brazil, which shows its iconic golden arches are pulled apart as posted on its Facebook page. Designed by ad agency DPZ&T, it explained that the distance between the customers and the company is temporary so that we can stay always together. McDonald’s is providing food through delivery and drive-thru.
It faced a backlash from consumers including Bernie Sanders, who tweeted about the company’s sick leave policy for its employees.
IKEA
In Israel, advertising agency McCann designed IKEA assembly manual with a caption “Stay Home” showing a picture of the house with a key, lock and toilet paper.
CHIQUITA
The international provider of bananas and other fruits produce tweaked its logo on Instagram. It posted the logo without the iconic mascot and captioned the post saying she was “already home” and asked the followers “to do the same and protect yourself.” The social accounts of the brand are operated by Portugal-based digital agency Alice from the Young Network group. This post received positive feedback including heart emojis and claps.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B-E7kQjIj1D/?utm_source=ig_embed
ADIDAS
Sportswear manufacturer started a series #hometeam virtually to encourage everyone to be creative and fit while staying indoors.
MUCINEX
Mucinex created a series of informational ads promoting facts about COVID-19 to combat misinformation. The campaign promotes hand sanitization, maintain at least 6 feet distance, refrain from touching faces and debunks many myths. Each campaign directs people to visit website COVID-19facts.com run by the World Health Organization, John Hopkins and international experts.
Created by McCann New York and McCann Health New York in association with award-winning art illustrator Noma Bar, Mucinex’s campaign will run across all mediums to help calm people and provide the right information.
NIKE
Nike didn’t tweak its logo but launched a social media campaign with a global roster of star athletes which includes NBA player LeBron James and golfer Tiger Woods. The campaign shows how these sports stars are practicing social distancing by “playing inside.”
Nike had to closed several of its global stores due to the pandemic. Many sports events like NBA and Olympics have been postponed or canceled. Earlier a logo was redesigned by Slovenia based creative director Jure Tovaljan with a catchphrase modified to “Just Don’t Do It” but the company opted to stick to its identity.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B-AguSsAL0o/?utm_source=ig_embed
MERCADO LIBRE
Argentina Ecommerce platform tweaked its logo from changing handshakes to elbow bumps.
FEVICOL
The world’s strongest adhesive product owned by Indian company Pidilite Industries tweaked its logo which showed two elephants pulling away from each other with a tagline in Hindi that means “For future bonding, maintain some distance today.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/B91G66rlS3q/?utm_source=ig_embed
Surely, this unique initiative of creative advertisements by brands can help to bring awareness to social distancing and encourage more people to adopt the practice.
AdLedger, Madhive Releases Study on Ad Tech Industry, Only 6% Satisfied with Current Digital Ecosystem
A survey by Industry Index suggests that just 6% of the industry is satisfied with the current digital advertising ecosystem. The survey was released by Adledger, non-profit research and development consortium developing the global technology solutions for the digital media in partnership with Madhive, a TV advertising solutions company.
More than 100 brands, advertisers and publishers were surveyed to understand the current and future state of adtech with only 6% are satisfied with the present ecosystem of digital advertising. Another 92% of respondents believe there is a need for an industry-wide revolution. Christiana Cacciapuoti, executive director at AdLedger said,
“Digital advertising is still suffering from the same issues of transparency, fraud and fragmentation. And it’s because we just keep slapping band-aids on a fundamentally broken system, when we need to be developing a new infrastructure that’s driven by innovative technologies.”
The figures come into light as the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) commences its inquiry into the adtech industry which it has described as ‘opaque’ and also calling for feedback from the industry.
“The AdTech ecosystem absolutely needs to be changed,” said Alysia Borsa, EVP/Chief Business & Data Officer at Meredith Corporation. She further added,
“There is a lack of transparency which leads to fraud, which leads to low quality, which leads to poor performance. It’s a really bad cycle.”
The other findings of the survey include, 83% of respondents believe cryptography can be used to create transparencies and efficiencies, most often agreeing that cryptography could improve problems associated with fraud (66%) and the ability to track results (66%). And 72% believe we will see significant integrations in the next five years.
Adam Helfgott, CEO at MadHive said,
“Sooner or later, the industry is going to realize that this dysfunctional relationship has got to end, and the only way to fix it is with next-generation technologies,”
“And with blockchain and cryptography already weeding out fraud and solving similar issues on OTT, it’s only a matter of time till the industry stands together and overhauls the system.”
MadHive, TEGNA and IBM originally founded AdLedger to unite the advertising industry towards developing next-generation technology standards that solve the current issues in the ecosystem.
Google rolls back Chrome’s cookie security measure due to COVID-19
Google is temporarily rolling back a recent privacy feature ‘SamSite Cookie’ it launched with Chrome 80, to ensure stability to websites amidst the coronavirus pandemic.
Justin Schuh, Director of Chrome Engineering said in the blog,
“In light of the extraordinary global circumstances due to COVID-19, we are temporarily rolling back the enforcement of SameSite cookie labeling, starting today.”
The SameSite policy was the change in how Chrome treated cookies. Before this policy, Chrome allowed more cookies including third-party by default. SameSite, however, has turned that default. With the release of Chrome 80 in February, Chrome began to enforce secure-by default handling of third-party cookies to improve privacy and limit tracking.
