#News

April is almost here! It’s time to brainstorm your best strategies, prep new campaigns, and get ready for a huge bump in your advertising effectiveness. No, it’s not an early holiday season – it’s Genius Monkey’s new initiative: Brand Optimization Month! For the month of April, Genius Monkey is shining a spotlight on the methods you can use to drive brand lift and increase your ROAS. These methods include split (A/B) tests, using different ad types effectively, and much more.

2024 has been a year of seismic shifts in social media– none more dramatic than the potential ban of TikTok in the United States. While the app was temporarily reinstated, users and brands are scrambling to explore alternatives. Which platforms will rise to take TikTok’s place? Let’s dive into some of the frontrunners and explore how they might impact your marketing strategy. The Background Behind the Ban In July 2024, the Biden administration signed a divest-or-get-banned law targeting TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, which was deemed a national security issue for its popularity, the data it collects, and its association with the Chinese government.

Google has found itself in hot water this year, and the punches keep coming. Hundreds of entities have lined up to sue the tech giant over the years, but a hit finally landed when a federal judge ruled Google a monopoly in September of this year. Further lawsuits have followed, and advertisers await with baited breath to see what comes of all this. Let’s do a quick check-in on the two major cases the Department of Justice has filed against Google and Alphabet.

Only a few weeks after being officially labeled a monopoly by the U.S. government, Google finds themselves in court once again for more antitrust accusations. The Department of Justice and other States are still the plaintiffs, but instead of focusing on the “search” aspect of Google’s business, they’re now targeting Google’s hold on advertising technology. Let’s break down each side of the case and what advertisers stand to gain (or lose) from the outcome.

There’s no question that Google is the 800-pound gorilla in the tech industry that we all have to work around. Many have cried “monopoly”, but Google’s actions have always appeared just pro-competitive enough to escape legal action – that is, until now. Google LLC has now been officially labeled as a monopoly by the United States government; let’s dive into the details and what advertisers need to know. Details on the Four-Year Lawsuit In October 2020, the United States Department of Justice – along with several States – filed several suits against Google for Antitrust behaviors.

In a stunning turn of events, Google has reversed the decision to remove third-party cookies from the Chrome internet browser. The “death of the cookie” has been top-of-mind for many years for its potential impact on digital advertising; what does this mean for the future of digital advertising? Are cookies going to stay for good? Let’s take a look at the entire picture to understand what this breaking announcement means for your advertising.

GA4’s Report Card; Consumers are Missing Universal Already Digital marketing turned a corner in July 2023 when Universal Analytics rode into the sunset and GA4 stood up to take its place. Genius Monkey covered the major difference between UA and GA4 in in a July 2023 article. Now – after one whole year of nothing but GA4 – how does the new system hold up compared to Universal Analytics? Short answer: not great.

When the world’s third largest software company waves the white flag, people sit up and take notice. A few days ago (June 11, 2024), Oracle announced at an earnings call that it would be leaving the advertising industry after a string of expensive acquisitions, legal troubles, and a mountain of lost revenue. Let’s take a look at the context and see what advertisers can learn from this tech giant’s sad story.

Each year in May, television (and now streaming) networks invite the industry to come together and bask in the advertising glory of the year to come. This is the TV Upfront event, where major new shows are revealed, big announcements are made, and advertising deals are struck. It’s a time when all the major outlets are looking to win over programmatic dollars and a timely snapshot into the health of the OTT/CTV medium.

In a stunning move, three big names in the world of live sports streaming are teaming up to build a “new and exciting platform” launching later this year. Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery are all contributing to a new yet-to-be-named streaming entity in an unprecedented partnership that aims to streamline (or monopolize, depending on how you look at it) the sports-viewing experience. This has the potential to upset the way many marketers reach their audience through sports broadcasting and programmatic OTT, but Genius Monkey users have nothing to worry about, and can even look forward to the exciting new marketing opportunities it provides.