Google has a new update out to its Remarketing Lists for Search Ads product that will make it easier for marketers to use Analytics to target the right potential customers and in the process get a higher return on their advertising dollar investment. And while these terms might sound like complete gibberish to you, from a high-level it’s actually not too complicated.
Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge models include two technologies that are supposed to make charging your device less of a hassle – Fast Charging and both the Qi and PMA wireless charging standards. That’s great! But Samsung’s new ad out yesterday that attempts to subtly throws shade at Apple (the phone alarm in one scene is clearly an iOS tone) and other device makers without built-in wireless charging might be a little too much.
Few of us actively like ads, but most of us are smart enough to recognize that if we want free content, advertising is what pays the bills for the people providing it. But publishers face a growing threat from increasingly sophisticated ad-blockers that deprive them of revenue needed to remain in business. Even mobile networks and Apple are getting in on the action.
One former Google exec thinks he has the answer. Ben Barokas, former general manager of marketplace development at the search giant, is working on a new type of adblock-blocker that he thinks may not just help publishers, but also provide their readers with more choices …
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Google’s App Indexing technology isn’t exactly the most exciting thing to discuss, but so long as the majority of the company’s revenue still comes from search (it does), it is imperative that they figure out how to make their main business work on mobile where the eyeballs are going. So the company announced that today App Indexing is coming to iOS apps, starting with Chrome and Google Search.
Huawei is a rising Chinese mobile device manufacturer who’s name isn’t exactly easy for those of us in English-speaking countries to pronounce. Considering that we’re still hearing rumbles of the company’s desire to grab hold of consumer mindshare here in the United States, it’s about time for them to clear these simple pronunciation issues – which is exactly what they’re beginning to do.
The company released a short bit to its UK YouTube account today of a group of individuals performing “vocal warmups,” led by Gordon Friend, a coach from the “Future Facing Association of Pundits” (yes, “FFAPs” just like it sounds). The short then turns to learning how to properly pronounce the names of different Arsenal F.C. football players as they’re brought into the room. Because you’re probably pronouncing those incorrectly, too.
The ending of video is pretty anti-climactic, though, with the group quickly moving on to learning how to pronounce Huawei. It’s “Wah-way,” in case you were wondering.
While Google’s ad business is definitely in a transition phase, largely due to the shift away from personal computers towards mobile handsets, Google’s Senior Vice President of Ads & Commerce Sridhar Ramaswamy says that the company is handling this move well. Selling ads to advertisers may be harder with more of those ads ending up on mobile devices with smaller screens than notebooks and desktops, meaning more difficulty for customers to complete purchases, but Google is definitely taking steps toward slowing the rapid decline in ad prices.
According to a recent report from The Wall Street Journal, while Google is making several moves to make advertising more valuable, the market’s more recent move to larger-screened devices has helped significantly…
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Have you ever seen a product or service in a YouTube video ad and wished it were easier to learn more or purchase it? Me neither, but Google believes its new TrueView for shopping ad format will result in stronger results for advertisers looking to drive increased interest and sales.
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“Adblockers,” browser tools which work to hide ads from the web browsing experience, are a controversial topic of discussion among those in the media industry. And for good reason, as the media industry as a whole is in the midst of a large shift from creating content for – and earning a vast majority of revenue from – the print and desktop mediums, where large boxy ads have long reigned king. But when we talk about adblockers, the one tool we’re all probably referring to, the one which has become synonymous with the term, is Adblock Plus (ABP), and the company behind it has released a dedicated browser for Android…
The Financial Times is reporting that European mobile carriers are planning to block Google and other web ads in order to reduce demands on their networks and break Google’s hold on advertising (via TNW).
According to the story, which cites anonymous sources, the carriers have installed software from Israeli ad-blocking firm Shine in their data centers to block advertising in Web pages and apps, but not social networks.
Many websites, 9to5Google among them, depend on ad revenue to deliver free content to their readers. Any move to block ads could have far-reaching consequences …
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The notorious leakster Upleaks has today posted a new image that appears to be an HTC training slide, outlining how the company plans to monetize the home screen of your HTC handset. Yes, you heard that right, HTC—if this rumor turns out to be true—is going to be placing ads and product promotions within its HTC Sense Home home screen…
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Advertisers want to know that when they pay for a video ad on YouTube or elsewhere across the web, that the advertisement can actually be seen by viewers. A lot can effect an ad being seen, such as the viewer never scrolling to the part of the page where the ad is placed, or users simply scrolling past the ad too quickly to really catch a glimpse. Taking a look into these things, Google recently published the results of a study identifying the “5 factors of viewability,” or, in other words, the things that impact the chance of a video ad being seen.
Unsurprisingly, YouTube and Google’s video ad strategy seems to be strong compared to the rest of the web…
Mother’s Day is quickly approaching and Samsung has chosen to separate itself from advertisers going for your heartstrings with a much lighter advertisement titled “#TextsFromMom,” featuring the Galaxy S6 Edge.
The one-minute spot, as the title suggests, takes a look at how your mother probably uses (read: misuses) text messaging, and does so in a funny yet gentle manner. Anyone with a mother who took it upon herself to learn to text can sympathize and see their own mom in one or many of these messages. It ends with a reminder that you should call Mom this Sunday, not text her.
