This Weeks Reactive Business Model Updates

For a slice of the billion dollars digital advertising pie, companies across the demand & supply side are quick to respond to market forces. Here are the top three reactive business model updates this week by the ecosystem:

1. Google

Last month, large-scale advertisers in advanced markets announced a move to boycott on advertising with Google's DoubleClick, citing concerns that their ads were appearing on extremist content sites & channels. Our APAC country general manager already shared how advertisers could prevent this, but it appears that Google too wants to appease the concerned parties by taking on all the blame. The multinational American technology company announced yesterday that it would enforce new policies around advertising and remove publishers from its AdSense ad network and DoubleClick ad exchange for violating those rules. Content will now be categorised by page instead of by an entire website. This means, for instance, that a site that is considered "news" oriented will be reevaluated if a new content page appears that contradicts the presupposed positioning. This also means that advertisers will be able to bypass content distribution companies such as Outbrain by playing the native advertising card specific to the content types of the publisher pages. So an article on new phones will be the only one categorised for ads on the new Samsung. So this means that any specific publisher page violating Google's new rules will be penalised and lose access to its ad networks, instead of an entire publisher site being punished by the actions of a singular beat editor.

The multinational American technology company announced yesterday that it would enforce new policies around advertising and remove publishers from its AdSense ad network and DoubleClick ad exchange for violating those rules. Content will now be categorised by page instead of by an entire website.

This means, for instance, that a site that is considered "news" oriented will be reevaluated if a new content page appears that contradicts the presupposed positioning. This also means that advertisers will be able to bypass content distribution companies such as Outbrain by playing the native advertising card specific to the content types of the publisher pages. So an article on new phones will be the only one categorised for ads on the new Samsung. So this means that any specific publisher page violating Google's new rules will be penalised and lose access to its ad networks, instead of an entire publisher site being punished by the actions of a singular beat editor.

2. Outbrain

Responding a bit later than most, the online advertiser specialising in native advertising has introduced Outbrain Lookalike Audiences. The content discovery platform hopes this will help its advertisers scale audience outreach and improve click through by targeting readers based on their interests. Advertisers getting Facebook targeting right will be familiar with this tool, the inspiration behind this reactive business model update. It will rely on site visitor segments, DMP segments, CRM lists, and more first-party data.

3. Snap Inc.

With its augmented reality lenses barely keeping up with Facebook's copycat antics, the American technology & social media company is struggling to appease its shareholders amid reports of slowing user growth. Currently juggling between the Snapchat app, the Spectacles extension, and Bitmoji, yesterday Snap Inc introduced new camera ads in a bid to stay ahead of Facebook's replicative behaviour. The new promotional Lenses work by superimposing corporate logos alongside whatever the user is recording. The above example shows various doodles, and images working contextually with the sky, clouds, buildings, and even plants - all the while promoting an upcoming film in the bottom left. To stay ahead of any reactive business model moves by Facebook, so far the Snap Inc has secured deals with Netflix, PepsiCo and Dunkin Donuts for the new format.