Four years ago, when the Federal Communications Commission was led by Republican Ajit Pai, the agency rejected consumer advocates' request to prohibit wireless carriers from suppressing text messages.

Instead, the FCC voted 3-1 to classify text messaging as an “information” service -- a move that theoretically allowed wireless carriers to block texts arbitrarily. That's because “information” services aren't subject to the same long-standing common carrier rules as “communications” services, such as telephone calls. Those rules broadly prohibit carriers from engaging in censorship when putting through phone calls.

Pai said at the time that the information-service classification would allow carriers to block robotexts. But consumer groups and Senate Democrats countered that a 2016 FCC ruling allows telephone companies to block robocalls, even though phone calls are normally subject to common carrier rules.

The advocacy group Public Knowledge, which has long urged the FCC to declare texting a communications service (regulated under Title II of the Communications Act) is now reiterating that request.

“Concerns about unjust blocking, discrimination, and throttling are deeply troubling, and highlight the need for Title II classification,” the group wrote in a recent filing with the agency.

The organization's filing came in response to the FCC's request for comments about a proposal to require carriers to block messages from invalid, unallocated, or unused numbers, as well as numbers associated with fraud.

Public Knowledge supports that proposal, and also says the FCC should take the opportunity to declare texting a common carrier service.

“Consumers need to be protected from the scourge of illegal text messages, but the pressing nature of that mission should not afford carriers a veil behind which they can conceal practices that threaten to undermine the fair, open, and nondiscriminatory expectations that the public has for their communications,” the group writes.

“If the Commission adopts mandatory text blocking rules, these concerns become even more urgent,” Public Knowledge adds. “History shows that carriers will justify unfair fees or anticompetitive action by pretending that these fees and actions are required by regulation when they are not. But without Title II authority, the Commission’s ability to act in the face of such false claims is severely undermined.”

Current FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel likely supports the advocacy group's position, given that she dissented from the decision to classify texting as an information service. She said at the time that the move reflected a “quest to dismantle the regulatory frameworks that protect Americans.”

As a practical matter, however, the FCC is currently deadlocked politically and unlikely to revisit controversial issues until a tie-breaking fifth commissioner joins the agency. President Joe Biden nominated Gigi Sohn for that spot more than one year ago, but the full Senate has yet to hold a vote on her nomination.

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UPDATE: Total Online sales reached $281 billion globally for the weekend) (+2% YOY) and $68 billion in U.S. (+9%).

Cyber Monday online sales hit $12.2 billion in the U.S. -- a 8.3% increase YoY, according to new data from Salesforce.  

Globally, sales totaled $46.2 billion on Cyber Monday  -- a 2.4% hike YoY.

The average discount rate was 30% in the U.S -- a 7% increase over the prior year. The average selling price rose 8%.

Globally, discounts rose to 28%. The discounted categories on Cyber Monday included: 

• General apparel — 36%
• Active apparel and footwear — 23%
• General footwear — 21% 

Online sales stood at $17.2 billion in the U.S. -- a 10.2% hike. Black Friday sales rose to $15 billion.  

Average discount rates spiked during Cyber Week, hitting 30% in the U.S. and 27%, topping pre-pandemic levels, prompting Salesforce to say that “the discount chicken game is over.”

The average global average selling price (ASP) leveled off during Cyber Week, up 3% compared to 2021. The rate of cart abandonment dropped 5% globally compared to the previous three weeks.

In addition, there was a 9% global uptick in Buy Online and Pick Up In Store (BOPIS). U.S. retailers that offered this option grew online revenue by 38% more than those without it. 

Use of Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) and other payment options rose by +5% YoY, while the average order value for BNPL went down by 5% in the U.S. 

Chatbot messages increased 57% globally on Black Friday and 53% on Cyber Monday, versus 2021 levels. 

“After lackluster discounts earlier in the season, retailers stepped up their game throughout Cyber Week, and shoppers answered in kind,” states Rob Garf, VP and GM of Retail at Salesforce. “Our data shows an incredibly strong correlation between discount rates and digital sales as consumers held out for the biggest and best deals.”

Salesforce analyzed shopping data from more than one billion consumers on Commerce Cloud and Marketing Cloud, covering 24 of the top 30 U.S. online retailers.

Advertising revenue across local U.S. media will decline by 0.5% in the coming year, projects the latest forecast from BIA Advisory Services.

The projection, which spans 16 media and 96 sub-verticals, calls for $165.7 billion in total revenue. That compares to a final estimate of $166.5 billion for 2022, which was buoyed by heavy mid-term elections ad spending.

When political advertising is removed from the estimate, BIA projects 2023 local advertising at $165.2 billion, which is 4.8% higher than 2022’s total sans political campaign spending.

The nearly flat revenue projection for 2023 reflects continued economic and supply chain concerns. However, the forecast is more positive starting mid year.

