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Microsoft gives unverified advertisers more time

Tuesday, August 15th, 2023

Microsoft is giving advertisers more time to complete verification through its Advertiser Identity Verification (AIV) program.

The company will only pause ads in three scenarios.

Why we care. You will still need to complete the Microsoft Ads verification requirements if you want your ads to continue showing globally.

How it works. All advertisers will still be asked to complete AIV when setting up a new account. If verification has not been completed, Microsoft will pause ads in the following scenarios:

• Advertisers whose ads will serve in the European Economic Area (EEA) will have 30 days to complete verification for ads to continue serving in the EEA.
  • If AIV is not complete within 30 days, eligibility to serve ads in the EEA will be suspended until successful completion of AIV.
• Advertisers whose account has been flagged by systematic checks related to risk for advertisers or those who use our products.
  • Ads will not serve globally until successful completion of AIV.
• Advertisers whose account has been suspended for policy violations, who have not already completed AIV.
  • Successful completion of AIV will be the first step for the advertiser to be able to appeal the suspension.

Why now? Microsoft reviewed its initial decision following feedback and decided this change was needed to minimize the impact on customers.

What is Microsoft is saying. “As this continues to roll out across advertisers, the scope of ads that may be paused may expand over time as we continue to learn and evaluate the process, as well as any risks for our users.,“ the company wrote in a blog post:

Identity verification help. You can read the official help documentation here.

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Google issues refunds amid accusations it missold ads on third-party websites

Monday, August 14th, 2023

Google has reportedly issued refunds to marketers amid claims it has been selling low-quality ads.

A representative from the search engine confirmed the payments but insisted it was common practice.

The payouts come after Google was accused of violating its own advertising standards approximately 80% of the time, according to an Adalytics study.

Why we care. Advertisers paying premium prices for a service Google has allegedly been failing to deliver will want their ad dollars back. This cash can then be reinvested to improve campaign performance elsewhere.

What has Google said? A spokesperson for Google told Ad Age:

• “As part of ongoing relationship building, we sometimes issue credits to advertisers, this is not uncommon.”
• “As we’ve stated repeatedly, Adalytics used a flawed methodology to make wildly inaccurate claims about Google Video Partners.”

What did the Adalytics study find? The report accused Google of misleading advertisers by:

• Playing premium ads without the promised audio.
• Placing ads in small videos in low-value places such as the side of a page’s main content.
• Placing ads in automatically-played videos.
• Placing ads on websites that don’t meet Google’s standards for monetization.

Companies and organisations impacted include small businesses, Fortune 500 companies and even the U.S. Federal Government. Dozens of marketers have since expressed their regret over purchasing Google’s True View ad product, its primary video ad product, as a result.

Who is Adalytics? Adalytics is a crowd-sourced advertising performance optimization platform that was set up to review and improve the digital advertising landscape. The company conducted this research by investigating campaigns for more than 1,100 brands that achieved billions of ad impressions between 2020 and 2023.

Deep dive. You can learn more about Adalytics’ investigation by reading its report, Did Google mislead advertisers about TrueView skippable in-stream ads for the past three years? You can also read Google’s ‘Transparency and brand safety on Google Video Partners‘ statement which was made in response to the report.

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Amazon tests AI-generated review highlights with U.S. mobile shoppers

Monday, August 14th, 2023

Amazon is testing highlighting product features and customer sentiment as part of a generative AI “customer review highlights” feature.

This seems to be an expansion of the test we reported on in June.

Why we care. If you sell products on Amazon, this feature could lead to more sales. Reviews remain critical as consumers decide whether to buy a product (Amazon highlighted that “customers contributed nearly 1.5 billion reviews and ratings to Amazon stores” in 2022). The big question is whether this new feature impacts sales positively or negatively.

What it looks like. Amazon’s feature appears at the top of the Customer reviews section on product pages. The AI-generated paragraph, which mentions product features and customer sentiment, appears under a bold Customers say heading. Beneath the paragraph is this line: “AI-generated from the text of customer reviews”:

Several tappable attributes (e.g., Performance, Ease of use, Stability) appear under the customer review highlights. This feature lets you filter to only show reviews mentioning that specific attribute. Here’s a screenshot example Amazon provided for Ease of use:

Who can see the test. A “subset of mobile shoppers in the U.S. across a broad selection of products” have been opted into the test, Amazon said in a blog post.

What Amazon said. The test is likely to expand in the coming months:

• “We are always testing, learning, and fine-tuning our AI models to improve the customer experience and, based on customer feedback, may expand our review highlights feature to additional categories and customers in the coming months.”

