▸ Week 39

• - Highlights from Digiday Publishing Summit, September 2024
• - Tech Lab launches privacy-focused PAIR protocol
• - UK’s CMA still concerned over Google’s updated privacy plans
• - The new CTV Advertising Guide 2025 is available
• - Washington Post and Vox adjust subscription strategies in 2024
• - ID Provenance introduced in OpenRTB for better transparency
  

Media Briefing: Overheard at the Digiday Publishing Summit, September 2024 edition 

At the Digiday Digiday Publishing Summit, publishers voiced frustration over Google's influence on the digital advertising landscape, particularly concerning its antitrust trial and the decision to shift third-party cookie deprecation responsibility to Chrome users. Many expressed concerns about the lack of control they have over Google's decisions, which significantly impact their businesses.

Discussions revealed dissatisfaction with Google's ad products, citing issues like self-dealing, poor monetisation options, and lack of transparency, leaving publishers feeling like they have little agency. The opt-in cookie plan from Google was compared to Apple's App Tracking Transparency (ATT), with skepticism about its effectiveness.

Publishers also expressed doubts about the effectiveness of Google's Publisher Provided Signals (PPS), noting that despite initial enthusiasm, they have seen little positive impact and feel misled. Overall, there was a pervasive sense of mistrust and dissatisfaction with Google's handling of these issues.

Tech Lab releases PAIR protocol for the industry.  

IAB Tech Lab has launched the PAIR (Publisher Advertiser Identity Reconciliation) protocol developed by the Rearc Addressability and Privacy Enhancing Technologies working group, to enable privacy-centric audience targeting without third-party cookies. Initially donated by Google, the protocol has been developed into an open standard that supports interoperability between data clean rooms and DSPs.

IAB Tech Lab will update the PAIR prebid module and publish open-source reference implementations to encourage adoption. The protocol is now open for public comment until October 25, 2024. 

CMA Says “Competition Concerns Remain” Over Google’s Privacy Plans.

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has expressed ongoing concerns about Google’s revised approach to the Privacy Sandbox. After Google decided to make the Privacy Sandbox optional instead of removing third-party cookies entirely, the CMA invited stakeholders to share their views and found that competition concerns remain.

The regulator is in continued discussions with Google and is also collaborating with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) to address privacy and user choice issues. The CMA stated that Google’s current commitments would need updates to support competition in digital advertising and plans to decide on accepting any changes by Q4 2024 after further public consultation.

The CMA’s concerns have persisted since it began investigating the Privacy Sandbox in 2021, and despite Google’s changes, both the CMA and ICO remain cautious about the impact on consumer privacy and competition. The ICO has also expressed disappointment with Google’s shift away from fully deprecating third-party cookies. 

The CTV Advertising Guide 2025 is Now Available to Download. 

VideoWeek’s CTV Advertising Guide for Europe highlights significant developments in the European CTV market. It also provides insights into the market’s challenges and opportunities, covering topics such as programmatic approaches, CTV pricing, and strategies for advertisers to succeed in this space—link to guide.

Digiday+ Research News Subscription Index 2024: Washington Post, Vox shift their strategies.

The publishing industry faced significant challenges in 2024, including layoffs at major outlets like The L.A. Times, Business Insider, and The Washington Post, alongside disruptions caused by Google’s changes to its cookie deprecation plan. Publishers who had invested in alternative IDs and first-party data now need to reassess their ad strategies.

As advertisers become more "news avoidant" due to sensitive global events, publishers are increasingly relying on subscriptions for revenue. Gannett, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal reported significant growth in digital-only subscriptions, highlighting this shift.

Digiday’s Subscription Index analyses publishers’ strategies across various dimensions, including gating models, member benefits, and pricing structures. In 2024, some publications like The Washington Post and Vox shifted to hybrid gating strategies, reflecting a need to diversify revenue streams amidst economic uncertainty.

Regional publishers like the Chicago Tribune adjusted their free article thresholds and subscription pricing to balance ad revenue and subscription growth. Meanwhile, national publications such as Business Insider and The New York Times aggressively increased subscription prices, focusing on premium content strategies and first-time subscriber discounts.

