Thursday 4th March: Google to stop selling ads based on your web browsing history

March 04, 2021

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OK, so this isn't really news if you've been following Google's adventures in FLoC development and its proposals for interest-based ad targeting solutions. What is news is that this story is running, not in Ad-tech Monthly, but in the Wall Street Journal.

This is all part of Google's efforts to smarten up its privacy credentials ahead of the regulation that it knows is coming. It is also confirmation that Google, in control of about 50% of the digital ad market, wants to set the rules to help it keep control of the digital ad market.

The point for publishers? GET. YOUR. FIRST. PARTY. DATA. STRATEGY. SORTED.

Publishers that get ahead of the curve and control their own data will have half a chance at delivering premium audiences to advertisers. Without your own data, you're likely going to be FLoC'd.

City AM took a huge hit at the start of the pandemic as its commuter audience was told to stay at home. At the time, the print edition was put on hiatus and the title took a digital-only stance. Latest Comscore data shows the shift has paid off - the City AM website reached 3.2m unique visitors in February compared to 1.4m in the same month last year, growth of 125%.

This caused some cognitive dissonance: World renowned science magazine bought by, well, the publisher of the Daily Mail. But DMGT has guaranteed the magazine’s editorial independence and ruled out staff cuts. For its part, DMGT gets to add a strong subscription player to its portfolio. Win-Win.

The old-cynic in me gave this headline a proper eye-roll, but the wannabe Blitz Kid absolutely loves it. Through the 80s and 90s the The Face set the scene for every major youth-culture trend that took off and it's totally on-brand for today's reincarnation to embrace the TikTok generation.

This week's podcast:

Hannah Taylor, editor and founder for The Delicate Rebellion, tells us about her print magazine showcasing the work of independent female creatives, the community that has grown out of the magazine and her new online shop.

The Media Voices Podcast is free, but it's not cheap. We do all our interviews on a remote recording platform, we've got hosting charges and there's editing software and microphones and all sorts of other stuff to buy. Help us reach our funding target with a contribution on our Ko-Fi page.