Author: Neha Mehta

Explained: Why Facebook thinks Apple’s iOS 14 privacy push will have a severe impact on business

Apple and Facebook are fighting again but this time over ads and privacy. Sometime next month, it is expected that Apple will roll out its iOS 14 updates with a privacy change. Apple will explicitly ask its users if they wanted to be tracked by a specific app. A simple question, with a potentially serious consequence. Facebook warns that these privacy changes can lead to a more than 50% drop in its Audience Network advertising business.

IDFA And The Privacy Changes

Apple assigns IDFA or Identifier for Advertisers to an iPhone across apps. This tracking mechanism is basically their cookie and advertising platforms rely on the data to target ads. App and gaming companies rely heavily on such data and show ads via Facebook’s ad platform, Audience Network.

This identifier was always present by default for iOS users but Apple’s new privacy change means that users cannot be tracked by default anymore. Many advertising industry insiders believe users will refuse data tracking permissions if given a choice. This means no data for ad targeting which eventually will make ad placement a task. Fewer ads on Facebook’s Audience Network will lead to less revenue for publishers.

Why Is Facebook Unhappy?

Facebook Audience Network is one of the ad placement options for Facebook. This placement depends on ad placement within the app. The app owners monetize this placement. The data from IDFA works with Facebook’s SDK, a tracking mechanism.

Facebook has alerted advertisers of reduced targeting and campaign measurement ability as well as publishers especially working with Facebook’s Audience Network of the fall in revenue by 50% and warned that the impact could be more. In a blog post, it said, 

Like all ad networks on iOS 14, advertiser ability to accurately target and measure their campaigns on Audience Network will be impacted, and as a result publishers should expect their ability to effectively monetize on Audience Network to decrease.

Ultimately, despite our best efforts, Apple’s updates may render Audience Network so ineffective on iOS 14 that it may not make sense to offer it on iOS 14.

Facebook also commented that it is less likely to affect its own ad business but will seriously dent small publishers and developers’ revenue using Audience Network. Audience Network represents a  smaller part of the overall revenue pie.

What Steps Is Facebook Taking?

Facebook has outlined the steps to be taken to ensure that its advertising business is in line with Apple’s requirements. However, this will limit the scope of targeting ads effectively to iPhone and iPad users.

• Facebook will not collect IDFA by making a change to its own apps on iOS14. They will spare them from having to ask for data-tracking permissions from the users.
• Facebook asks businesses to create a new ad account dedicated to running app install ad campaigns for iOS 14 users. The current account that targets previous iOS versions along with Android users is to be maintained.
• An updated version of the Facebook SDK will be released to support iOS 14 which will limit the data available to businesses for running and measuring campaigns. This update will be rolled out before Apple releases the iOS14 update.

Facebook’s tone has always been mild but remarkable to openly challenge Apple. In a blog, the company said,

“We understand that iOS 14 will hurt many of our developers and publishers at an already difficult time for businesses. We work with more than 19,000 developers and publishers from around the globe¹ and in 2019 we paid out billions of dollars². Many of these are small businesses that depend on ads to support their livelihood.”

Why Apple’s Move Is So Significant?

iOS makes up just 25 % of the total global mobile market and the remaining is dominated by Android but the former is a more monetizable operating system as the iPhone users are from better economic strata. Therefore any change in the policy can have a great impact on the ad and developer business. 

Read more: Facebook Debuts Shops In Its Mobile App, Instagram Expands Checkout Feature

 

AdForm Set To Solve The Cookie Problem With Its Proven First-Party ID Solution

Adform announced this week that advertisers can now use the first-party ID on their platform in the absence of third-party cookies. The demise of third-party cookies has been a cause of concern for all advertisers and publishers on some browsers and are looking to future-proof their offerings and tech stacks. And Adform’s success in switching to first-party data is a major breakthrough for the industry. Now, agencies can share first-party data and IDs with Adform to personalize advertising, target specific audiences, and report results – all without the use of any third-party cookies. 

A joint collaboration between Adform, the European publishing group Sanoma, marketing agency Dagmar, and global group IPG MediaBrands is leading the way forward for the digital advertising industry and leveling the playing field with the walled gardens. The collaboration not only prepared for the future cookie change but also improve the functionality of advertising buying for Safari and Firefox browsers. The change in first-party data allows programmatic targeting and helps to direct advertising money into publishers’ properties who are eager to secure their ad revenue.

Adform states that without the need for hundreds of third-party cookies, compliance with regulations such as GDPR and CCPA will be easier. First-party data and IDs is beneficial to brands as they live longer than third-party cookies. With first-party IDs from publishers and advertisers, impressions and data are completely traceable increasing transparency that helps to deal with issues like discrepancies, accountability, hidden fees, arbitrage, and ad fraud and reducing the risk of data leakage.

Adform has a complete digital infrastructure and is uniquely placed to switch to first-party data with its integrated advertising platform(IAS). Jakob Bak, CTO, Adform said,

“We have proved that it is possible to switch from third-party cookies to first-party IDs and, as such, have provided a leap into the future of digital marketing. The industry is on an inevitable road to life without third-party cookies and ongoing success for the open ecosystem will depend on collaboration. So far, publisher announcements around first-party data have represented positive yet individual approaches, now it’s clear that working together presents a more powerful way to ensure profitability for independent publishers. In fact, the evidence of how impactful shared first-party IDs can be has already led to many agencies and sales houses to express interest in moving spend away from media giants.”

Jaakko Kuivalainen, Director, Digital Advertising Business, at Sanoma also commented,

“Finland is an established hotbed for innovation, but there is a huge opportunity for wider global progression. This venture is a great example of what can be achieved when publishers and technology companies come together. Working as one, we can be consistently at the forefront of industry development; and effectively preparing for the coming demise of third-party cookies with first-party centric digital advertising.”

Read more: Top 10 Emerging Indian Ad Tech Startups You Should Know About

Facebook Debuts Shops In Its Mobile App, Instagram Expands Checkout Feature

 

Facebook rolled out a shopping section ‘Facebook Shops’ to its main app across the U.S and expanded Instagram’s checkout feature.

The new section Facebook Shops allows users to browse product catalogs from businesses they like, discover new businesses and make purchases, all-in-one place, and without leaving the app. A similar feature ‘ Instagram Shops’ was introduced on its photo-sharing app last month.   

The news follows the launch of Facebook Shops in May and on Tuesday it announced a couple of new e-commerce features within its flagship mobile app and Instagram. Businesses were already able to add product catalogs to their Facebook pages but there was no dedicated section inside the app for browsing the selections. 

The company explained the rapid shift toward online shopping as a reason to foray into eCommerce.

“During the COVID-19 pandemic, the shift to online shopping has rapidly accelerated, with an estimated 85% of people worldwide now shopping online.

We want to make shopping easier for people and empower anyone, from an entrepreneur to the largest brand, to use our apps to connect with customers and grow their business.”

Here are the details that will help people to shop on the apps and tools to help businesses sell online.

Shop Till You Drop!

A new ‘Shop’ tab is introduced in the mobile app where businesses can showcase their products and customers can shop them in the app.

“Facebook Shop makes it easy for people to find products from businesses they love, discover new ones and make purchases, all in one place.”

