Welcome!
Today, I’m exceedingly excited about 2 things:
Stretched over the course of 2 days due to rains, India defeated Pakistan in Super 4 stage of the Asia Cup. While it was an all-around performance that led such India to such a huge victory - the highlight for me, with a pinch of cognizant bias, was the century by India’s blue-eyed boy Virat Kohli.
Tomorrow marks the launch of Water Issacson’s biography on Elon Musk. I have been for this book for almost 2 years - and now that it has arrived it’s extremely difficult to contain my eagerness. For those who are unaware, Walter Issacson is one of the best Biographical authors in the world with subjects ranging from Benjamin Franklin to Albert Einstein. But perhaps his most recognized work is 2011 Biography of Steve Jobs - one of the greatest reads ever!
Tweet of the Week!
The Top Three
Covering the biggest happenings of the week ad rem to AdTech
<1> New York bans Geofencing near health care facilities
New York is prohibiting advertisers from geofencing health care facilities, according to a new provision in the state budget passed in May. As a result, it’s becoming harder for advertisers, who want to use location or health care data, to maintain performance while still abiding by the law.
Specifically, the law prohibits any person or entity from establishing a geofence or similar virtual boundary around any health care facility, other than health care facilities owned by the person or entity, for the purposes of (1) delivering by electronic means a digital advertisement to a user; (2) building consumer profiles; or (3) inferring the health status, medical condition, or medical treatment of any person at or within the health care facility.
<2> Google Stomps On Adalytics Analytics
Google isn’t done refuting Adalytics’ accusations that YouTube targets ads to kids watching YouTube. Last week, it released an analysis of Adalytics’ report, highlighting how advertising works on YouTube’s made-for-kids (MFK) content to prove it is not, in fact, serving personalized ads to kids.
One of the mistakes Adalytics made, argues Dan Taylor, Google’s VP of global ads, was limiting its research to impressions served on MFK channels rather than on individual videos. A YouTube creator with an MFK channel can designate individual videos within that channel as non-MFK. So personalized ads served on an MFK channel aren’t necessarily going to an MFK video.
<3> EU regulators name the "Big Six" tech gatekeepers that fall under the DMA's purview
The European Commission on September 6 designated the following six entities (and their corresponding services) as gatekeepers under the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) – Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, ByteDance, Meta, and Microsoft.
In total, 22 core platform services provided by gatekeepers have been designated. The six gatekeepers will now have six months to ensure full compliance with the DMA obligations for each of their designated core platform services.
The Usual Suspects: Big Tech
Highlighting the whereabouts of Big Tech with reference to AdTech
Google is rolling out Topics-based tracking for Chrome. LINK
Google to make political ads disclose AI content. LINK
Microsoft Advertising Editor expands audiences to all markets. LINK
Google’s plans to fight the DOJ. LINK
YouTube wants to make its ads a little less annoying on TVs. LINK
Launches, Partnerships, and IPOs!
Simply put, articles around the innovations, partnerships, and new launches that took place over the last week.
Salesforce announces new AI and automation capabilities for Slack. LINK
Intention.ly is redefining brand design for financial advisors with today’s launch of Advisor Brand Builder (ABB) for financial firms. LINK
Certa raises oversubscribed $35M Series B to further reduce third-party management friction. LINK
LiveRamp announced a partnership with Epsilon that enhances user privacy while enabling publishers to boost revenue, and brands to leverage addressable inventory. LINK
ZoomInfo is integrating with The Trade Desk to let its business-to-business marketer customers programmatically buy ads with more breadth and precision than before, with the aim of driving revenue. LINK
Disney+ is tempting new and returning subscribers with a $2-per-month teaser offer. LINK
Roku will cut more than 300 staffers — laying off 10% of its workforce — as the streaming-platform company continues its battle to control costs. LINK
Nielsen announced plans to cut its global personnel by around 9% “in an effort to bring costs in line with revenues”. LINK
Disney and Comcast have set a new date, September 30, to start negotiating the ownership of Hulu. LINK
Viant announced an expansion of its supply-path optimization (SPO) solution for connected TV ad buying. LINK
Recommended Reads
That’s all for today folks! Will be back next week with more curated stories and scoops.
Great Read!