A fascinating Princeton study found hundreds of examples of deceptive "dark patterns" on e-commerce websites. Dark patterns are user interface features that, often deceptively, steer customers into making unintended decisions. The report has a great run-down of the various tricks that marketers are employing together with a list of various software vendors that enable … [Read more...]
Performance Advertisers Are Still Being Ripped Off
Fraud was once the weak link of the performance marketing industry but has since become a major selling point. After all, why should advertisers be worried about fraud when they only pay when they get a confirmed sale or app install? It is a great sales pitch for networks, but is under threat by continuing app install, attribution and click fraud. The problem is that bad … [Read more...]
AI To Power 75% Of Ad Impressions By 2023
Juniper Research has a new report out titled Future Digital Advertising focused on the anticipated impact of AI and advertising fraud over the next four years. Top-line findings include the expectation that Amazon will take an 8% share of digital ad spend by 2023, out of a total market of $520 billion. As we reported here two weeks ago, Amazon's purchase of Sizmek's ad server … [Read more...]
TCPA Robocall and State Privacy Legislation Update
The Federal Communications Commission considers the definition of an automatic telephone dialing system (“ATDS”), robocall legislation looms in Congress. The Senate recently passed the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act (“TRACED Act”). The House of Representatives has now introduced House Bill 3375, proposed legislation that would clarify … [Read more...]
Amazon Buys Sizmek Ad Server
Amazon's acquisition of the biggest independent ad server outside of Google's Doubleclick and Ad Manager products will allow them to provide deep attribution data showing exactly which ads drive sales on Amazon. Kolin Kleveno, svp and head of programmatic at 360i: “This Sizmek acquisition is going to really help them to attribute back everything that runs on their … [Read more...]
Direct-To-Consumer Brands Look To Performance
DTC brands are beginning to hit a wall in terms of growth. In an effort to find more scale they are moving more budgets towards performance marketing, direct mail and catalogs. As Digiday put it in a recent article: When a marketing mix is 50% Facebook, 50% Google, it’s easy to tell how money is being spent and to what effect. But eventually, those channels get tapped … [Read more...]
Nevada Passes Law Allowing Opt-Out of Data Sale
Nevada has just passed SB 220, a data privacy law that permits consumers to opt-out of data sales by web operators. The law amends Nevada’s 2017 online privacy legislation that requires website operators to make various data privacy disclosures, including categories of covered information collected, categories of third-parties with whom it shares covered information, the … [Read more...]
Top Pay-Per-Call Verticals For 2019
Updated: May 29th, 2019 As the #1 rated Pay-Per-Call network, Aragon has made it a priority to provide their affiliates and advertisers with a clear path to ROI in mobile marketing, especially in Pay Per Call. Pay-Per-Call works across a wide range of verticals. Here are the top three verticals that have shown the strongest growth and deliver the highest … [Read more...]
Telephone Consumer Protection Act Update – TCPA
FCC Commissioner Delivers Pro-Telemarketer TCPA Speech - May 2019 FCC Commissioner Michael O’Reilly recently delivered a telemarketer defense-oriented speech at an event in Washington D.C. One of the many issues he addressed was the continuing landslide of frivolous Telephone Consumer Protection Act lawsuits. Commissioner O’Reilly made his opinion clear – the … [Read more...]
New York Becoming Leader of Financial Consumer Protection
The state of New York has long been considered a leading advocate of consumer protection, particularly when it comes to regulating the financial services industry. In 2014, New York’s Department of Financial Services adopted regulatory rules for debt collectors. In 2017, NYDFS issued its cybersecurity rules for financial services. Last month, New York’s … [Read more...]
Google Clamps Down On Tracking & Fingerprinting
Google has announced new privacy controls in Chrome that will aggressively restrict device fingerprinting and the utility of third-party cookies across the web. They're selling these plans as providing increased protection for end-users, but it is also clearly a way to cement Google's industry dominance while handicapping other networks. Google tracks everything through … [Read more...]
Optimizing Pay Per Call Between the Margins
Pay Per Call campaigns have rapidly gained in popularity in recent years, as both advertisers and affiliates alike have come to recognize just how incredibly valuable they can be. Advertisers are willing to pay more for conversions, because someone who calls into a phone number is a much warmer lead than someone who clicks on a casual Internet banner. Affiliates are … [Read more...]
Mundo Media Shuts Down
Well-known CPA network Mundo Media effectively closed down last week, going into receivership by order of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice (the Receiver says they will be "continuing certain critical operations"). Court documents show that Mundo owes Royal Bank of Canada over $25 million, with a further $6.5 million owed to a variety of other creditors. This represents a … [Read more...]
FTC Warns Marketers to Take CIDs and Subpoenas Seriously
The Federal Trade Commission obtains information through subpoenas and civil investigative demands (CIDs) pursuant to its mission to investigate deceptive and unfair trade practices. Such requests are legally enforceable and the FTC recently issued a warning that recipients of subpoenas or CIDs must take their compliance obligations seriously. What is a CID A CID … [Read more...]
FTC Signs Consumer Protection MOU With UK Regulator
The Federal Trade Commission has signed a memorandum of understanding with the United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), a non-ministerial department of the U.K. government charged with enforcing competition and consumer protection laws within and outside of the United Kingdom. The MOU is intended to strengthen enforcement cooperation on FTC … [Read more...]