Newegg has a similar feature. Online retailer Newegg added AI-generated summaries of customer reviews on its product pages, as well as highlighting pros and cons or products.

More generative AI to come? In May, we reported that Amazon had plans to add generative AI to its search experience and was building tools for advertisers that generate videos and images. The company has not provided any updates on if/when we will see these.

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Google Ads launches new AI assistant but warns its content may be inaccurate

Monday, August 14th, 2023

The Google Ads help guide has a new AI assistant.

Currently in open beta, the new tool has been designed to help users find answers and solve account issues relating to Google Ads.

Select users are currently being invited to test the AI and provide their feedback.

Here’s a screenshot of the new tool in action, as shared by PPC expert Julie F Bacchini:

Interestingly, the new AI assistant notably comes with a disclaimer, warning:

• “While I know a lot, I’m still learning and may make some mistakes. If I do, please leave feedback so I can learn.”

Why we care. Marketers have been widely encouraged to test new AI tools and integrate them into their daily work strategies. However, this tool comes with a clear warning that isn’t yet a finished product and that it may provide incorrect answers, which would suggest it’s unreliable and could waste time.

What has Google said? Google sent emails to select users, inviting them to trial the new tool and provide their feedback:

• “If you choose to try this new feature, you’ll see the option to provide feedback on any AI-generated content.”
• “Your feedback helps us improve the quality and accuracy of AI answers. Keep in mind that this is an early technology preview, so it may display inaccurate or inappropriate content.”
• “If you don’t want to try this feature, you can still get many answers from help guide without it.”

Deep dive. Read Google Ads’ Best Practice guide for more information on how to get the most out of Google Ads.

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YouTube tests new anti-adblocker popup with countdown timer

Monday, August 14th, 2023

YouTube is trialling a new anti-adblocker popup that features a timer warning when the next advert will play.

A countdown clock, which reportedly runs for 30 to 60 seconds, appears in the top righthand corner of the message, showing non-paying viewers how long they have left to take action before another ad starts.

Viewers can then choose to either “Allow YouTube Ads” or “Try YouTube Premium”.

Why we care. Banning adblockers is a great way to boost reach, however, constant notifications may negatively impact the user experience, and brands must be mindful to not annoy potential customers.

Why now? YouTube has been increasing its efforts to persuade non-paying viewers to sign up for its Premium service, which bans ads entirely, allowing viewers to watch videos without interruption. However, people have been reluctant to convert due to the rising costs of YouTube accounts, which recently increased from $11.99 to $13.99 a month in the US.

How it works. Right now, the warning is being served to select groups of people around the world that have ad blockers enabled. When they sign into their accounts to watch content, all videos will be blocked unless they either change their settings to disallow ad blockers or they sign up for YouTube Premium. The warning they are served, looks like this:

What has YouTube said? YouTube has said that it is taking these measures to ensure that its content creators are compensated for their work. Oluwa Falodun, a spokesperson for Google, told The Verge in a statement:

• “Ad blocker detection is not new, and other publishers regularly ask viewers to disable ad blockers.”
• “We take disabling playback very seriously, and will only disable playback if viewers ignore repeated requests to allow ads on YouTube.”
• “In cases when viewers feel they have been falsely flagged as using an ad blocker, they can share this feedback by clicking on the link in the prompt.”
• “We want to inform viewers that ad blockers violate YouTube’s Terms of Service, and make it easier for them to allow ads on YouTube or try YouTube Premium for an ad free experience.” 

Deep dive. For more information on YouTube’s ad policy, you can visit the YouTube Advertising hub.

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X (Twitter) lowers eligibility threshold for ads revenue sharing program

Saturday, August 12th, 2023

X, formerly known as Twitter, has reduced the eligibility threshold for its ads revenue sharing program.

Verified creators now need to have generated 5 million impressions in the previous three months – as opposed to 15 million.

In addition, the company has also lowered the minimum payout requirement to $10 instead of $50, enabling more content creators to get paid for posting on the Elon Musk-owned platform.

Why we care. X’s ads revenue sharing program was criticised for failing to pay creators on time and making its eligibility threshold extremely high. Lowering its criteria could be a step in the right direction in terms of damage control, building trust and encouraging creators, as well as advertisers, to return to the platform.

Who is eligible now? To be considered for the creator ads revenue sharing program, your account must meet the following criteria:

• Subscribed to Blue or Verified Organizations.
• Have at least 5 million impressions on cumulative posts within the last three months.
• Have at least 500 followers.

