The following is a guest contributed post by David De Jong, CEO and Founder, Screen6

It’s hard to go a day in our industry without stumbling across a news or opinion piece related to “The Duopoly.” You’ve no doubt heard everyone’s favorite stats about their combined potential. That is, together, Google and Facebook accounted for about two-thirds of U.S. digital ad revenues in 2017. And virtually all of the growth in digital ad spend is going directly into the pockets of the two titans.

Every time I see a Duopoly headline, an old Dutch proverb springs to mind: “Twee honden vechten om een been en de derde gaat er mee heen.” The proverb loosely translates to, “When two dogs fight over a bone, a third one carries it away.”

At present, all eyes in our industry are searching for that third dog – the one that will stealthily creep in to snatch the bone away from Google and Facebook as they bite and wrestle each other. And, in fact, a favored hound has already emerged from the lurking pack: Amazon.

All Eyes on Amazon

The Amazon obsession – which, quite frankly, might be taking up more headline space than the Duopoly obsession right now – is completely understandable and warranted. If ever there was a dog well-positioned to steal a bone, it’s Amazon.

Consider that Amazon is uniquely positioned as it relates to the consumer, and the consumer is the end game. While Google and Facebook squabble over media spend, Amazon is already in possession of the all important direct consumer relationship. Sure, Google knows about consumer intent, and Facebook knows about consumer interests. But nobody is more embedded in the consumer’s actual life than Amazon, because in reality, they are the only ones who actually sell to consumers.

Amazon not only knows what people shop for and purchase day to day (and that data is immensely powerful), but it also struts through the consumer’s front door on an increasingly regular basis. With its acquisition of Whole Foods, it’s going to be making itself even more at home in the consumer’s kitchen. Amazon’s relationship with the consumer is unmatched, and there’s tremendous power in that.

That said, while Amazon is a powerhouse that’s going to continue to redefine entire industries, it’s not necessarily poised to overtake Google and Facebook on media spend. Globally, eMarketer estimates that Amazon brought in $1.81 billion in ad revenue in 2017, with about $1.65 billion of that coming from the U.S. Compare that to Google’s estimated $35 billion and Facebook’s $17 billion in the U.S. last year, and we see how far Amazon has to go to be a real threat on ad spend.

Yes, Amazon’s ad revenues are growing at a faster clip than that of the Duopoly, but that doesn’t mean Amazon is intent on hyper-growth in this area. Its current growth is healthy, stable, and impressive. But it’s a long way from being an ad spend disruptor, and Amazon has other fish to fry.

The Third Dog Is Still in the Shadows

While our industry has plenty of reasons to keep its eyes on Amazon, there’s likely a different third challenger out there, poised to carry away the bone as the other two fight. And that third dog is most likely still unknown to us.

When a new contender does emerge, it will come in an unlikely shape. The Duopoly giants aren’t the only companies sitting on treasure troves of consumer data and sophisticated tech stacks. In that regard, major telecoms like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast make for interesting third-dog contenders.

In addition, shifting our perspective on what the actual bone represents opens up an entirely new array of possibilities as it relates to Google and Facebook threats. While many are focusing on competitors as it relates to their current share of media spend, I think the more interesting consideration is who has the biggest share of the media planner’s attention.

In that regard, there are plenty of players in the marketplace whose relationships with brand decision makers are much deeper and more trusted than those of Facebook and Google. And there is power in those relationships. Today management consultancies like EY, Accenture, IBM and Deloitte are making huge inroads as trusted marketing partners, while marketing and advertising technology companies like Salesforce, Oracle and SAP are upping their relationships with brands as well. Then, of course, you have the agencies, who have long served as trusted brand advisers — WPP, Omnicom, Publicis, Dentsu, Interpublic. These entities are industry powerhouses in their own right. Any one of them—or better yet, a combination of them—are in the position to make serious industry waves with a well-placed power move.

Let us not forget that 10 years ago, The Duopoly wasn’t even a blip on our industry radar. Disruption in digital marketing happens fast, and the next headline darling – that third dog, if you will – could come from the place you least expect.

The post The Duopoly Breaker Won’t Be Who You Expect appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

According to the official word, click injection fraud is the process by which a non-human actor, such as a bot or malware installed on a mobile device, attempts to steal attribution credit and advertising dollars for a genuine app install. This happens when scripts or bots inject fake ad clicks between the time a person downloads and first opens an app.

It’s estimated that in 2017 $139B of all paid media advertising worldwide will go toward mobile with an estimated $7.5B spent by marketers in the United States on mobile app install advertising. TUNE estimates that click injection accounts for 30-40 percent of all mobile app install fraud and costs marketers $500-$700M.

To counter this growing issue, Google has recently launched the new Play Install Referrer API that enables measurement providers like TUNE to significantly reduce click injection fraud in the app ecosystem. TUNE is one of the mobile measurement solutions providers to integrate new Google Play referral data that provides the exact time an app download began, directly into the TUNE Marketing Console.

