A collection of the top articles, videos, podcasts and PDFs that caught our attention in February 2019.

In case you missed it, here is what happened in the world of PPC last month.

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Top PPC PDFs in February 2019

Amazon's Advertising Ascent: What Retailers Really Think - Nanigans

Google and Facebook have long dominated digital advertising, but according to a report released earlier this month surveying 100 retail advertising executives, Amazon is the new player in town.

In fact, Amazon captures 14% of digital ad budgets, not far behind Google (21%) and Facebook (19%). Amazon has earned a reputation for disrupting every industry is enters, from retail to food. Will it do the same with digital advertising?

Taps, Clicks, Bricks: Omnichannel Customer Engagement is the New Brand Superpower - Tune

Omnichannel advertising is the new reality for brands if they want to succeed in this digital world, according to a study by Tune. Customer journeys now involving three to five screens, offline and online touch points, and a bunch of different marketing channels.

Tune's report looks at three main channels of the customer journey - Mobile (Taps), Desktop (Clicks) and Physical Locations (Bricks) and how the best brands are utilizing these channels to connect with their customers.

How Google Fights Disinformation - Google

Google released a report this month on how it tackles disinformation on the internet. While the report looks at how Google tackles disinformation in all of Google's main products, including YouTube, Google News and Google Search, the company also addresses Google Ads. We analyze the information more deeply in our own article here.

Bing Ads PPC News

Bing Ads expands search terms management to including shopping campaigns

The updated reporting grid now also includes an added/excluded keywords column. The aim is to provide a simple ad management tool as more and more brands bring their marketing efforts in-house instead of using agencies.

Bing overviews best practices for campaigns with multiple language targeting

Bing introduced multiple language campaigns back in October 2018, allowing marketers to target people who speak more than one language and may search for things online in several languages.

Bing chooses not to show ads for queries around Super Bowl commercials, unlike Google

Bing's strategy is to position itself as the 'smart' search engine and not monetize search results that Google may monetize.

Google Ads PPC News

Google launches two new tools to help you build a better mobile experience

A new revamped version of Test My Site lets you see how fast your site loads on mobile and offers recommendations for how to speed up loading time. As has been shown, even a one second delay in loading time can affect conversion rates up to 20%.

The second tool Google has launched is RCS Business Messaging which allows businesses to deliver fast, branded, interactive SMS with rich media, suggested replies, actions, analytics and more.

Google chooses new name for Universal App Campaigns

Now they will simply be known as 'App Campaigns.' App Campaigns connect your app with consumers who rely on apps to get things done. App Campaigns will be an option alongside Search, Display, Video, Shopping and Smart Campaigns on Google from now on. The name change will not affect any features or functionality.

Google expands AMP to make display ads safer, faster and more user-friendly

The performance benefits and security guarantees offered by AMPHTML ads, which are display ads created using the AMP framework, translate to better advertiser ROI, publisher revenue and overall better user experience. Google is now expanding where it serves these ads to not just AMP pages, but regular web pages too.

Facebook Ads PPC News

Facebook planning to launch clear history feature, ads in trouble

Facebook may find it harder to show targeted ads to its users as it will be difficult for the company to use 3rd party app data.

Facebook possibly testing new Ads Manager Interface

Facebook is reportedly updating its user interface with a Reddit-style drop down menu.

Facebook launches premium video program called Showcase

Showcase gives online video and TV ad buyers participating in the upfront selling cycle new opportunities to reach their target audiences within the highest-quality videos on Facebook.

Amazon Ads PPC News

Amazon Moments tool gives brands new way to build, deliver loyalty campaigns

Amazon has launched Amazon Moments, a cross-platform solution that allows marketers to create cost-per-action CPA loyalty campaigns to be made available via a brand's app or website. The platform lets marketers create campaigns aimed at driving a specific action and, based on the user completing the action, deliver customer rewards in the form of digital and physical products available on Amazon.

Amazon's ad business tops $3 bln for first time in Q4

Amazon's ad business posted $10 billion in revenue in 2018, up 95% compared to 2017, cementing itself as the third largest digital advertiser after Google and Facebook. By comparison, Facebook posted $16 billion in Q4. While Amazon is still well behind Google and Facebook in terms of overall online advertising, the story is rapidly changing when it comes to ecommerce.

Amazon's ad business could be threatened by Walmart

With 300 million shoppers visiting its stores each month, Walmart has announced it wants to monetize the data and ramp up its ad business.

Instagram Ads PPC News

10 examples of kick-ass Instagram Story Ads

AdEspresso breaks down how to get started with Instagram Stories and why they are proving so effective as a new advertising option.

Instagram may be running out of space for new ads

At the same time, an article by Business Insider looks at why advertisers are still slow to switch to stories and why Facebook has been reluctant to increase the number of ads that appear on the Instagram feed. This has the cost per ad on Instagram shooting up.

Some more articles we liked

Voice Ads Are More Engaging Than Other Formats, Consumers Say

A new report by Adobe looks at how consumers are reacting to voice ads, and the results are positive: 38% of consumers find voice ads to be less intrusive than ads on television, online or social media, and 39% find them to be more engaging. Smart speaker ownership is on the rise, with 36% of consumers owning a smart speaker in January 2019, up from 28% in January 2018. Millennial men are most likely to own smart speakers.

Meet the Creator of the Egg that broke Instagram

The New York Times goes behind the scenes of the creater of the egg that broke the record for most likes on Instagram in January.

Who is he? Well, he works in advertising and his experiment says a lot about the current state of technology, social media and ads.

How Much Of The Internet is Fake? Turns out, quite a lot, actually.

Technically not from February 2019, but we included it anyway because of how well written it is. The internet has helped bring information to millions of people around the world, but it has also created a fertile breeding ground for fake news. This article shows us the dark, fake side of the 21st century's greatest invention.

Top PPC Podcasts in February 2019

The Exchange: Why Facebook takes away our humanity

That’s the way early investor Roger McNamee describes what the social network - and Google - is doing without proper oversight. In discussing his book, “Zucked,” he explains why just changing Facebook management won’t solve its problems and why he remains hopeful of a solution.

Why Ad Position Makes or Breaks Your PPC Campaign

For veteran PPC enthusiasts, it is well known that Google and Bing offer reporting on where your ad is delivering. On the other hand, Amazon Advertising does not give sellers insight into their sponsored ad placement. This metric, however, is an extremely important indicator of PPC campaign success and should be more heavily emphasized in paid strategies.

Google Ads and PPC: Should You DIY or Hire Help?

In this episode the hosts go over Google Ads and PPC marketing and specifically discuss the question of whether you should DIY your own Ads management, use an agency or let Google help you.