The 10 things in advertising you need to know today
1. Google is testing a tool that lets brands and public figures publish directly to search results. Earlier this year, Google launched a new tool to let presidential candidates publish posts about their views, which is now being expanded to a select group of small businesses.
2. Facebook wants you to be able to get your news from Messenger. Facebook plans to announce a way for news publishers to automatically send users content.
3. A developer said Adblock Plus used a "ridiculous" trademark complaint to get Apple to remove his ad blocker from the App Store. Apple removed Magic Adblock from the App Store after Adblock Plus parent company Eyeo complained the ad blocker infringed its registered trademarks.
4. The world's biggest advertising company said these are the 10 key global market trends affecting businesses right now. WPP shared two interesting slides on the biggest business trends during its fourth-quarter earnings presentation on Friday.
5. WPP also said If AOL bought Yahoo, it would have spent $750 million on its ads in 2015. Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP, said that the merged company could become the advertising holding group's third-biggest internet advertising investment, behind Google and Facebook.
6. Going private could save Yahoo the grief of the spotlight, but it won't save the company. A slew of private-equity firms are sniffing around Yahoo, eager to help the company go private.
7. Twitter's stock rebounded by more than 40 percent in the past three weeks. The company's stock returned to the $20 level on Friday and is currently trading at around $19.
8. Republican frontrunner Donald Trump is in eighth place in the political ad spend rankings. Jeb Bush, who suspended his campaign, spent the most on ads, reports AdAge.
9. Adidas is tracking private communications to become the "most personal brand." The sports brand is using WhatsApp to build hyper-local communities in cities across the world, reports The Drum.
10. The Financial Times is making its paywall leakier. The business newspaper is now experimenting with Google's Accelerated Mobile Pages and Apple News, and it will try Facebook's Instant Articles in April, reports Digiday.