Behind Headlines: 180 Seconds in Ad Tech — QR Codes, OpenPath & Android Privacy

Hey there! This is Ari at Sharethrough with another episode of Behind Headlines. In this episode I'll be giving you a 180-second recap of what happened the week of February 14th in ad tech. Let’s go!

First thing’s first, can an ad be too successful? Coinbase, the cryptocurrency exchange platform, debuted with its first ad during the Super Bowl, which routed a massive amount of traffic to their landing page, so much so that it crashed their app. What ad could’ve caused that influx? Believe it or not, it was a colorful QR code bouncing around people’s TVs and screens like the DVD logo of ancient times. The QR code directed over 20 million hits to their website in just a minute, and Coinbase became one of the top 5 most-talked about brands on Twitter, boosting their app store spot from 168th to 2nd! Maybe there’s some merit to adding a QR code to TV ads? This is a good time to shamelessly plug our brand new CTV Dynamic QR Codes enhancement, that automatically adds QR codes to CTV ads that target the Sharethrough Exchange at no additional cost. You can learn more about it on our website. Afterall, it’s hard to argue with results like Coinbase. It may not have been the only ad during the Super Bowl, but it was the only one being talked about the next day. (Source: The Verge)

Furthermore, the Google versus The Trade Desk rivalry intensified this week. The Trade Desk recently launched OpenPath, a tool that directly competes with Google’s Open Bidding, opening up a can of worms, at least for Google. The OpenPath tool will allow publishers to integrate with the Trade Desk, giving advertisers a direct path to publisher supply. If that’s not enough of a swipe, the Trade Desk is also shutting off Google’s Open Bidding on its platform when OpenPath launches. Some of the reasons for the new OpenPath platform are to combat some of the supply chain inefficiencies that are possibly, or probably, happening with Google’s Open Bidding and to become the preferred access to a publisher’s impressions, without having to bid for it. While this is a good move for DSPs looking to remove duplicate supply paths, it emphasizes the need for SSPs to provide differentiated value for both publishers and advertisers. (Source: The Trade Desk, Digiday)

Speaking of Google, the tech giant wants to bring its Privacy Sandbox to Android devices. The Privacy Sandbox is where efforts like FLoC, Topics, and other privacy-centric initiatives are developed for Chrome. And while there remains uncertainty about which method will work, the Privacy Sandbox won’t be hitting Android for at least two more years, as Google still tests out the kinks. The way it works now is that Android uses its own method of tracking users similar to cookies, using what’s called the “advertising ID,” but users have to manually opt-out by deleting their advertiser ID in the Android ad settings. The Privacy Sandbox moving to Android is a similar move to Apple’s iOS 14. But if Apple’s privacy update is a hammer, Google is trying to tackle privacy issues with a scalpel. Google wants to have its cake and eat it too by trying to preserve user privacy and the advertising ecosystem, which it makes most of its revenue from. (Source: TechCrunch)

Next up, Meta claims that it’s doing less of a poor job reporting iOS web conversions, as underreporting went down from 15% to 8%. Apple’s App Tracking Transparency made it difficult to rely on Meta’s measurements. Meta claims its inability to target users precisely as they could, is driving up the costs of performance based-campaigns, and lowering the accuracy of reporting. But Meta did some math, and modeling, and was able to bring down underreporting to 8%. That’s nice, but if Apple’s privacy update caused these many issues and could continue to cause $10 billion in lost revenue for Meta, it’s going to have an even harder time with Google’s Privacy Sandbox eventually making its way to Android. (Source: AdExchanger)

And lastly, Snapchat is beta testing ads within Snap Stories, and sharing the money with its creators. While the ads will only appear on a handful of small creators, Snapchat plans to expand the mid-roll ads in the coming months. The way it works is that Snapchat will use their algorithm formulas that take into account frequency, impressions, and engagement to determine the payout for creators. There’s been ads on Snapchat for a while, but this is the first time that creators are getting a cut. And since users are moving towards more TikTok-like videos, Snapchat paid $1 million a day until the end of 2020 to entice users to create more vertical videos, and has paid out millions to creators for top Spotlight videos, allegedly paying more than $250 million to creators in 2021. (Source: The Verge)

Thanks for tuning in! For more in-depth information or to subscribe to these weekly updates, check out the links in our blog. This has been Ari at Sharethrough for our weekly 180 second-recap in Ad tech. See you next week!