Snap’s Predicament Has A Bright Side; Europe’s War On Silicon Valley

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here.

Snap’s OK

Instagram may have run away with Snap’s stories format, but – consolation prize! – Snap is benefiting from all the exposure. According to Digiday, Snap story ads are now seen as a great value, selling at CPMs of just $1.88 versus as much as $19 for Instagram story ads. Not only does Snap have lower CPMs and CPIs, but it’s providing solid ROI and conversion rates, buyers said. And as Snap improves its measurement capabilities with the Snap pixel and its self-serve buying options, advertisers are warming up to the platform. “Snap now has the more efficient pricing narrative,” said Jon Morgenstern, VP of paid media at VaynerMedia. More.

A Fine Time

European regulators are after Facebook and Google. On Tuesday, Facebook was slapped with a $660,000 fine for allowing Cambridge Analytica to harvest user data from its platform without consent, The New York Times reports. It’s small peanuts for Facebook but the maximum fine allowable by the British Information Commissioner’s Office. Meanwhile, Google faces a multibillion-dollar fine from the EU commission in Brussels for abusing the dominance of Android on mobile phones by forcing manufacturers to pre-install Google apps on their phones. The case is aimed at Google’s monolithic ad business, which is growing faster on mobile than desktop, The Wall Street Journal reports. But Google’s problems don’t end in Europe: In the US, senators are questioning Google parent Alphabet about a potential breach of data privacy on Gmail. WSJ has more on that.