THE AMAZING SHRINKING TV AD:  If you’re a broadcast old timer like me you might remember back to 2004 when ClearChannel (now iHeart) launched something called Less Is More, which promoted the purchase of :30s over :60s on radio stations.  The rationale was to sell :30s for about 60% of the cost of :60s – so they could get more ads in and revenue out of the same length stopsets.  Now TV appears to be getting into the shorter-length game.  According to Axios in the attached link, and in the graphic below, Network and Cable TV ad lengths are steadily shifting from :30s to :15s.  The decreasing length is probably a result of shortening attention spans of viewers who are responding just as well (if not better) to :15s – so why buy the whole :30, right?  You’re even starting to see :06 micro units created for OLV being repurposed on TV.  If this trend keeps up could you imagine a day when :06 is the new :60?!?

HOW “SITE SPOOFING” IS TAINTING PROGRAMMATIC:  Just as surely as the sun will rise, there’s yet another way to scam programmatic buyers of digital inventory from ad networks.  Today’s example of fraud is something called Site Spoofing.  The attached AdExchanger link meticulously describes a real-life example which was uncovered by Business Insider.  Here’s how it works . . . a bad actor buyer prepurchases a small amount of inventory from a legitimate site like Business Insider.  Then they set up a faux network of their own and sell their BI inventory to a well-intentioned buyer.  But then they package a ton of less valuable crap inventory into their network bundle.  So a buyer who thinks they’re getting pure BI inventory only ends up with 1-2% of their impressions running on BI (just enough to prove performance on the premium site), with the rest of the impressions running on junk sights.  And the nefarious arbitrager pockets the CPM difference between the list price they sold the BI impressions for and what they paid for the junk impressions.  In this example everyone ends up losing except for the Site Spoofer who carried out the scam.  Pretty slimy stuff, to be sure.

THE IRONY OF “FEARLESS GIRL”:  By now you’ve seen or at least heard of the Fearless Girl statue in the picture below.  While it depicts a young girl standing up to a charging bull, it’s real symbolism is of a woman challenging the male-dominated world of business.  But in a very ironic life-not-imitating-art situation the investment firm State Street Corporation, the parent company of Universal Worldgroup  (which is the agency that created the Fearless Girl campaign), announced last week that it had reached a $5M settlement with 300 women and 15 minorities in an equal pay lawsuit.  The problem with this situation is the principles of what Fearless Girl supposedly represent isn’t even being lived up to by its creators.  It’s the ultimate example of marketing being about the “theater of the mind”, since in this case the talk isn’t being backed up by the walk.  In a weird way this situation could be a wake up call for Madison Avenue to start paying real attention to equality in the workplace.  Hopefully that happens because something needs to change here.

Have a great Monday guys!

HEY MARC . . . SO HOW ARE WE DOING?:  It’s fitting that P&G’s Marc Pritchard has come back to Florida, the scene of his now-famous challenge to the digital media industry at January’s IBA conference, to deliver an update on where things stand today.  This time he spoke before 2,500+ marketers at the ANA Masters Conference in Orlando.  His on stage remarks, and follow up interview, are covered in the attached AdExchanger link.  The overall tone was more positive in a “progress is being made” sort of way.  Mr. Pritchard describes the effort as 2/3 of the way complete, with hopes of being finished by EOY.  Interestingly, the publishers are further along in the TAG certification process which is now a mandate for any digital publisher hoping to do biz with P&G.  The bigger delay actually sits with the MRC’s (Media Ratings Council) ability to establish vendor-level accreditation standards.  So maybe we can call this a B+ with hopes of getting to an A sooner than later?

