During LeBron James' historic milestone of reaching 40,000 career points, a digital ad for Kung Fu Panda 4 projected onto the floor during the play, sparking criticism for its obtrusiveness and lack of respect for the moment. The article argues that the NBA's increasing use of such ads reflects a lack of respect for its audience and a relentless pursuit of revenue, ultimately diminishing the purity of classic NBA moments.
Big Tech giants like Google and Meta are reaping the rewards of the advertising resurgence, expected to haul in over $140 billion this year and claim nearly half of all digital ads revenue. While brands spend their way out of a multiyear ad slump, smaller players like Snap are struggling to keep up, with investors punishing anything that doesn't match the growth of tech behemoths. Amazon, Walmart, and TikTok are also expected to amplify their ads business, while legacy media companies like Disney and Fox continue to struggle with declining ad revenue.
Ad-tech firm Scope3, led by industry veteran Brian O'Kelley, has raised $20 million in funding to expand its business of measuring and reducing carbon emissions associated with digital ads. The company aims to help advertisers, publishers, and other industry players understand the environmental impact of their digital ads and provide tools to reduce emissions. The funding round was led by GV, an Alphabet-backed venture-capital firm, and values Scope3 at $100 million.
The Trade Desk, a leading adtech firm, plans to lower the price advertisers pay for digital ads by bidding below the asking price on ads starting in September. The Trade Desk aims to standardize price floors set by supply-side platforms (SSPs) to eliminate inaccuracies and unfair auctions. This move could potentially weed out SSPs that manipulate prices and help publishers better understand the true value of their ads. The Trade Desk's software, a demand-side platform, handles a significant amount of ad spend and its new strategy may increase bids for publishers' ads. However, publishers are not obligated to accept the lower bids. This development comes as tech for advertisers and publishers are increasingly competing with each other in the industry.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that AI has helped the company increase traffic to Facebook and Instagram and boost ad sales, leading to a surge in shares by 12%. The company also beat expectations for Q1 profit and revenue, and narrowed its cost outlook range for the year. Meta has been slow to adopt AI-friendly hardware and software systems, but has carried out several expensive overhauls to bolster its core business. The company has also kicked off an aggressive cost-cutting drive, with plans to eliminate 21,000 jobs and flatten its middle-management structure.