If your account meets these conditions, you must have a Stripe account – X’s payment processor. You’ll also need to follow X’s Ads Revenue Share Terms (e.g., the Creator Monetization Standards and the X Rules). 

How it works. If your account is eligible, this is how to get started:

• Join and set up payments from within the Monetization section of the app, which can be found in the side menu on iOS and Android, and the overflow menu on web.
• Click on Join and setup payouts, which will redirect you to Stripe.
• Setup a Stripe account to receive your share – this is the account you will need to transfer funds to your external bank account. 
• Once you opt in, you will receive payouts at a regular cadence, so long as you have generated more than $10.

What has X Said? A spokesperson announced the news on the company’s official X account:

• “Now, even more people can get paid to post! We’ve lowered the eligibility threshold for ads revenue sharing from 15M to 5M impressions within the last 3 months.”
• “We’ve also lowered the minimum payout threshold from $50 to $10. Sign up for a Premium subscription to get access.”

Deep dive. Read X’s Ads Revenue Sharing guide for more information.

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YouTube creators can now include more external links on their channels

Saturday, August 12th, 2023

YouTube is expanding its link listing display on creators’ channel profiles.

The platform now allows you to include up to 14 prominent clickable links near the ‘Subscribe’ button to create awareness of your other platforms, such as websites, social profiles, merch sites and any other links that comply with its Community Guidelines.

The new feature will be visible on desktop and mobile to everyone by August 23.

Check out the images below for a preview of the new layout:

Why we care. This is a quick, easy and cost-effective way to promote a brand’s online presence from YouTube. Your subscribers might not know there are other ways to follow your brand, so let them know and start building stronger relationships with potential customers.

Customization. YouTube is also enabling content creators to customize the titles of external links. In addition, links will appear next to the relevant platform icon for glanceability.

What has YouTube said? A YouTube spokesperson said in a statement:

• “We know that links are an important way for creators to share information and recommend products/brands to their communities, so we’re actively working on safer ways for creators to include important links in their content.”

Deep dive. Read YouTube’s External Link Policy to find out what links are eligible, and check out its Link Updates announcement in full for more information.

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YouTube enables linking between Shorts and long-form videos

Saturday, August 12th, 2023

YouTube creators will soon be able to link Shorts to other types of content, such as long-form videos.

The platform announced that it is going to start introducing a safer way for creators to direct viewers by the end of September 2023.

Why we care. YouTube Shorts are viewed by more than 2 billion logged-in users a month and are seen by people who may not be subscribed to your channel, so linking this content to your long-form videos could be vital in unlocking your brand’s growth and success.

Are there ads on Shorts? There isn’t currently an option to display pre or mid-roll ads on Shorts –however, linking Shorts to long-form videos provides an opportunity to monetize that traffic, as ad products are available on long-form videos.

How it works. Creators can add a link to any Short they post using a new option now available in YouTube Studio. Once a link has been inputted, it will then appear in the description of the Short video, accompanied by a play button encouraging viewers to tap through to the linked content. Once they hit that button, viewers will be redirected to the linked video, expanding their YouTube experience with your channel, as shown below:

What has YouTube said? YouTube announced the link update via a statement on its blog:

• “We know that clickable links help creators direct their Shorts audiences to other types of content, like their long-form videos. By the end of September, we’ll start introducing a safer way for creators to direct viewers from Shorts to their other YouTube content – stay tuned!”

Deep dive. Read YouTube’s Link Updates announcement in full for more information.

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Lyft starts serving ads on its app

Friday, August 11th, 2023

Lyft will start serving ads to customers on its app for the first time this week.

Adverts will appear while consumers wait for their taxi, when they are matched with a driver, and for the duration of the journey.

The company is also planning to roll out video ads on the app later this year in addition to exploring other ad products such as in-car screens.

How it works. Targeted ads will be served to Lyft customers using data collected via payment methods, ride histories and lifestyle segments. Users will have the option to opt out of targeted advertising, however, they will not be able to opt out of being served ads.

Why we care. It’s important to be open to testing new ad formats and to diversify as much as possible because relying too heavily on one platform or channel can have a devastating financial impact. However, there is a risk of potentially annoying customers if they are bombarded with ads. The targeted ads may also raise privacy concerns, which would not be a good look for advertisers.

Why now? The move comes after Lyft said that ad revenue had exceeded expectations and grown significantly in recent months. So it’s understandable that the company is continuing to invest in this area.