It’s a significant step for Facebook’s eCommerce push, helping users to browse and purchase from shop-enabled Pages directly in the app. Presently, being tested in the US but Facebook said in the coming weeks it will be available to all eligible businesses. 

 

New customization features will also be added to Facebook Shops that includes:

• New design layouts for featuring single products or groups of products in Shops
• Real-time preview of collections as they are designed
• The ability to automatically create Shops for new sellers
• New insights to measure results in Commerce Manager

Expanding Instagram CheckOut

Checkout allows users to pay for items directly inside the app and will soon be available to all businesses in the U.S after keeping the feature exclusive to certain partners for almost 18 months. Though there is a limitation,

To use checkout, businesses must have Shops and use Facebook Commerce Manager or our partners Shopify and BigCommerce. We’ll support more platform partners soon.

It will also provide an incentive by waiving the selling fees for businesses through the end of the year due to the current economic crisis.

Shop Using Messaging

Facebook added a new message option to the shop in order to connect the customers directly to the seller through Messenger, WhatsApp, or Instagram Direct.

“Messaging through Shops combines the in-store experience of being able to ask a salesperson questions with the convenience of online shopping.”

Customers can view the products in the chat and can easily share with friends and family for feedback before any purchase. This feature is now being tested on Messenger and Instagram Direct and will start testing on WhatsApp soon.

This will definitely boost Facebook’s dominant presence in messaging with its eCommerce capacity, providing compelling business opportunities as people are regular users of these messaging apps.

Live Facebook and Instagram Shopping 

Another promotional option is Facebook and Instagram live shopping. This means businesses can sell products during a live stream. 

“Facebook Live Shopping includes new features to help businesses easily set up a live experience featuring products from their Shop and sell directly from the video.”

Instagram Live Shopping is available to all businesses and creators using checkout in the US.

Video is the most engaging type of content and during the lockdown during the pandemic, the viewership of Facebook live streams had risen 50% since January as people looked for various ways to stay connected and entertained. 

The global lockdown has provided a significant opportunity to Facebook’s eCommerce business as more people shifted to online shopping. The social network will soon become an essential part of our day-to-day lives as it prepares to build a commerce eco-system within its own network.

TikTok Trump Row: CEO Kevin Mayer Calls Quit

• TikTok confirmed CEO Kevin Mayer’s departure in an emailed statement and said the political dynamics of the last few months have  “significantly changed” the scope of his role.
  

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• Former Disney executive, Kevin Mayer had joined the TikTok in mid-May and resigned just after 100 days.
  

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Kevin Mayer, TikTok Chief Executive Officer has left the company in less than four months after he joined the world’s largest short video app in mid-May. According to an internal memo viewed by Financial Times, TikTok’s general manager Vanessa Pappas will take over the position on an interim basis.

Mayer said in his letter to employees,

“In recent weeks, as the political environment has sharply changed, I have done significant reflection on what the corporate structural changes will require, and what it means for the global role I signed up for.”

“Against this backdrop, and as we expect to reach a resolution very soon, it is with a heavy heart that I wanted to let you all know that I have decided to leave the company.”

Over the last few weeks, TikTok faced tremendous pressure from the Trump administration over its links to China. On August 6, Trump also signed an order banning TikTok and WeChat in 45 days if they don’t sell the app’s U.S operations though they have time until mid-November to divest itself. Mayer “did not anticipate the extent to which TikTok would become involved in tensions between China and the U.S.”, sources reported to Financial Times. 

Recently, TikTok filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for banning transactions with ByteDance. TikTok is owned by Chinese internet company Byte Dance that is caught amidst growing distrust between Washington and Beijing. Trump administration accuses the app as a national security threat to the U.S.

The impending TikTok sale attracted investors interest starting from Microsoft, the front runner to least expected Oracle. 

TikTok spokesperson in a statement to TechCrunch said,

“We appreciate that the political dynamics of the last few months have significantly changed what the scope of Kevin’s role would be going forward, and fully respect his decision. We thank him for his time at the company and wish him well.”

ByteDance’s founder and CEO Zhang Yiming said Mayer had joined the firm just as it was “entering arguably our most challenging moment.”

“It is never easy to come into a leadership position in a company moving as quickly as we are, and the circumstances following his arrival made it all the more complex.”

TikTok has also been targeted in India as it was one of the 59 Chinese apps banned by the Indian government in June following a border clash between India and China.

Before joining TikTok, Kevin Mayer worked at Disney for over 27 years and was head of direct-to-consumer content and international business at Disney who oversaw the launches of Disney+ and ESPN+. Mayer left after Disney named Bob Chapek the company’s new CEO. Mayer was considered a longtime contender for the CEO position.

Influencer Marketing Comes Back Strong Amidst Pandemic Crisis

The pandemic had disrupted every industry forcing marketers to shift their plans and thrust into an uncertain and swiftly changing landscape. Brands are looking for independent creators than productions due to pandemic restrictions such as sheltering in place.

The industry was in troubled waters as pandemic had put a pause on all the plans, took many industries out of the market, and affected many influencers’ content. Some marketers even continued with Facebook boycotts or social media pauses. 

It has been quite a challenging period for influencers. However, the influencer industry is recovering and bouncing back, showing incredible resilience and creativity. Consumers are spending more time on social media interacting with content creators after being cooped up at home. With budgeting constraints and large scale, ad production is difficult, brands are turning to independent creators for a quick, less-expensive, and easy-to-produce creative content. This is providing the much-required boost to the influencer marketing industry.

Numbers Says It All

Social Bakers released the State of Influencer Marketing Report and found out that there is a fall in sponsored content from March to May and a pivot towards micro-influencers. Yuval Ben-Itzhak, CEO, Socialbakers said, 

“Nano and micro-influencers are now seen as high-value resources, bringing high impact without the big price tag of macro and mega influencers. As budgets remain tight, savvy brands will likely continue to expand partnerships with these smaller influencers as part of a smarter social media strategy in the wake of the continuing worldwide pandemic.”

Another finding by Shareablee, an audience-based social media measurement company states that branded content from influencers on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter was up 21% in July from March despite a decline in sponsored influencers post- 87% on Instagram and 57% on Facebook in April compared to last year.

Influencer marketing has changed in several ways during the outbreak. There is a shift in consumer behavior more towards digital in this pandemic due to the lockdown. The engagement with branded influencers posts grew 5 times faster to 57.2 million total actions in July compared with March, according to Shareablee. 

A rise in sponsored posts is seen since July after the volume fell almost 17 percent in March and another 6 percent in April reveals Data from CreatorIQ.

This proves that the industry is still very strong and influencers are quick to adapt with conversion rates increased across platforms in the pandemic. As quoted in Adage, Melissa Rosenthal, co-founder at Circle said, 

“Brands took a few weeks to figure out how to position themselves for a new world. Now I’m seeing probably 5 times the outreach I was seeing pre-pandemic. Small brands, large brands, new brands, everyone.”

The pandemic is benefitting the influencers with the increase in viewership as alternate media or sports events have declined drastically. Presently, influencers are the only production houses that are open and can make new, creative, and custom content for brands amidst pandemic restrictions. According to the eMarketer report, followers are looking for more DIY activities and short videos.

Clorox Followed The Influencer Way!

