Bringing People Closer Together?

Implications for Advertisers

Last month, two of the biggest digital media firms responded to the general criticism of their platforms.

Facebook announced that they will be making significant changes to the way the platforms algorithm displays content within the newsfeed. For consumers this will mean fewer ads and branded page content and a stronger focus on media that is directly connected to your friends and family. For an advertiser however, this will mean a reduction in inventory available for advertising and consequently slight increases to overall costs due to increased competition. Along with recent changes to the algorithm and declines in organic reach over the last five years, brands will need more focus on paid vs. organic search strategy.

Here is the full announcement made by Mark Zuckerberg along with a 90s video explaining the changes.

Following suit, YouTube were next to announce they’re being stricter with their content.

However, many of the changes do not go as far as the industry would like.

For example, the IPA wanted changes such as comments around children’s videos and news becoming switched off by default and greater detail on transparency reporting and pre-vetting. With brand safety being a hot topic in 2017, it’s good to hear Google is taking extra steps to earn back trust by implementing stricter rules via the YouTube Partner Programme- welcome(ish) news for our clients.