Tag Archives: technology

Jury Out On Whether Ad Blocking A Help Or A Hurt To Programmatic

The jury’s still out on whether ad blocking will help or hurt the expansion of programmatic advertising, a survey of U.S. marketers has found. Wall Street has expressed off-and-on concern that Apple ‘s ( AAPL ) decision to let users install apps that prevent ads from appearing in its Safari mobile browser could cut into the business of ad-tech companies, but an industrywide decline has not materialized. A March survey by investment bank RBC Capital Markets and Advertising Age found that 58% of respondents believe ad-blocking technology will have a “somewhat negative” effect on the programmatic advertising ecosystem. Another 20% of respondents said ad blocking will have a “significantly negative” effect on the programmatic advertising space, said the survey, which was reported by research group eMarketer on Wednesday. Still, some marketers believe ad blocking could be good for programmatic, with 6% of the marketers surveyed saying ad blocking would have either a “significantly positive” or “somewhat positive” effect on automated ad buying. Even so, some senior ad buyers in the U.S. are bracing for trouble as programmatic advertising expands. The RBC survey found that 57% of ad buyers listed multidevice measurement as a problem for programmatic, followed by fraud (47%), ad blocking on smartphones (35%) and privacy issues (18%). Gaming, social networking and tech-related websites are said to be most affected by ad-blocking software. Gaining Steam Seven months after Apple made ad blocking possible on iOS mobile phones , eMarketer says that the trend is gaining steam. That could mean companies including Alphabet ( GOOGL ) search unit Google, French ad firm Criteo ( CRTO ) and others that rely on advertising to make money aren’t totally in the clear, though they’ve said that ad blocking isn’t affecting their business. Ad sales conducted by machines rather than ad salespeople — so-called programmatic ads — take less time to execute and cost advertisers less, which accounts for their popularity with advertisers, though it tends to lower revenue for online-ad platforms. Ad blockers serve to reduce the amount of bandwidth that a user needs by cutting down the amount of content — seen and unseen — that a page has to load. They can also help with privacy by blocking programs that track users’ browsing habits — good for users, bad for advertisers who want to show their ads to people who are the most likely to buy their products. Mobile is driving programmatic advertising growth, with mobile accounting for more than two-thirds of all programmatic digital display-ad spending this year, says eMarketer in a report on Tuesday. Facebook ( FB ), Google-owned YouTube, LinkedIn ( LNKD ) and others are helping to drive the trend. Declining Growth Rate U.S. programmatic digital display-ad spending is projected to rise to $27.4 billion in 2017, up 24%, eMarketer said last week. But that growth rate is declining from a projected 39% this year and 53% in 2015, the research group said. Mobile programmatic spending will reach $15.45 billion in the U.S. in 2016, representing 69% of all programmatic digital display-ad spending, according to eMarketer. That’s up from 60% in 2015 and 46% in 2014. Apple stock climbed 1% in midday trading in the stock market today , near 112, and is up more than 20% since touching an eight-month low early this year. Alphabet stock rose by a fraction, near 770 and approaching a cup-with-handle breakout buy point at 777.41.

Verizon CEO Fires Back At ‘Uninformed’ Bernie Sanders

Verizon Communications ( VZ ) Chief Executive Lowell McAdam fired back at Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has criticized the phone company in support of two unions that went on strike on Wednesday. Sanders has also been at odds with General Electric ’s ( GE ) CEO Jeff Immelt. “I read with interest Jeff Immelt’s spirited response to Sen. Bernie Sanders putting GE on his hit-list of big corporations that are ‘destroying the moral fabric’ of America,” wrote McAdam in a post at LinkedIn. “In fact, I share his frustration. Verizon is in Sanders’s bull’s-eye, as well. The senator’s uninformed views are, in a word, contemptible.” The two unions represent about 39,000 Verizon landline workers, including FiOS TV and broadband services. The Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) have been negotiating a new contract with Verizon since June. Verizon’s wireless workers are not unionized, except for roughly 100 employees. Verizon has a total workforce of nearly 178,000. Sanders has been campaigning vs. Hillary Clinton in New York, a key battleground, where Verizon is headquartered. Sanders has also accused Verizon of not paying enough taxes and asking workers to take unneeded reductions in benefits. “(Sander’s) accusation — that Verizon doesn’t pay its fair share of taxes — is just plain wrong. As our financial statements clearly show, we’ve paid more than $15.6 billion in taxes over the last two years — that’s a 35% tax rate in 2015, for anyone who’s counting,” said McAdam. “Sen. Sanders also claims that Verizon doesn’t use its profits to benefit America. Again, a look at the facts says otherwise. In the last two years, Verizon has invested some $35 billion in infrastructure.” Verizon’s wireline workers also walked out in 2000 and 2011. Verizon’s unionized workforce has shrunk from about 85,000 in 2000. “I understand that rhetoric gets heated in a presidential campaign,” McAdam continued. “I also get that big companies are an easy target for candidates looking for convenient villains for the economic distress felt by many of our citizens. But when rhetoric becomes disconnected from reality, we’ve crossed a dangerous line. We deserve better from people aspiring to be president.”

New Amazon.com Kindle E-Reader Is Smallest, Lightest Yet

After leaked images and details of the new Amazon.com ( AMZN ) e-reader — which largely proved true — the company announced the official details Wednesday. The new Kindle, called Oasis, is the most expensive, smallest and lightest offering to date. Available for preorder Wednesday at $289.99, the Oasis is 30% thinner and more than 20% lighter than the other Kindles, according to Amazon’s press release . Oasis weighs just 4.6 ounces, and it measures 3.4 millimeters — just more than a 10th of an inch — at its thinnest point. Amazon stock was up 1.5%, near 613, in midday trading on the stock market today . Amazon has an IBD Composite Rating of 78, where 99 is the highest. Shares broke out of a cup-with-handle base with a 603.34 buy point, in high volume. In its release, Amazon touted the two-battery design that the company claims will extend the battery life for “months.” The cheapest Kindle starts at $79.99 but lacks the high-resolution display and other features of the more expensive models, such as the Paperwhite — $119.99 — or the Voyage, which costs $199.99. Amazon does not break out Kindle sales. The Associated Press , citing the Association of American Publishers, reported that overall e-reader sales rose 3.8% in 2014 to $3.37 billion. Seattle-based Amazon’s content distribution — it also live streams video like Netflix ( NFLX ) does, for example — sets it apart from e-commerce players such as eBay ( EBAY ) and Wal-Mart ( WMT ).