It is time to celebrate not just Dia de los Muertos, but also Dia de los Innovaciones Digitales. Welcome to the November 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!
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New York Times passes 3 million mark in paid digital subscribers [:02]
Backed by a large marketing push and it’s new slogan, “The truth is worth it.” The Times is up to over 4 million total subscribers, with one million subscribers to its print circulation. And its ad revenues are up compared to last year.
The Battles Programmatic Is Yet To Win in 2019 [:04]
As programmatic continues to grow, it’s hold on the industry is being held back by 3 main things – transparency, viewability, and brand safety issues. According to some experts, there is still a lot of work to be done in terms of transparency and there is a shift in the industry where advertisers are asking for more meaningful measurement and data.
What Advertisers Want to Know About Programmatic [:03]
With an expected $46 billion dollars dedicated to programmatic buying, more marketers are seeking answers on top concerns regarding the space. AdWeek pulled together a list of top questions and answers to marketers’ most pressing curiosities, including how media can be measured, how supply strategy can be improved and how programmatic ad spend will or should be split between RTB buying vs PMP deals.
First-Price Auctions Are Driving Up Ad Prices [:02]
Many publishers have now shifted to a first-price auction model which has caused the price of the inventory to go up. In an agency-side test, CPMs were 59% higher in first-price than second-price auctions. From a buyer’s perspective, this price bump suggests that in first-price auctions, buyers are paying more than they should.
5 Things Marketers Must Know About Mobile In Programmatic To Survive in 2019 [:03]
There are many ways you can use mobile in the programmatic world. In order to survive in 2019, this article lists the top 5 things you should know from evaluating ad formats to audience specific considerations.
Six-Second Ads: It’s All About The Context [:02]
Short-form ads are increasingly making a presence as prime video placements for advertisers, driven by the new age of dwindling attention spans. But the increase in popularity is also requiring advertisers to rethink video ad spots that they historically cut down from :30 seconds. While advertisers work to retool the length of these ads, they also may struggle with the fact that the efficacy of this truncated format can’t be compared to their traditional predecessors.
Ad-Supported OTT Viewers Incremental To TV [:01]
The IAB released a report, Ad Receptivity and the Ad-Supported OTT Video Viewer, illustrating the demographics of OTT video viewers, the regularity with which viewers consume OTT content and how AS-OTT viewers are incremental to traditional TV consumers. The report notably distinguishes free, ad-supported OTT viewers from subscription-based viewers who don’t see ads.
Facebook: Coming To A TV Near You? [:01]
Facebook is rumored to be working on a project that will include a Connected TV device. This will include a camera and will be similar to Roku or an Amazon Fire Stick and could potentially stream content from Facebook Watch.
Amazon’s Alexa Finds Its Business Model: In-Skill Purchases [:01]
Amazon has revealed a business model for Alexa developers: in-skill purchases or what they are calling a “consumable.” Developers can now start selling these are unlocked features/functionality, premium content, or even virtual games within skills, all of which can be purchased, used, and then purchased again.
Domino’s in-house technology push has helped increase online orders [:04]
But does it sell more pizza? The answer is yes, when it comes to the decision Domino’s made to bring technology in-house, while getting rid of siloes and establishing cross-functional groups with their online, offline, research, and IT teams to work closely together. The company saw sales grow 8.3% in its third-quarter.
Netflix: Engineering to Improve Marketing Effectiveness [:19]
A peak behind the crimson logo, this multi-part blog series by Netflix’s AdTech team shares their methods to effectively working across departments to create, localize, manage, distribute, measure, and optimize their digital marketing and constantly growing library of creative assets. For a company that is focused on great content, it is impressive to read how they approach promoting their content through testing and personalization to drive new subscriptions and increased viewership. Part 2 is here.