Google was planning to roll out this change slowly for all the users during the rest of the year and closely monitor the impact on the web. The SameSite cookies primary role would be to prevent third party domains from using browser cookie files to track users as they browsed on different sites across the internet. At a higher level, it meant a website owner should set a third-party cookie as being okay or else Chrome would block it.
Online advertisers and web analytics firms were most impacted by the changes that migrated to other tracking practices after the announcement of Google’s SameSite cookies. However, many government sites, banking, intranets, and others are using third-party cookies in other contexts.
The disabling of third-party cookies can cause some sites to break – even if SameSite cookies roughly shipped to 1% of the Chrome users. Therefore, temporary rollback will ensure that these small numbers of users are not much impacted. Many major sites were prepared for this change but Google said it wants
“to ensure stability for websites providing essential services including banking, online groceries, government services, and healthcare that facilitate our daily life during this time.”
Schuh further added that as they roll back enforcement, organizations, users or sites should see no disruption. As social distancing measures have been followed worldwide, reliance on online services has increased and any kind of disruptions can cause big issues especially if it is concerned with healthcare resources.
Google also said that they plan to resume the enforcement in the future and will give advance notice on their blog. This isn’t the only announcement that is affected by the outbreak. Google has also paused temporarily adding new features to Chrome and Chrome OS and focus on security and stability owing to adjustments in their work schedules.
Tech Giants Set To Lose billions in Ad revenue because of Coronavirus
The coronavirus has spread to 175 countries around the world, and it shows no sign of a slowdown. The virus has effectively shut down all major events around the world and has a major impact on the ad tech industry. Ad spending is falling off the cliff thanks to the disruption caused by the pandemic – major tech giants like Twitter, Google, Facebook, and others are expected to face the brunt of the slump in terms of losing billions of dollars in ad revenue this year.
Why we care
The losses aren’t going to weaken the companies but will put a dent in the extraordinary growth which everyone has experienced over the years.
Numbers speak louder
Cowen & Co. analysts estimate that the two internet giants together could see more than $44 billion worldwide ad revenue evaporate this year. They predict the following losses:
- Facebook: Drop of $15.7 billion, 19% down from the previous estimate.
- Google: Down by $28.6 billion, an 18% decline from the previous estimate.
- Twitter: Down by $701 million, 17.9% below estimate
- Snapchat: Drop by $977 million, 31.8% down from the previous estimate.
Global advertising revenue grows in the ballpark of the GDP rate. Therefore, the global economic slowdown directly affects the global advertising market.
The tech giants were forthcoming with the investors on the expected losses and here what they have to say.
- Facebook execs said in their blog post that the company has “seen a weakening in our ads business in countries taking aggressive actions to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
- Twitter announced in the press release that the company is “withdrawing its revenue and operating income guidance for the first quarter of 2020, due to the growing impact of COVID-19 on the global operating and economic environment and their effect on advertiser demand.”
That said, Both Google and Facebook will continue to make profits even with double-digit revenue drops. Analysts think the largest tech companies could emerge stronger from the coronavirus crisis than ever because of their healthy balance sheets.
U.S. Ad Revenue Growth Forecasts, FY2020
All media | Forecast pre-epidemic | Forecast March 2020 |
Excluding cyclical events
(Olympics, elections) |
4.4% | -4.4% |
Including cyclical events | 6.6 | -2.8 |
DIGITAL | ||
Excluding cyclical events | 10.9% | 3.5% |
Including cyclical events | 11.4 | 3.9 |
Digital search | 11.6 | 4.5 |
Digital social | 17.2 | 8.7 |
Digital video | 14.2 | 8.3 |
LINEAR MEDIA | ||
Excluding cyclical events | -4.4% | -15.0% |
Including cyclical events | 0.0 | -11.7 |
National TV – excl. CE | -2.7 | -13.0 |
National TV – incl. CE | -0.4 | -12.7 |
Local TV – excl. CE | -4.5 | -14.4 |
Local TV – incl. CE | 12.8 | 0.9 |
Radio | -2.3 | -14.1 |
-17.0 | -25.4 | |
Out of home | 3.7 | -11.8 |
Image Credit: Axios Visuals
What is driving the news
All the advertising-based businesses are facing the COVID-19 risk but those who are dependent on the self-service advertising revenue from small businesses, which are now shut down will be highly affected in the short term.
As quoted in AXIOS, Vincent Letang, executive vice president and director of global forecasting for Magna Global, the media buying unit of global ad agency IPG said,
“In the first half of the year, digital media vendors will feel the heat. But I still think they will recover more strongly than traditional media in the second half.”
The tech platforms make their revenue by advertising on social media and search which will take a hit in the short term for two reasons:
1. They are self-serve which means anyone can buy ads through the automated platforms at any time without any contract. Therefore, unlike TV ad contracts, there are no policies in place and brands have to adhere to when pulling the plug.
2. Mostly the ads are purchased by small businesses. Letang expressed his views to Axios,
“Hundreds of thousands of small businesses who probably count for 70% of social and search, they will stop advertising for weeks as they are closed. For some of them, it will be hard to come back, as many won’t have the liquidity to start marketing.”
What’s the future
Analysts expect overall ad revenue to go down by 4.4% excluding cyclical events due to the coronavirus impact on the economy.
Growth in the digital ad market is dominated by big tech companies like Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat will emerge from the crisis strongly in 2021.
Magna predicts linear ad sales to decrease to 6 percent and digital media to grow 8 percent.