COULD SERVER-SIDE BECOME A HAPPY MEDIUM FOR DIGITAL MEASUREMENT?:  Proving a digital impression was served to and viewed by a human is complicated.  In the early years of digital media publishers self-reported impressions they served and happily sent over their invoices.  This created the current swamp of ad fraud which reportedly wastes 25-50% of the digital media dollars being spent by brands.  To counter this problem an entire industry of tracking pixel vendors came to be.  So now we have tracking tags for viewability, ad completion, audience verification, and every other digital metric you can think of.  But it’s nearly impossible for publishers to add all of these tags from different vendors.  Doesn’t it feel like there should be a better way?  And what if that way was something called Server-Side Measurement.  As described in the attached Jounce Media link, publishers have the ability to send over anonymized log files from their servers, which could be validated through a 3^rd party clearing house by utilizing blockchain technology, which was originally created to track cryptocurrency transactions like Bitcoin.  Could this get the entire industry out of pixel-based tracking jail?  Since the current state of measurement is kind of a hot mess right now, I’d predict server-side measurement to become more popular within the next few years.

THE UNREACHABLES:  Finally this week Wharton University and the agency Hearts & Science, with the assistance of several digital publishers, has created the attached E-Book around the concept of the “Untouchables”.  This group is aptly named because they can’t be tracked, and therefore can’t be targeted, on typical media channels  So they’re effectively a blind spot for marketers.  And the problem with this blind spot is that it’s getting bigger as more and more Millennials and Gen Zers become untouchable.  This trend is driven by cord cutters/cord nevers whose only digital footprint is on a mobile device(s) with zero trackable web usage. This is sort of a meandering read, with several choose-your-own-adventure side roads you can go down.  Maybe spend some time with it over the weekend to get up to speed on this new group which is becoming a vexing problem for our industry.

Have a great Friday (and weekend) guys!

OPEN SOURCE SDK IS FINALLY READY FOR PRIME TIME:  Mobile publishers have had a growing SDK (Software Development Kit) problem over the past few years.  Every time a new Viewability and Verification vendor comes on line the publishers must embed a new SDK in their app.  This creates the problem of slowing down or even stalling the app, and that totally defeats the purpose of adding the new SDK in the first place.  The industry solution to this problem, which has been in the works for years, is something called an Open Source SDK.  It’s a neutral SDK which can house several tracking vendors.  Think of this as an all-you-can-eat tracking buffet all under a single SDK.  The beauty of this solution is that publishers only have to install the one SDK, which reduces their risk of app latency.  The IAB is behind the Open Source SDK effort, as outlined in the attached AdExchanger link.  Most of the major trackers like IAS, Moat, Nielsen, etc., are included.  And publishers like Pandora have assisted through the working group to bring this breakthrough to market.  Notably absent from this conversation are Google and Facebook – they’ve traditionally resisted allowing 3^rd party tracking within their walled gardens.  But something tells me if Open Source SDK takes hold as the new industry standard the duopoly may be pressured to participate.

NIELSEN GOES 360 ON MUSIC:  For the last five years Nielsen has produced a research piece called Music 360, which aims to show consumption patterns across broadcast, streaming, satellite, downloads, etc..  Keep in mind this is the same Nielsen who can’t figure out how to accurately measure audio streaming (Tuesday’s blog post), but that’s a separate issue altogether.  Since Nielsen is a critical part of the audio measurement ecosystem I dutifully sold my data soul to them to gain access to the full report – Nielsen Music 360.  Most of the Music 360 data is around the rise of playlisting – either custom playlists created by individual listeners or prepackaged genre playlists.  There are also plenty of pro-radio stats around music discovery, which Nielsen attempts to correlate to relevancy for AM/FM stations.  For me the most interesting stat is on the right hand side of the graphic below.  Social sharing of music is way up – increasing from 24% to 32% in just one year.  Feels like even music streaming sites are getting into the Social game.