ID Provenance Added to OpenRTB.

In 2024, the AdTech industry introduced the term "ID Bridging," which involves using alternative methods to identify users when direct identifiers like cookies or device IDs aren't available. This practice raised concerns as identifiers were being passed in critical OpenRTB attributes (buyeruid and ifa), leading to industry-wide discussions about the proper use of these fields.

In response, IAB Tech Lab launched a workstream to update the OpenRTB 2.6 specification, aiming to clarify the expected use of these attributes and introduce new signals for transparency. The updates, detailed in the 2.6 GitHub Repository, include revised attribute descriptions, new attributes for extended identifiers, and extensive implementation guidance. 

▸ Week 38

- DMEXCO Briefing: Google’s antitrust troubles spark schadenfreude
- U.S. v. Google: Ad tech antitrust trial by the numbers
- Google offered to sell AdX, but EU publishers weren’t satisfied
- Privacy Sandbox: Your feedback in action
- IAB Europe releases in-store retail media standards for comment
- Publishers' ad revenue rebounds, H2 looking even brighter

DMEXCO Briefing: Google’s antitrust troubles spark uneasy schadenfreude.

For nearly two decades, ad executives watched Google dominate the ad industry, resigning themselves to its untouchable power. However, recent revelations and the DOJ’s antitrust case against Google have sparked a shift in sentiment, leading to a sense of schadenfreude among those who once felt powerless.

At DMEXCO, there is now a palpable vibe of cautious optimism as executives savor Google’s legal troubles. Despite this, there is still fear that Google might escape unscathed, as its complex roles in the ad ecosystem blur the lines of anticompetitive behavior.

Some industry insiders remain skeptical, comparing the situation to battling a villain who always finds a way to return. Nevertheless, this rare moment of collective satisfaction has brought the ad tech community closer together.

U.S. v. Google: Ad tech antitrust trial by numbers — so far.

The U.S. Department of Justice is pursuing a trial against Google’s $307 billion-per-year ad empire in a Virginia courtroom, aiming for a potential breakup of its ad-tech dominance. The trial highlights the complex workings of Google’s ad tech, with detailed discussions on components like its ad server (DFP) and ad exchange (AdX).

Key revelations include Microsoft’s $2 billion bid for DoubleClick, Google's "Three Pillars" strategy, and the significant market influence Google wields, such as keeping 37% of every dollar flowing through its platform. The DOJ’s case also examines Google’s dealings with Facebook, including the Jedi Blue arrangement, and its impact on publishers like NewsCorp and Gannett.

Witnesses revealed stark statistics, such as Google’s 53% win rate in auctions compared to rivals' 1% or less. The DOJ plans to rest its case by September 20, with Google’s defense set to begin the following week.

Google Offered to Sell Off AdX, but EU Publishers Weren’t Satisfied, Reports Claim:

Google reportedly offered to sell off its ad exchange, AdX, to avoid an EU antitrust investigation into its ad tech business, but the move was deemed insufficient by European publishers to restore market balance. The offer came after the European Commission’s initial objections, which suggested forced divestment might be necessary to restore competition.

Publishers were not satisfied with just the sale of AdX and wanted more of Google's ad tech stack spun off. Recent reports indicate that the EU may not force a divestiture, finding it too complex, and may instead require Google to end specific anticompetitive practices.

The U.S. Department of Justice, however, continues to push for the divestment of AdX and Google's publisher ad server DFP. Google's willingness to sell AdX suggests it sees it as the most expendable part of its ad tech stack.

Your feedback in action: Upcoming Privacy Sandbox developments. 

The Privacy Sandbox reflects years of input from developers, businesses, users, advocates, and regulators, with recent updates focusing on enhancing user choice. H1 2024 saw significant progress as ad tech companies tested core Privacy Sandbox technologies, such as Topics, Protected Audience, and Attribution Reporting APIs, leading to valuable feedback and proposals for enhancements.

