Google Spurned VCG for Complexity and Higher Bids
Google initially rejected the VCG auction design in 2002 because (1) it would be harder for advertisers to understand than GSP and (2) it would likely require them to increase their bids, since it incentivizes truthful bidding. https://t.co/jgf9YOpSZ0
Unity's AI-Powered Ad Platform Vector Transforms Mobile Advertising
In this week’s episode of the Mobile Dev Memo podcast, I speak to Felix The, the SVP of Advertising Product and Engineering at Unity. We discuss Unity’s AI-enabled advertising system, Vector. https://t.co/YKAGMtaYaP
OpenAI’s $100M Ad Spend Fueled by Novelty Demand
OpenAI’s $100MM advertising run rate is almost entirely a function of “novelty demand” since they launched a primitive product with little optimization capacity. Relevant questions: 1) How much better does the platform get?, 2) Where does demand settle when they...
Apple's Privacy Focus Limits AI Ambitions, Favors On-Device Models
I’ve argued that Apple is constrained by what it can do with AI by its privacy narrative. Apple *has* trained foundation models, and they have a proprietary ~3BN LLM available on device via Foundation Models Framework. They also offer other...
Meta’s New Ad Checkout Isn’t True Agentic Commerce
Meta partners with Stripe for in-ad shopping If Instant Checkout didn’t represent agentic commerce, using that term to describe Meta’s new ‘purchase-from-an-ad’ experience is simply absurd. An agent plays no role in this transaction: a user sees an ad and clicks...
AppLovin Deploys AI Video Creatives for In-Game Ads
AppLovin launches AI-enabled video creative generation AppLovin is launching AI-enabled video generation to optimize eCommerce ads for in-game environments. By repurposing assets through generative models, the platform addresses the performance gap between social media creatives and full-screen mobile placements. This rollout...
Ad Agencies Must Fill Data Gaps in Early ChatGPT Ads
Two thoughts on reporting from @theinformation that early ChatGPT ad campaigns lacked performance data: - this is to be expected. Any early offering will feature limited functionality. Early adopters should be prepared to fill measurement gaps themselves. - Measuring and credibly asserting...
Platform-Owned Agents Outshine Independent Commerce Bots
The fundamental issue with independent agentic commerce, and what almost certainly led OpenAI to shutter Instant Checkout after just a few months, and Walmart to pivot toward pushing Sparky into other chatbots rather than facilitating direct checkout, is what I've...
OpenAI's “Do Everything” Strategy Sparks Focus Concerns
"Current and former employees said that last year’s “do everything” approach sometimes created a lack of focus, and that it was at times difficult to understand OpenAI’s strategic direction." https://t.co/omLqyiRhtE
Uber Sued over $10M Fraudulent App Install Scheme
Worth noting that Uber sued an app marketing agency in 2019, alleging that it knowingly bought tens of millions of dollars in fraudulent traffic. So I’m not sure Uber ever saw its unit economics defined as unlimited free app installs. https://t.co/sGvPKJdlv2
Criteo CEO Discusses AI‑Powered RecSys, Automation, OpenAI Deal
This week on the Mobile Dev Memo podcast, I interview Criteo’s CEO about the company’s RecSys system for retail use cases, its Criteo GO automation platform, and its recently-announced partnership with OpenAI. https://t.co/Tuy7wrnLJg
Meta Licensing Gemini Could Make It World’s Most Used AI
If it is true that Meta licenses Gemini to power MetaAI, and I find it somewhat dubious, it would be an incredible coup for Google and give Gemini a credible claim as the world’s most scaled model by consumer use...
Big Platforms Already Embrace Agentic Commerce and Advertising
Platforms and native agent proximity One can’t consider the future of agentic commerce, or agentic advertising, as a competition between nimble upstarts and inflexible, staid incumbents: the largest platforms have embraced agentic interaction models. If you believe that consumers will demand...
Meta Adds DST Fees; Advertisers Must Manually Adjust Budgets
Meta announced today that it will begin applying "location fees" to ads run in countries that charge digital service taxes (DST) on digitally fulfilled ads. Those countries are: Austria: 5% France: 3% Italy: 3% Turkey: 5% UK: 2% Notably, automated campaign budget allocation logic will not take...
U.S. Leads Global Oil Production with 21% Share
The United States is the world’s #1 producer of oil, contributing 21% of the world’s share in 2024, nearly double that of the #2 producer, Saudi Arabia (11.2%). https://t.co/Vzb3UVlW1D
Compute Limits or Surplus Define Meta's Ad Revenue Future
A few weeks ago, I wrote about Meta's investments into GEM and its LLaTTE architecture, and last week, I wrote about Meta's use of LLMs for ad re-ranking (prioritizing the ad shown from a candidate set). Both of these approaches are...
Google Revamps Play Store Fees and Sideloading Rules
Google is overhauling its policies on alternative app store sideloading and in-app billing, as well as its fee structure in Google Play. These changes will be rolled out starting in June. https://t.co/zaX2n1nIq0
Apple Could Monetize Default AI Like Safari Search
AI Tracking Transparency In November, Apple updated its App Store developer guidelines to require developers to obtain affirmative, opt-in consent from users before sending “personal data” to third-party AI services. A pertinent question is: if Apple is able to dissuade developers...
Language Feedback Can Substitute Rewards in Reinforcement Learning
Can natural language replace scalar rewards in reinforcement learning? A new paper from researchers at Stanford, UMD, Netflix, and Microsoft Research presents a formal structure for utilizing natural language as feedback in a reinforcement learning setting they call Learning from Language...