NIVAs TURNING UP IN RERUNS . . . WTF?:  Native product integrations in TV shows and movies are getting more and more common.  That’s when that can of Pepsi prominently placed on a TV show’s kitchen table happens to be turned label out so the viewers can see it.  These are called NIVAs – Native In-Video Ads.  Pepsi plays a small placement fee for the native integration, and the producer makes a little extra money without changing content’s storyline.  But what about previously produced shows which are now running in syndication?  There hasn’t been a way to retroactively insert NIVAs into existing video . . . until now.  Thanks to some new technology described in the attached Media Village link, future tech companies like Mirriad are able to insert product images into previously recorded video.  For an example of what I’m talking about check out the Geico ad on the TV screen in the upper left corner of the screen shot below.  Our lizard buddy wasn’t in the original version of the show, and instead was inserted by Mirriad after the fact.  As the article points out, there are natural limits to the products which can be inserted.  For instance, you can’t put an image of a smartphone in an old Happy Days rerun, because no such product existed then.  Regardless, the whole idea of retroactively inserting NIVAs into video content could open up a whole new frontier of native integration.

Have a great Thursday guys!

GOOGLE EXPRESS UNITES TRADITIONAL RETAIL:  You might recall last month’s announcement about the Walmart-Google partnership in which Walmart would supply and ship purchases made on Google Home connected devices.  This strategic partnership benefits both sides as it gives Google a neighborhood-level distribution platform to compete against Amazon’s Echo-based purchases, and it provides Walmart with a new eCommerce sales channel.  Now a reverse partnership is expanding across the entire Retail sector.  The attached AgAge article (Google Express) describes how Google is teaming up with several national retailers (Walmart, Target, Costco, Walgreen’s, etc.) by offering free shipping of their online purchases through Google Express, without Google’s normal $95/yr subscription fee.  This consortium is even going so far as to run a co-branded marketing campaign to support the launch.  So did you ever think you’d see the likes of Walmart and Target paying to advertise together?  I guess that speaks to the power (and threat) Amazon has become to the entire Retail space.

US AUTO SALES ARE UP (NOT A TYPO):  If you touch any part of the Auto industry you know 2017 has been a rough ride.  But based on the latest September sales report the clouds might be breaking just a little.  According to the attached Inside Radio article US Auto Unit Sales rose 6.3% vs. Sept’16.  This growth was driven by light truck sales that rose 12%, which offset a 3% drop in car sales.  There’s some early speculation that some of this growth was driven by hurricane replacement vehicle purchases – it’s estimated that 500-750K automobiles sustained water damage during Harvey and Irma.  There’s also the reality that US economic conditions are generally favorable for auto sales – with strong employment and lower gas prices and interest rates.  No matter what the cause, the entire US Auto Industry is breathing a collective “we’ll take it” sigh of relief this morning!

RECOGNIZING OURSELVES IN WHAT’S AROUND US:  In today’s last article Inc.com asked 25 of the most successful people in the world to give career advice to millennials.  I know this might seem like a cliché list of inspirational proverbs on the surface, but there’s a really interesting exercise you can do with it.  After you read the list pick the three which really speak to you.  Then share your choices with someone who knows you professionally.  If you’ve been completely honest with yourself about your favorite three, the person you share these with will almost always say “those remind me of you”.  Why will this happen?  Because we define positive things around us by what we value internally.  So if we’re given a list of choices we’ll naturally gravitate to the ones which most closely mirror us.  It doesn’t mean the others on the list are bad or less important, they’re just not us.  As for my three I choices I went with; #4 J.K. Rowling – embrace failure, #14 TJ Miller – work harder than anyone else around you, and #21 Cynthia Tidwell – be patient enough to learn, but impatient enough to take risks.  If you know me do you think these reflect who I am?  Care to share your favorites?

Have a great Wednesday guys!

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!