Google proposed updates to the Protected Audience API, including support for deal-based use cases, clickiness signals for better bidding optimisation, and extending the interest group lifespan from 30 to 90 days to support advertisers with longer customer journeys. These updates aim to balance user privacy with industry needs, incorporating feedback from stakeholders to refine the Privacy Sandbox.

Industry leaders have expressed optimism about these changes, anticipating improved performance metrics and more effective ad strategies. Google remains committed to collaborating with the ecosystem to continuously improve Privacy Sandbox and advance online privacy.
 

IAB Europe and IAB Release First-Ever In-Store Retail Media Definitions and Measurement Standards for Public Comment. 

IAB Europe and IAB have released the first industry definitions and measurement standards for in-store Retail Media, now open for public comment until November 1, 2024. These standards aim to unify definitions, measurement, and guidelines for ad formats and store zones, addressing the expanding in-store Retail Media opportunities.

The initiative builds on previous Retail Media guidelines and was developed through a collaborative process involving key industry stakeholders, including 14 Retail Media Networks. The standards cover essential areas such as terminology, ad formats, store zone classifications, and measurement guidelines for in-store media.

IAB leaders emphasise the importance of these standards in driving consistency, transparency, and new revenue streams for retailers, brands, and technology providers. As in-store Retail Media continues to grow, these standards are seen as a critical step toward wider adoption and cross-channel integration.

Publishers’ ad revenue rebounded in the first half, but H2 is looking even brighter.

The latest Media Ad Sales Trend Flash Report from Boostr shows positive ad sales trends for the first half of 2024, suggesting a rebound from the challenges of 2023. Direct-sold advertising campaign deal sizes and RFP volumes both increased in Q1 and Q2, with Q2 seeing the highest average deal size since Q1 2023.

However, some publishers reported that Q2 was still somewhat soft, though they expect a stronger performance in the second half of the year, especially with pre-booked revenue showing year-over-year growth. RFP volumes rose significantly in several advertiser categories, including utilities, tech, and professional services, although luxury is anticipated to decline in 2025.

Net revenue retention improved slightly, with more revenue coming from existing clients, indicating that advertisers are becoming more confident and are starting to unlock budgets held back earlier in the year. Overall, the digital media industry appears to be on a positive trajectory heading into the latter half of 2024.

▸ Week 37

DOJ accuses Google of knowingly taking power from publishers as government enters emails and audio as evidence.

The U.S. Justice Department presented internal Google documents in court revealing the company's strategies to counteract header bidding, a rival monetisation technology that threatened its control over online ad spend.

The documents suggest Google executives were aware of industry concerns regarding the company's evolving publisher platform, DoubleClick, but continued to push forward with monetisation tactics. 

Witnesses, including former Google employees, discussed changes like the move to a first price auction and the introduction of Unified Pricing Rules (UPR), which publishers felt reduced their control. Evidence also showed Google's efforts to protect its dominance, such as disabling rivals' tools to set higher floor prices.

During testimony, industry leaders like PubMatic CEO Rajeev Goel and former Rubicon Project CTO Tom Kershaw highlighted the challenges of competing with Google. The case focuses on whether Google’s practices have stifled competition and whether its commitments to open competition have been upheld.

Google Ads Will Now Use A Trusted Execution Environment By Default.

The digital ad ecosystem is evolving towards greater privacy, requiring advertisers to better manage their first-party data. Google Ads has introduced a new feature called confidential matching, using a trusted execution environment (TEE) to securely handle first-party data for ad targeting and measurement.

Confidential matching, built on Google Cloud, ensures that only the advertiser has access to their data, reducing the risk of data leakage. This feature is now the default for all uses of first-party data in Google Ads and is free for users.

Google is collaborating with the IAB Tech Lab to create best practices for TEE use and has made its TEE architecture open-source. The aim is to build privacy into the system without extra cost, making it accessible to advertisers of all sizes. 

Time Spent with Commercial Media Has Risen Since the Pandemic, Finds IPA.

UK adults spend 64% of their media consumption time on commercial media, with a rise in time spent since 2020, suggesting subscription services aren't significantly eroding this share. Younger audiences (16-34) spend 67% of their media time on commercial platforms, although this is a decline from 76% in 2015.

