Getting you up to speed with all the latest in the Catching up
Firefox torpedo sinks German publishers
Publishers in Germany have seen programmatic ad revenues plummet since Mozilla Firefox’s latest anti-tracking update was brought in a few weeks ago. In a country that traditionally favours Firefox due to its non-profit pro-privacy approach, this is seen as another nail in the coffin for cookie-based targeting. According to Index Exchange, average bid rates (how frequently buyers choose to bid on a piece of inventory), are down almost 40% on Firefox in Germany with further losses predicted in the future. The risk is that publishers will turn to Google, Facebook and universal login which would boost the tech giants’ grip over the German market and have serious ramifications for data privacy.
The shifting landscape of digital analytics
In the increasingly complex world of web analytics, there has never been a more exciting time for analysts or the organisations hiring them. As well as attributes such as understanding the technical aspects of data collection, marketing strategies and effective communication, potential analysts are increasingly required to pack more advanced skill sets. BI platforms (Tableau, Power BI, Qlik, Domo, etc.) are now indispensable for their toolbelt, as well as the ability to program with data using Python or R (machine learning and data science), not forgetting a solid understanding of statistics.
Naturally it’s also important to aim for the most forward-thinking analytics companies that have tools designed to be used by everyone across the board. Despite the growing appetite of analysts for advanced tools, the challenge is to provide simple access to data that can be used instantly by business users who do not have specific analytics skills. Fortunately, such a tool exists…
The cost of poor-quality data
With 97% of companies committed to turning their marketing data into insights, quality data has become a highly valuable asset. Indeed, over half of them are actively using data to understand customer needs, find new customers and above all, increase their value. So, what are the financial consequences of making do with poor quality data? According to research, 83% of US companies believe that their revenue is negatively affected by inaccurate and incomplete customer or prospect data. The costs can involve wasted resources, loss of productivity and significant communications expenses. However it is possible to turn the situation around by implementing a series of practical improvements to your data management strategy.
Google vs the French news
Google is refusing to pay for French news snippets despite the EU legal requirement (article here in French). The search giant announced that it won’t pay anything to French news organisations for the privilege of linking to their articles. Google believes that France’s version of the law allows them to include an article’s headline in a search result, but not the “snippet” that often appears below the headline. So to comply, it will remove the snippet below links to French news sites, as well as thumbnail images that sometimes appear next to news results. However, French publishers believe that Google is profiting at their expense by showing portions of content for free, causing them to lose over €250 million a year.
As the tech giants continue to squeeze digital media, Google is sending a clear signal that it has no intention of paying news publishers for linking to their content. Indeed Spain tried to force Google to pay publishers for taking snippets of their news articles, but that backfired after Google News pulled out of the country entirely. So far France is the only EU country to implement the region’s far-reaching copyright reforms adopted earlier this year – to try to preserve the freedom of the European press.
GDPR consent consultation
In a new twist for the GDPR in France, the CNIL is launching a consultation on how companies obtain the consent of Internet users (article in French). In July they announced the new guidelines for the collection of Internet users’ consent – in particular, consent for the deposit of cookies, which remains extremely vague for market players, more than a year after the implementation of the GDPR. While this announcement was received with mixed reviews, particularly from some consumer associations, it reflects the CNIL’s desire to go further in its recommendations in order to provide operators with a more precise, reliable and tangible GDPR framework.
In parallel, various French digital comm & marketing associations including GESTE legally requested that the CNIL extend the scope of consultation beyond cookie consent to the realms of commercial prospecting. There is widespread fear that marketing and advertising activities will be completely undermined and that smaller players will cease to be economically viable, to the benefit of the dominant international players in this sector.
Responsible economic development in terms of personal data protection is the hot topic of the moment.
Deep learning on your plate!
There’s a brand-new app on the market that allows you to log everything you eat to follow a healthier diet. Foodvisor lets users to take a photo of their plate and instantly receive a full list of nutrition facts as well as setting goals and monitoring diet progress over time. Advanced machine learning meets healthy living!
Domino’s goes AI
Global pizza chain Domino’s has gone all Minority Report with its new AI-based DOM Pizza Checker. As well as checking up on the quality of your pizza, the machine learning algorithms are designed to better align stores around the world and even display pizza checker scores on a live feed. The claims that the DOM is in fact a sophisticated new surveillance technology are of course completely unfounded…
See you next time on the Internets!
Credits: Domino’s Pizza
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