PPC News: Google tests 'carousel' for search ads, Instagram use declining
Our roundup of the top PPC news headlines this week.
PPC News Roundup is a weekly roundup of all news related to the major PPC and digital advertising platforms. Published on Tuesdays, âPPC News Roundupâ will help you stay up-to-date on all the important PPC ads news you need to know.
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Amazon Ads News
From Peanuts to $40 Billion, Amazon's Ad Business Set to Be the Next Great Disruptor
According to recent report from Juniper Research, the e-commerce giantâs ad business will grow more than 470% over the next five years, outpacing the growth rates of both Google and Facebook in that period, and making it one of Amazonâs fastest-growing and most profitable business segments.
Amazon Display Ads Benefit Channels Other Than Amazon
Between 10% and 60% of the impact of search ads on Amazon occurs beyond the platform, according to a new study. Brands with large offline sales are recommended to increase their use of the platformâs display ads to drive purchase across multiple online and offline channels.
Amazon rebrands IMDb TV as it ramps up pitch to ad buyers
Amazonâs decision to rebrand its ad-supported streaming video service from IMDb Freedive to IMDb TV comes at a moment when Amazon has put IMDb TV at the heart of its inaugural bid for advertisersâ and agenciesâ upfront dollars.
Facebook Ads News
Facebookâs Pricey Ad Spend May Not Impress
Third-party data shows declining time spent on Facebook and Instagram among U.S. users despite name recognition.
Facebook may have too many users for its cryptocurrency to fail â even if you donât trust it
Libra, Facebookâs new virtual coin, is the most consequential cryptocurrency effort undertaken in several years and might just succeed simply by virtue of Facebook's huge user base.
Facebook Will Remove Certain Business Page Info Sections as of August 1st
Facebook is updating its business pages by removing certain sections which are seen as redudent and prompting Page admins to integrate the info with other fields. The sections to disappear include: Mission, Company Overview, Biography, Affiliation and Personal Interest.
Facebook top downloaded app in May, continues to grow
Facebook was the top downloaded app for the month of May with 60.6 million downloads, closely followed by TikTok and Snapchat. The most downloads came in India at 24% and Indonesia at 12%. The findings show that despite privacy concerns, Facebook's user base continues to grow.
Google Ads News
Google Lets Advertisers Promote YouTube Live Streams as Display Ads
Google is introducing a new ad format that lets marketers run YouTube live streams in display ads. Live stream ads can appear anywhere Googleâs display ads are shown. So a person could be scrolling through a website and see a display ad in the banner with a live YouTube stream.
Google Ads Begins Reporting on Shopping Campaign Landing Pages
Google Ads will now include reporting data on landing page performance from shopping campaigns. The data points will include clicks, impressions, CTR, average CPC, Cost, Conversion Rate and Conversions.
Google Ads spotted experimenting with âcarouselâ of text ads for mobile
Google looks to be expanding its advertising offerings after it was spotted experimenting with a new carousel format for text-based search ads on mobile.
Google Ads is Removing Features from Portfolio Bid Strategies
Google Ads is making adjustments to two portfolio bid strategies in an effort to simplify the experience for users. They include enhanced CPC and Target Spend Setting.
RSA editing comes to Google Ads app
You can now create and edit RSAs in the Google Ads app for Android and iOS, a sign that Responsive Search Campaigns are here to stay.
Instagram Ads News
Instagram's head insists the app isn't listening in on your conversations
Instagram head Adam Mosseri denies the app listens in on conversations. When asked why people may have this impression it can be dumb luck, and also because things you talk about are top of mind, without you realizing it.
Instagram tests 'Suggestions For You' in DMs
Instagram is testing a new 'suggestions for you' feature that would appear in your DMs that will include related accounts and content for you to follow. The feature could make brands' content more discoverable based on users' interests and boost ad dollars.
Do Instagram's Ads Reinforce Harmful Stereotypes?
A Forbes article look at the consequences of sexist stereotypes and how it can harm body image and confidence. Should social platforms do more to shun ads that promote harmful stereotypes?
