33Across Blog | Programmatic News & Trends

The turnout was great at last week’s Digiday Publishing Summit in Berlin.  Ad tech and publishing executives came together to share the latest trends, wins, and pressing issues within the industry. After a number of meaningful conversations, I learned that we are all facing the same hurdles. With that, Digiday Publishing Summit was a great time to come together and discuss best practices and how to overcome them. Here are some of my key takeaways from the event:

What was the buzz around the office last week? Legislators are cracking down on paid political ads on social platforms, Google makes TVs smarter, and survival tips for the Q4 shopping season.  

1. Political ads on social media face regulation  

Political ads on social media may soon have to adhere to the same disclosure requirements as traditional political ads. The Honest Ads Act will require disclosure of paid political ads by online platforms with 50 million views or more per month. AdExchanger details how legislators believe that people deserve to know where their ads come and how this new act is a step towards better transparency.

What was the buzz around the office last week? Quality assurance with blockchain technology, new concerns with whitelisting, and preparation steps for next year's GDPR.  

1. Bringing quality assurance to ad tech  

Blockchain technology has the potential revolutionize programmatic advertising. Blockchain technology could streamline the quality assurance process between advertisers and publishers. This could also minimize a lot of back and forth between trading desk, publishers, and brands. According to NASDAQ, blockchain-based verification systems are already in use and are on the rise.

What was the buzz around the office last week? Facebook is offering more transparency and ad control, Apple is reducing their cookie window, and what it will take for programmatic tv to win.  

1. What CMOs think of programmatic  

Ad fraud has some CMOs skeptical about programmatic advertising. Instead, marketers are using platforms such as Facebook and Google over programmatic as they know where their dollars are going. Digiday explains how programmatic has it’s place in digital marketing however the technology alone cannot account for all branding and storytelling.

Despite Hurricane Irma passing through prior to the event, Digiday Publishing Summit Key Biscayne had an amazing turnout. Spirits were high amongst attendees as we came together as an industry to support Southern Florida and each other. Publishers, agencies, and brands openly discussed exciting advancements in ad formats, video, and creative ways journalists are enriching their content. Here a few of my takeaways.

Increasing Video Viewability
The focus of Digiday Key Biscayne was video. How publishers strategize their video content to target audiences across platforms was a hot topic. For instance, the same audience views video differently on Facebook than they do on Instagram or Snapchat. With so many users muting their video content, j ournalists are also finding creative ways of increasing viewability such as including phrases within video better ensures that content is absorbed. 

Header Bidding For Video
Panelists suggested that “player bidding” should be the term for video header bidding because with video, the impressions go through the player and not the header of the page. While a majority of publishers mentioned seeing a lift in revenue after implementing header bidding display that same yield does not always transfer directly to video.

New Ad Formats
Publishers have been exploring new ad units; in particular the Interscroller, a mobile web unit that is revealed underneath the mobile web page content as the user scrolls down the page. Driven by the Better Ads Coalition and the IAB, the unit offers a rich media experience without being intrusive.

Overall, Digiday Publishing Summit Key Biscayne served as a wake up call to ad tech. In order to increase competition and drive higher CPMs and yield, publishers want to do away with the "duopoly" that is Google and Facebook. Industry guidelines and rules are being distributed by Google and Facebook and commanding the way publishers do business. To have a fair ecosystem, we need publishers to band together and become solution-driven.

What was the buzz around the office last week? Facebook is offering more transparency and ad control, Apple is reducing their cookie window, and what it will take for programmatic tv to win.  

1. Facebook's New Targeting Tools  

Facebook now has a way for advertisers to target consumers offline. The social media platform recently announced that businesses can now build audiences of of people who have made offline purchases. With the new tool, advertisers can also create lookalike audiences of potential shoppers based on recent in-store visits. AdExchanger explains how shoppers are expecting for brands to track their shopping behavior. 

No risk, no reward - that’s the theme of this Friday Fives. Blair Pecka shares her career journey into product management and how determination and hard work led to her recent promotion to vice president of product. We’ll also learn about product management misconceptions and one of her all-time favorite movies. 

What was the buzz around the office last week? Facebook is offering more transparency and ad control, Apple is reducing their cookie window, and what it will take for programmatic tv to win.  

1. Facebook offers more control, more transparency  

Facebook is increasing transparency and giving advertisers more control over where ads show up. The platform recently announced that they will tighten guidelines on the type of content that can be monetized. With that, publishers must prove themselves credible and sites featuring misinformation or fake news will be blocked from monetizing. AdExchanger explains the changes in greater detail and how Facebook’s lack of transparency in the past pushed big advertisers away.

Bratwurst, beer, and even tattoos being done onsite. Throughout the amazing experiences offered to attendees at DMEXCO 2017, ad tech and its ever growing landscape remained the constant. Hot topics including viewability, transparency, and GDPR were the focus of the thousands of publishers, advertisers, and ad tech companies in attendance.  Although I had a great time in Cologne connecting with partners; customer experiences were the key focus of DMEXCO. Here are my takeaways:

What was the buzz around the office last week? Verizon's Oath business unit offers rewards, AppNexus and Index Exchange are at the top, and publishers find balance between user experience and ad units. 

1. Data and Rewards: Oath's big strategy  

Verizon will soon feed its consumer’s web-browsing data, app use, and location data to its recently created business unit Oath. Customer’s who opt into sharing their data will earn credits for concert tickets, movie premiers phone upgrades, and more. MediaPost explains how Verizon added 600,000 new subscribers and generated nearly $90 billion in revenue the past quarter.