Welcome to Katalys Connect - your weekly shortcut to the latest in performance marketing.
What’s in this issue? Each week, we pack the latest trends, actionable insights, and industry breakthroughs into a quick read - ensuring you're not just keeping up, you're staying ahead.
- Monetization: Explore Perplexity’s copyright clash, Google’s watermarking for AI content, and DMG’s brand investments as publishers seek new, ethical ways to monetize digital content.
- Growth: Uncover how brands are adapting to changing search trends, consumer ad fatigue, and the rise of ad-free options, prioritizing organic and personalized content to stay relevant.
- The Future of Commerce: Learn how commerce is evolving to meet transparency and engagement demands with the FTC’s new review rules, Google’s video shopping ads, and trust-focused personalization.
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💸 Monetization
Perplexity’s Content Dispute • As Perplexity strives to court advertisers and publishers, recent lawsuits from major news companies allege copyright violations, marking a challenging phase for the AI search engine’s expansion.
- Dow Jones and NYP Holdings have filed a lawsuit against Perplexity, accusing it of copyright and trademark violations for scraping content from The Wall Street Journal and The New York Post without permission, misleading users, and damaging News Corp's reputation and revenue.
- Despite legal tensions, industry leaders see potential partnership models with AI platforms, such as affiliate agreements where publishers receive revenue and credit when content is used, underscoring the importance of ethical sourcing and proper attribution to avoid disinformation or misuse of branded content.
Google’s AI Watermarking Solution • Google’s open access to SynthID Text promises improved transparency, allowing for clearer differentiation of AI-generated content and bolstering audience trust.
- SynthID Text allows developers to embed invisible watermarks in AI-generated text that persist through edits, giving advertisers and publishers a tool to clearly distinguish AI content from human-created text and protect brand integrity.
- Open access to SynthID Text could pave the way for an industry standard as regulatory demands grow, though adoption challenges and ongoing risks of evasion remain key considerations.
DMG Expands Brand Investments • DMG Ventures, the investment arm of DMG Media, is further expanding into consumer brands with new investments in CBD and cacao upcycling, and they promise to leverage their extensive media portfolio to support these brands.
- With two new £25m funds, DMG Ventures aims to grow consumer-facing brands through partnerships with DMG Media’s titles, like the Daily Mail, Mail Online, and Metro.
- Its “Headline Fund” supports early-stage startups, while the “Scale Fund” helps mature brands, leveraging DMG’s extensive media reach for ad exposure and product reviews.
📈 Growth
Shaping of Consumer Search • Search engines still dominate consumer discovery, but rising AI and social media use—especially among younger audiences—is prompting brands to adapt.
- With an overwhelming majority of consumers still trusting search engines, brands must focus on creating valuable, informative content while also adapting to rising AI use for long-term payoffs, especially among younger audiences relying on tools like ChatGPT for quick insights.
- Nearly half of consumers use ad blockers, making organic content and reviews increasingly vital for engagement. Meanwhile, social media’s influence is age-specific, with platforms like TikTok and Instagram key for younger buyers, while YouTube resonates across all demographics.
Stuck On Repeat • A recent study by AD-ID highlights that repetitive ad exposure is pushing consumers away, with over half of U.S. adults reporting they’re less likely to engage with brands that overuse the same ads.
- Consumers favor ads that feel personalized and relevant, with 76% responding positively to tailored ads, while 63% are open to new products if ads align with their interests.
- To avoid ad fatigue, industry leaders suggest shifting focus to brand awareness, diversifying creative approaches, personalizing where possible, and using real-time insights to monitor engagement to adjust strategies.
Ad-Free Social Era • Platforms are introducing paid, ad-free subscriptions, challenging marketers to rethink strategies for reaching premium subscribers in a shifting digital landscape.
- Partnering with creators and influencers is essential to reaching ad-free subscribers, with organic posts bypassing subscription-based ad restrictions. However, influencers may charge more for these placements if promotional links are limited, affecting affiliate revenue potential.
- As ad tracking declines, marketers must rely on first-party data to maintain direct customer relationships through CRM or CDP systems. For smaller businesses, managing this data can be challenging without robust technology.
🚀 Future of Commerce
Say Bye Fake Reviews • The FTC’s new rule cracking down on fake online reviews is now active, penalizing deceptive testimonials that mislead consumers and harm honest competitors.
- The rule bans AI-generated and fake personas in reviews, imposing hefty civil penalties on businesses that knowingly create, buy, or use deceptive testimonials.
- It also prohibits threats, intimidation, and false claims, ensuring honest businesses aren’t overshadowed by those manipulating reviews to unfairly boost their reputations.
Google Keeps Shoppers Watching • New video-enabled shopping ads on Google’s search page could drive higher engagement but may reduce clicks to brand websites, changing how advertisers measure success.
- Videos play directly in search results, keeping users engaged on Google while providing a more immersive experience for product discovery.
- With fewer users likely to visit landing pages, advertisers may need to focus on in-ad interactions and rethink how they gauge ad performance and ROI in a video-driven search environment.
Balancing Personalization & Privacy • Earning consumer trust through consent-driven data practices is essential for brands to deliver personalization without privacy concerns, setting them apart as expectations for ethical transparency grow.
- Although 64% of consumers prefer personalized interactions, only 27% feel comfortable with brands using unsolicited data. High-profile breaches and misused data have made transparency essential for gaining trust and, ultimately, creating loyal customers.
- Brands can respect privacy and deliver value by focusing on zero-party data and using AI to provide tailored recommendations without accessing sensitive data.
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