Chrome Ad-Blocker Day Looms as an Opportunity for Innovation

Chrome's in-browser ad-blocker drops on Thursday, February 15. For some corners of the internet, they're finally facing the reality that consumers just don't like intrusive ad formats. But for those already pushing ahead and prioritizing experience over perceived clicks, it shouldn't change anything in the immediate term. In fact, the move may even challenge them to innovate a bit further. There's still time for the laggards, too. Though not much as demand for poor formats dries up in favor of more creative approaches to advertising (which... was the whole point to begin with, right?).Included here is your weekly digital and mobile advertising news round-up. See anything we might have missed. Drop us a line. Pubs, Ad Tech Firms Batten Hatches As Chrome Ad Blocking Deadline Nears [AdExchanger]Advertisers are getting more sophisticated with their KPIs and quality publishers aren’t willing to sacrifice long-term revenue for short-term monetization. The pendulum is swinging in the right direction, said Dan Meehan, CEO of PadSquad, which helps publishers monetize their mobile inventory with on-demand creative. “It’s true that some companies pitched their entire business around these types of units, but they’re not screwed,” Meehan said. “They’re challenged, and they need to change.” To change, not just for Chrome’s sake, but because advertisers such as Kimberly-Clark aren’t just chasing clicks anymore. The Next Wave for Digital Video: Why Marketers Need to Invest Now [VideoInk]It’s really happening! ​This rise of cross-screen viewing means that consumers have more control and options to watch their favorite video programming whenever, wherever they want. Top quality content is no longer tied solely to TV networks; it has also shifted to digital platforms and viewers are eating it up. They are focused on what matters most to them — their passion points — and that means higher engagement around topics like sports, comedy and breaking news.The Real Story Behind Chrome’s Ad Blocker [AdExchanger]The entire digital advertising landscape stands to benefit from the shift to more high-fidelity ad experiences: Ideally, readers will see ugly and irksome ads with far less frequency, marketers will be forced to invest in quality ad solutions and publishers that adopt more attractive and effective ad units will thrive. Despite Google’s efforts, many of the worst industry offenders will come out unscathed, particularly the non-publisher-led ad networks driven by financial incentives, instead of audience incentives.News Corp. CEO predicts a ‘migration to premium’ as brands traverse the digital ‘bot-infested badlands’ [Marketing Dive]He further went on to highlight the rollout of News IQ, the publishing giant’s in-house based advertising platform which executives hope will provide advertisers with the scale they require when reaching audiences online, but with added assurances over brand safety. “This takes advantage of the great inventory we have, and the authenticated audiences we have, and being able to offer advertisers the opportunity to project their image and wares in a space that won’t be detrimental to their image, but brand-enhance it,” added Thomson.Third-Party Data Key to Growing OTT [MediaPost]The survey also shows that advertising strategies are shifting as a result of consumers embracing OTT video. 89% of advertisers surveyed currently spend between one and 20% of their ad budgets on OTT, while 11% of advertisers surveyed spend between 21-40% of their budgets on OTT. However, the survey predicts that within 24 months, only 56% of advertisers will spend 20% of less of their ad budget on OTT, with 33% spending 21-40% of their budgets there, a significant increase.Why No One Cares About Your Ads (and How to Change That) [Adweek]Recognize that the ability to deliver an ad does not necessarily correlate to the consumer’s receptivity. Particularly in mobile, brands need to be able to tell the difference between the consumer who has time to go on the fun #TideAd journey versus someone who just needs a quick reminder to pick some up on the way home. This is essential to ensuring a positive experience for consumers, but also results in a more cost-efficient campaign.More Than 75% of Video Viewing is Mobile [eMarketer]In 2018, 1.58 billion people will watch video on YouTube at least once per month, a 9.2% increase over the prior year. Close to two-thirds of all digital video viewers worldwide will watch YouTube this year, eMarketer estimates. “Video’s proliferation on social networks and the growth of over-the-top (OTT) streaming platforms are major drivers of digital video viewing worldwide,” said Oscar Orozco, senior forecasting analyst at eMarketer.  How marketers can guarantee transparency in media buys [Digiday]Data transparency and arbitrage is moving up the agenda as advertisers start to realize how much margin agencies and ad tech vendors are making from their budgets. As media budgets shift from chasing reach to evaluating campaigns, advertisers are noticing their measurement hasn’t been good enough to reveal how much inaccurate data they have been buying from brokers.Unilever threatens to pull online advertising from ‘toxic’ platforms [The Verge]Unilever is one of the world’s biggest online advertisers, and for it to pull spending from any platform would be a significant revenue blow. Last year, Unilever spent $9.4 billion on marketing, about a third of which was on digital advertising. Consumer goods company Unilever is threatening to pull all advertising from online platforms that allow “toxic” online content, as reported by Reuters. According to a speech that is expected to be made today by Unilever’s chief marketing officer Keith Weed, the move will encompass platforms that “do not make a positive contribution to society.”  Mobile is a thing you do, not something you consume': power of mobile as a storytelling medium [The Drum]Brian Dell, the director of Quartz Creative keeps it simple: “We don't put bad experiences in front of people to try and make money. Advertising can be cool.” The experience for consumers is the most important thing, he says: “We don’t really do programmatic exchanges.” Researchers: Anti-Ad-Blockers 52x More Common, Develop Anti-Anti-Ad-Blocker [MediaPost]The research concludes that anti-ad-blockers are present on an “astonishing 30%” of the top 10,000 websites. “This is up to 52 times more than reported in prior literature,” says UCR Professor Zhiyun Qian, one of the authors of the paper. “We know that earlier research was limited to detecting visible reactions, such as warning messages and pop-ups, by anti-ad blockers,” he continues. “But our system can discover attempts to detect ad blockers even when there is no visible reaction, which happens in over 90% of cases.”SKIM THIS A Targeting OUT for OTT Audiences [MarTechAdvisor]Dawn of a New Entertainment Era: The Future is OTT [The Drum]Server Response Time is Everything [MediaPost]Welcome to the Visual Internet [The New York Times]The CEO of the Interactive Advertising Bureau says most big marketers are screwed [Business Insider]With Facebook’s News Feed Changes, Canvas Ads Take Center Stage [Adweek]More Than 75% of Video Viewing is Mobile [eMarketer]Audi Wants to Turn its AR App Into a Personal Showroom [Digiday]TV Advertising Readies For The Performance Of A Lifetime [AdExchanger]Advertising has a Problem, But Ads.txt Can’t Fix it Alone [MediaPost]