This newly released anonymous data detailing app install start time, coupled with TUNE’s leading app attribution analytics, captures initial app open time and all clicks or events that take place between app download and the initial open, enabling marketers to precisely measure and remove fraudulent app installs driven by click injection. Marketers who use TUNE to measure app downloads on Google Play have a new tool capable of identifying and ultimately ending fraudulent click injection without impacting real customer downloads.

“Over the last two years, we built new tools for fighting mobile ad fraud by enabling marketers and ad partners to work together, and we now lead the industry with the most granular approach,” said Peter Hamilton, Chief Executive Officer at TUNE. “What was still missing in this fight was the direct cooperation with the platforms themselves, which is why this step with Google is such a powerful one. This data connection with Google is exactly what the industry needs to completely stamp out the practice of fraudulent click injection which will immediately eradicate nearly a third of mobile ad fraud. We look forward to continued collaboration with the brilliant teams at Google to making marketing more accountable.”

The post TUNE, Google Team Up To Help Stop App Install Fraud appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

We’re told that Adapt leverages DoubleClick’s native advertising solution to deliver outstream video ads across its owned-and-operated properties.

“The Adapt product allows us to build more flexible and scalable solutions for our advertisers as they engage audiences with video in premium and brand-safe environments. In addition to delivering premium video ads, Adapt Video respects the user experience by adhering to industry guidelines,” said Ashley Allen, Director, Ad Solutions and Products, Time Inc. “We’re pleased to be partnering with Google to increase our video ad inventory while driving incremental revenue and maintaining quality in video.”

The Adapt unit provides a flexible framework for scaling premium video advertising. It adapts to different content layouts and device types across Time Inc. properties, delivering a full-width and engaging experience. Adapt accepts standard video ad serving tags, making it easier to scale advertising campaigns.

“Advertisers are increasingly looking for more ways to engage users with video ads. This is particularly true for mobile, where engagement with these ads is high but where users also have a higher bar for ad experiences. So, we’re excited that Time Inc. chose to create a flexible and scalable solution for Adapt outstream video ads using native ads on DoubleClick. By customizing these units to the layouts of the pages they’re presented in, these premium units will help capture highly valuable video demand from advertisers while keeping users engaged,” says Rany Ng, Director of Product Management at Google.

According to eMarketer, an estimated 2.5 billion people will watch digital video content this year, and that number is expected to grow in 2018.

The post Time Inc., Google to Launch New Innovative Native Video Advertising Tool appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

News and information publishers who enable fast-loading Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) for Google searches now overwhelmingly top mobile search results, suggesting holdouts are increasingly likely to lose readership and advertising revenue, new Searchmetrics research finds.

“Some 78% of news-related results on the first page of mobile screens are AMP-enabled, according to Searchmetrics latest study, Ranking Factors for the Media Industry,” a provided statement reads. “In desktop Google searches too, the data suggests high-ranking content from online media and publishers will prioritize the user experience. High-ranking content is significantly more relevant to the search query, uses more words in the text to cover topics more comprehensively, and includes more links to direct searchers to related information on other sites.”

“This study is designed to provide advice and observations to web publications, company blogs, online news sites and other publishers who are all competing for traffic and revenue as sources of news and topical information,” said Marcus Tober, CTO and founder of Searchmetrics.

Online media and publishing is a highly competitive field, relying mainly on advertising for revenue. In an era of so-called fake news, relevance to the search query is becoming even more important for success.

The research analyzed desktop search results on Google.com for 6,000 keyword terms relevant to the media industry (examples include Kim Kardashian, Science News, Net Neutrality and Weather NYC). The findings were compared with the company’s separate, benchmark Google ranking factors study which tracked the results from 10,000 general, high search volume keywords that apply across all industries.

To download the full report, click here.

The post First Look: Fast-Loading AMP Pages Dominate Google’s First Page Results for Media and News Searches appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Gboard is compatible with a variety of mobile messaging applications, and brands using Swyft’s Mobile Engagement Platform will now be able to distribute their content to the millions of Gboard users.

If you’re not familiar, Swyft Media is one of the first partners to offer branded content through Gboard, and will be launching sticker packs for brands that include Backstreet Boys, Hello Kitty, Peanuts and Illumination’s Despicable Me 3.

Now, consumers using Gboard will be able to easily message emoji and GIFs from some of their favorite brands and movies to friends. Brands can now leverage Swyft’s Mobile Engagement Platform to distribute content through Gboard, gain visibility into its performance and understand what and how it is resonating with consumers. Swyft Media Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Monotype Imaging Holdings Inc.

“We’re really excited that now people can be more expressive and have the ability to share stickers easily anywhere on their Android phone through Gboard,” said Alan Ni, Associate Product Manager at Google. “We’re so pleased to be working with Swyft Media on this project and look forward to seeing people share these amazing stickers.”

The post Swyft Media, Google to Extend Brand Reach with Sticker Packs for Gboard appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Set for November 1st through 3rd at The Conrad New York, ONWARD will convene leaders in marketing and technology to explore how AI, digital assistants, and intelligent services will shape our world in the years to come.