Notably, Lyft’s rival, Uber, launched in-app video ads last month. When the company announced its Q2 earnings last week, it said that advertising revenue exceeded expectations at over $650 million. Given the success Uber has experienced, it makes sense for Lyft to also trial in-app video ads.

What has Lyft said? Lyft’s Chief Business Officer, Zach Greenberger, told the Wall Street Journal:

• “We’re going to continue to invest in our omnichannel strategy that we believe does create differentiation from our competition because we can hit a user on every kind of step and part of their transportation journey, which also includes our massive bike network.”

Deep dive. Visit Lyft’s advertising help centre for more information on its ad product offering.

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Google Ads API version 14.1 rolls out

Friday, August 11th, 2023

Google Ads API version 14.1 is now available – two months after version 14 was released.

The minor update includes additional search term data, new recommendation types and account management assistance.

Why we care. The updated version of Google Ads offers a range of new tools and features to help you better monitor the performance of campaigns, so that you can make data led decision to improve optimization efficiency.

Upgrade needed. In order to use some of the new Google Ads API version 14.1 features, you will need to upgrade your client libraries and client code. The updated client libraries and code examples are set to be published by Google next week.

New features. Although there are no breaking changes, there are several new features available through the updated Google Ads system:

• Account Management
  • Customer.customer_agreement_setting which shows if the customer has accepted the lead form term of service
• Assets
  • New fields in AssetGroup to show whether the asset group is serving or the reasons why it’s not serving: primary_status and primary_status_reasons
  • New fields in AssetGroupAsset to show whether the asset group asset is serving or the reasons why it’s not serving: primary_status, primary_status_details and primary_status_reasons
  • New values in the CallToActionType enum: BUY_NOW, DONATE_NOW, ORDER_NOW, PLAY_NOW, SEE_MORE, START_NOW, VISIT_SITE and WATCH_NOW
  • New values in the AssetLinkError enum: CUSTOMER_NOT_VERIFIED, UNSUPPORTED_CALL_TO_ACTION and PAGE_FEED_INVALID_LABEL_TEXT
• Billing
  • New fields in Invoice and AccountSummary: export_charge_subtotal_amount_micros, export_charge_tax_amount_micros and export_charge_total_amount_micros
• Campaigns
  • New values in the CampaignPrimaryStatusReason enum: HAS_ASSET_GROUPS_DISAPPROVED, HAS_ASSET_GROUPS_LIMITED_BY_POLICY and MOST_ASSET_GROUPS_UNDER_REVIEW
  • (Allowlisted accounts only) DiscoveryCampaignSettings with upgraded_targeting: When upgraded_targeting is set to true, you can add a location and a language as an ad group criterion
• Criteria
  • New enum value: CriterionError.INVALID_DETAILED_DEMOGRAPHIC
  • (Allowlisted accounts only) Support for adding LanguageInfo and LocationInfo as an AdGroupCriterion: This is available only for a Discovery campaign with upgraded targeting enabled
• Experiments
  • New values in the ExperimentError enum: DUPLICATE_EXPERIMENT_CAMPAIGN_NAME, CANNOT_REMOVE_IN_CREATION_EXPERIMENT and CANNOT_ADD_CAMPAIGN_WITH_DEPRECATED_AD_TYPES
• Recommendations
  • PerformanceMaxOptInRecommendation which recommends creating the first Performance Max campaign in the account
  • ImprovePerformanceMaxAdStrengthRecommendation which recommends improving the asset group’s strength of a Performance Max campaign
  • MigrateDynamicSearchAdsCampaignToPerformanceMaxRecommendation which recommends migrating a Dynamic Search Ad campaign to Performance Max
• Reporting
  • New metrics and segments about new versus returning customers: metrics.new_customer_lifetime_value, metrics.all_new_customer_lifetime_value and segments.new_versus_returning_customers
  • New customer_search_term_insight and campaign_search_term_insight views: metrics.search_volume shows the volume range for a search term insight category
• Shopping
  • New fields for listing groups: ListingGroupInfo.path and AssetGroupListingGroupFilter.path
  • New field: ShoppingSetting.advertising_partner_ids
  • New values in the CampaignError enum: NOT_LINKED_ADVERTISING_PARTNER and INVALID_NUMBER_OF_ADVERTISING_PARTNER_IDS
• Videos
  • (Allowlisted accounts only) AdType.DISCOVERY_VIDEO_RESPONSIVE_AD and its corresponding DiscoveryVideoResponsiveAdInfo

Deep dive. Read the Google Ads API version 14.1 announcement in full for more information.

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