Here’s the news you may have missed during upfront/new front week:
- Snapchat’s self-service ad manager is currently in beta and is expected to be broadly available in June. The ad manager is squarely aimed at smaller businesses. Right now you can’t buy sponsored Geofilters or Lenses through the Ad Manager (it’s really only for video).
- If you thought the current version of Snapchat Spectacles were cool (don’t forget you can now buy them online) the next version will get you even more excited. A patent leak (here) suggests Augmented Reality (including an awesome dinosaur example) is a big part of the future for version 2.
- Facebook continues to take a huge slice of digital ad revenue. As part of their results, Facebook revealed Q1 profit was up 76%, The WSJ has a good write up of other key numbers but one of the more interesting takeaways is that Facebook is soliciting ideas for TV-like programming in an attempt to capture more video ad spend.
- In the area of Brand Safety, Facebook will hire 3,000 additional people to respond to compliance and brand safety concerns (that’s in addition to the 4,500 already employed in this area). More details can be found here.
- Spotify has made it easier to share songs with a QR-code style offering. The codes can be scanned within the Spotify app, instantly opening the song. There’s definitely some cool ideas that can be applied to brand campaigns from this new feature.
All of the other news of the week was upfront/newfront related. Key highlights are Hulu announcing their $40 live TV service, YouTube expanding into original content, and Snapchat making original content.
Have a brilliant week.
Joshua