Clorox.Co is getting back to sponsored influencer work after a pandemic pause. Through the Reach Agency, Clorox recently teamed up with YouTube comedians The Try Guys to market its latest scent of Fresh Step cat litter. In the video, the creators open the world’s smelliest foods to demonstrate the ability of new Fresh Step cat litter with Febreze Freshness and Gain Scent covers the odors. The video garnered nearly a million organic views on its first day on August 15. The partnership with Try Guys who have 7.3 million subscribers is Clorox’s third venture into influencer-led demo-tainment.

 

Clorox shifted the plan of conventional ads to influencer content while planning the campaign in March as the pandemic situation would make it hard to produce ads. Another major decision taken by the brand was to boycott  Facebook and Instagram advertising for the remaining year while the project was ongoing.

As reported in Adage, Deb Crandall, director of marketing and studio lead said, 

“We have had to ask our partners not to post this on their Facebook or Instagram channels, and we’re not putting any paid support behind it. It definitely takes a channel out of the mix to reach our audience, but that’s why we’re excited about the results we’re seeing. To reach almost a million views without Facebook or Instagram makes us think we’re onto something.”

Finally, brands and creators are learning to operate in the ‘ new normal ’. In the time of crisis, savvy social media influencers are engaging with their followers in a fairly two-way communication that even brands could never have on their own.

Explaining ACCC vs Google: Clash Over Paying Media Companies For News

Tech giants are facing tremendous pressure to pay publishers for their news content from across the world and Google is preparing for the fight in Australia. Recently, the competition regulator in Australia issued a draft bill- New Media Bargaining Code that wants to force the duopoly Facebook and Google to pay media companies for news.

The question arises, should Australia implement the new rules that will pave the way for other global regulators to follow the suit as the European regulators ramp up the pressure on the digital giants.

Here are all the latest updates you need to know over the row between Google and media companies and can have a huge impact on the regulatory agencies and governments right around the world.

Google’s Tussle With Publishers in Australia

The long-running tension between Facebook and Google with the media companies have been for years over how the former display content, with publishers demanding to be paid by the tech giants for the privilege.

Last month, Australian regulators the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) released a draft code –News Media Bargaining Code.  The code allowed news publishers in the country to negotiate compensation collectively or individually with the two tech companies for sharing or displaying their services. The draft code is aimed to address “bargaining power imbalances” between Australian news businesses and Google and Facebook.

The ACCC proposes a compulsory arbitration process and if the news businesses and digital platforms cannot strike a deal during the three-month negotiation and mediation process then the parties can select an arbitrator or there can be an assigned arbitrator by the Australian Communications and Media Authority. Non-compliance with the code would result in fines up to $10m per breach, three times the benefit obtained or 10% of a digital platform’s annual revenue in Australia, whichever is greater.

The code involves minimum standards that would require digital platforms to give news businesses 28 days’ notice of algorithm change that will affect the referral traffic or the placement of the news. It also requires the tech companies to provide news media businesses clear information about the data they collect through users’ interactions with the news content.

Why Did The Australian Government Introduce The Draft?

Google and Facebook have had a huge impact on Australia’s news industry as there is more than a 20% fall in the number of newspaper and online journalists since 2014 and the duopoly capturing a large share of digital advertising revenues. Earlier the plan was for a voluntary code. However, the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in a decline in advertising and revenues of news businesses as well as delayed the negotiations on payment. This led to the development of a mandatory code by the Australian treasurer, Josh Frydenberg to ensure a fair level playing field for news media companies. 

Google’s Response to the New Draft code

The cacophony over Australia’s proposed News Media Bargaining Code law, which is currently in drafts is gaining momentum with Google publishing an open letter to the users about it. Google users visiting the homepage were presented with an ominous pop-up message that warns, “The way Aussies use Google is at risk” and “their search experience will be hurt by the new regulation.”

This open letter from Google Australia managing director Mel Silva is a bold lobbying move that presents Google’s arguments against the new rules in front of million Australian users. Google argues that the proposed regulation would ‘put their free services at risk’ with data being handed over to big news businesses. 

It also argued that the law ‘forces’ to give an “unfair advantage” to news publishers alone in Google Search and YouTube because they would be given information that would help them “artificially inflate their ranking over everyone else”. The Guardian reports that eligible media companies must meet the criteria of having revenues exceeding $150,000 a year and must have a certain presence in the Australian market. This points out that most larger media houses will have access to the information. Google also said that the law is putting user data at risk.

ACCC Hits Back With A Quick Response

The consumer watchdog was swift in its response, labeling the post as ‘misinformation.’ In the statement released, it said that Google would not be required to charge Australians for its free services unless it chooses to do so. Similarly, Google doesn’t need to share any additional user data unless it wants to.

Google Makes a Comeback

Google issued a strong rebuttal in its response to ACCC claims. It retaliated saying,

“We strongly disagree and are concerned that our view of the Code has been represented this way during a consultation phase.”

In response to the ACCC claims that Google would not be required to charge for free services,  Google explained with an example that the code requires them to provide advance notice over changes in algorithms and said, 

“Even assuming Google could comply with this provision, it would seriously damage our products and user experience. It would impact our ability to continue to show users the most relevant useful results on Google Search and YouTube.”

The search giant also disagreed with ACCC claims that Google would not require to share data and said that the codes require that.

“ requires Google to tell news media businesses what user data we collect, what data we supply to them, and ‘how the registered news business corporation can gain access to’ that data which we don’t supply to them.” 

“This goes beyond the current level of data sharing between Google and news publishers.”

What Did Facebook Say?

Facebook had far less to say for now – William Easton,  MD for Australia & New Zealand said in a line,

“We are reviewing the Government’s proposal to understand the impact it will have on the industry, our services and our investment in the news ecosystem in Australia.”

However, Facebook had earlier expressed disappointment over making voluntary ACCC code to mandatory and described the news as “highly substitutable” content.

Will This Make Way For U.S Publishers?

In the U.S, The News Media Alliance, a trade association that represents 2000 publishers is promoting a bill named  Journalism Competition and Preservation Act, a law that would allow news companies to negotiate with online platforms regarding the terms on which content is distributed. However, at present competition law does not allow this.

Regulatory Changes Elsewhere in Europe

Spain and Germany had previously passed similar laws on the usage of news snippets but couldn’t manage to extract payments from Google or Facebook. In 2014, Spain made payments to publishers mandatory, Google chose to shut down its news service. Google threatens a similar response to French new laws as well.

In April this year, France’s competition authority ordered  Google to negotiate with publishers over payment for using their news content – such as images, videos, or article extract. However, Google refused to compensate for displaying the content and setting up a legal fight against new EU copyright laws.

Last year, the EU introduced new copyright rules that require tech companies to license the content from rightsholders.

Does This Mean Google and Facebook Don’t Pay Publishers?

The answer is Yes and No. They pay to some publishers. In June, Google said it would pay certain media outlets it will feature in their news service (not released yet)  in Germany, Australia, and Brazil. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. However, after the competition watchdog proposed the new code, Google informed local publishers that plans of licensing products – Publisher Curated News -are put on hold until further notice.

Another BIG Question, What’s Next?

As Google prepares for the ACCC fight, it would be interesting to watch the tide turning in which direction and how this landmark move will change regulations across the world.

