Rothenberg On Ad Blocking; TV Still Dominates

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Nothing To See Here, Folks

With Advertising Week around the corner and ad blocking seizing the public’s attention, IAB CEO Randall Rothenberg is trying to contain the circus. In a Q&A with Mike Shields of The Wall Street Journal, Rothenberg cautions that ad blocking mirrors “every crisis du Jour [sic] in our industry over the past 10 years,” and that “[t]he sky hasn’t fallen.” The IAB is evidently not giving up on legal action – “That might be a course of action. Maybe.” – but don’t hold your breath. More.

Living In The Past

Nielsen released its Q2 2015 Total Audience Report, underscoring the long road ahead for digital to overcome usage of traditional mediums (i.e., TV and radio). TV’s dominance is no big surprise, especially after 5-6 p.m., when people start getting home from work, but radio’s share of overall usage is greater than all digital channels combined from morning drive time straight through to the mid-afternoon. Mobile and desktop use is the most consistent throughout the day. Check it out.

Snapchat’s Velvet Rope

Snapchat Discover – a suite of select publishers granted direct access to the app’s users – may be the hottest spot in the media world (replacing Michael’s in Midtown, as Fortune’s Erin Griffith puts it). Snapchat’s targeting and marketing isn’t best in class, but what it does have is exclusivity. When Snapchat adds media companies to Discover, they kick out others, creating intense competition to secure seats at the table with the app’s 100 million daily users. It also means the companies involved are deeply committed to satisfying Snapchat users. Read it.

Challenging Ad Block Assumptions

Generic debates over “what works in mobile” and “how to address ad blocking” ignore the sharp differences between demographic groups. As eMarketer shows in an article posted Monday, baby boomers are reticent to make purchases on their phones (unlike millennials). And boomers are also less receptive to mobile advertising. But! They lag deeply behind younger users in ad-block adoption. It’s also worth bearing in mind that most ad-block users don’t care whether advertising is good/targeted/interruptive – they download anyway.

The Promise And Perils Of UGC

Brands are turning to user-generated content on social media for more of their marketing, which is bringing new attention to creative rights, brand best practices and social media policies. Platforms like Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest (Facebook is more restrictive) are gold mines for marketers to poach users’ photos and comments, but what expectations of privacy exist? And as Sydney Ember and Rachel Abrams from The New York Times ask, to what degree are Instagram/Pinterest/Twitter responsible for marketers repurposing posts beyond their platforms? Read on.

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