Day: December 17, 2018

Verizon Communications Inc. cut the value of its AOL and Yahoo acquisitions by $4.6 billion in a public filing.

The write-down is another indication of heavy competition in digital advertising, which is dominated by Google and Facebook.

The move erased about half of the value of Oath, Verizon’s content business.

Oath’s brands include: AOL, Yahoo, HuffPost, TechCrunch, Flurry, Tumblr, Engadget, Autoblog, Makers, Kanvas, Build, Ryot and MSN.

Related Reading:

Ad Verification Company Integral Ad Science Taps Former Yahoo Executive as CEO (The Wall Street Journal)

AOL Takes Over Majority of Microsoft’s Ad Business, Swaps Google Search For Bing (The Wall Street Journal)

Oath isn’t just a terrible name — it’s going to be a nightmare ad-tracking machine (The Verge)

House Votes To Allow Internet Service Providers To Sell, Share Your Personal Information (Consumer Reports)

 

Facebook’s yearly revenue growth fell dramatically to 16 percent in the third quarter, according to researcher Standard Media Index.  Its data include ad revenue from national marketers, not local advertisers and small- to medium-sized businesses.

“Facebook’s growth from national marketers is slowing, indicating that major brands are concerned with recent events there and are focusing on brand-safe environments,” James Fennessy, SMI CEO, said in a statement. “National marketers don’t have the same issues with platforms like Roku as we saw their revenues jump by 67 percent in Q3, albeit from a much smaller base.”

The overall digital market rose 14 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, according to SMI.

Facebook’s ad revenue from national marketers was up 25 percent for the January to October period from a year earlier.

During that same timeframe (January to October) in 2017, Facebook grew ad revenue from national marketers by 41 percent from the prior year.

Facebook has maintained double-digit growth in ad revenue from national marketers. The growth rate has slowed each quarter in 2018. The overall digital market was up 14% YoY in Q3.

2018 Quarter	Yr. Change
Q1	35%
Q2	30%
Q3	16%

Source: Standard Media Index

Related Reading:
Facebook Removes Data-Security App From Apple Store (The Wall Street Journal)

Facebook Bug Potentially Exposed Unshared Photos of Up 6.8 Million Users (The Wall Street Journal)