NIELSEN TACKLES AUDIO STREAMING MEASUREMENT . . . AGAIN:  Nielsen is making yet another run at audio streaming measurement.  It’s been a while since you heard about their efforts, because quite frankly it’s been a while.  As you may recall in April’16 Nielsen rolled out a test sample of SDK-based stream ratings with the hopes of a fully commercialized roll out in June’16.  But the broadcasters balked at the numbers, claiming they were much lower than their own server-side listening data.  So Nielsen pulled the product off the road map to rejigger it, and now they’re back.  Will this latest attempt, outlined in the attached Inside Radio link, be successful?  It’s anyone’s guess.  But there’s one clue to how this will go down in a quote from Nielsen’s VP of Audio Rob Kass who said “We’re not going to move forward on it without their seal of approval.”  AKA – if the broadcasters don’t like the numbers (because they’re too small), we won’t move forward with streaming measurement.  Sounds like a solid ostrich-head-in-the-sand strategy to me, because streaming really isn’t that relevant to audio listening these days (insert eye roll here).

AD FRAUD, BY THE NUMBERS:  Think programmatic ad fraud is a problem in the United States?  Trying living in Japan.  According to the attached Digiday article in some countries ad fraud can run as high as 80% of all the web impression purchased programmatically.  In the graphic below you can see the US at a relatively “modest” 37% fraud rate, compared to Japan’s 80% (eeek!)  The causes for this fraud are increasingly sophisticated bot schemes like MethBotting and using arbitrage to purchase lower CPM display inventory and then fraudulently resell it as video at a huge CPM markup.  Keep in mind these stats are for Web only (Mobile ad fraud is much lower, so far), and pertains to Programmatic only.  Direct IOs and publisher-direct preferred PMPs are thankfully still above the ad fraud fiasco you’re seeing in these stats.  On the bright side it’s heartening to know that more brands are pushing for human audience verification, which is already helping to clean up the industry.  But in the meantime it might be a good idea to stay away from any web-based programmatic exchanges in Japan.

GOOGLE GETS ITS HARDWARE ON:  In 2001 Apple invented the modern tech product Reveal when it launched the very first iPod.  Since then they’ve used the stage, and some “One more thing . . . “ stagecraft, to hype and then show off their latest and greatest hardware.  Now other tech players are getting into the Reveal game.  Last Wednesday during Advertising Week Amazon announced a slew of new smart devices integrated in their Echo platform.  Not to be outdone, Google is holding a similar media event this week to announce some shiny new toys of their own.  As reported in the attached CNBC link, most of the speculation is around Google’s hardware including two new versions of their Pixel smartphone, a Google Home Mini (think of Amazon’s Echo Dot), a new Chromebook called the Pixelbook, and a new less expensive VR headset.  There’s also buzz around a potential Android Wear Smartwatch upgrade.  Over the past 18 months Google has been getting its clock cleaned (sorry) by Apple in the wearables category, so it will be interesting to see if they play some offense in this sector.  Should be interesting to watch the Connected Device Wars heat up.

Have a great Tuesday guys!

BEST OF ADVERTISING WEEK:  With NYC’s Advertising Week safely in our rear view mirror I thought it would be helpful to post a summary of the biggest highlights and eyebrow raisers.  Digiday has a solid roundup in the attached link.  There are a few points in here you already know, like the rise of Asian techs Tencent/Alibaba, and continued disclosures of fraud traffic issues – this time from the Financial Times.  But there were also a few notable stories which flew under the radar.  One of the most intriguing to me was eMarketer’s release of fresh data on the state of TV cord cutting in the US.  In the chart below you’ll see two lines – the red is for “cord cutters” who disband from normal cable use (usually by subscribing to some sort of OTT option instead), and the black line is for “cord nevers” who never had a cable sub in the first place.  Right now there are over 56M combined viewers in these groups, and the total is expected to balloon to over 80M in just the next four years.  This one stat alone really explains why the TV and Cable broadcasters are rushing into content creation instead of just relying on their legacy distribution businesses.  And who thought they wouldn’t learn something new during Advertising Week?!?

MOBILE AD REVENUE’S TAIL OF THE TAPE:  We all know mobile ad revenue is currently dominated by the Goo-FBoo duopoly, but it’s still an eye opener to see just how concentrated ad spending is between those two.  In another eMarketer chart below, you can see the current spending shares and forecast trend of where things are headed.  If you include Instagram within FB’s total the duopoly is now taking in over 65% of the mobile ad spending in the US.  And yes, the Goo-FBoo share is expected to increase to an astounding 72% by 2019.  Keep in mind this is just mobile revenue (not including traditional web).  But since almost all the future growth in digital media is happening on the mobile side, it’s safe to say we’ve got two big fish in the mobile pond and then everyone else.

APPLE ON APPLE MUSIC:  On Friday Apple announced it crossed the 30M threshold for worldwide subscribers.  They used the press occasion to lay out the long-term vision for where streaming as an industry could go and what needs to be done to improve the current music ecosystem.  The original article was published by Billboard, but it’s really long and self-promoting (trust me, I read it over the weekend).  So I thought it would be better to give you a summary in the attached Musically link.  Apple Music exec Jimmy Iovine teases out the idea of going deeper with content than simply streaming songs in order to convert fans into “super fans”.  Mr. Iovine’s other assertion is that the music industry would be better served if Billboard magazine (who happened to be giving the interview) reweighted the sources for its chart rankings.  Iovine’s suggestion is to have user uploaded sources like YouTube decreasing in weight and streaming services like Apple (surprise!) increasing.  This is a savvy not to mention self-serving suggestion, because if artists know their “spins” on the streaming services count more towards their Billboard chart numbers they’ll focus more on streaming in the first place.  Interestingly there’s nothing in this piece about ad monetization within their streaming platform, which is consistent with Apple’s sell-you-the-device-feed-you-the-content strategy.

Have a great Monday guys!