AdTech News Digest | Net Neutrality, Facebook’s Cryptocurrency and Alibaba Becoming Top eCommerce Platform

Check out our summaries for the most important updates in the world of online advertising and digital marketing as a whole.

Check out our previous digest: New Browser by Amazon, YouTube Removed 8+ Million Videos and more…

Net Neutrality Will Cease to Exist on June 11 – Now What?

As many already know, net neutrality revolves around the idea that internet providers should treat users’ internet consumption equality, as well as ensuring privacy and security while browsing the web.

In other words, internet service providers (ISPs) should not be able to slow down or throttle your internet connection when using platforms like uTorrent or Netflix. At the same time, ISPs should work on preventing spam and malware propagation through the internet.

Net neutrality laws have been in place since 2015 in the US to protect internet freedom. However, a new rule approved in December of last year will allow the FCC to eliminate net neutrality laws and replace them with a much weaker model starting on June 11.

At the same time, democratic representatives have filed a petition under the Congressional Review Act requesting a vote in order to decide if the FCC’s new rules should be repealed or not. As for now the decisions stands and companies have until the 11th of June to make changes and comply with the new regulations.

Bail Bonds Services Are the Latest in Google’s Banned Ads List

Google has one of the most extensive ads networks on the planet, but it also has numerous restrictions that limit what industries can advertise with their partners. Bail bonds services have become the latest addition to their long list of banned ads due to the very nature of the industry.

Google, Twitter, and Yandex to Ban Crypto Ads. What’s left for Forex brokers?

According to Google’s official blog, the company is committed to protecting users from deceptive and harmful products. Recent studies suggest that bail bonds services profit mostly off of low-income neighborhoods.

Google is making a stance against these practices, beginning the ban on bail bonds services on July 2018.

Marketing Week: This Week’s 5 Killer Stats

Big trends often cause ripples across multiple industries. We bring you these 5 juicy stats, courtesy of Marketing Week, so you can prepare and adapt for this week’s wave of change.

• More than half (52%) of the consumers in the UK will skip your ad after only 2.4 seconds. That being said, engaging consumers is also key, because the longer users look at your adverts, the higher the chances of them remembering your brand.
• Luxury hospitality brands will spend 50% of their marketing budget on digital advertising this year, up from 47% in 2017. Other luxury brands will also be spending a significant portion of their budgets on online marketing, with fragrances and beauty at 27%, jewelry and watches at 28%, and automotive at 39% respectively.
• Total UK sales dropped 3.1% in April, the largest deficit since 1995 when data collection began. In-store sales over March and April have fallen a staggering 4.8%, even lower than the 2009 recession.
• 26% of World Cup viewers in the UK will stop watching the tournament once their team is knocked out. It’s also worth noting that 3 out of 4 will be watching the games on a TV at home and 23% will be using their phones as the number one source to find additional information.

Facebook Looking to Launch Its Own Cryptocurrency

Facebook is looking to enter the cryptocurrency space after spending a year studying blockchain technology. The social media giant issued an internal communication informing its employees about its blockchain initiative, although it did not provide any details.

Facebook Bans All Ads for ICOs, Bitcoin, and Other Cryptocurrencies

Reports also suggest that Facebook will not launch a traditional ICO and that their plants to implement a cryptocurrency into the social media platform is not a short-term project.

Unwanted Mute: Web Games Unintentionally Affected By Chrome 66 Update

The most prominent update in Chrome’s 66th update is that auto-playing content is muted by default.

While it was designed to target annoying videos that start playing as soon as a page is opened, it has also affected developers that embed their games on the web.

Chrome’s new autoplay policy is a disaster for games and audio art on the web, since anything that’s no longer in active development just wont play sound now. Nearly every Phaser/Unity/Pico8 game will be silenced. Their dev team invites feedback on the new policy at @ChromiumDev

— Bennett (@bfod) May 7, 2018

Some platforms, such as Itch.io, have provided a workaround for developers, although many will simply have to spend hours re-coding a portion of their games.

Overtaking Giants: Reports Indicate that Alibaba Has Surpassed Amazon as the Most Popular eCommerce Platform

Taobao.com, a shopping website owned by Alibaba Group, has surpassed Amazon.com according to Alexa’s latest ranking, making it the most popular retail platform on the planet.

Also note that AliExpress, also owned by Alibaba Group, was the only retail application to make App Annie’s top 10 most downloaded free mobile apps.

But, even though mobile apps are gaining traction, consumers still prefer web-based retailers by a significant margin.

WFA and Major Brands Request Reforms in the Digital Marketing Space

The World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) has joined forces with some of the world’s biggest advertisers to improve the digital advertising landscape as a whole.

Following a year of ads fraud, issues with brands safety, and other negative headlines, the WFA has set eight “principles of partnership” designed to secure transparency and future advertising revenues.

This charter addresses different topics that have affected the digital advertising industry as a whole, like zero fraud tolerance policies, minimum viewability thresholds, and the usage of third-party buying platforms, just to name a few.

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