The Big Story: Strange New World

We take Google’s unstoppable growth for granted. And yet, on Monday, it might not have stopped, but it certainly slowed – dropping from 28% in Q1 2018 to 17% a year later.

Seventeen percent growth isn’t bad for most companies, but it’s worrying for Google. And it’s still not clear exactly what happened.

This week on “The Big Story,” which was recorded live Tuesday at AdExchanger’s PROGRAMMATIC I/O San Francisco conference, the team tries to make sense of Google’s disappointing earnings.

Regardless of whether this decline is an anomaly or a sign of things to come, it’s happening during a fraught time for advertising. Consumers have greater awareness of the privacy they give up when they use online tools, and US and EU regulators are exhibiting more scrutiny.

And while companies are tightening their data practices, they’re also more cognizant of the need to harness that data, hence holding companies, such as IPG and Publicis Groupe, making big plays for Acxiom and Epsilon, respectively. Even brands are buying in, with major marketers like McDonald’s and Nike having recently purchased startups that handle consumer analytics.

As advertisers find themselves in a world undergoing immense transformation, the entire team this week takes a look at what’s going on and the challenges and opportunities cresting the horizon.

This post was syndicated from Ad Exchanger.