An end-of-year surge shows digital ad spend recovering from the COVID-induced ad recession and overall ad spend up 2 per cent year-on-year, according to the latest Standard Media Index results.

Google has defended its position as a connector and supporter of digital advertising services and stressed continuing levels of competition across the ecosystem in its preliminary response to the ACCC’s interim adtech services inquiry report released yesterday.

A lack of awareness and technical insight into how consumer data is used for targeting and retargeting purposes remains a core concern for several industry thought leaders as marketing becomes increasingly exposed to data privacy concerns and regulation.

A lack of competition, choice and transparency pervades Australia’s digital advertising supply chain and it’s hurting publishers, advertisers and consumers alike, says the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

All the latest martech, customer and adtech news from Litmus, Algonomy, Bloomreach and Exponea, Acquia, AdQuick, Pega, Lotame and Comscore.

Marketers needs to rid themselves of the idea that third-party data is bad and first-party data is good and instead focus on improving their access to ‘good’ data - full stop. And that means transparency and consent.

With the swiftness of response by social media giants to remove President Trump’s from their platforms following the violent attack on Washington DC last week, it was easy to lose sight of other news around brands choosing to use – or not use – these platforms. Yet just before Christmas, Unilever confirmed it will cease its boycott of social media platforms and recommence its presence from January 2021.

Tapping into Snapchat’s full-body augmented reality (AR) lens is allowing Sweat a fresh take on social media engagement as its debuts the latest new year Sweat Challenge, its CEO says.

Google’s plans to retire third-party cookies from its Chrome browser may have hit a snag with news the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is investigating the proposal to assess whether it will distort competition. It comes after complaints of anticompetitive behaviour by Google and that the changes concentrate ad spend in the Google ecosystem and further entrench its market power.

Pivoting marketing and customer efforts to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic clearly took centre stage this year, as this year’s CMO list of most read stories in 2020 shows.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is once again instigating proceedings against Facebook, this time for allegedly misusing consumer data relating to a VPN app for marketing purposes.

In 2021 savvy marketers will continue to embrace creative ways of connecting with consumers to build awareness and drive demand through online touchpoints and digital insights in their campaigns. We explore the major ingredients that will help drive digital marketing success in the New Year.

Three leading brands have taken to TikTok with fresh user content-driven marketing campaigns aimed at elevating engagement with younger audiences.

The sharp declines seen across global advertising spend thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic are less significant than first thought, two fresh reports claim.

​The latest IAB digital advertising figures show ad spending is rebounding, with an 11.3 per cent increase between Q2 and Q3, 2020.

It’s not often a technology which was once thought would signal the decline of an industry actually ends up revitalising it. But somewhere in the 2000s other technologies began to emerge that would start to describe a future for audio.

The average time spent on social media has grown by 30 per cent during the COVID-19 crisis, according to an L&A Social census.This increase in social media usage, coupled with the shift towards ecommerce, has created a commercial imperative for brands and businesses to understand consumer behaviour across social platforms, according to the agency.​

With the impending demise of third-party tracking cookies, marketing through contextual targeting is gaining a renewed importance. CMO talks to several in the industry about the opportunities and challenges in the shift to contextual marketing.

Australia’s advertising spending continues to rebound, with August figures showing total spend to be just 17.2 per cent short of pre-COVID figures.

Google and Facebook have hit back with public campaigns warning of the dire consequences of a news payments regime proposed by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

Seven West Media is looking to glean and harness a raft of people-based audience insights after striking a new deal with TEG Analytics to support its new customer data platform, 7RediQ.