Weekly Roundup – 15th to 20th April 2024

Top 5 Trending News of the Week 

• JPMorgan Chase launches their Digital Media Business 
• Meta vs. EU Privacy Watchdog Drop Targeted Ads
• TikTok Facts in 2024
• Google Ads are now smarter with AI.
• AI: Reality and Myth?
• Elon Musk’s upcoming AI stock

The roller coaster of a week is about to end, and we are back with another dose of selective news that will leave you feeling wow-ed, either by excitement or surprise!!

And keeping with our tradition, we also bring you the latest and hottest news from the stock market. This time it has all three: the Internet, the Blockchain, and the AI!

Keep reading and enjoy your weekend!

Wildnet Technologies

JPMorgan Chase launches their Digital Media Business

Chase Media Solutions, which is JPMorgan’s latest business arm, will now allow advertisers to target almost 80 million customers on Wall Street.

This is the biggest news, as it links advertisers (advertising from infinite brands) to millions of new financial customers. This is going to change the whole marketing game. The targeting of these ads will be done based on the spending data provided by JPMorgan.

Chase Media Solutions will combine retail media networks with its own transaction data, making the targeting much more accurate. It will be a 30-day campaign initially, with a focus on,

• Blue Bottle Coffee (unique coffee roaster),
• Whataburger (a fast-food restaurant), and
• Air Canada (a budget airline).

All this was made possible due to JPMorgan Chase’s acquisition of ‘Figg’, which was a card-linked marketing platform, two years ago.

Meta vs. EU Privacy Watchdog: Drop Targeted Ads 

Meta and others were instructed to render their services (without the targeted ads) for free, i.e., no charges for their ad-free subscription, by Europe’s or EU Privacy Watchdog as per their General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) law.

This happened because Meta launched its ad-free subscription (on Instagram and Facebook) that is paid last November in Europe, triggering criticism. They justified it by balancing free service with advertisement revenues.

The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) was asked by Germany, the Netherlands, and Norway to share their views on user consents that infringe upon their privacy. This consent is mandatory, as per EU privacy laws.

EDPB, which helps in maintaining EU data and privacy laws, along with the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), which is the EU privacy watchdog, suggested having a third alternative that will,

• Allow some advertising.
• But no personal data would be used to target the audience.

This was suggested as many users might not understand the full implications of the data privacy choices on social media, which are set by default for them.

Giving just two choices (paid & ad-free, free & ads) may ruin the significance of the valid user consent required as per privacy rules in Europe. 

TikTok Facts in 2024 

The TikTok app, or Douyin (in China), traversed from 100 million users in a year (in 2016) to 1 billion users in a month (in 2024). How did it happen?

All this happened because the parent company of TikTok, ByteDance, brought two similar functioning apps (music based content) from the west (Musical.ly) and east (Douyin) together. Then they advertised it everywhere they could find young people. 

Random facts about TikTok 

• Total users (TikTok) stand at 1.218 billion
• Captured age group: 18 to 30
• Growth rate: globally (2018–2020) 1157.8%, and in the USA (2018–2023) 1239.3%
• 3% of the USA’s social media users use TikTok
• The average American adult spends 55.8 minutes, or roughly an hour, on TikTok every day

Fun facts about TikTok

• #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt garnered 7 billion views and motivated Gen Zs (with a spending power of USD 200 billion) to buy things.
• “Get Hype” trend is top trending on TikTok with 540k views.
• Semrush and Shopify are using TikTok features like TikTok Shop and more to,

– connect with their audience, and 
– boost brand awareness.

All of this makes TikTok the best place to do B2B marketing via pipiads, TikTok ads, and features like TikTok Lite and SoundOn at your disposal! 

Google Ads become smarter with AI

Google Ads, or responsive search ads (RSAs), modify themselves with AI now to change their headings and descriptions. They do it to align with the behavioral patterns displayed in the search queries.

It means Google ads will analyze user behavior and make sure that they connect seamlessly with the users.

Normally, two headlines are required per responsive search ad, but sometimes even one headline can get better results. Thus, if there is a prediction by the AI that one headline would be better than two, Google ads would opt for one headline!

Google also launched Performance Max, or PMax, and integrated it with Gemini AI to facilitate improvements in the quality of Google ads. PMax is also available for Facebook ads by using the ads manager.

As per the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), digital ads’ revenue grew 7.3% and reached a whopping USD 225 billion in 2023. In short, digital marketing is the future, and Google ads are helping it!

AI: Reality and Myth?

The world is divided into two thought processes. One chain-of-thought states that AI (artificial intelligence) is helping us in creating, marketing, managing, and supporting various products and/or services. Whereas the other one portrays our fear of being replaced by the AI!

This dilemma is quite an elephant in the room. It needs to be resolved once and for all!

Technology is helping shape the world as it is. Deep fakes (for example) use technology to make artificial media that have video, text, image, or voice created (full or semi) by AI algorithms. These deep fakes can be used to replicate an individual for right and wrong reasons.

In the marketing domain, it is vital to stay updated with the latest trends. Let us understand how digital marketing would fare with and without AI.

Thus, better results are easily achievable with AI; we just need to know how and when to use it and be transparent about its usage.

So, instead of worrying about the myths that come with AI, focus on its positives, become better, and market better. Being better gets you more Business!  

Elon Musk’s “Project Apollo”: Latest Internet, AI, and Blockchain Stock 

Project Apollo is the latest venture that Elon Musk has cooked up in his tech kitchen. It will be launched on the stock market before June 30th, 2024.

Why is it worth your time?

• A mix of the Internet, Blockchain, and AI.
• Fastest ever compared to other internet companies, as per Elon Musk
• Price per share: USD 1 or less

Interesting facts (about investing in early stocks)

• Facebook was launched in 2012, and by 2022 -> investors could convert their USD 5,000 into USD 130,000.
• Google was launched in 2004, and by 2022 -> investors could convert their USD 5,000 into USD 305,700.
• Amazon launched in 1997, and by 2023 -> investors could convert USD 1000 into USD 2.1 million.

Thus, a startup by Elon Musk (Project Apollo) is worth investing in, as it is the culmination of the top three technologies of our time and affordable enough to take risks!

This brings our weekly roundup to an end!

We sincerely hope that our effort to share the news (that might have missed you) has been fruitful. Our weekly news roundup ensures that you have covered the week holistically. The knowledge we share is free and bestows a chance to arm yourselves with valuable tidbits in a simple language!

If you liked this, we have more for you!!

Our weekly newsletter brings out rare opportunities for our thought leadership to share their two cents on the latest technology trends in verticals like digital marketing, white label services, staff augmentation, design & development, AI, blockchain, and more.

Newsletter: Wildnet’s Digital Yum

Previous Weekly Roundup (in case you missed it)

Until next week, Tech Geeks!

Wildnet Technologies