By Mark Eting
Bullseye Strategy Special Correspondent
What’s on the menu for this week’s Bullseye Buzz? It’s a tasty one. Snapchat’s spicing things up with a gamer platform as its audience growth slows, podcasts are looking like a sweet bet for marketers, and Google has blended up a giant detox smoothie to rid itself of fraudulent accounts. Here’s a little more flavor about these trending digital marketing headlines.
The Games Snapchat Plays
When the going gets tough, Snapchat gets gaming. In response to slowing audience growth, the interactive, filter-fabulous social media platform has decided that leaning into gaming is their path to win. More than 52% of the $152 billion gaming industry is projected to be from mobile users in 2019 and mobile gamers spent an average of $87 in 2018 on “free to play” games, so we kind of see why Snap is taking a page from the Pokemon Go playbook here. Full disclosure: we’re waiting with bated breath for “Snappable,” Snapchat’s dedicated AR gaming platform, to launch next month.
Podcasting Gets Loud
Remember YouTube back in the early days, when the word “vlog” looked like a typo and marketers were just beginning to realize, “hmmm, this looks like it might be a good place to advertise?” All signs are pointing to podcasting being in a similar place right now, with a stellar future ahead. What are those signs? Well, for one, Spotify just bought two giant podcasting firms for $340 million, likely signaling an upcoming wave of further consolidation. There was an 87% YOY increase in advertising on podcasts in 2018, which is likely because brand awareness and intent to purchase are pretty juicy among this highly engaged audience. Oh, and Dr. Phil has his own podcast, so there’s that. Read more in this great write-up from Mobile Marketer.
Google Dumps 1 Million Bad Ad Accounts
Google removed 2.3 million ads and 1 million ad accounts in 2018–more than double the accounts removed in 2017, though fewer actual advertisements were taken down. This giant detox was part of Google’s effort to eliminate “fake news” and other types of misinformation, and specific industries like for-profit bail bonds, drug addiction services, and cryptocurrency made up the lion’s share of their trash heap. While this massive cleanse is good news for consumers and, well, the concept of “truth,” marketers will be watching closely (OK, maybe a bit nervously) to ensure they aren’t impacted and are adhering to the new Google advertising policy which will soon be released.
“Mark Eting” is the pen name of the Bullseye Strategy team. Check back with us next week for more news on what’s buzzing in the digital marketing industry.