• CMO TLDR
  • Posts
  • CMO TLDR: Your Weekly Marketing Brief

CMO TLDR: Your Weekly Marketing Brief

Weekly Digest - April 4, 2025

Author

Peter Brendan
April 04, 2025

CMO TLDR: Bots, AI, and SVOD

Ad Verification Under Scrutiny

Ad Industry's Bot Problem Goes Under Congressional Scrutiny

Verification providers, including HUMAN Security, Integral Ad Science, and DoubleVerify, face allegations of failing to filter out known bots. Adalytics reports major brands inadvertently serving ads to declared bots using data center IP addresses. The scale of potential waste is staggering, as affected advertisers may have spent millions on non-human impressions despite paying for pre-bid bot filtration services. Multiple U.S. agencies have been impacted, prompting Senator Mark Warner to request DOJ and FTC investigations into verification providers for failing to deliver services paid for by the government.

Amazon & Spotify Shake Up Programmatic

Amazon Intensifies DSP Battle With Aggressive Pricing Strategy

Amazon Ads is mounting an ambitious challenge to industry leaders The Trade Desk and Google's DV360 by offering substantial financial incentives, including 10% additional value on video investments up to $250,000 and reduced tech fees as low as 10% for agencies willing to shift programmatic spend. The e-commerce giant is simultaneously enhancing its DSP user interface and significantly expanding its sales team to court non-endemic advertisers with access to Prime Video, Twitch, and its first-party commerce data. With two-thirds of U.S. advertisers now using Amazon's DSP and an 18% usage increase in just six months, according to Advertiser Perceptions, the company's loss-leader tactics appear to be gaining traction as it pursues a larger share of brand advertising dollars.

Spotify Launches Programmatic Exchange in Major Ad Business Expansion

Spotify unveiled its first programmatic ad exchange (SAX) at its annual Advance event, giving buyers real-time access to its logged-in user base with initial integrations for The Trade Desk and Google's DV360, plus support for identity frameworks from LiveRamp, Google, and The Trade Desk's UID. Using The Trade Desk’s OpenPath with Spotify ensures an optimized supply path. The streaming giant is simultaneously rolling out AI-powered audio ad creation tools—already adopted by 40% of self-serve advertisers—alongside expanded measurement partnerships with IAS, DoubleVerify, and LiveRamp as it positions itself as a full-fledged media platform competing for video, display, and performance budgets. Following its first profitable year with ad revenue growth of 114% since 2020, Spotify's strategic shift aims to transform the company from a premium audio partner into a comprehensive advertising destination where combining formats has been shown to boost brand recall by 27% and same-source sales lift by 66%.

AI Search Revolution Threatens Digital Ad Ecosystem

Google reports 11% of searches now feature AI-generated summaries while new players like Perplexity process 20 million daily queries, with Gartner predicting traditional search volume will plunge 25% by 2026. The shift to AI-powered search is reducing available ad inventory and organic traffic for publishers, potentially creating a premium on video, TV, and social advertising as marketers shift budgets to counter declining search effectiveness. As search-dependent brands like Chegg and Hubspot report significant traffic declines, marketers face urgency to develop AI-native strategies by leveraging first-party data infrastructure to fine-tune large language models or risk ceding control to walled gardens.

Chart of the Week

Ad-supported streaming is reshaping the SVOD landscape: 22% of Netflix users and 17% of Disney+ subscribers now choose ad-supported tiers over premium options.

The US leads with 35% choosing Netflix with ads, while Southern European markets like Spain and Italy show strong price sensitivity. Meanwhile, Nordic countries remain more willing to pay for ad-free experiences.

WPP has acquired InfoSum, integrating the data collaboration platform into GroupM to enhance its AI-driven data capabilities, enabling clients to safely leverage first-party data with privacy-enhancing connections across a vast network of media and data partners.

Major brands are allocating token advertising budgets to Elon Musk's X platform to avoid being targeted by lawsuits or public criticism amid his increasing political influence and the platform's recent $45 billion valuation in an xAI acquisition deal. Despite industry concerns, Omnicom Media Group told clients X represents a "compelling opportunity," citing improved brand safety features and claiming potential return on investment is "at an all-time high" due to negotiated favorable discounts.

Samsung Ads has unveiled "Samsung GameBreaks," a new interactive advertising format featuring mini-games within Samsung TV Plus content that has lifted unaided brand recall by 53% in testing, with 98% of users playing through to completion and 89% of viewers preferring the format to traditional commercial breaks.

Google and Roblox unveiled a new partnership allowing advertisers to purchase Rewarded Video ads programmatically through Google Ad Manager, giving brands access to Roblox's 85.3 million daily active users while enabling players to earn in-game perks like virtual currency in exchange for watching ads that have shown over 80% completion rates in early testing.

Publicis Media has secured LinkedIn's global media planning and buying business following a closed review, replacing incumbent Dentsu and coming shortly after the Microsoft-owned professional network appointed R/GA as its global strategic creative agency for LinkedIn Ads.

Key Article Takeaways - TLDR

  • Implement additional verification measures beyond standard providers to ensure ad dollars aren't wasted on bot traffic. Just using industry-standard providers isn't cutting it.

  • Take advantage of the adoption of ad-supported subscription tiers on premium CTV publishers, but make sure reporting and measurement aren't sacrificed

  • Potentially switch to Amazon DSP and leverage Amazon's aggressive DSP pricing strategy and expanded capabilities.

  • Spotify is making serious moves to be the programmatic go-to for audio.

  • Keep an eye on interactive ad formats like Samsung GameBreaks and Google's Roblox Rewarded Video, which deliver 53% higher brand recall and 80%+ completion rates.