Twitter Acquires MoPub

Twitter has been building clout as an advertising platform for all of 2013, and their acquisition of startup MoPub is another piece of the puzzle.  MoPub helps mobile publishers manage their ad inventory, and by owning them, Twitter has shown an increased focus on revenue generation.  This acquisition will serve to maximize Twitter’s own ad space, increasing the effectiveness of ads running across the entire platform, but will also add revenue from other companies using MoPub’s service to develop native advertising strategies, like WordPress, Flixter, Ngmoco, and OpenTable.

What, Actually, Is Native Advertising?

According to a new study from eMarketer, most people’s definitions of native advertising vary. Nonetheless, native advertising has increasing interest among publishers and ad buyers – as well as many new opportunities to generate ad revenue. Most publishers have already rolled out some native ad opportunities; 75% of US publishers said they already offered native advertising, and 17% said they were planning to offer it this year. But even though there is consensus on offering native ads, nearly 90% said that native advertising was “content produced in conjunction with the advertiser, or by the advertiser, that runs within the editorial stream.” Simultaneously, 79% believed native advertising must be clearly delineated and labeled as such. But while there is confusion on what, exactly, are the defining tenants of native advertising, publishers did agree that engagement was the leading metric used to judge the success of ads, followed by traffic and social sharing. 

ComScore Study: 46% of Ads Never Seen

Coupled with the news from earlier today that desktop ad spending is decreasing, ComScore released new data that 46% of advertisements – even targeted advertisements – on websites are never seen by website visitors. This comes after more than a year of additional tracking by the company, which counts 22 of the top 25 U.S. advertisers as clients. But this new data likely comes from the fact that ComScore has reached out beyond premium ad publishers and blue-chip advertisers in the past year, and indeed many of the “lower tier” sites have in-view rates well below 50%. Nonetheless, the numbers paint an even starker picture for the world of desktop advertising and its future, especially compared to the targeting capabilities of the mobile environment. 

Desktop Ad Spending To Peak In 2014

According to a new study released from eMarketer, desktop-based advertising will peak in 2014 as more spending goes towards mobile advertising. The study suggests that U.S. desktop advertising will reach $35.39 billion in 2014, but by 2015 that number will begin to drop and by 2017 the figure will be $32.51 billion, which is nearly identical to numbers posted in 2012. Simultaneously, mobile advertising will continue its meteoric rise, hitting $11.76 billion this year alone. And by 2017, Mobile will almost equal desktop, reaching $27.98 billion. So far, Twitter has benefited the most from the mobile transition; the company will make more money from mobile advertising than from desktop advertising last year and mobile will take a bigger and bigger share of the company’s profits through 2015. 

Big Media Deals With YouTube Talent

Getting genuine traction in the YouTube world has proven a fickle task for even the biggest advertising groups, and as a result many have focused on attracting homegrown talent in the YouTube world. Instead of invading YouTube, they’re hiring the people who understand the medium from the ground up; indeed, last week Phil DeFranco was acquired by Revision3, and DreamWorks Animation picked up AwesomenessTV for a reported $33 million. So although things like AdSense are great, personalities like DeFranco can offer a much more advanced approach to putting advertising on their content. 

Twitter Unveils Lead Generation Cards

Twitter today announced the Lead Generation Card, which is a new, expandable tweet format that allows users to show their interest in a particular discount or offer that’s being promoted by their favorite brand. When users expand the tweet, they’ll see a description of the offer and a button to send their name, Twitter handle, and email to the brand. All this is sent as soon as the card button is clicked. Twitter has been testing the cards with Full Sail and Priceline, and the iea is to give businesses more opportunities to discover new customers, while simultaneously reducing the amount of time spent between spotting an offer on Twitter and actually paying for the product online. It remains to be seen whether this is exclusively for promoted Tweets, but if it’s used broadly it could mean a very different Twitter for marketers, brands, and companies. 

HelloInsights Becomes Pinterest Marketing Agency HelloSociety

Last November, L.A. startup Science Inc founded HelloInsights, a Pinterest-specific marketing analytics service. Five months later it’s called HelloSociety, and is a full-service marketing firm dedicated to generating client revenue on Pinterest – a figure that the agency says already hovers around $30 million. HelloSociety is now comprised of a five-part product suite, which includes HelloPartners, a public-relations based service, HelloBuzz, a Pinterest contest platform, HelloCreative, a toolset for pin creation, and HelloManager, which manages the accounts. To date, there have been 3 million signups with campaigns involving companies such as Jack Threads, HauteLook, and Homes.com, and – according to the company, 700 of these campaigns have been successful, arguably proving what a powerful tool Pinterest can be if used correctly.