The consultation on the draft proposals concludes on 28th August with final legislation is expected to be introduced shortly after the conclusion of consultations.

Here’s More: Morgan Stanley Forecasts Australian Ad Spend To Fall By 9% In 5 Years

 

Top 10 Emerging Indian Ad Tech Startups You Should Know About

The market for advertising technology is expected to record exponential growth between now and 2023.

-CMO Adobe

Just as advertising is the business of making advertisements, ad tech is the business of using technology to make advertisements faster, quicker, and efficient. The business is driven by powerful algorithms and data points.

The Adtech ecosystem consists of two major entities – the advertiser (Demand-side) and the publisher(Supply-side). Adtech helps advertisers and publishers achieve their goals in harmony by providing solutions that meet the demands of both parties. 

Learn more: A One-stop Guide On All You Ever Need To Know About AdTech In 2020

The Growing Ad Tech Trends

The year 2020 is full of technological advancements – Artificial Intelligence, data-driven marketing, and much more. Digital commerce is going strong and growing, leading to new paths such as mobile, programmatic, analytics, data management, and more. With new tools and technologies emerging every year, marketers can choose from a plethora of options across digital marketing to connect to a new audience and promote their products.

According to Emarketer’s survey, by 2020, digital ad spending will be 50% of total advertising. The statistics prove that there is a shift from the traditional medium of marketing to digital platforms.

Here are six significant ad tech trends in 2020 that will change the advertising world

1. Programmatic Advertising: 

Programmatic advertising is becoming a star strategy, and businesses spend almost $60 billion every year. It is projected that programmatic transactions two-thirds of digital display ad spend around the globe in 2020.

Programmatic needs to resolve many challenges before realizing its true potential, such as in the absence of the cookie, the industry needs to search new ways for retargeting and personalization, keeping customers’ privacy in mind. Meanwhile, first-party data is essential in the success of programmatic advertising. Lack of transparency, ad fraud, and efficiency are vital concerns that need to be addressed adequately.

The largest programmatic markets are the U.S, China, and the U.K with a double-digit Y-o-Y growth rate. Indonesia, Brazil, and India will be the fastest-growing programmatic digital ad market in 2020.

There are top three auction type segments for the global programmatic advertising display market which has gained momentum are :

• Global programmatic advertising display market by open auction: Buyers are allowed by publishers to participate in the public sale. It is likely to be the leading segment in the programmatic market with more number of buyers entering the digital market that allows publishers to get the best price for their inventory.
• Global programmatic advertising display market by automation guaranteed: Publishers are allowed to reserve inventory while keeping the price fixed. The inventory in this segment is premium advertisement such as the Super Bowl, or pre-launch page of a website and the growth prospects for automated guaranteed are big. It is forecasted by 2021, 88% of all digital display ad spending will flow via automation.
• Global programmatic advertising display market by invitation only: It is a private marketplace limited to buyers with an invitation only. The growth driver for this segment is more control over ads that are being run, and the relativity of ads is high due to which advertisers are ready to bid high to get the ads placed.

2. Mobile Advertising: 

Mobile advertising continues to take share with substantial gains over the last five years. A report by a research firm Berg Insight forecasted that the global mobile advertising market is expected to grow at the compound annual growth rate of 43%. Another eMarketer report projects that mobile ad spending will reach $400bn by the year 2023, up from $286bn this year. The numbers say it all! It is evident that the industry is growing and projects to represent  80% of global digital ad spend. 

A lot of in-app is driven by gaming. A spike in gaming is witnessed during COVID with 1.2 billion weekly mobile game downloads. Buyers are eyeing a vast opportunity to reach a diversified audience within the data-rich environment. There is an exponential growth of in-app advertising. Comscore research says that 75% of digital users consume all their social media, lifestyle, travel, news, and utility content using mobile apps. 5G will also be a considerable contributor to boost mobile-in app advertising, opening doors of opportunity and creativity for advertisers. With technologies such as OM SDK and app-ads.txt rolling out, the industry is moving towards a cleaner and more measurable environment.

Consumer time spent on media is shifting towards mobile, and eMarketer reports India and Thailand will witness the fastest mobile advertising growth in 2020.

3. Video Advertising:

The video will remain the key driver and cannot underscore its role in 2020. With large-scale events postponed and ad budgets cut down, marketers rely on video advertising as effective means across platforms. It is projected to account for 31% of the overall display ad spending next year.

Verizon research shows, almost all (96%) advertisers will be investing in at least one video ad format this year, and more than three-quarters say they plan to invest more in premium video content in 2020. The reason is ROI.

Advertisers and marketers plan to invest in shoppable and interactive emerging video ads formats. With shelter in place and people continue to work from home, there is a rise in digital and mobile usage with  CTV and OTT becoming increasingly dominant. Verizon research states.36 percent plan to invest more in Connected TV ads, while 30 percent intend to increase their spend on mobile video. USD 70 billion ad spend from linear is shifting towards OTT channels. Major companies are keen to take advantage of the changing scenario with the right technology.

4. Digital 360 services:

Marketers are focusing on areas like the personalization of media and content marketing. Voice and visual searches are playing a huge role in the ecosystem, and marketers are developing new techniques to enhance it. Many companies are offering 360 digital services that include social media marketing, SEO, content marketing, analytics, automation and transparency, and many more.

TheDrum indicates that by 2022, the global digital software industry will grow by $74.96 billion. CMO predicts that around 87% of marketing budgets will be spent on digital marketing by 2022. 

Another fastest growing digital marketing trend is interactive content – click on, swipe, or interact with online. Outgrow states 93% of marketers rate interactive content as highly effective at educating the buyer. The cutting edge technology like augmented reality and 360-degree videos offer a dynamic, engaging, and immersive experience.

5. Influencer Marketing:

The influencer marketing industry is set to hit USD 15 billion by 2022. With a high ROI, the industry will witness tremendous growth in the coming years.

Influencer marketing is in the early stage, but its usage growth is impressive. Less than one third (27.9%) marketers have been using influencer marketing for over three years, 20.9 %have been using for less than a year, and 7% have never used it. Reach and engagement is critical factors in an influencer mix and there is a negative correlation between engagement rate and followers. Most marketers prefer micro-influencers, typically followers between 10,000 and 100,000.

 

In the series of Global View For AdTech Start-Ups, we bring you ‘Top 10 India-Based Ad Tech Start-Ups’ -a curated list of promising start-ups from industry-main anchors to up-and-comers leading the advertisement industry in India.

Company: ADZ Junction

Founder:  Ashok Nain

Category: Digital Services, Ad- Affiliate Network, Mobile Advertising

Geo-Markets: India, Dubai, U.S.A

What they do: ADZ is the brainchild of Ashok Nain started with Mobile advertising and expanded the business to video and web gradually. Their services also include Digital Strategy, Content, Development and Marketing, and Search Marketing. Since its inception, the company is focused on delivering high-quality traffic to clients who have scalability issues and help them to identify their targeting audience, especially in Mobile advertising. 

How it’s changing adtech: 

• With its innovative advertising solutions and strategies, the company has built a robust affiliate marketing platform that can assist clients in real-time tracking and analytics.
• The 360-degree digital provider has 100+ clients from various sectors with a business of over USD 15 million and is developing technology – a real-time traffic buying SMS platform.

