Ligatus inventory now accessible via programmatic

Since last month it is possible to buy Ligatus inventory via programmatic. The sales house gives the opportunity of using different private deals depending on  the needs of each campaign or advertiser.

Ligatus, that offers solutions via its Native Advertising network, makes three types of deals available:

• Placements = In-feed placements (In-Article/Homepage/Newsletter) with exclusivity
• Objectives = Specially designed for either branding campaigns or high Click-to-Rate goals. The ads will be shown on the most visible placements of Ligatus network. Video deals are also included for “engage” and non-intrusive objectives.
• Affinity = Different segments are available : Gender, Sport, Auto, Lifestyle, Entertainment, or B2B to name a few.

What do we think? Having access to Ligatus inventory via programmatic is a good new for advertisers and experts. Programmatic allows higher flexibility for campaign optimizations and the budget constraints are less important. Space has been running several tests recently to assess performances and targeting possibilities. First impressions are positive.

Skynet closes the competition for the Salon Auto Pack

On October 17th, the display & video experts in charge of  automotive brands had to prepare for a special moment in the year and determining for the next Brussels Motor Show campaign : the booking for the Skynet Salon Auto Pack (official Febiac partner) who has the exclusive sale of this so coveted site during these few weeks of January.

In the past years, Skynet had set up a strict system "First in first served" that all the agencies had to send their mail for 10am, before your mail is not considering because it is too early, after ... you may be on the waiting list.

This year the competition was tight and as always in that case, there are winners… and the ones that win less.

In our opinion, this process may not be optimal, but it is a unique moment in the year for automotive customers and their experts.

Shazam, now an Apple subsidiary , to become ad-free

September 2018: Apple finalized the acquisition of Shazam, one of the most popular music apps, used by hundreds of millions of users around the world.

After almost a year of several analyses requested by EU, concerned about how other music-streaming services — Spotify and Deezer for instance, which are headquartered in the EU — might fare if Shazam were to introduce exclusive features with Apple Music. The EU has finally decided that this acquisition would not reduce competition in the digital music streaming market.

As of 2014, Proximus Skynet Advertising was the advertising sales house for Shazam in Belgium. 

Soon, the app will offer an ad-free experience to all users. This means that the advertising market, advertisers and agency will have to find an alternative for their campaign aimed at young people to reach them effectively.

Youtube stops the retargeting of video viewers for display campaigns

Effective Sep 24th, Youtube has disabled the opportunity to build audiences based on exposure in display campaigns. Note that this does not apply to video campaigns.

As a solution display campaigns might be retargeted based on organic sources (such as clicks on brand website) or even on not Trueview video ads, for instance planned in the open exchange system or via Teads. Of course, this will not provide brands with the same reach levels as Youtube does.

Youtube Music also in Belgium

Youtube Music is about to be  active in Belgium as well. This new streaming service will have two possible entry points, either free or paid. The latter will be ad-free for 9,99 € per month (same price as for Spotify premium and Apple). Youtube Music consists of an app that will first be based on videos you may have liked on Youtube video. The algorithm will then learn and adapt favorites on Youtube Music based on specific listening habits. Purpose is also to propose recommendations based among others on geolocation. It will also enable “Google search” functionalities to retrieve any music number that you may want, even when you do not know the title

For perspective, paid streaming in Belgium generated 29.7 million € turnover in 2017. According to the Global Web Index, the most popular services in Belgium is Spotify (25.5% of 16-64 years), followed by Google Play Music (9.4%) and Sound Cloud (6.7%). Google Play Music is the predecessor of YT Music, and will go on anyway.