May roundup of everything you may have missed…

Author

Lillian Wanninger
June 08, 2024

Episodes in the Spotlight:

A conversation with Snap’s President of Americas, Patrick Harris

Listen to this episode on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get podcasts

For over a decade, Patrick played a crucial role in transforming Meta's advertising business into the powerhouse it is today. After joining Snap in 2023, Patrick is now the President of Americas, reshaping agency, advertiser, and partner relationships to drive business growth.

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What a unique opportunity to join a company that is about to go on a massive turn-around journey with a CFO and Co-Founder who have the willingness to dig into the details and make changes.

Patrick shares insights on how his parents influenced his worldview and leadership style, his career beginnings, and why he chose to join Snap for his next act. He discusses his focus at Snap on ad tech improvements, strengthening relationships, and expanding partnerships. He also explains why the market is starting to recognize Snap's ability to deliver value for businesses of all sizes.

Snap Mafia with Rajan Vaish, founder of Easel and former research scientists at Snap

Listen to this episode on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get podcasts

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Snap Research was a very special place, it was an incubator…it was kind of like we were working on different startup ideas.

Rajan Vaish, CEO of Easel AI, created an AI-driven app for iMessage that lets users express themselves with AI avatars. Before founding Easel he was a senior research scientist at Snap Research's HCI Group, focusing on AR, smart glasses, and social computing. During our conversation, Rajan discusses transitioning from academia to Snap, the importance of a research mindset for founders, and lays out some of his predictions about the future of social platforms and the role of generative AI.

Check out some of our other recent episodes you won’t want to miss!

Mike Dupree, CRO of Teads, on moving from walled garden to open web

“When you're making a career decision on something don't run from a situation, run toward something...if you run towards something, you're doing it with purpose. ”

3 things to know:

  • Apple has forced the acceptance of a modeled approach to attribution and brands are starting to get comfortable with MMMs and proxies to performance.

  • CTV growth is going to require a consolidation of buying tools and continued innovation of ad formats.

  • Success across CTV, social, web, etc still comes back to the basics: Can you tell a story? Can you help brands tell their story? Can you prove that it works?

The business of audio with Bryan Barletta, Founder of Sounds Profitable

“I think they [Spotify] accelerated our space about five years. I think they bought us a lot of information and they figured out very quickly what would or wouldn't work. I think if it would have dragged out, it would have been a real bloodbath.”

3 things to know:

  • Podcasting is a top-heavy industry. The top 200 categories drive the majority of the industry's activity.

  • Podcasting has become more accessible, but growth lacks a clear inflection point, and many creators still struggle with advertising and promotion strategies.

  • Despite Spotify podcasting not looking like a home run, they’ve highlighted challenges and accelerated innovation and growth for the entire industry.

Why the App Economy is Booming with the President of AppsFlyer, Brian Quinn.

“In 2019 the average time spent in an app in the US was 3 hours a day, and now that is over 5 hours a day…a lot of the behaviors and habits that developed during Covid have remained.”

3 things to know:

  • There are more than 5.7M consumer apps and people spend 5+ hours every day using apps.

  • Global ATT opt-in rates are on the rise, up 10% YoY showing a willingness of consumers to consent to sharing data.

  • Mobile companies have figured out how to operate without identifiers, so cookie deprecation is going to lead to more investment and growth in mobile.

Amazon’s $50B Ad Business Still Hasn’t Scratched the Surface with Daniel Tejada

“Amazon is still, in my opinion, like a baby in terms of its ad business from where it's going to be down the line…I've seen almost 100% growth on their ad business every year for a long time.”

3 things to know:

  • One of the biggest areas for future growth is non-endemic advertisers embracing Amazon ads.

  • There is still a wide gap between efficient and non-efficient advertiser, providing an opportunity to achieve outsized returns.

  • Product discovery is happening on Amazon and ad platforms like Meta are leaning in to use their ads to drive customers and sales directly to Amazon.

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Wishing you all the best and have an amazing weekend.