The report highlights the evolving landscape, with ad-funded streaming services gaining reach and commercial TV seeing a decrease in share but maintaining significant presence. The study recommends diversifying media plans to effectively target different age groups and their preferred platforms.

Unraveling The Mystery Of PubMatic’s $5 Million Loss From A “First-Price Auction Switch

PubMatic lost $5 million in 2024 revenue after Google DV360 updated its bidding logic to stop favoring second-price auction signals, which PubMatic was still using. Although most of the industry shifted to first-price auctions years ago, PubMatic had been tagging its auctions as second-price, allowing it to win more bids from DV360.

With DV360's update in May, PubMatic’s win rate dropped, redistributing the $5 million to other exchanges using first-price auctions. This highlights that some SSPs were still leveraging second-price auctions despite the industry-wide move to first-price models.

Programmatic Ads, Affiliates, and Subscriptions: Where are Publishers Finding Growth?

Publishers face challenges as major tech platforms capture most ad revenue growth and deprioritise news content, while AI further diverts traffic from their sites. However, some publishers are finding growth by diversifying their revenue streams. 

For example, Reach and Dotdash Meredith see growth in data-driven ads, partnerships, and licensing deals; The New York Times focuses on subscriptions and digital ads; and BuzzFeed leverages AI to boost audience engagement and programmatic revenues.

Other publishers like Future, Gannett, and Ziff Davis also report growth in digital advertising, affiliate revenues, and subscriptions despite overall market challenges.

Madison and Wall forecast $397 billion in 2024 ad spend.

The U.S. advertising industry grew by 9.6% in Q2 2024, driven by a healthy economy and easy comparisons to last year, reaching a projected $397 billion in total spend for 2024.

Growth is expected to slow in the latter half of the year due to high growth rates in 2023. Digital ad platforms, especially retail media networks, led growth with a 16.4% increase, accounting for 67% of ad revenue. Political and issue advertising are significant contributors, projected to add $16 billion.

Traditional media is expected to face limited growth due to challenges like consumer identification and brand safety concerns. Marketers are increasingly focused on performance over content, impacting their media investment decisions.

Google’s ad tech impact on publishers front and center during opening day of DOJ’s antitrust trial.

The U.S. Justice Department's antitrust trial against Google could lead to the breakup of its ad tech tools, accusing the company of monopolistic practices in the digital ad market.

The DOJ argues Google acquired its dominance by buying competitors, controlling the market and diminishing publishers' independence, which resulted in significant financial losses for publishers.

Google's defense claims the DOJ's case relies on outdated market definitions and ignores existing competition and industry changes, such as AI.

Witnesses like Gannett's Tim Wolfe highlighted Google's dominance and the industry's reliance on header bidding to counteract it, showing the challenges publishers face breaking free from Google's ecosystem.

The trial follows similar allegations by the UK's Competition Market Authority against Google's practices. Both trials suggest potential significant changes in the digital ad industry in the coming weeks.

▸ Week 36

CMA objects to Google’s ad tech practices in bid to help UK advertisers and publishers.

The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has provisionally found that Google is engaging in anti-competitive practices in the open-display ad tech sector, potentially harming thousands of UK publishers and advertisers. 

The CMA's investigation reveals that Google uses its dominance to favor its ad tech services, disadvantaging competitors and reducing fair competition. Google allegedly manipulates bids and provides its AdX exchange with preferential access, limiting the chances for rival exchanges to compete effectively. This conduct has been ongoing since at least 2015 and also affects Google’s publisher ad server, DFP, by preventing rival servers from competing. 

The CMA is considering measures to stop Google's anti-competitive behaviour and ensure it doesn't recur. Separate investigations by the US Department of Justice and the European Commission are ongoing.
 

Tech Lab Unveils New Privacy Taxonomy.

The IAB Tech Lab released the Privacy Taxonomy for public comment, providing a new framework to help businesses manage personal data and comply with privacy regulations. This initiative aims to unify data privacy practices in the digital advertising industry and invites feedback over the next 30 days.