THE FM CHIP IS RADIO’S FOOLS’ GOLD:  Every time a natural disaster strikes radio broadcasters raise the call for “FM Chips” to be activated in iPhones.  The chip is basically a switch inside a phone’s hardware which allows users to pick up local FM stations.  The broadcasters’ argument is that when something bad happens and internet service goes down people look to broadcast radio for emergency information.  So by allowing smartphones to receive FM signals critical information can still get out sans internet.  Most Android phones have the chip enabled, but Apple still does not.  That’s why FCC Commission Ajit Pai and scores of broadcasters are turning up the heat on Apple since the recent rash of hurricanes.  Most people would agree that getting more information out during a disaster is a good thing, so the broadcasters’ FM Chip argument is valid.  But I also believe there’s a back door agenda here, based on the belief that if FM stations are available on iPhones users will naturally listen to more radio during non-disaster times.  This is an incorrect assumption by the broadcasters.  When’s the last time you, or the millennial sitting next to you with earbuds on, got frustrated that they couldn’t tune in WXYZ on a phone?  It never happens because there are about 50 other ways to hear the same songs on your connected device.  So yes, having FM Chips activated in iPhones during times of peril is a good thing.  But Radio shouldn’t be fooled into thinking it will suddenly become relevant in the digital age if Apple activates the FM Chip in it’s phones.

NOT YOUR GRANDFATHER’S SHOPPING EXPERIENCE:  There’s an interesting cause-and-effect occurring in the world of commerce which is effecting both Retailers and the CPG companies who sell products within those retail locations.  First the Cause.  The retail experience is transforming before our eyes.  Not only are B&M footprints shrinking, thanks to eCommerce, but next generation in-store floorplans are much more interactive and experiential than ever before.  Forbes has a great write up of what this looks like in the attached link.  Now for the Effect.  As the in-store experience transforms traditional shelf space is going away.  And when that happens products which rely on share-of-sight for sales will start to feel the pain.  This is already happening in the CPG sector, as noted in the attached CNBC link.  Even the reliable old grocery store is transforming from a grid of aisles to a wandering shopping journey filled with fresh produce and ready-to-eat meals.  With less shelf space comes fewer product SKUs, which hurts CPG manufacturers’ ability to bring their products to market.  Unfortunately for many companies out there, I think we’re just at the beginning of this transformation.

WEEKEND INSPIRATION:  Finally, I’d like to leave you this week with some inspiration from our very first DG Guest Contributor.  This post comes from Pandora VP of Sales Priscilla Valls.  In a recent team meeting she showed the attached video from a TedTalk event conducted by renowned psychologist and best-selling author Shawn Achor.  It’s an uplifting segment that’ll have you challenging yourself on how to be better than just the Cult of Average.  I’ll leave you with Priscilla’s own description . . .

“I shared the TedTalk and not only did it provide a few laughs but it gave the team perspective on the ways we can control our activity. The video is twelve minutes long, but it feels like five.  While some may want to do all of the activities at the end of the video, after watching, the team committed to do two things:  1) Start Your Day With Intention.  We can all be busy with to-do lists. Instead, choose three things that are most important to get done every day. Hold yourself accountable to them (i.e. share with your team/each other/your boss), and celebrate when you accomplish them.  A few critical moves everyday over time make for HUGE accomplishments.  2) Commit To Three Conscious and/or Random Acts of Kindness/Gratitidue.  A small positive gesture to our clients (a thank you note/email, catered lunch when they’re working long hours, etc.), and to each other, as we work to support one another in our goals to be the best we can be as a team and as individual human beings goes a long way. #payitforward”

Inspirational words Priscilla, thank you!

Have a great Friday (and weekend) guys!

SPOTIFY’S PRIVATE VALUATION IS UP . . . AGAIN:  No, that’s not a typo.  Yesterday news broke that some pre-IPO private trading of Spotify’s equity was valued in the $16B range, which is up $3B from just a few months ago.  RAIN has the details in the attached link.  As you let that number sink in let me give you two opposing thoughts.  First of all this seems crazy, right?  How could a company which loses $600M annually and isn’t expected to raise any new capital because of a direct listing IPO stay afloat?  What about the outstanding royalty lawsuits which are currently in the nine-figures?  And how can the market justify Spotify’s market cap at 8x Pandora’s current $2B valuation?  But on the other hand, if Spotify is valued anywhere near $16B wouldn’t that be a huge benefit to the entire streaming sector?  We all know audio streaming is a grinder of a business thanks to the high royalty payments made to artists and songwriters.  Because of this streamers’ margins are breakeven (at best), which keeps stock prices low, and inhibits the ability to raise new capital.  But suddenly if the market does value Spotify at $16B that could buoy the entire sector and create more working capital.  I don’t think anyone truly knows Spotify’s real value.  But if you subscribe to the Wall Street adage of “buy low, sell high”, then buying in at a $16B valuation might not be the best deal you could make.