“We introduced real-time bidding, Mobile in-app advertising, rich media, and many other innovations to overcome clients’ problems of quality traffic generation. We have now a separate mobile division by name of AJ Mobile, where we encourage clients to work exclusively on mobile campaigns.”

The company successfully launched a digital campaign for  Dr. Lalpathlabs, an established company in the healthcare sector. Here is a short case study:

Challenge: 

• Expand its online market reach and user base
• Identify digital channels to generate revenue.
• Being completely behind in digital marketing and competing with emerging players in the healthcare sector.

Solution:

• Provided brand awareness strategies for different online channels.
• Established a full-fledged and cost-effective affiliate marketing channel.
• Established a brand development strategy and marketing campaign to rise above the competition.
• Successful digital campaigns resulted in 3X monthly transaction growth.

Founded: 2015

Headquarters: Gurugram (With offices in Mumbai, Bangalore, and Dubai)

 

Company: Aristoma

Founder:  Kumar Nishanth

Category: Online Digital Services

What they do: Aristoma, a 360-degree marketing incubator, offers services to increase customer reach using online mediums with some brilliantly creative and engaging ideas. Its portfolio includes top clients such as Diesel, Sportmate, CII, CREDAI Chattisgarh, Goldbricks, to name a few. All its endeavors have resulted in 100 percent growth.

How it’s changing adtech: 

• Aristoma is all about helping brands grow with a mantra “Commits, Creates & Connects” with expert result-oriented ideas and making advertising a better experience for advertisers and consumers. 
• The company advises in Brand Management, Email Direct Marketing, SEO, and  Social Media Planning to help businesses to get the most out of their marketing campaigns.

Founded: 2015

Headquarters: Raipur 

 

 

Company: DigiVigyan Marketing

Founder:   Amit Verma

Category: Digital Services, Digital Display Advertising

What they do: A dynamic full-service digital marketing agency that provides clients with multiple solutions through different marketing verticals- Website Management, Search Engine Optimization, Search and Display Advertising (Pay Per Click – PPC), Native Advertising, Online Reputation Management, Amazon Marketing Services, and Social Media Marketing.

How it’s changing adtech: 

• DigiVigyan offers world-class digital advertising solutions to businesses to achieve their digital marketing goals.
•  The company offers services such as creating landing pages with attractive ad copies, banners, and other optimizations to meet the marketing needs of businesses on various social media platforms. It has worked with renowned ad agencies like Dentsu, M&C Saatchi, to name a few. 
• The bootstrapped adtech company is now working towards being the go-to digital marketing agency worldwide after capturing the market across the country.

Founded: 2018

Headquarters: Delhi

 

Company: Do Your Thng

Founder: Ankit Agarwal

Category: Social/ Influencer, Influencer marketing platform

What they do:  DYT is a leading Influencer Marketing Agency and a shared economy for digital assets. It acts as a platform to create space for brands to connect with the largest team of nano, micro, and mega influencers.

How it’s changing adtech: 

• DYT is an online community that offers content creators an entry in the market and connects brands to the influencers depending on the campaigns. The active users through the app can promote the brand and earn for each post made, whereas the brand can find a safe and secure marketplace to discover the right influencers for their product.
• DYT operates on a broker based model where a percentage of the total spending is charged to maintain the platform. In a short period.
• The phenomenal fundraising and affable work culture have made DYT one of the fastest-growing startups.

Funding: 

The tech platform raised $150K from angel investors and plans to use it for further expansion and growth. Previously, the company has also raised an undisclosed amount from angel investors and intends to raise more funds in the future.

“DYT within months of its operation has successfully worked wonders for brands such as Mastercard India, Havells, etc., thus bringing engagement for the brands. With increased investor interest, we plan to expand the team, improve the technology, and go further with the associations.”

-Ankit Agarwal

An exciting campaign with Havells:

For the new digital-only campaign #BeardKyunHoWeird with Havells, the company selected 60 creators from the male grooming niche by using the technology to find people uploading their selfies with the beard and spelling about male grooming.

Challenge:

• To increase user engagement for the launch of the new range of BT 9000 beard trimmers with digital platform-only campaign #BeardKyunHoWeird.

Solution:

• Selected 60 creators. Each Instagram creator had a follower range of 1,000 to 85,000.
• Creators created unique and compelling content on how the new Havells trimmer helps in male grooming.
• The 20 days campaign got more than 100,000 engagements, reaching 500,000 users.
• The campaign attracted traction and engagement rate of 10% with authentic creators.

Founded: 2019

Headquarters: Gurugram

Company: EMIAC Technologies

Founder: Divya Gandotra

Category: Digital Services, Social Media Marketing

Geo Markets: United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, South Korea, Russia, Ukraine, Vietnam, Singapore, and UAE, among others.

What they do:  EMIAC is a perfect blend of innovation and technology determined to serve businesses in front of their target markets. Their principal services include Content Development, Paid Marketing,  and Web Design and Development. The leading digital firm has 1200+ clients, 2900 projects across 30+ countries.

How it’s changing adtech: 

• EMIAC offers an array of services from content development and full-service digital agency to paid social media marketing and blog outreach. It is a top-rated digital marketing and content development agency on the world’s popular freelancing site Upwork that adds to their credibility and goodwill.
• What differentiates them from the crowd is an excellent record of delivering projects on time, offering personalized products and services, premium quality services, and providing it at competent prices.

“We are the game-changers, trendsetters, pioneers, and revolutionaries with a passion for creating an ideal digital future where everyone is connected.”

Founded: 2017

Headquarters: Jaipur  (With offices in U.K and U.S)

 

 

Company: Globale Media

Founder: Bhavesh Talreja

Category: Mobile Advertising, brand safety/ verification, programmatic advertising

What they do: Globale media offers an integrated marketing platform that maximizes revenues by bringing in direct advertisers and showing relevant ads that best fit the user audience using banners, interstitial, videos, social, and native ads. The company specializes in digital marketing for all major kinds of app verticals including gaming, e-commerce, lifestyle, utilities, social, education, entertainment, and others on CPM, CPI, and CPA cost models. Publishers can access to the full feed of available campaigns as well as real real-time tracking and automation to multiple devices with programmatic GLOBALE API. It excels with a reach of over 500+ direct publishers, 1000+ live campaigns over 120 countries.

How it’s changing adtech: 

• Globale media has developed a marketing program primarily for the mobile age. 
• Globale media has been sincerely providing “ transparency on inflation level and not just on the click level.” The company is aggressively pitching for its recently launched product keyword search traffic where revenues have increased 3x from quarter-on-quarter and are expecting to multiply the revenues by 10x in 2020. 
• In the next five years, it aims to be among the top ad tech marketing companies in India, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia.

“We provide app marketers with 100 direct in-app traffic sources with transparency so they get device ids on each and every click and have a clear knowledge about where the app is running. In terms of impact, the advertisers can use these device ids to run their re-engagement campaigns and make sure the users are coming back to the app and ultimately spending more within the app.”

-Bhavesh Talreja

Founded: 2017

Headquarters: Singapore (With offices in India and UAE)

 

 

Company: mCanvas

Founder:  Vishal Rupani

Category: Mobile Advertising, Video Interactive ads, Programmatic Advertising

What they do: mCanvas is a subsidiary of Affinity and is the brainchild of Vishal Rupani, from vision and inception to revenue generation and scalability. mCanvas is a storytelling mobile ad platform that uses phone sensors to create compelling and interactive brand narratives.

