What you need to know in advertising today
Google wants to make it easier for brands to understand its complex advertising ecosystem, so the company is overhauling how its ad products and services are organized and sold.
At a press event on Tuesday, Sridhar Ramaswamy, Google's SVP of ads, announced a new structure for its ads business. Google's extensive list of ad offerings-which spans search, display, video and app-install ads-is hard for advertisers, publishers, and agencies to navigate, he said.
"The opportunity [with advertising] has never been greater but it's also never been more complicated," he said. "It is harder for advertisers, publishers, and agencies that help them choose the right products for their business and know how to use them."
To read more about Google's ad revamp, click here.
In other news:
'A lot of publishers have started to lose their brand recognition': The Daily Beast believes its most obsessed readers will pay for special access. The Daily Beast is the latest publisher to roll out a paid membership offering, joining an ever-expanding list of publishers exploring a subscription model, including The New York Times, Vanity Fair and Bloomberg.
Facebook has reversed its ban on cryptocurrency ads after less than 6 months. Companies can submit an application form to be approved for advertising by Facebook, but ads that promote binary options and initial coin offerings are still prohibited.
Spotify names Dawn Ostroff chief content officer, reports Variety. Ostroff, who was previously president of entertainment at Conde Nast, will be based at Spotify's New York office and will lead all aspects of its content partnerships across music, audio and video.
Sonic has a new weapon to compete with McDonald's and Chick-fil-A. Sonic is rolling out mobile ordering across the United States - and it could give the chain a key advantage against drive-thru rivals.
Facebook abandons its plans to build giant drones and lays off 16 employees. Facebook is scrapping its efforts to build its passenger jet-sized drones that provide wireless internet to the developing world, and laying off staff - a major retreat from what had been an ambitious and high-profile initiative at the company.
Check out Business Insider's annual list of The 25 most innovative CMOs in the world in 2018.