Adblock Plus Opens Up; Monetizing Facebook Reactions

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign-up here.

Who Pays The Piper?

Adblock Plus wants to shed some light on the monetization policies for its controversial Acceptable Ads initiative. Operations manager Ben Williams penned a blog post acknowledging the communication breakdown. “Because we discuss it so frequently, we often forget that you don’t,” he writes. About 10% of publishers pay, and it’s only those who stand to gain more than 10 million ad impressions per month due to whitelisting. Which means paying sites have to be very large (in off-the-record conversations, it’s widely speculated that Google pays more than all other media combined) and/or overrun with Adblock users (so their total audience looks a lot like their “ad-blocking audience”). More.

Crack A Smile

Marketers see a targeting opportunity in Facebook’s new “reaction” emoticons. “If I am Hillary, I would be thrilled to target people who can’t stand Trump right now,” said Jonathan Adams, chief digital officer at Maxus Americas. Brands also hope to get their hands on Facebook’s reaction emoticon data as a way to survey user responses to their content. For now, though, “All reactions will be counted as additional likes, meaning Facebook will assume that the user wants to see more similar content, even if the person responded with an ‘anger’ emoticon.” More.

Kids Grow Up So Fast

Analytics have been notoriously shaky for Snapchat (understandable considering its inventory literally disappears), but it’s trying hard to shed that reputation. Since 2014 the platform has worked with Millward Brown to mature its measurement practices, and it’s now bringing on Nielsen for a partnership meant to “provide Snapchat with the validation it’s been looking for in the ad community,” according to Mike Shields of The Wall Street Journal. Snapchat brings the platform, Nielsen provides validation, and then Innovid and Sizmek are the bridges to ad tech and targeting. Read on.

Beyond Ad Tech

Companies with core ad tech competencies are branching out of advertising-only revenue streams. TechCrunch reporter Anthony Ha singles out Drawbridge, which is repurposing its device graph for areas such as the Internet of Things. “I wouldn’t want an ad on my refrigerator,” said Drawbridge CEO Kamakshi Sivaramakrishnan, “but if I could get a personalized message or my favorite team’s update, that’s a consumer-centric application.” This mindset starts with mobile apps, but especially as the Internet of Things expands, cross-device services can supersede brand advertising. More.

Amazon Abroad

Amazon Media Group is linking up with the Austrian arm of German TV Group ProSiebenSat to build out its European agency relationships. In uncharacteristic fashion for Amazon Media Group, its German regional director dished on the deal and what it means for the ecommerce giant abroad. For one, Amazon gets an exclusive display ad sales partner on the ground in Austria. And, given ProSieben’s heritage in TV and video, there could be some organic audience extension opportunities across Amazon Kindle devices and the Amazon Advertising Platform.

But Wait, There’s More!