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Digital Advertising’s Moment Forward

Has digital advertising disproved the skeptics? If there’s an advertising contraction, who might survive and thrive?

As little as a few weeks ago, many in the media were talking about the potential collapse of all digital advertising revenue (heightened anxiety about big tech’s power, abuse of data, government regulation, transparency, trust and more). But now we see that Amazon’s ad business is as robust as the rest of its business (up close to 45% and coming in at close to $4 billion for the quarter), Google is posting gains ($33.8 billion this quarter – and YouTube at $4 billion), and Facebook seems largely unaffected (up about 17% with around $18 billion). So, is this just a symptom of the current crisis, or is this another sign that digital has completely taken over the ad world? Understandably this is just the big players (and many adtech/media companies are feeling a lot of pain). Still, this looks like digital advertising’s big moment. The pandemic could hollow out more traditional media outlets. We are seeing a pullback from advertisers and downward pressure on pricing. Advertisers need a place to go (and, we’re not just talking about direct to consumer brands). During times like these, history repeats itself: the ad industry goes into contraction. It will shift and change and lower in the foreseeable future. Still, there’s a bigger story here for those willing to scratch beneath the surface and pay attention: From direct reposes and lead generation to brand storytelling, digital advertising should have its moment shining moment right about now. This, and other current topics (driven by the questions above) were discussed along with Farrah Bostic (The Difference Engine), Erica Braverman (Erica Braverman PR), Rudy Fernandez (Creative Outhouse) and host Bob Knorpp (always a good human) on the very excellent BeanCast Podcast (which I’ve been fortunate to be a guest on in the past). I don’t know what it is about BeanCast, Bob Knorpp and these other panelists, but there is always “something in the water” when we record these conversations that brings out a lot of stimulating ideas and insights (and some friendly disagreements too!).