• Adblock Plus Fends Off Latest Publisher Lawsuit
    Adblock Plus has successfully fought off the most recent lawsuit against its ad-blocking software. The lawsuit was brought by publisher Spiegel Online. On the company's blog, Adblock Plus' Ben Williams reported that the company was informed last Friday that a regional court in Hamburg, Germany decided that blocking online ads remains legal. The court dismissed all claims brought by Spiegel. This marks the sixth lawsuit that Eyeo, Adblock Plus' parent company, has successfully fought off, according to the blog post.
  • Ad Blocking Rates Continue To Grow But Blocking Is Unusual Via Smartphones
    According to a survey by AudienceProject, 26% of respondents in the U.K. and 23% in the U.S. used an ad blocker on their desktop computers. But just 2% of respondents in both countries reported using them on their smartphones. The survey was reported on by digital research firm eMarketer in an article. The firm estimates that 23% of internet users will use ad blockers via their desktop computers vs. 7.8% via their smartphones. Further, eMarketer projects that ad blocking will grow by double digits in 2016 with nearly 70 million internet users employing ad blockers, up 34.4% over 2015.
  • Ad Blocking Rates Could Be Declining In Germany
    The use of ad-blocking software in Germany could be declining, according to data from German digital media trade body Bundesverband Digitale Wirtschaft. The Wall Street Journal reported that based on data collected from its members, "the trade group said ads were blocked on 19.1% of desktop webpage views during the third quarter of 2016. That’s down from 21.2% from the third quarter of 2015, and marks the fourth straight quarter of sequential ad-blocking declines." The German market is considered an important one for ad blocking because the use of ad-blockers there is relatively high. According to data from PageFair, "which …
  • Programmatic Display Ad Prices Poised To Surge 20% By 2018
    The cost of display advertising inventory purchased using programmatic buying technologies is poised to rise by as much as 20% across North America by 2018 due to publishers taking advantage of improved yield optimization technologies, according to a study. The Drum reports "that publishers' continued adoption of header bidding, a generic shift from fixed CPMs to more dynamic pricing models (or dCPMs), as well as improved price-discovery software (including artificial intelligence) will result in a 15-to-20% increase in display ad prices, according to a study by Goodway Group." The study suggests that there will be an average price-increase of 2% …
  • Shuttering Its Atlas Ad-Serving Unit, Facebook Pivots On Ad Tech
    Moving away from its Atlas ad-serving business, Facebook will focus on Atlas' measurement products. Facebook purchased Atlas from Microsoft in 2013 and relaunched it in 2014, aiming to help marketers and publishers load online ads into apps and web pages. But as the Wall Street Journal reports, Atlas also "helps marketers and publishers measure which people their online ads are reaching based on the huge amounts of data Facebook collects from its social network and elsewhere around the web." The measurement side of Atlas taps into Facebook's "powerful user data and therefore offers something they can’t get anywhere else. Facebook …
  • AOL Lays Off 500 To Focus On Mobile, Data, And Video
    AOL announced layoffs of 5% of its staff on Thursday; 500 employees expected to lose their jobs, according to a report on Recode. Most of the cuts are expected to come from its corporate units, with resources shifting to mobile, video, and data. "The cuts come after AOL added about 1,500 workers this year from an advertising deal with Microsoft and its purchase of Millennial Media, which prompted the consolidation to improve financial performance," the report said.
  • After Election Surprise, Marketers Rethink How to Study Consumers
    In the wake of last week's election, "marketers now find themselves asking serious questions about how they study consumers, use data and quantify the value of facts — questions about the fundamental nature of their business. Advertisers, like many others, 'may have found ourselves in bubbles of our own making,' said Rishad Tobaccowala, chief strategist for the Publicis Groupe," The New York Times reports. "Sarah Hofstetter, the chief executive of the digital agency 360i, said the disconnect between Mr. Trump’s win and the predictions from polls and forecasters threw into question 'the rules of market research,' traditionally rooted in surveys, …
  • WPP Says Brexit Vote Has Negligible Impact On Advertising
    Much it its surprise, advertising holding group giant WPP has upgraded its forecast for the industry after the anticipated fallout from the Brexit vote in June. "The world’s largest marketing services company, which manages more than $100bn (£79bn) a year in advertising spend through its Group M media arm, said it was surprised to be upping its forecasts for ad spending in 2016 and 2017, describing the short-term impact of the Brexit vote as negligible," according to a report in The Guardian. Group M, WPP's media arm, upgraded its original forecast of 6.3% growth to 7.2% this year, and from …
  • Bauer Media to Bring Digital Version of Empire Magazine To U.S.
    Hamburg, Germany-based Bauer Xcel Media Group is expanding in the U.S. with popular magazine titles and programmatic advertising, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. Bauer, which owns hundreds of magazines, TV, and radio stations in 20 countries, will launch Empireonline.com, "a U.S. web-centric offshoot of the popular U.K. entertainment magazine Empire, this week," the Journal reported. "Bauer Xcel Media U.S. works with ad networks like Undertone and Kargo and also has eight header bidding partners bidding for programmatic ads on its sites." 
  • Media Buyers Concerned About Disney's Lack Of Data Targeting
    CNBC reports that some media buyers are concerned that Disney, despite its "premium" content, isn't competitive when it comes to ad technology and audience targeting. "Several media buyers who work with Disney said that the company is behind its media competitors in its approach to programmatic advertising technology, which allows brands to buy advertising while leveraging software and data insights. It allows advertisers to figure out the best times and places to reach their desired demographics, as well as segment the audience into more niche groups besides age and demographic," the report said.
« Previous Entries