Browser-Level Cookie Controls Better Reflect User Preferences, finds Government-Backed Study.

The EU’s GDPR was created to give Europeans more control over their data but has led to more intrusive cookie banners. The UK retained GDPR principles post-Brexit and is considering alternatives to these banners, like browser-level cookie controls.

A government-backed study by The Behavioural Insights Team found that browser-level controls generally result in lower cookie opt-in rates than site-level controls, though acceptance remains relatively high. The study tested various browser-level consent mechanisms, finding that detailed cookie information led to opt-in rates more aligned with user preferences.

Surprisingly, 53% of users were comfortable opting in to all cookies, but knowledge about cookies' purposes was found to be low. The findings suggest that browser-level controls could balance privacy and user experience without drastically reducing cookie opt-ins. However, privacy advocates argue that poor understanding of cookies undermines meaningful consent.

Media Briefing: How publishers spent summer 2024

Summer 2024 saw significant developments for publishers in digital media.

Google reversed its decision to phase out third-party cookies, allowing users to choose their cookie settings, though publishers remain cautious about the impact. AI content licensing deals surged, with major publishers like Condé Nast signing agreements, while Perplexity AI introduced a revenue-share model focused on ad revenue, not content access.

New social platforms like LinkedIn and Reddit pursued partnerships with publishers, providing new revenue opportunities.Women's sports coverage grew in prominence, driven by increased advertiser interest and lucrative deals. Podcast networks anticipated a rise in political ad spending for the upcoming U.S. elections, buoyed by new ad tech and targeting tools. 

The industry is adapting to a changing landscape, balancing opportunities and uncertainties across multiple fronts.

AppsFlyer And Unity Integrate With The Android Privacy Sandbox To Avoid Another ATT-Style Disaster.

With uncertainty around the deprecation of Google’s mobile advertising ID (GAID), AppsFlyer integrated with the Android Privacy Sandbox’s Attribution Reporting API. This makes it the first mobile measurement platform (MMP) to offer such a product, developed with Unity.

The integration aims to help advertisers prepare for a potential shift similar to Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT). AppsFlyer’s new dashboard consolidates attribution data, providing a clearer view of ad conversions.

More ad networks need to adopt the API for better data accuracy. AppsFlyer is also building tools to optimise campaigns using historical data, following its iOS post-ATT success.

Madison and Wall forecast $397 billion in 2024 ad spend.

The U.S. advertising industry grew by 9.6% in Q2 2024, driven by a healthy economy and easy comparisons to last year, reaching a projected $397 billion in total spend for 2024.

Growth is expected to slow in the latter half of the year due to high growth rates in 2023. Digital ad platforms, especially retail media networks, led growth with a 16.4% increase, accounting for 67% of ad revenue. Political and issue advertising are significant contributors, projected to add $16 billion.

Traditional media is expected to face limited growth due to challenges like consumer identification and brand safety concerns. Marketers are increasingly focused on performance over content, impacting their media investment decisions.

Scoop: IAB And MRC To Collaborate On Attention Measurement Accreditation.

The Media Rating Council (MRC) and IAB's Attention Measurement Task Force are collaborating to accredit attention measurement vendors, , with guidelines expected by Q1 2025. This effort aims to standardise transparency without enforcing specific methodologies like eye-tracking or proxy measurements.

Vendors must disclose how they measure attention, ensure user consent, and comply with privacy standards. The goal is to avoid past mistakes with viewability as an ad-buying currency and promote nuanced understanding of attention metrics.

The MRC and IAB will focus on educating the industry on effectively using attention data without over-relying on it. This collaboration encourages broader involvement from publishers and ad tech vendors to refine how attention metrics impact ad performance and quality

Prebid Digital Out-of-Home Webinar.

A Prebid will host a webinar on DOOH to provide an update on the strides they’ve made in advancing DOOH initiatives, their tackled challenges, the lessons learned, and the current position. Date: September 12th, 2024.

Register here.