According to the details shared in a press release, during the three days, speakers from over 50 companies will take the stage to share their insights on how businesses must adapt as the world becomes more intelligent.

Keynote speakers include:

• David Isbitski, Amazon’s Chief Alexa Evangelist, who will speak to advances in spoken language technology and what it means to build next-generation user experiences with only your voice.
• Naomi Makofsky, Head of Strategic Partnerships, Google Assistant, who will discuss intelligent agents, Google’s vision for an Intelligent Future, and how businesses need to prepare for an AI-first world.
• Ed Doran, PhD, CoFounder Cortana, Director Program Management, MSR Artificial Intelligence, Microsoft. Dr. Doran will speak to how voice search tools are changing local search marketing strategies for all businesses.
• Brian Halligan, CEO of HubSpot, who will share insights on how the landscape of business marketing, sales, and connecting with customers has changed over the past 10 years, and what the next 10 years might hold.

“AI, machine learning, and voice search are revolutionizing the ways businesses engage with their customers,” said Howard Lerman, co-founder and CEO of Yext. “Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and HubSpot are among the tech leaders creating the future of intelligent services. ONWARD will give business leaders a chance to hear right from the source how these innovations will change their companies and the world.”

To learn more about the event or to register, click here.

The post Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and HubSpot to Keynote Yext’s ONWARD 2017 appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

At its developer’s conference last week, the digital giant hyped a “cable-less virtual-reality headset” that works without a corresponding phone or PC.

“Daydream will soon also support a new category of VR devices, which we call standalone VR headsets,” Google explained in its blog post. “These devices build on what’s already great about smartphone VR, and they make the whole experience even easier and more comfortable. Standalone headsets don’t require a phone or PC. Instead, getting into VR is as simple as putting the thing on. The hardware is fully optimized for VR, and features a new headset tracking technology called WorldSense. WorldSense enables positional tracking, meaning the headset tracks your precise movements in space – and it does this all without any external sensors to install.”

For now, there are still plenty of questions that haven’t been answered. But it’s enough to know that something new and potentially big is coming from Google to rival Facebook in the VR space.

To check out Google’s full announcement, click here.

The post Google, FB Poised for Bigger VR Showdown appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

At its developer’s conference, Google confirmed a “cable-less virtual-reality headset” that works without a corresponding phone or PC.

“Daydream will soon also support a new category of VR devices, which we call standalone VR headsets,” Google explained in its blog post. “These devices build on what’s already great about smartphone VR, and they make the whole experience even easier and more comfortable. Standalone headsets don’t require a phone or PC. Instead, getting into VR is as simple as putting the thing on. The hardware is fully optimized for VR, and features a new headset tracking technology called WorldSense. WorldSense enables positional tracking, meaning the headset tracks your precise movements in space – and it does this all without any external sensors to install.”

For now, the report from VRJournal summarizes, there are still plenty of questions that haven’t been answered. But it’s enough to know that something new and potentially big is coming from Google to rival Facebook in the VR space.

For Google’s complete announcement, click here.

The post Virtual War: Google Steps Up Competition with Facebook appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The partnership with Google, one of the world’s largest technology companies, is meant to help Volvo develop the next generation of its in-car infotainment and connectivity solution based on Android, which offers access to a wide array of apps and services.

We’re told it will launch on new Volvo models within two years.

The partnership promises to revolutionize how Volvo customers engage and interact with their cars. The large catalogue of popular Android apps – developed by Google, Volvo, or third party app developers – will offer connected and predictive services in and around the car.

“We are making an important strategic step with the Google partnership. Google’s platform and services will enhance the user experience by enabling more personalization possibilities, while Android will offer increased flexibility from a development perspective,” said Henrik Green, Senior Vice President Research & Development at Volvo Car Group.

The post Going Mobile: Google Inks Deal with Volvo appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

“We set out on a journey over six years ago to build the kinds of games we wanted to see exist. Over those years, we learned that Owlchemy, at its core, cares deeply about a few key things: building quality multi-platform games, solving tough problems with a small but absurdly talented team, sharing our learnings with the community, and Austin’s famous tacos,” the Owlchemy team says, according to the reoprt. “Now, as we look to the future with Google by our side, we couldn’t be happier. Our plan to build awesome things will continue forward stronger than ever.”

As for financial terms, they weren’t disclosed.

Owlchemy, however, “will continue building high quality VR content for platforms like the HTC Vive, Oculus Touch, and PlayStation VR.”

This means continuing to focus on hand interactions and high quality user experiences, like with Job Simulator. This means continuing our mission to build VR for everyone, and doing all of this as the same silly Owlchemy Labs you know and love. We are continuing to do all of this with even more support and focus on building awesome stuff. It’s incredibly exciting that Google and Owlchemy are so well aligned on our goals and vision for the future of VR.

To read the full announcement from Owlchemy and what the acquisition may mean for Google and the near future of virtual reality, click here.

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