How it’s changing adtech: mCanvas is the first and leading Indian company that has addressed critical issues of mobile marketing: Banner Blindness, Poor Viewability, Accidental Clicks, and Lack of Storytelling. The mobile advertising platform uses four kinds of advertisement formats: Scrollers, Stickers, Spotlight, and Streambox. 

• The company recently integrated with Adobe advertising cloud that will enable advertisers to buy experiential rich media content and interactive video ads. 

“In light of the steady increase in the demand to make ads programmatically available, we are happy to integrate with Adobe Advertising Cloud DSP. We have spearheaded programmatic advertising in the rich-media mobile ad industry, and we will continue leveraging its power to offer our innovative solutions.”

-Vishal Rupani

• The company has a reach to at least 60million Indian smartphone users and follows the cost per video (CPV) model for videos and cost per engagement(CPE) for rich media. Sensory Rich media content is produced for VR and AR as well.

“Augmented reality (AR) has become a buzzword in the online tech space. It has shown great promise even in the mobile ad space, and brands have been quick to incorporate AR into mobile-led ad campaigns that have proven to enhance user engagement.”

One of the best examples is  of Frooti – #TheFrootiLife

Challenge: To build a brand recall with its primary target audience -Millennials around the drink during summertime.

Solution: Using face detection technology, the rich media campaign encouraged users to start the front camera and catch the falling mangoes in the augmented environment. This campaign created a massive impact on the users with this ‘WoW’ ad experience.

• Another segment that has been strongly transformed by brand experiences in the mobile ad industry is voice-enabled interactive mobile ads that have created a lasting impression.

“Personalization of marketing & advertising messages is not a luxury but a necessity.,”

-Vishal Rupani

Here is another case study of Mercedes-Benz GLC that has used speech and sound recognition technology in mobile ads. To promote their latest feature, Mercedes -Benz User Experience (MBUX) used a smart multimedia system and in-car voice-activated assistant.

The mCanvas interactive mobile ad uses real-time speech recognition technology, and the voice bot in the ad would respond to the questions, recreating the actual experience a user would have in the car.

Founded: 2014

Headquarters: Mumbai

 

 

Company: Streamlyn

Founder:  Naveen Kumar & Raja Chakraborty

Category: Programmatic Advertising, Brand Safety/ Verification

Geo-markets: Asia, Europe, MiddleEast, North America, MENA, APAC, and other 25+ countries.

What they do: Streamlyn works for both publishers and ad buyers to sell and buy ad space respectively. It works as an agency as well as a supply-side platform.

How it’s changing adtech:  The one-stop advertising solution provider, a publisher focused media agency connects advertisers with the target audience via the right publisher.

“The aim was to help online publishers, particularly small and medium-sized ones, grow their revenue and the audience.”

-Naveen Kumar

• Streamlyn has an in-house ad server and algorithm to help analyze and optimize the monetization depending on the solution provided by the team to assist the client with high ROI and eCPM and uses cutting edge technology –POE (Programmatic Optimization Engine) and Anti-Fraud algorithms. 

• Streamlyn offers its proprietary product ‘ BidsXchange,’ a smart advertising portal deploying machine learning for small and medium-sized advertisers that allows them to upload ads and select their desired publishers based on the target audience interest.
• Another additional revenue source for publishers is In-image advertising, a novel concept that helps achieve an edge over competitors with Streamlyn’s Header bidding wrapper tags.
• It generates content in regional languages and is known as the best optimization partner for vernacular publishers.  It has partnered with Google to support vernacular publishers and increase their revenue.

Founded: 2015

Headquarters: Singapore (With offices in India and U.S)

 

Company: Tarsan

Founder:  Tarun Nayyar

Category: Mobile Advertising, Affiliate Marketing

What they do: Tarsan is a leading performance-based Mobile media agency that caters to top-level clientele globally like Airtel, Paytm, M&C Saatchi, CyberAgent, to name a few and delivers performance & branding campaigns and SMS/email/voice/solutions. It is known for the execution of marketing plans on mobile.

How it’s changing adtech: 

• Tarsan has an in-house platform, AdMenu, that gives clear and quantifiable value to each advertising avenue, enhancing the ROI on ad spends as well as boost transactional value. It provides transparent information regarding the placement of ads on various platforms via GAID or IDFA.
• Many transactional campaigns are carried out on E-commerce platforms, but the company charges only for lined traffic by experienced customers, whereas the payment depends on CPR, CPT, and CPI.
• Transparency and accountability are their top priority, and with the unique capability to gather information about mobile devices, it has been successful in creating a database of publishers and marketers.
• It maintains a five-layered security policy for data protection. The company aims to become a 360-degree performance-based mobile marketing agency and enhance the AdMenu platform and convert it into a revenue generation opportunity.

“We never store data; we just identify people according to their device id. The information given to us is all in concurrence from the publisher and advertisers.”

Founded: 2012

Headquarters: Delhi

 

Company: UrPopular

Founder:  Siddharth Sinha & Kumaresh Bhatt

Category: Micro-Influencer Marketing, Measurement and analytics

Geo-markets:  India, Southeast Asian countries, MENA countries, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore.

What they do: UrPopular is India’s largest network of micro-influencers who are paid to post on Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, and Twitter with 240 million+ organic reach across these platforms. They have a pan India reach of 240 million+ and creators in 11 languages.

How it’s changing adtech: 

• The tech firm is democratizing organic marketing in India and helping brands to create ROI based campaigns.
• It adds new ways to drive ROI for brands with its cost per view and cost per reach micro-influencer campaigns. The tech company has developed algorithms to understand the outcome of the campaigns and brands can acquire efficiency and measurability in their campaigns. 
• Their mantra is  “Create, Amplify, and Measure.” This case study of McDonald’s ‘A ful-filling campaign’ is a perfect example to understand it.

Challenge: McDonald’s wanted to destress students from exam fever, and their McSaver Meal + Free French fries exactly intend to do.

Solution: UrPopular got their 11 young and enthusiastic influencers to cheer up and whip off the post-exam chronicles within the outlet by creating Insta stories, videos, fun boomerangs, and before/after stills. 

These custom creatives pushed organically delivered,

• 1 million + reach with a 17% engagement rate.
• Rs.1.9 cost per engagement.
• 1.4 million impressions.

“UrPopular brings measurability and scale to the campaigns by working with India’s largest pool of microinfluencers and nano influencers.”

Founded: 2017

Headquarters: Mumbai

Closing Words

“In this industry, tomorrow is never the same as today. To gain long-term success in AdTech, you have to play fair, don’t be afraid of experiments, and never stop trying”

-Anton Ruin, Epom

Ad Tech is no rocket science, but it is of significant advantage to brands as it allows integrating various tools in a single system. It is an amalgamation of advertising, creativity, technology, and innovation. The automated process and joint workflows enable more precise target marketing resulting in relevant and compelling ads. The new norms,  tried and tested solutions along with reliable platforms helps to keep information safe and avoid any ad fraud. With significant changes and improvements over what advertisers and publishers used to have earlier, adtech is growing as an industry. However, it still requires more work and expertise to handle the challenges and resolve for good.