▸ Week 35

• - Google Ads, Analytics, and Merchant Center Glitches
• - Explained-2024 Media Glossary, Part 2
• - DOJ Reveals Google's Thoughts on Header Bidding
• - Warner Bros. Discovery Launches First-Party Data Offering
• - Maryland's Strict New Data Privacy Law
• - Google Offered Millions to Sway Media Buys in Antitrust Caser
  
  

Google Ads, Analytics And Merchant Center Are Glitching Out Of Control. Here’s Why. 

Google's advertising, analytics, and retail merchant platforms are experiencing significant disruptions, including bugs, data breaches, and outages across various services. Google attributes these issues to system updates, such as the transition to GA4 and GMC Next, rather than backend or frontend changes.

Some customers blame Google's increasing reliance on AI-driven software and its shift away from human support, leading to account suspensions and other glitches. Additionally, Google's rearchitecting efforts to meet new privacy and competition standards have added complexity and risk, exacerbating these problems. 

Media Briefing: The 2024 media glossary, pt. 2

• - Authenticated audiences: where users self-identify, providing alternatives to third-party cookies for ad revenue.
  
• - LLM (Large Language Model) is critical for improving AI technologies, often using licensed or unlicensed publisher content.
• - Prompt engineering and Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) are essential for optimising AI interactions and data sharing.
• - Robots.txt is used by publishers to block unwanted AI scraping, while changes in "SERP rankings" have impacted traffic strategies for publishers.
  
  

Thanks To The DOJ, We Now Know What Google Really Thought About Header Bidding.

The Department of Justice is set to face Google in court on September 9, accusing it of maintaining an illegal monopoly in the digital advertising market by manipulating auction dynamics to disadvantage rival ad exchanges. Unsealed documents reveal Google's internal strategies to counteract the rise of header bidding and maintain its competitive edge.

Google later moved to a first-price auction system, eliminating some advantages but also introducing unified pricing rules (UPR) to further control ad pricing dynamics. Evidence suggests Google’s actions caused significant shifts in the advertising landscape, with other exchanges like Rubicon experiencing declines in spending.

Warner Bros. Discovery Launches New First-Party Data Offering.

WBD has launched WBD AIM (Audience Insights and Measurement), a new first-party data offering for targeting and measurement across its platforms like Max, CNN, discovery+, and Eurosport in major markets worldwide. AIM consolidates data from WBD's various consumer touchpoints, enhancing audience targeting by combining registration, behavior, intent, and purchase data, along with improved contextual targeting.

This initiative aims to unify data post-merger, overcoming the challenges of siloed data within large media companies. WBD plans to expand AIM's capabilities by integrating data from other channels, including gaming and consumer products, to optimise measurement and marketing efforts. 

Don’t Sleep On Maryland’s Strict New Data Privacy Law.

Since 2018, 19 U.S. states, including Maryland, have enacted comprehensive data privacy laws, each with its own nuances and complexities. Maryland's Online Data Privacy Act (MODPA), effective October 1, 2025, stands out for its strict rules, such as outright banning the sale of personal data and imposing tight restrictions on data collection and sharing unless "strictly necessary."

MODPA also has a unique, stringent data minimisation requirement, limiting data collection to what is "reasonably necessary" to fulfill a consumer's request, though the definition remains ambiguous. With the lowest applicability threshold among state privacy laws, MODPA will require businesses to be particularly vigilant in ensuring compliance. 

Google Sought to Pay Agencies Hundreds of Millions to Sway Media Buys.

Newly released documents from the Department of Justice's antitrust trial reveal Google's extensive incentive programs designed to encourage agencies to buy its media. These programs, dating back to at least 2016, offered agencies discounts, cash rebates, and perks like third-party research in exchange for committing to purchase certain types of Google ads.

Google planned to spend hundreds of millions on these incentives, including $100 million on discretionary funds, $300 million on Agency Capability Fund (ACF) payouts, and $45 million on KPI deals in 2018. These incentives have raised concerns about transparency and the potential for agencies to prioritise Google's interests over their clients, prompting questions about their role in the upcoming antitrust trial.