Welcome to the December edition of the Digital Innovations Awesome List (DIAL) – where we bring a little bit of awesome to your inbox.®
As a reminder, the Media Innovations + Technology team knows that keeping up with the trade pubs and the latest trends can be both tough and time consuming, so we want to make it easier to find the articles, reports, and other bits of awesomeness you probably missed, but really should have read. Check out this month’s specially curated list below, and if you missed a past DIAL they are available on the Centro blog, and also in Highspot for the Sales team. Note that this edition will be added to both in the coming days!
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GroupM Revises Ad Spend Forecast Down While Magna Anticipates Record Growth [:03]
Two industry forecasts offer a differing view of media investment for 2019, with GroupM revising its 2019 ad spend forecast downward to $563 billion, while Magna raised its forecast to $578 billion. What’s affecting this variance beyond macroeconomic factors, is digital media. Magna said digital will make up half of global ad spend by 2020, but GroupM still forecasts digital’s share at 42% in 2019.
New IAB Report Highlights Accelerated Growth of Video Spend [:02]
According to a new report from the IAB based on data from the first half of 2018, video advertising revenue is set to hit $7 billion, a 35% growth from this this time last year. The report details the volume of Americans streaming video content each month (220 million), the volume of monthly streams (47 billion) and average video CPMs ($25.63). Beyond video considerations, the report holistically covers all areas of digital ad revenue growth including mobile, desktop, search and display.
More Ads Appear on TV, Digital Media [:02]
Commercial pods look to be on a growth trajectory moving into 2019 as TV networks and digital platforms make changes to how ads load between breaks in content. Both Google and YouTube have announced modifications to how commercials will air, in some cases in pod structure. Traditional TV vehicles including networks are also announcing shifts, offering a moment to reflect on changes in viewing experiences and viewers’ perceptions of commercial breaks.
Digiday Research: Media Buyers Don’t Rank Amazon, Twitter or Snap As Must Buys [:02]
Facebook and Google have the presence in the marketplace and make it easy for advertisers to spend money with them. It’s easy to add them to a plan and execute. However, Amazon, Twitter and Snapchat are struggling to play catch up. In a recent study done by Digiday, media buyers rated Twitter, Snapchat, and Amazon as platforms that are “nice to have” but not “must have.”
Good Day, Sunshine: WeatherBug Ups Revenue By Moving To A Unified Auction [:02]
The waterfall approach was no longer working for WeatherBug as they had too many SDKs. Having a manually managed SDK-based waterfall meant that WeatherBug was never sure if they were receiving the best price for their inventory. While they have not gone to header bidding, WeatherBug started using a mediation platform from mobile ad network InMobi to help migrate from SDKs to a unified action.
Digital News Daily Report: Mobile Shopping, Yes. Mobile Payments? No. [:02]
As Americans wade deeper into the holiday season, new evidence from GfK shows that no matter where they go, they’re watching their smartphones, with 45% viewing their devices as essential shopping tools. However, it seems that consumers still have reservations around mobile payments.
The Entrepreneur’s Guide To Ad Tech Business Models [:05]
Review the business models that have been successfully used over the past two decades as well their procs and cons. These models include taking a percentage of media to CPMs to SaaS.
The End of the Beginning [:24]
Tech is building different kinds of businesses, and will change what industries like retail, transportation, and entertainment look like. As we move beyond social and search, how could new technological foundations like machine learning and crypto create whole new platforms and economies?