While Google and Facebook are the undisputed advertising leaders online, companies are increasingly looking for other digital ways to spend their marketing budgets, according to advertising and public relations company WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell.
"What our clients want and what our agencies want is more competition of the space, anything that gives more competition to the duopoly of Facebook and Google," Sorrell said to CNBC.
The two tech giants account for about 75 percent of digital ad budgets, according to Sorrell. But, there are competitors ready to chip away at their dominance, including AOL and Yahoo's ad tech platforms and Snap. Even Amazon is becoming a threat, with its ad platform recently valued at $350 billion, he pointed out.
"Getting more than two solutions is important," he said.
But while Google's issue of ads appearing next to questionable content is causing companies to pull dollars right now, Sorrell doesn't think the moves will be permanent because of how big of a presence the company has in digital adverting. WPP spent a little under $5 billion on Google media buys last year.
"You're negating or withdrawing from arguably one of the most powerful mediums," Sorrell said.
Courtesy of CNBC
In Other Advertising News.........
YouTube Creators Won't Make Money Until They Hit 10,000 Lifetime Views
In an effort to weed out users who steal original content and re-upload it to their channels, YouTube announced a change to its Partner Program that prevents users from monetizing any video until it reaches 10,000 views.
"Starting today, we will no longer serve ads on YPP [YouTube Partner Program] videos until the channel reaches 10k lifetime views," according to a blog post Ariel Bardin, vice president of product management.
"This new threshold gives us enough information to determine the validity of a channel," Bardin continued. "It also allows us to confirm if a channel is following our community guidelines and advertiser policies. By keeping the threshold to 10k views, we also ensure that there will be minimal impact on our aspiring creators. And, of course, any revenue earned on channels with under 10k views up until today will not be impacted."
YouTube's decision could have a negative side effect. As "YouTubers" know, building an audience large enough to turn a decent profit making videos takes time. Without an assist by a popular creator or a stroke of luck—such as a video getting shared by the right social media account or website—new users looking to make a go of creating videos full-time could find themselves swimming upstream.
YouTube seems to have anticipated such a consequence. "In a few weeks, we’ll also be adding a review process for new creators who apply to be in the YouTube Partner Program," Bardin continued. "After a creator hits 10k lifetime views on their channel, we’ll review their activity against our policies. If everything looks good, we’ll bring this channel into YPP and begin serving ads against their content. Together these new thresholds will help ensure revenue only flows to creators who are playing by the rules."
Courtesy of ShackNews
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From Reuters:
Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) YouTube said on Thursday it would place ads on channels only if they reach 10,000 views as it tries to weed out people who make money on the site by stealing content from other sources.
The video streaming service also said once a video channel crosses the threshold, it would review the content to see if it qualifies for the placement of ads. (bit.ly/2o7vqI2)
"By keeping the threshold to 10k views, we also ensure that there will be minimal impact on our aspiring creators," Ariel Bardin, YouTube's vice president of product management, said in a blog post.
YouTube has come under intense scrutiny for ads appearing alongside videos carrying homophobic or anti-Semitic messages, prompting a number of companies to suspend their digital ads on the video streaming service.
The company vowed an overhaul of its practices last month, saying it has started an extensive review of its advertising policies.
While brands have demanded greater control over the videos where their ads appear, the step taken by YouTube this week is likely too small to allay those concerns, said analyst Jan Dawson of Jackdaw Research.
"Most of these (extremist) videos are going to get more viewers than that anyway," Dawson said of the 10,000-view threshold set by YouTube. "They're popular among the particular audience that they are targeting."
YouTube also said on Thursday that in a few weeks it would add a review process for new creators who apply to be in the YouTube Partner Program, which lets creators monetize content on YouTube in many ways, including advertisements, paid subscriptions and merchandise.
Any revenue earned on channels with under 10,000 views up until Thursday will not be impacted, YouTube said.
As it grapples with the advertiser revolt, YouTube must walk a fine line between giving advertisers more control and alienating the creators who drive the site's popularity, analysts say.
While some fear small creators could be hurt by restrictions, the 10,000-view threshold is so low that it will not hamper any people who make a living from their channels, said Jonathan Katz, an entertainment lawyer who represents YouTube artists. Creators understand that YouTube must protect its image to retain the ad dollars they depend on, he said.
"As frustrated as (creators) might be with the YouTube ecosystem at times, they understand that their fates are tied," he said.