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Sale Slop
AI-generated slop content is growing exponentially online, making it easier than ever for bad actors to create spam sites and earn advertising money from unsuspecting brands.
DoubleVerify recently uncovered more than 200 sports news websites hosting a mix of fake AI-generated news and content stolen from legitimate sites, Wired news.
In many cases, these spam sites use domain names that closely mimic those of well-known sites – for example “BBC Sports” or “NBC Sportz”. According to DoubleVerify, they focus on sports content because advertisers consider it safer for the brand than hard news.
Slop appears to be deceiving programmatic advertising technology. The cable service reports that many of the sites featured banner ads served by Criteo and Sharethrough. And major brands, including Asana, Oracle and Sephora, have all placed ads on the site.
And don’t expect the problem to go away anytime soon. The popularity of generative AI technologies is allowing these content mills to proliferate. As of February 2024, NewsGuard has identified 725 news sites full of AI garbage; by this month, that number had risen to 1,150.
“This kind of low-quality content isn’t really new,” says Gilit Saporta, senior director of fraud analytics products at DV. “But it’s much easier to replicate and scale with these current tools.”
All news that can be published
Marketers and content creators have already begun to strategize for the post-TikTok future. And how Adweek news, publishers and new organizations as well.
It’s no wonder most major outlets diversified their vertical video distribution ages ago. They now regularly publish content on YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels and Snapchat. It makes sense. If you have one video, why not put it everywhere?
Still, according to the Pew Research Center, 17% of US adults regularly receive messages from TikTok, meaning stores can’t completely abandon these users. Instead, they’re trying to make sure those users know where else to find them.
For now, YouTube Shorts may be a breakthrough for creators, one source told Adweek. Anecdotal evidence from The Washington Post – Have you heard? WaPo says it’s for “All of America“Now!—seems to confirm that. WaPo’s director of video, Micah Gelmen, says the Shorts publisher’s presence has already begun to grow faster than other non-TikTok channels.
This can be good news for marketers who have already started experimenting with YouTube ad targeting options. But it certainly doesn’t capture the same sense of community that TikTok does. After all, does anyone go to YouTube to see what their friends are talking about?
Crystal Ball 2025
Advertising spending continues to grow — but perhaps not as quickly as last year.
While ad spending increased in 2024 largely due to the Paris Olympics and the US presidential election, the IAB predicts “modest growth” in the advertising ecosystem in 2025 by 7.3%.
Video, social and retail advertising are unsurprisingly the fastest growing advertising mediums.
Retail media is expected to grow 15.6% this year, double the rate of total ad spending, according to the IAB’s 2025 Outlook Report released Thursday. CTV ad spending, meanwhile, is expected to see a 13.8% increase compared to last year, while social media is forecast to grow 11.9%. Compared to last year, when IAB predicted social video would overtake CTV, streaming seems to be regaining some of its steam.
“Advertisers start the year looking for growth and investing in the channels that drive the most meaningful business results,” IAB CEO David Cohen said in a statement. declaration about the message.
Also this year, roughly 80% of buyers are either using or exploring generative artificial intelligence in media planning and activation, according to the IAB.
But wait! There’s more
Outgoing FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel has rejected four petitions to revoke the broadcast licenses of television news channels, saying such efforts “seek to curtail the freedom of the press.” [CNN]
The Washington Post is setting what it calls a “Big Hairy Audacious Goal” to expand its paid user base from less than three million to 200 million. [NYT]
Google’s ambition for 2025 is to catch up with ChatGPT. [WSJ]
The vibes on Meta aren’t right, say soon-to-be former TikTok creators. [Marketing Brew]
The FTC is finalizing an update to the Children’s Online Privacy Rule that will minimize the collection of online data from children under 13. [Bloomberg Law]
You are hired
Prebid brings on Zach Savishinski as its part CTO. [release]
European telecoms ad tech company Utiq hires Colin Pagel as director of global clients and Thomas Bailly as director of global agencies. [release]