The 2023 forecast shows digital continuing to gain on traditional media, growing to $81 billion, for a 49% share of overall spend, to traditional media’s 51% ($84 billion).

BIA has decreased its digital estimates slightly in the last two forecasting rounds because opt-in privacy measures on Apple and Android devices have had some impact on mobile advertising growth (although local is still projected to grow by 8.1% in 2023).

While TV digital and over-the-top (OTT) are forecast to grow 17.3% and 12.3% respectively in 2023, the lack of major elections and political campaigns will result in a 15% decline overall for local TV, to $18.5 billion (from $21.8 billion in 2022). In 2021, total local TV ad revenue was $17.2 billion.

When political advertising is removed from the comparison, the total local TV projection is $18.2 billion—up from $17.6 billion sans political spend in 2022, and $17 billion in 2021.

Local radio is forecast to drop by 36%, to $13.5 billion, from $14 billion in 2022 (the decline entirely attributed to the loss of political advertising in 2023).

The top three paid local media channels by ad revenue for 2023 are direct mail ($37.2 billion), mobile ($33.5 billion) and PC/laptop ($29 billion). 

However, direct mail’s growth has been slowing substantially due to rising costs and growth in digital advertising channels. Direct mail growth for 2023 is pegged at just 1.5%. 

Business verticals forecast to see ad revenue growth are education (9.7%), retail (8.7%) and restaurants (7.5%).

In addition to a 78% drop in political advertising, verticals forecast to see significant declines include leisure and recreation (-4.9%) and real estate (-1%) recent).

Automotive is projected to grow 4.9%, but not until the latter part of 2023.

“When it comes to advertising in the business vertical market, education offers a tremendous opportunity for local media in 2023, with companies offering opportunities for employees to improve their training and with people who are experiencing a job transition often enrolling in classes to advance their education,” noted Nicole Ovadia, vice president forecasting and analysis, BIA Advisory Services.

Other verticals are likely to show faster improvement if the Federal Reserve board slows or ceases interest rate increases and economic conditions improve, she pointed out, adding: “Even with the economy in flux, the continuing strength of the labor market and corporate profits makes me feel confident that key verticals will show growth in the year ahead.”

With an expected lower advertising from political marketers in 2023, all local TV-related advertising -- including linear, over-the-top and digital --- is projected to decline 15% to $18.5 billion, according to BIA Advisory Services.

Taking out political advertising comparisons out of the picture -- where estimates have been that $3.5 billion to $4.0 billion has  been spent by political marketers on local TV in 2022 -- BIA says non-political advertising for all of linear, OTT, and digital is expected to grow 3% to $18.2 billion.

Local radio, sans political, looks to be the same in 2023 as in 2022 -- $13.5 billion.

Looking at all U.S. local advertising, BIA estimates the market will be essentially flat -- down 0.5% to $165.7 billion in 2023, from an estimated $166.5 billion in 2022. Taking political ads out yields an improved overall picture of 4.8%.

Next years’ forecast continues to show the growing strength of local digital media -- now at a 49% share of  overall advertising spend --  $81 billion. Traditional media ad revenue is 51% share -- $84 billion.

The top three paid local media channels: Direct mail direct mail -- $37.2 billion; mobile -- $33.5 billion; and
PC/Laptop -- $29.0 billion.

Expected rising local TV ad categories -- education marketers, up 9.7%; retail, adding 8.7%; and restaurants, growing 7.5%.

BIA results come from a forecast of 16 media and 96 sub-verticals media categories.

LiveIntent is debuting an identity app on Salesforce AppExchange to help brands ensure their first-party data is complete, verified, and addressable, the company says.  

The Identity Enrichment app provides marketers with a customer matching process for multiple identifiers, including emails, mobile identifiers, addresses, and phone numbers.

LiveIntent dedupes, cleanses, appends, and enriches a customer’s first-party data with licensed identity, demographic, behavior, and interest data, it adds. 

The goal is to help brands “enrich customer records with high-quality data and reduce duplicate CRM records,” says Mano Pillai, chief product officer at LiveIntent.  

Integrated directly with Salesforce, Identity Enrichment by LiveIntent is currently available on AppExchange.

The Pinkfong Company -- the global entertainment company behind the global phenomenon Baby Shark -- has announced a new partnership with family-focused Web3 platform Toekenz Collectibles, and the future launch of a Baby Shark digital collection and blockchain-based game.

Through use of the Toekenz app, children will be able to customize, play with and collect their favorite Baby Shark characters while learning about new technology in a digital environment.

“Parents and guardians also get the ability to learn alongside their little ones about the trading economy of digital collectibles, all within a kid-safe environment,” Toekenz states.

As part of this partnership and approach, users will also be able to share a free Baby Shark digital collectible with friends or the Toekenz DAO, a kid’s choice community within Toekenz where children are meant to exercise “democratic decision making.”