Read more: Evolution of Digital Advertising: Happy 25th Digital Advertising And Many More To Come

The Impact of M&A deals in AdTech Amidst COVID-19 Pandemic

The year 2020 is facing global problems like pandemic, race riots, or recession. In the early days, many advertisers have pulled back in many areas because of the fear and uncertainty but surprisingly the projected slowdown on the ad spend is minimal, pointing towards a stable and steady growth in the future. The stock performance of adtech and mar-tech companies have performed well despite the crisis. Adtech is witnessing a consolidation phase but how effective will be dealmaking in this pandemic is the next obvious question. Read here to know more.

Dealmaking In Pandemic

Luma Partners’ Terrence Kawaja, ad tech’s top investment banker pointed at Adweek’s NexTech 2020 Virtual Summit that dealmaking dropped to almost half in the pandemic where many of them were legacy deals which were already in pipeline pre-COVID. The dealmaking was substantially down in Q1 and Q2 and is expected to further reduce in the third quarter due to short-term lack of confidence owing to the current crisis. However, dealmaking activities have picked up again and will see more toward the end of 2020. Kawaja also said,

“Based on our pipeline and what we’re seeing in the marketplace, buyers are back in and looking for deals.”

Where are we seeing these new activities coming from?

Kawaja provides key insights on a potential impending wave of industry consolidation and 5 market segments that are driving M&A deals – Connected TV, Identity, Mobile App, Audio, and what he termed ‘Programmatic End Game Consolidation’ and further elaborated on it.

1. Connected TVs:  CTV is over a USD 100 billion market that is growing rapidly and by next year it will be 50% addressable. CTV viewing was up in the pandemic and there is a shift in consumer viewing from linear to streaming mainly due to the loss of live sports. USD 70 billion ad spend from linear is shifting towards OTT channels. Major companies are keen to take advantage of the changing scenario with the right technology. With an accelerated shift to streaming, CTV deal activities are picking up.

2. Identity: The core to 360-degree marketing witnessed many privacy regulations and data restrictions from big tech like Google Chrome turning off cookie to Apple’s IDFA deprecation, presenting challenges like limiting targeting in the open-web and measurement. At the same time, there are opportunities like first-party data and resurgence of contextual targeting. Large companies position for privacy-centric data capabilities and predict strategic opportunities in consumer data deal activities.

3.Mobile App: Mobile advertising continues to take share with substantial gains over the last 5 years. A lot of in-app is driven by gaming. A spike in gaming will be witnessed during COVID with 1.2 billion weekly mobile game downloads with people having more time in hand in the lockdown. The latest challenge that companies are trying to sort out is the IDFA deprecation in the iOS 14 update. Deal activities will continue in mobile apps provided there are new opportunities.

4. Audio: Podcast has undergone tremendous popularity in the last 5 years with 104 million monthly podcast listeners. The monetization has grown even faster and is still in the early years that has the potential to grow further. The rise in podcasting is driving many more audio deals. Many substantial deals have already happened mainly by Spotify and are expected to continue.

5. Programmatic End Game Consolidation: Every industry goes through three generic phases: new company formation, maturity, plus rationalization and consolidation. However, in the adtech industry, the process is “on steroids”. Thousands of companies initially flood the adtech market with an abundance of venture capital and easy market entry, and with early successes follows a rush of IPO’s. Large consumer data companies take advantage of the large, matured, and growing market for scale and profitability. Kawaja says the net consolidation in ad tech started in 2015 and further adds,

“We’ve been on that rationalization push for the last five years.”

He sees this is the final phase -the end-game-of consolidation soon which will be accelerated by the pandemic which will get to fewer players with larger spend and lower-tech rates. 

“This will clean the ecosystem with fewer players that are more sustainable with a better market cap. Consolidation on  DSP side – Trade desk with 20 billion market cap is the evidence for the final phase.”

If his projection comes true then there will be some activities after a long pause in the deals. Following that, the M&A  sprint is likely to exit the industry.

 Read more: A One-stop Guide On All You Ever Need To Know About AdTech In 2020

IAS Partners With Pinterest Over Fraud And Viewability Measurement Reporting

Digital ad verification provider Integral Ad Service( IAS) has partnered with Pinterest to able to deliver marketers access to viewability and fraud measurement reporting that covers its mobile in-app campaign.

IAS mentioned that its reporting includes standard Pinterest ads and video ads for in-app inventory, all updated on a daily basis.

This new integration will help advertisers to have access to viewability and invalid traffic monitoring and reporting across promoted pins and videos as well as Independent, third-party reporting by IAS and a global measurement that allows a holistic view across any brand’s entire Pinterest campaign.

With this announcement, Pinterest is observing an all-time high level of user engagement as well as people are searching for creative solutions to ‘life-at-home’ in this pandemic. The searches on the platform for “work from home” are up 1,411% and searches for “children’s activities” are up 4,055%, globally.

IAS also noted that 82% of users access the platform via mobile devices, and it is even more significant for advertisers to measure mobile campaigns on Pinterest accurately.

With measurement being critical to evaluating and optimizing ad quality and related media spend, Lisa Utzschneider, CEO of IAS said,

“IAS is excited to partner with Pinterest to offer marketers a mobile viewability and fraud measurement solution that works in-app, where people are engaging.”

“This partnership helps provide the transparency that marketers need to optimize their campaigns on the popular network.”

Read more: IAS Issues Threat Alert Regarding The Latest Digital Ad fraud Scheme

Everything the Q2 2020 Financial Results of Tech Giants Have to Say

Big Tech giants have revealed their quarter financial performance in these turbulent times. Here are the Q 2 financial performance, insights, and earnings details:

Alphabet

Google’s parent company Alphabet beat the expectations for its Q 2 earnings despite a dip in the advertising. However, it marked its first year-over-year revenue decline in its history as the pandemic slowed the economic activity and advertisers pulled back their spending. Though there is a slowdown in the advertising growth, Google pointed to newer long-term opportunities in cloud computing and artificial intelligence, YouTube, and shopping. For the rest of the year, in anticipation of slowdown, the company has cut marketing spend by half and also freezes hiring.

Google is also facing antitrust investigations of its search and Android business and is expected to result in a legal action that could cover issues from search to digital advertising space in the coming months.

By the numbers:

 

• $2.6 billion declines in year-on-year advertising revenue.
• Google’s total quarterly revenue $29.9 billion of $38.3 billion is from advertising.
• YouTube ad revenue increased 6% to $3.8 billion.
• Google Cloud sales grew 43% to $3 billion.
• Total Net income reported $6.96 billion compared to $9.95 billion in the year-ago quarter.

Response:

Though there is a slowdown in the advertising growth, Google pointed to newer long-term opportunities in cloud computing and artificial intelligence, YouTube, and shopping. 

For the rest of the year, in anticipation of slowdown, the company has cut marketing spend by half and also freezes hiring. Ruth Porat, Chief Financial Officer of Alphabet and Google said,

“We continue to navigate through a difficult global economic environment.”

Consumers are returning to more commercial search queries and advertisers are gradually increasing their search spending towards the end of the quarter. However, Ruth Porat cautioned,

“We believe it is premature to gauge the durability of recent trends, given the obvious uncertainty of the global macro environment.”