COULD VERIZON CHALLENGE THE DUOPOLY?:  Over the past year I’ve written dozens of blog posts on the unhealthy state of digital media, which is currently dominated by the Goo-FBoo duopoly.  Everyone from me to Sir Martin Sorrell thinks a more competitive playing field will benefit the entire industry.  And recently the most common guess for a third horse entering the race has been Amazon, with its vast user base and rapidly developing media business.  But what if the third horseman wasn’t Amazon, and instead was a Telco like Verizon?  In the attached AdExchanger link their guest author puts forth the theory about how a Telco could become a formidable digital media competitor.  The key to the entire argument is the Telcos start with the one thing everyone wants – mobile device IDs connected to specific users and their billing data.  Even with that treasure trove of data the Telcos’ challenge becomes how to serve digital ads, since their typical customer isn’t exactly spending a ton of time on home sites like Verizon.com.  That’s where Verizon’s strategy to acquire Yahoo and AOL, and combine them into one platform called Oath, makes things interesting.  If Verizon can successfully integrate its cellular customers’ data with time spent on its publisher sites they would have a powerful DMP with end to end data and a way to site-serve ads.  Not sure if they’ll be able to run this play successfully and actually go toe-to-toe with Goo-FBoo, but it’s an interesting idea to ponder.

WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW COULD KILL YOU:  Quick, can you name companies behind the two logos in the image below? Would it surprise you to know that these are from two of the largest tech companies in the world – Tencent on left and Alibaba on the right.  Both companies dominate Chinese/SE Asian Social, Data Aggregation and eCommerce the way Facebook and Google do in the Western World.  Yet we don’t seem to pay much attention, or even know much about them, relative to the competitors in our own fishbowl.  But that needs to change, according to Sir Martin Sorrell in the attached Digiday link.   Tencent’s messenger app WeChat has 940M MAUs – only slightly behind Facebook.  And Alibiba’s annual Boxing Day one-day online sale does several times more revenue than Amazon Prime Day.  Experts predict that it’s only a “when” not “if” these Asian tech titans turn their attention outward towards Western markets.  For consumers this could be good because more tech equals more choice.  But the US Digital Mediascape could be in for a major disruption of any of these guys gain traction over here.

Have a great Thursday guys!

SMART TARGETING MEETS BIG PHARMA:  For decades pharmaceutical advertising was sequestered only to print mediums, because the FDA mandated a certain amount of legalese be printed within the ad.  Then in 1997 regulations were loosened enough to make pharma advertising feasible on television.  Now fast forward to 2017, when Big Pharma is expected to spend over $6B on advertising in the US.  Yet digital media’s pharma revenue is still relegated to the proverbial kids’ table.  That is, until now.  Digital publishers such as Facebook and Pandora are now aggressively pushing into pharma with a compelling new combination of reach plus precision targeting.  As noted in the attached STAT News article, Digital’s newfound success is based on its ability to create audience segments of consumers who are more likely suffer from particular ailments, and then overlay HIPPA compliant “mirco-neighborhoods” using 3^rd party data from companies like Crossix.  The result is a potent new breed of precision drug advertising which is sure to give Digital a more prominent seat at the table.

