News in brief: Google Unveils Curation Capability; IAB Europe Report Uncovers Latest Programmatic Attitudes; New York Times Subscriber Growth Slows

Google Unveils Curation Capability

Google has unveiled new curation capabilities across Google Ad Manager in order to streamline media buying for advertisers. By allowing publishers to share first-party signals within its programmatic marketplace, advertisers will be able to curate ad placements from various auctions/sellers, veering away from the traditional approach which sees targeting occur solely through programmatic bidders. Google outlines the benefits of the new service, including saving time by applying data segment targeting to single deal ID for all DSPs integrated with agency deals, as well as more accurate forecasting. Google Ad Manager will also handle billing, taking away the need for agencies to manage payments to data providers and inventory curators. 

IAB Europe Report Uncovers Latest Programmatic Attitudes

IAB Europe has published its latest Attitudes to Programmatic Advertising Report, which aims to show how programmatic advertising attitudes, adoption and strategies are evolving across the region. Programmatic continues to thrive, with agencies reporting a 68% increase in programmatic buying. The report highlights that the ability to discover audiences is pushing advertisers to consider increasing their investment in programmatic, while the main driver for investment continues to be its cost efficiency. Analysing the industry’s barriers to programmatic investment, the biggest was the quality of media, ranked top by 31% of advertisers, 41% of agencies and 30% of publishers. Looking at measurement, quality and interaction metrics were ranked as the most effective for advertisers to track their programmatic campaigns. 

New York Times Subscriber Growth Slows

Turning our attention to the latest in publishing, the New York Times has passed 11 million subscribers. It reported a steady growth in digital subscriptions throughout the third quarter of the year, adding roughly 260,000 paying customers – however, this fell short of some analysts’ expectations. In comparison, 300,000 subscribers were added during the previous quarter. On a more positive note, the publication turned a profit for The Athletic for the first time since it acquired the sports site in 2022.