Triton Digital’s AdBuilder, Vertical YouTube Outearns Horizontal, & More

Triton Digital Launches AdBuilder AI to Power Self-Serve Audio Buying

The new self-serve platform allows partners to access high-volume, low-touch buyers without increasing staff or allocating time away from big existing accounts. Each partner is given a fully branded white-labeled marketplace where advertisers are able to create, book, and pay for campaigns independently. Behind the scenes, AdBuilder AI is hooked directly into the Triton Ad Platform, so partners have centralized visibility and control across all of the campaigns, inventory, and creative management in AdBuilder. Pricing, pacing, and approvals remain in oversight of the partner, while the automated platform produces creative, scheduling, and fulfillment.

Shorts now make more money for YouTube than long-form videos

During YouTube’s Q3 earnings call it was revealed that for the first time since the launch of their shortform video arm, YouTube Shorts now earn more revenue per watch-hour than long-form content. While it was bound to happen (consider how many ads one could scroll past over watching 60 one-minute Shorts vs. a single hour-long video), it’s still a sign Shorts have achieved significant momentum.

‘How Humans Decide’: WPP and Oxford propose revolution in buyer-behavior thinking by Sam Anderson

WPP Media and Oxford University’s Future of Marketing Initiative have published a report built from 1.2 million one-on-one interviews conducted after respondents had finished making a purchase sometime in the past decade. The report represents the first time WPP’s Momentum database has been pooled for comprehensive analysis of buying behavior. A core finding is that, on an average purchase journey, consumers have already made up their minds before they start shopping in earnest. 84% of tracked purchases “consist of people choosing brands they’re already biased towards before shopping.” The report urges marketers to shift to a more nuanced influence-first approach, since their data suggests there are few instances where a consumer reaches the bottom of a funnel without already having basically committed to which brand they’ll buy which product from. Existing old-school mentalities about how people shop don’t account for the inherent heterogeneity of consumers, categories, and channels. Good thing one of podcasting’s superpowers has always been top-of-funnel brand awareness 🙂

China Now Requires Degrees For Influencers Discussing Professional Topics by Dragomir Stojkov

Despite the joke tweets circulating the internet, China has not “banned podcasters.” The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) rolled out new regulations this week that limit online influencers discussing “professional topics” to needing to hold formal qualifications in the fields they’re discussing. The fields in question are medicine, law, education, and finance. To speak authoritatively on any of those topics, influencers will need to present credentials proving they have a degree, certification, or professional credentials in that field. The regulations act against a worldwide trend. A UNESCO study conducted by Bowling Green State University found only 36.9% of digital content creators actually verify information before sharing it with their audiences. And here in the U.S. a similar framework exists to limit media figures from sharing potentially dangerous medical, financial, or legal advice. I know I’ve heard a semi-sarcastic disclaimer of “I am not a doctor, this is not real medical advice” dozens of times in my 12 years of podcast consumption.

As for the rest of the news…