“Baby Shark is the perfect brand for Toekenz’s launch and genesis drop,” says co-founder and CEO of Toekenz Collectibles Iris Ichishita, who cites Baby Shark's YouTube status as the most-viewed video of all time, its family-oriented focus, along with its franchise across channels.

Toekenz is the first family-focused and supposedly “kid-safe” NFT platform, built for end-to-end parental control that aims to feature user-friendly games and a marketplace designed to prepare the next generation of digital citizens for Web3.

“We look forward to adding to this project’s roadmap and delighting fans,” says James Runnels, co-founder and chairman of Toekenz Collectibles and CEO of Digital Prime Technologies.

The announcement comes soon after Toekenz Collectibles announced its licensing partnership with American toy manufacturer Mattel and Canadian entertainment company Boat Rocker.

The Toekenz app, which features Play-to-Collect games, an intergenerational DAO, and a metaverse marketplace -- is currently in beta testing and will be available to the public in Q1 2023 via the Apple and Google app stores.

The demise of cookies on Chrome has been discussed for years and despite another postponement, advertisers can’t simply sit back in the hope of yet more delays.

While the delay is good news for the 90% of companies that weren’t ready, it should also be a clarion call for action, encouraging brands to develop smarter solutions ahead of the new 2024 deadline. 

The size and quality of an advertiser's first-party data will separate the winners from the losers in the post-cookie era. 

Many cookie replacements will rely heavily on strong first-party data so advertisers must have a robust strategy in place to maximize consent and ensure that the relevant technology is in place.

All such data must be authenticated, with users opted in and providing explicit consent for brands to target them.

Leverage Data Clean Room Technologies

Data clean rooms facilitate the manipulation of user-level data from two parties such as the matching of first-party datasets directly between publishers and advertisers. They allow activation of advertiser first-party data in a privacy-safe way, enabling strategies such as prospecting, lookalikes, retargeting, frequency capping, measurement and attribution. 

There are two types of data clean rooms now available for testing:

Media Clean Rooms – These sit within walled gardens such as Google Ads Data Hub, Facebook Advanced Analytics and Amazon Marketing Cloud. They are primarily used by brands that spend significant amounts within a walled garden, enabling access to user-level data to carry out advanced segmentation and spend optimization.

Partner Clean Rooms – These are often leveraged by partnering brands, such as an FMCG and retail company or a publisher and advertiser. They allow greater control, granularity and flexibility in activation, examples include Infosum, Permutive, Habu and Google’s PAIR.

Brands should be looking to utilize both types of clean rooms.

Test Industry ID Solutions

Anonymized IDs enable buyers and sellers to consistently identify a user across digital environments without the need for cookies. 

There are two types of IDs that need to be tested:

Deterministic IDs are based on consumer provided and authenticated first-party data such as an email address. Advertisers and publishers with direct consumer relationships can transform such data into an operational deterministic ID that is cross device. Examples are TTD Unified ID 2.0, RampID, netID and Zeotap ID+. 

Probabilistic/Modelled IDs – Some ID providers supplement consented first-party information with behavioral and contextual signals to build user profiles. Probabilistic IDs are typically more scalable than deterministic IDs but may also be less accurate. Examples include Panorama ID, ID5 and FabrickID.

Given the vast number of IDs now available, DSPs and SSPs have begun to allow ID agnostic solutions, enabling all available IDs in the bid stream to be leveraged.

Return To Contextual Targeting

Contextual targeting allows advertisers to target users based on the content that the user is consuming, utilizing signals such as keyword, category, image as well as brand safety and suitability. 

This classic strategy is gaining popularity as an effective approach that does not require explicit consent, rely on trackers or personal data. 

Contextual solutions have advanced significantly in the last decade with providers leveraging contextual signals such as content category sentiment and semantics to provide insights into user interest, affinity or purchase intent. 

There are several contextual solutions that can be tested by advertisers immediately.

Keep Up To Date By Testing Browser And App Frameworks

Browser and mobile-app frameworks aim to facilitate digital advertising without requiring cross-site identifiers. Google’s Privacy Sandbox project, for example, seeks to replace cookies with browser Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), allowing third parties to obtain information directly from the browser and then use the information for conversion measurement, fraud detection, interest-based targeting and re-marketing. 

For interest-based targeting, the ‘Topics API’ proposes that advertisers can target users around topics that they might currently be interested in, based on their recent browsing activity.

For remarketing, the ‘FLEDGE API’ will enable advertisers create interest groups based on their first-party data, which can be uploaded via a ‘trusted server’ that will inform the browser they want to show ads to those users. 

Both Topics & FLEDGE are available for testing now. 

Advertisers that want to move ahead of their competitors and set themselves up for success should aim to build a roadmap for testing now to allow all relevant and applicable solutions to be evaluated, tested and where appropriate, implemented.

Only then can they be confident they are prepared from both a strategic and practical perspective for the largest change that our industry will see for many years.

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