💾 Google’s AdX Has Big Plans for April Fool’s Day

In Today's Issue

• Google’s AdX Reshuffles the Deck for Video Ads

• Level Up Your Social Media Strategy

• LinkedIn “Leans In” to Thought Leadership

• Google’s March Core Update Got Ya Down?

• Adalytics Keeps Fighting the Good Fight

• Can “Open-AI” Live Up to Its Own Hype?

Google’s Adoption Of New In-Stream/Outstream Standards Could Spell Disaster For Some Online Video Platforms

Google AdX will update its video policy on April 1 – April Fool’s Day – to reflect new industry standard definitions for in-stream and outstream video. Some publishers and video ad platforms are wondering whether the joke is on them.

A large chunk of previously premium inventory – as in inventory that sellers previously sold as “premium” – could soon attract lower CPMs.

Google operates the most dominant supply-side platform in the market, and its adoption of these specs is a rubber-hitting-the-road moment for a category of online video platforms whose bread and butter is monetizing a type of video inventory that may no longer be as lucrative as it once was.

A Google company spokesperson told AdExchanger that Google expects AdX’s adoption of the new video standards to “positively benefit both publishers and advertisers by providing clarity on requirements for accurately representing inventory.”

So there you go. Google says everything will all work out just fine. No foolin’.

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👩🏿‍⚖️ Google and Apple challenged in Epic court showdown

Restrictive contracts fuelled profits for Google and Apple and led to higher prices for app users, the firm behind the popular game Fortnite has claimed in a landmark court case. As a 61-day Federal Court hearing started, Mr Young said Apple's conduct stifled competition, leading to higher prices for consumers.

Epic Games has filed two lawsuits against the tech giants, claiming they engaged in anti-competitive and unconscionable conduct against those developing apps distributed through iOS and Android devices. "Epic is not alone in harboring dissatisfaction with the anti-competitive conduct that Apple and Google have been engaging in," the firm's barrister Neil Young QC said on Monday.

📈 Forget Nvidia: Another "Magnificent Seven" Artificial Intelligence (AI) Powerhouse Is Cheaper

When you think about buying an artificial intelligence (AI) stock today, one of the first names to come to mind is probably Nvidia. And for good reason. Nvidia is the leading seller of AI chips, with more than 80% market share, and this has driven record earnings and tremendous share performance in recent times.

Nvidia is also one of the industry-leading stocks dubbed the "Magnificent Seven," a reference to the 1960 film. These stocks have led the market's gains over the past year thanks to their growth and focus on the hot area of AI. But Nvidia isn't the only game in town for investors who want to get in on the AI boom. In fact, another member of the Magnificent Seven is cheaper than Nvidia and is on track to become an AI powerhouse.

🙌 LinkedIn now allows companies to sponsor any organic content

LinkedIn is expanding its Thought Leader Ads' capabilities so advertisers can sponsor content from any member, not just its employees. This move enables brands to amplify a diverse range of influential, trusted and expert voices and member posts on the platform.

In its weekly newsletter, LinkedIn said that nearly 73% of decision-makers say that an organization's thought-leadership content is a more trustworthy basis for assessing its capabilities and competencies than its marketing materials and product sheets.

• Ahead of IPO, Reddit blends advertising into user posts- LinuxBender on hacker news

• Halved my budget on ad, got sale that very night- Pristine_Ice5914 on Reddit

• What to consider if you are losing long-standing rankings to Google's March Core Update.- @searchliaison on X

• Instagram Experiments With More Frames Within Carousel Posts- iahaberman on Threads

Adalytics Research Uncovers Hidden Ad Spending on 'Made for Advertising' Sites

Many brands and sites on the internet do not know that they have their ads served on Made for Advertising (MFA) websites. According to the research by Adalytics, the websites on the internet are getting these ads through systematic as well as non-systematic channels. 

MFAs are advertising websites that do advertising stuff on different websites but the overall user experience of these ads isn’t good and they make the overall digital advertising experience bad. The quality of the ads content is the worst and they display a lot of ads on a site.

The Association of National Advertisers say that MFA pays to source traffic on the sites and there is no organic or real audience that sees the ads. 

The advertisements are mostly clickbaits that are available on social media sites and websites of well-known publishers. MFA business is often driven by buying paid traffic and to overcome these traffic costs, MFA publishers perform monetization practices that help them gain more profit.

Many sites with ad exchanges and supply side platforms (SSPs) were also serving ads on MFA sites including Google, Criteo, OpenWeb, etc. Many demand side platforms (DSPs) also made ads on MFA like Roku OneView, Yahoo DSP and Google DV360.

• let the ads find me what I want! - emory.spaces on TikTok

• Why Facebook Bans Ad Accounts (The Truth!) - "Ben Heath on YouTube

• Why ‘open’ AI might be more marketing than reality - CNBC

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