There was a time when Madison Avenue was obsessed with the threat from Google. The idea was Google, with its near limitless financial resources and engineering might, was hell-bent on automating the ad industry and cutting out agencies in the process. That didn’t happen. Now it’s Facebook’s turn to feel the concerns. Ian Schafer, CEO of Deep Focus, has a piece up on Harvard Business Review that makes a credible case for why Facebook is moving in a direction that will irrevocably change with media-buying agencies do. Media agencies tend to buy commoditized “nouns” (impressions, clicks, etc.) while Facebook wants to move to sell “verbs” (likes, shares, etc.) Like the Google threat, this one probably won’t materialize to much. Facebook needs agencies to convert its enormous attention into a similarly large media business. There will be room for media agencies to tap into Facebook’s enormous trove of data to do impression-and click-based buying, as Schafer himself notes. Read the full post here.
More in Media
From brand deals to equity deals: creators want a stake, not just a fee
The creator economy is moving into a new phase: creators getting into companies at the ground floor through sweat equity or angel investing.
Media Briefing: Publishers question whether personalization actually pays off
Publishers are personalizing newsletters to get more value from readers, but questions remain over whether it’s a meaningful differentiator.
Publishers’ scorecard on Google’s ad tech remedies: they’re progress, but far from a clean win
After years of waiting for the DOJ to finally curb Google’s ad tech power, publishers are finding the devil in these new remedies.