This week on The PPC Show, Paul and JD break down the top news and trends in ad tech and digital marketing.

Episode Shownotes

ADWORDS

More informative sitelinks, callouts and snippets
"Updates like expanded text ads have already helped to make mobile ads more useful and informative, and we’re continuing to build on those principles with extensions. That’s why, starting later this month, we’re changing how mobile ads show sitelinks, callouts and structured snippets ."

Google Settles Case

Google has settled a $22.5 million class action settlement from 2008 that accused Google of overcharging AdWords customers for ads placed ads on error pages and parked domains.

Only about 7 percent of the nearly 1.1 million class members submitted claims. If more than $100,000 is left after distributions, the settlement provides for active AdWords users who didn’t submit claims to be given an account credit based on the amount they spent on ads placed on parked domains and error pages during the class period.

FACEBOOK

Remove Your Cloak

For example, they will set up web pages so that when a Facebook reviewer clicks a link to check whether it’s consistent with our policies, they are taken to a different web page than when someone using the Facebook app clicks that same link. Cloaked destination pages, which frequently include diet pills, pornography and muscle building scams, create negative and disruptive experiences for people.

Updates to Clicks and Impression Reporting

Today, we are sharing two new metrics updates: removal of unintentional clicks on ads in the Audience Network and new ad impression reporting.

• Clicks : We found that people who click on an Audience Network ad and spend less than 2 seconds on a destination page almost always clicked accidentally. Moving forward, we will no longer count clicks categorized as unintentional in advertiser’s campaigns.
• Gross impressions capture all impressions, billable and non-billable. Impressions aren’t billed if they were delivered after an advertiser’s budget was spent, are served to the same person within a short time, or are due to detectable fraud.
• Auto-refresh impressions provide a granular look at impressions generated from right-hand side placements. Ads placed on the right-hand side of the desktop News Feed are automatically refreshed with a new set of ads after a period of time. Auto-refresh impressions will show you how many impressions on your right-hand side ad are a result of a browser refresh.

Facebook challenges YouTube and TV with dedicated video service

Facebook is mounting its first direct challenge to YouTube and established TV networks with the launch of its own dedicated video channel designed to bring a degree of professionalism to a segment that has thus far been dominated by home videos, amateur content and short clips of material available elsewhere.

“Announcing the launch Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said: “Watching a show doesn't have to be passive. It can be a chance to share an experience and bring people together who care about the same things."

PINTEREST

Pinterest Launches Promoted Video with Autoplay

Pinterest has announced the launch of a globally available, native video product for its advertisers. Pinterest Promoted Video with Autoplay enables advertisers to reach Pinterest audiences with sight, sound, and motion as they discover new products and search for inspiration.

Pinners can discover these videos in 3 different ways:

• Home Feed – Advertisers can reach people when they are open to new ideas and inspiration.
• Search – Advertisers can reach people as they search for specific topics.
• Related Pins – Like search, advertisers can reach people as they explore pins related to the topics, products, etc. they’re searching for.

SNAPCHAT

Snapchat launches Advanced Mode for its self-serve Ads Manager

Similar to Facebook's Power Editor, Snapchat has added powerful new advertising capability to Ad Manager. On Friday, Snapchat announced a new Advanced Mode for Ad Manager that looks to mimic Facebook’s Power Editor quite closely. The new tool helps to automate time-intensive tasks, with a goal of helping advertisers scale their efforts. This includes:

• Bulk campaign & ad set creation - Advertisers will be able to instantly create campaigns, ad sets and ads by using a spreadsheet and importing directly into Ads Manager.
• Audience library: Now Snapchat audience lists can be created and saved. This will be a boon for marketers, as it will significantly cut down on future setup efforts.
• Media library - A library now exists where advertisers can store videos, images and ads for quick use on future campaigns.
• Automatic ad permutation testing: This tool allows for the creation of hundreds of permutations of ad creative and custom audience variations.
• Better reporting - Now reports have in-table pivoting across all dimensions and the ability to customize exports.

Snap Inc Earnings Call

Snap's lively March IPO was considered a rousing success at the time, with shares jumping 44 percent on the first trading day. The fervor was fueled, in part, by the app's explosive user growth and revenue growth. In the second quarter of last year, Snap had an average of 143 million daily active users, with revenue of about 50 cents per user, its IPO prospectus said. In Thursday's report, analysts surveyed by FactSet expect that average revenue per user to rise to $1.07.

But since the offering, the shares have been under pressure, falling nearly 41 percent over the past three months. Snap's first-quarter user and revenue growth came in below analyst expectations in May, with 166 million global daily active users and sales of $150 million.

BING

Making it easier to adjust your budgets based on conversions

We’re adding conversion data to your budget suggestions in the opportunities page, so you can make better decisions for your business. You can now view how different budget values could impact your conversion volumes.

When you click into the budget suggestion you’ll land on a simplified view by default. It shows click and conversion estimates for each campaign with a budget suggestion, along with the current and suggested budget amount.

YOUTUBE

YouTube Releases In-App Chat Functionality to All Users

The functionality was initially tested in Canada (Canadians share more videos online than any other nation, apparently), and now, after some minor tweaks, it’s being rolled out to all users on iOS and Android. So now, you too can chat and share content on YouTube as opposed to Facebook or Twitter. If you want.

Your shared videos and interactions are now available via a new ‘Shared’ tab within the app. The chat system has all the regular functionality, including emoji and group chats (up to 30 people), and you can share links from any other platform to add to the discussion - you're not only limited to YouTube links.