Google is also facing antitrust investigations of its search and Android business and is expected to result in a legal action that could cover issues from search to digital advertising space in the coming months.

Amazon

The e-commerce giant delivered some eye-popping numbers during Q2 beating earnings expectations and reported a double-digit revenue year over year. With the flurry of online orders amid the coronavirus pandemic, sales soared by 40%. The online grocery sales tripled Y-o-Y and the grocery delivery capacity by more than 160%. The demand for online shopping sky-rocketed and to fulfill the demand, it hired 175,000 more people in the period.

By The Numbers:

• Revenue reported is $88.91 billion vs. $81.56 billion expected, the strongest and unexpected annual growth in years.
• Amazon spent $4 billion on coronavirus related measures as promised in Q1 and expects to spend another $2 billion during Q3 towards COVID-19 mitigation efforts.
• Amazon Web Services (AWS), its cloud computing service grew 29% compared to 33% in Q1.
• Amazon’s Other’ category that primarily consists of the advertising business ( a small slice of Amazon’s total revenues) was up 41% Y-o-Y and subscription services that include revenues from Prime membership also up 29%.

Response:

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said in a statement, 

“This was another highly unusual quarter, and I couldn’t be more proud of and grateful to our employees around the globe.”

As reported by CNBC, Amazon CFO Brian Olsavsky said consumer demand in the pandemic shifted from consumables and groceries to categories “not so profitable” and normal mix of products. He said,“Amazon could ship a lot more.”

 Amazon will conduct a Prime Day shopping event in the fourth quarter. 

Facebook 

Despite the Congress probe, pandemic, and an anti-hate boycott from advertisers, Facebook beats all market expectations, revenue grew by 11%. This speaks volumes about the strength of the company’s appeal to marketers despite serious challenges. The top 100 advertisers’ that boycotted Facebook over its hate speech and misinformation policies constituted less than 20% of Facebook’s ad revenue. However, the boycott by large advertisers couldn’t rally small businesses who are reliant on Facebook.

By The Numbers:

• 3.14 billion monthly users across all apps(Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and Whatsapp), compared to 2.99 billion in the previous quarter.
• 1.79 billion Daily Active Users on Facebook, up 12% year on year
• 2.7 billion Monthly Active Users on Facebook, up 12% year on year.
• Revenue: $18.7 billion, up 11% year on year.
• It has more than 9 million active advertisers.

Response:

The company said in a statement, 

“We are seeing signs of normalization in user growth and engagement as shelter-in-place measures have eased around the world, particularly in developed markets where Facebook’s penetration is higher.”

Mark Zuckerberg said on a call with investors,

“Some also seem to wrongly assume that our business is dependent on a few large advertisers. The biggest part of our business is serving small businesses.” 

Two new initiatives were announced for small businesses- Facebook Shops and in-messenger commerce.

“This really is primarily focused on small businesses, individual entrepreneurs. Small businesses are the biggest part of our business, not large businesses.”

The company forecasts its revenue growth rate for Q3 of about 10%. while taking into account ongoing headwinds including macroeconomic uncertainty, ad boycott (formally began in July, after Q2 ended), regulations around ad targetting, and measurement.

Pinterest

Pinterest revenue grew 4% on user growth and advertisement. Users who started using Pinterest during Covid-19 continued to have engagement even after lockdown restrictions eased out at a few places. It reached a milestone of crossing more than 400 million monthly users, witnessing a strong growth from users under 25 who grew twice as fast as users over 25. The total advertising growth accelerated year over year in Q2 and small and medium-sized advertisers emerged as a key driver that made up nearly half of its revenue. New features like Shop Tab and the ability to shop from boards are worked upon to make content search easy for the Pinners.

ByThe Numbers: 

• Total daily video views (organic+ paid) grew over 150% year over year.
• Catalog from business increased in Q2 by more than 350% from Q1.
• Revenue from conversion optimization or oCPM, shopping ads, and auto bids continues to grow faster than overall revenue, and attributed conversions grew 2.7x year over year. 80% of CPC revenue is going through the auto bid.
• Users visiting shopping only surfaces grew more than 50% in the first half of 2020 and product only searches grew 8x. 

Response:

As per CNBC, the company said,

“People needed Pinterest in Q2. They needed a service that helped them adjust to radically changed circumstances — one that inspired them to cook at home, build vegetable gardens, plan activities for their kids and set up remote offices and home gyms, to name just a few typical COVID-19-related use cases we saw during the quarter.”

Advertisers have increased budgets on Pinterest because of its strong commercial intent where advertisers get their traction without displaying ads with any controversial content.

Omnicom Group

Omnicom revenues decline 23% due to a decline in spending by the clients. In order to offset the decline in revenue 6,100 jobs were cut across its network, froze hiring, eliminated salary increases, implemented voluntary pay cuts across its agencies, and participated in government subsidy programs in 35 markets. It also shed 1 million square feet of real estate space as it terminated leases across markets in order to mitigate the impact of the pandemic. It is expected that these actions will result in the repositioning costs for the quarter of $278 million that will generate approximately $500 million in annualized savings.

Advertising revenue decline as the revenue of the programmatic business decreased where it offered principle-based buying options for clients.

By The Numbers:

• Reported revenue was $2.8 billion, down $854 million organically, or 23% from Q2 2019.
• Advertising business declined 26.6% and Third-party service costs which fluctuate directly with changes in revenue declined by approximately $400 million.
• Revenues declined in all disciplines except healthcare which grew 3.2% organically. 
• CRM execution and support include events and field marketing businesses, which declined 27.6%.
• CRM consumer experience declined 25.6%, and PR declined 14%,

Response:

CEO John Wren said on the earnings call, 

“The quarter posed extraordinary challenges. he effect of COVID and related lockdowns were unprecedented.”

The main reason for declines in Omnicon’s services was because the client from travel, retail, auto, and other affected verticals paused or cut spending whereas technology and telecom fared better.

After a tough and bad Q2, the company looks forward to the second half. The recovery may not be immediate but the impact will vary regionally and by vertical.  Wren said,

“We think the worst is behind us, with Q2 being the worst point for year-over-year revenue declines.”

The company added a few new clients like Air France’s global agency of record account and Clorox’s media business in the United States.

Apple

Apple reports a slow down in revenue growth as the demand and supply was impacted due to the pandemic. However, it had reported a better quarter than Wall Street expected, showing growth across all product lines including iPhones and reflected growth across all geographic segments.

By The Numbers:

• Revenues rose 11% to $59.7 billion against the estimated revenue of $52.6 billion.
• Apple reported iPhone revenue of $26.42 bn, a growth of 1.66%.
• The biggest growth was in iPad revenue at $6.58bn up from $4.48 bn.
• Apple reported service revenue of $13.1 bn against $11.5 bn the same period in the last year.

Response:

Apple CEO Tim Cook during a call said, 

“Amid the most challenging global environment in which we’ve ever operated our business we’re proud to say that Apple grew during the quarter.”

The company’s subscription service and Apple Tv+ also performed well as most people watched content under lockdown. Apple did not issue guidance for the third quarter. 

Read  more on Q1 results: Where Do These Global Companies Stand At The End Of Q1: Performance, Insights, And Statistics