[protected-iframe id=”d603a218f395e450061ea4a5f0e213ee-22427743-41205376″ info=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/e7D5KvoXwRg” width=”560″ height=”315″ frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen=””]
What’s more, if you dial the phone numbers visible in the spot you get to hear what the moms had to say in their voicemail messages. You can also enter to win a Galaxy S6 Edge by sharing your mom’s funniest texts to Twitter with the hashtag #TextsFromMom. Nice job, Samsung.
An example of a webpage made completely unusable by injected ads
A Google-sponsored study carried out by the University of California, Berkeley and Santa Barbara found “tens of millions of instances” of ad malware in the course of just a few months. In all, they found that a staggering 5.5% of unique IP addresses – representing millions of users – were affected.
Ad injection malware drops its own ads into whatever web page an infected machine displays. Revenue from these ads is filtered through ad networks, where genuine companies end up paying the bills, effectively stealing revenue that should have gone to the websites themselves.
Some of this malware goes further than simply injecting ads …
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Google’s AdWords livestream today served as the launching point for several new advertising products, including larger rollouts of some previously announced products. Below you’ll find a recap of the event’s announcements.
Google released a video yesterday teasing all the exciting AdWords announcements it has in store, and today the livestream featuring them is about to be underway. Among the announcements that Google mentioned yesterday include new mobile-focused ad formats, tools to help automate and scale all the things you do in AdWords, and new measurement products to help you measure the impact of your ads across a variety of platforms.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7JJ2-Fz-3w&ab_channel=GoogleAds]
Google has published a video (above) on its AdWords blog today teasing its next-generation products which will be announced during tomorrow’s annual livestream.
In a previous blog entry, Google said that the event will reveal new products that will help customers:
- Create better mobile experiences for your customers at the moments when they’re looking for your products and services
- Measure all the moments that matter to your business – online and offline, across multiple devices and touchpoints
- Customize and scale everything you do in AdWords, to unlock the full potential of increasingly complex consumer journeys
The stream will kick off at 12:30 PM eastern time, but until then viewers can still register for the live webcast.
Google has today started sending out a new round of invites for the “Contributor by Google” program it announced in November of last year. The service, which removes AdSense ads from your daily browsing for the price of a $2-10 monthly subscription, also saw some notable changes from when it was first shown to the world. Google has now detailed new tiers which will be available to those who have been invited to try out the expanded program…
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJJyIrOANFg]
Samsung’s latest ad for the Galaxy S6 promotes Fast Charging mode, where a 10-minute top-up claims to give the phone enough juice for four hours of use; wireless charging; and Ultra Power Saving mode, switching to a greyscale display and limiting functionality to maximize remaining battery-life.
The company posted a drop-test video of the S6/edge earlier this month, while Dom Esposito put the smartphone’s video capabilities to the test and described it as “the best camera you can get on an Android smartphone.”
The YouTube Kids app, launched in February to provide access to family-friendly videos on both Android and iOS, has been accused by around a dozen consumer groups of being “deceptive to children” in the way it mixes ads into programming. The NY Times reports that a formal complaint to the Federal Trade Commission is expected to be filed today.
[The complaint] argues, in essence, that YouTube is using advertising tactics like “host selling” – having cartoon characters sell products inside their show – that would be illegal if they were on television instead of online.
The groups argue that the app should be held to the same standards that apply to TV shows …
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According to a new report from Re/code, Google is soon planning to launch a service that will allow Gmail users to manage, pay, and receive all their bills directly within Gmail. The service is dubbed Pony Express right now, although it’s unclear if that’s a codename or what Google actually plans to call the service.
In a post on its Analytics Google+ page, Google has announced that it’s adding Treemaps support to the Acquisition section of AdWards Analytics. Treemaps, Google says, bring quick visual insights to your AdWords performance.
As part of the Game Developers Conference taking place this week in San Francisco, Google is hosting its own Developer Day and updating its AdMob platform and introducing a new Nearby Connections API for developers.
Using the Nearby Connections API, developers will be able to build a connection between Android phones or tablets and Android TV into games. The Android phone or tablet will display on-screen controls, and game playback will be displayed on Android TV creating a console-like experience without a separate controller.
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Google paid developers a total of $7B in the past 12 months from a mix of app sales and in-app purchases, the company says, closing in on the record $10B payout recently announced by Apple.
Re/code also reports that Google is testing sponsored searches in the Play Store, enabling developers to pay to have their apps show up at the top of searches. Sponsored Play Store searches will work in exactly the same way as they do in the company’s main search engine: developers bidding for keywords, with sponsored apps appearing above organic search results, flagged with a small Ad tag …
According to a new report out of The Wall Street Journal, Google’s YouTube unit posted a revenue of nearly $4 billion in 2014, but did not earn a profit of any kind. The $4 billion in revenue during 2014 is up from $3 billion in 2013. YouTube accounted for about 6 percent Google’s overall sales last year.
In an effort to remedy remaining unprofitable, YouTube is planning to launch a new ad-targeting system later this year, the WSJ says, though details remain unclear. …