LinkedIn Ads News
Exclusive: LinkedIn goes niche
LinkedIn has announced algorithm changes meant to favor conversations in its feed that cater to niche professional interests, as opposed to just elevating viral content. The idea is to boost engagement on the platform which has dipped.
Microsoft Ads News
Parallel tracking, more custom parameters coming to Microsoft Advertising for improved tracking
Microsoft Advertising (formerly Bing Ads) is going to be making several updates in the coming months to improve page load for users and provide better tracking for advertisers, including parallel tracking, which takes users directly to a landing page after clicking an ad, while the ad click measurement process happens separately in the background.
Price extensions now supported in Microsoft Advertising Editor
Price extensions launched over a year ago allow advertisers to show products and pricing in text ads in mobile and desktop search results. Now they can be managed from the Microsoft Advertising Editor.
Microsoft activates banner ads in Outlook Mobile
With the latest update, users are now seeing ads inside Outlook Mobile, which could become permanent if Microsoft rolls out the feature to all users.
Pinterest Ads News
Pinterest boosts shopping with new category for outside partners
By expanding their shopping partners, Pinterest aims to "enable businesses of all sizes to bring their products to Pinterest and make them shoppable for the 250 million people looking for new ideas every month.â
Reddit Ads News
Bud Light is now testing paid media on Reddit
Bud Light has began running paid ads on Reddit, an example of yet another big brand that has moved to advertising on the platform.
Reddit ties up with Oracle to bolster brand safety
Reddit and Oracle Data Cloud have teamed up to provide new brand safety controls for advertisers around a real-time feed of user-generated content. The goal is to give advertisers control over where, and around what content, their campaigns run.
Snapchat Ads News
Snap stock up 165% YTD thanks to improved ads manager
Snap has successfully upgraded and enhanced its Ads Manager to make it more friendly to marketers. Features like target- cost bidding, bulk uploading capabilities, bulk editing and cloning, and the expansion of location categories to the U.K., Canada, and France are all major steps that will ultimately improve its top line. Additionally, its Reach & Frequency product now allows for one-day ad buys (the previous minimum was three) and has similarly undergone geographic expansion.
With new leadership, Snapchat makes friends among marketers and publishers in Cannes
Snapâs pitch at Cannes included touting its reach of 90 percent of 13-24 year olds in the US. Snap also revealed new research touting the value of Gen Z, including how they are influential in household spend, such as deciding what phone each family member should buy.
Twitter Ads News
A year after Twitter introduced a programmatic advertising program for publishers, it is shutting down the pilot network.
Twitter removes precise geo-tagging option from tweets
Twitter is removing the ability to tag your precise location from tweets because most users did not use the location-tagging feature. It would remove them to 'simplify' the tweeting experience, with the exception of tweeted photos uploaded from a camera.
YouTube Ads News
YouTube Weighs Major Changes to Kidsâ Content Amid FTC Probe
YouTube plans to alter content that is shown to kids against the backdrop of an FTC Probe after YouTube was accused of illegally gathering data about children under the age of 13 without parental approval and showing inappropriate videos. The changes could have consequences, as children's videos are among the most popular on the platform.
YouTube looks to demonetization as punishment for major creators, but it doesnât work
Taking away a channelâs ability to run ads is supposed to send a message that YouTube is punishing creators who severely step out of line. But for larger creators, who still keep their ability to reach a huge number of subscribers, the punishment doesnât necessarily accomplish YouTubeâs goals.
Politics & Society
The cost of an ad-free internet: $35 more per month
A new bill would tell you how much the ad-targeting data you give to companies like Google and Facebook is worth.
Targeted Ads Reinforce Bias By Seeing Only A Slice Of Our Lives
An article in the BBC earlier this week described how a 12-year-old girl joined Instagram and was immediately bombarded with makeup and fashion advertisements despite actually being interested in academics and athletics. Bias in advertising has received considerable attention in recent years, especially the ways in which it can lead to illegal discrimination.
Last week, more than 15,000 marketers, ad agencies, media and tech companies gathered in Cannes. A central theme of the conference included courting alternatives to the Facebook-Google duopoly, with Snap, Pinterest, Buzzfeed as better platforms for marketers to place there ad dollars.
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