TRITON’S JULY RATINGS:  Yesterday Triton released its July’17 Webcast Metrics Ratings.  Overall consumption of streaming (AAS) was down 4% compared to June, which is in line with the normal summertime seasonal slump.  But the YoY growth picture still looks strong, with the industry going +14% over June’16.  The pureplays continue to dominate with Pandora and Spotify in their usual top spots.  In a carryover from a trend I touched on during Monday’s blog, the broadcasters’ collective stream listening was actually down 3.6% vs. July’16 – another sign that they’re not keeping up with the migration towards streaming.  RAIN has a summary in the attached link and the usual historical graphic is below.

ADWEEK’S READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS:  Finally, if you’re looking to kill a few minutes today AdWeek has opened up voting for its annual Readers’ Choice Awards in the attached link.  Although this survey is far from scientific, it’s a great way to vote for your digital favs in a format that many industry insiders will see.  Of course, I’m biased to one particular audio streamer (beginning with a P) for the Hottest Music App in question #18.  I also got a kick out of #17 (the Hottest Romance App) because Tinder is so romantic, right?  The best part of this survey is that you can vote as often as you like.  So in true Chicago spirit please vote early and vote often.  Time to run up the score DG Nation!

Have a great Wednesday guys!

HOW’S YOUR PROXIMITY GAME?:  Proximity is hot in digital media right now.  The ability to track consumers’ whereabouts, serve ads when they’re at/near a specific location, and determine whether or not a mobile ad actually drove a consumer into a store is fast becoming table stakes in the mobile-first world we’re now living in.  But the MarTech landscape for proximity still looks a bit like the Wild West.  This demands fluency around the concept of triangulation instead of just lat/long geofencing to improve tracking accuracy.  Or how about matching ads served on an individual mobile device to which stores that phone visited via its MAID?  And don’t forget about beacons, which are like proximity tracking in reverse, because they start with an in-store visit and then use device data to map back to the shopper.  Confused yet?!?  To help sort this out AdWeek had published an insightful Slack panel in the attached link.  Since the panelists come from a wide array of clients, agencies, publishers you really get a sense of how each stakeholder is approaching the opportunity (and challenge) of proximity.  It’s a somewhat confusing but important conversation we all need to get versed in sooner than later.

ADWEEK’S TOP DIGITAL STATS:  This week’s top digital stats in the attached AdWeek link run the gamut.  It’s not surprising that Facebook and Google continue to dominate digital ad sales (#1) – the duopoly now commands 63% of US digital ad revenue.  It is surprising that the foodie search site Yelp is actually out billing Snapchat this year (#2) – goes to show you how the “shiny new toy syndrome” can influence our perceptions.  And least surprising of all is the disclosure that FB has turned over log files to Federal investigators pertaining to Russian groups who bought political ads during the Presidential election (#7) – hmmm . . . I wonder what those ads were trying to accomplish?  Enjoy the list!

FACEBOOK’S VIDEO AMBITIONS:  Today’s final article from AdAge starts as a story about Facebook’s new video platform called Watch, but ends up becoming so much more.  It’s a meandering journey through FB’s corporate culture, the market dynamics around video content, and the paradox of trying to build a video content platform while still incentivizing 3^rd party publishers to put their content on the very same platform.  The market position FB commands with its partnership-level clients (aka Advertisers With Benefits) is enviable to say the least.  But it comes with some baggage.  It creates a corporate expectation that they can simply dominate any market they invest in.  That attitude of prioritize-to-conquest has definitely proven itself out with Mobile and Social, but TV might be a whole different ballgame.  For starters, producing long-form episodic TV content is easier said than done.  So do you just outbid the networks, Netflix, Hulu and every other OTT service out there for the good stuff?  And how do you get the movie studios and production houses to put their content on your site when you demand a 45% rev share of all ads sold within their content?  Not an easy equation to solve, to be sure.  But there’s a huge prize waiting in the form of $85B in combined US TV/Cable/OLV annual ad revenue.  The only question is whether or not FB can run the right play to grab that money.

Have a great Tuesday guys!