Marketecture: Get Smart. Fast.
Episode 198: Alex Cone from Google on Their New Data Set CrUX, Which Really Should be Called CUXr
6 Nov · 48 min
Key points
- Google adds ad load metrics to CrUX to steer ad demand toward less ad-heavy publishers.
- Jounce finds all four ad load metrics correlate with its conversion score, with performance dropping around 1.2 to 1.3 ads in view.
- Affle acquires Perion for $420m, about one times trailing revenue, in a mobile ad roll-up.
Google adds ad load metrics to its CrUX data set
Funding and deals
- Perion. Ad tech firm acquired by India's Affle for $420m, roughly one times its trailing revenue, with $200m of cash on its books.
- WR Labs. Rembrandt, an AI virtual product placement company, merges with Whisper World to form WR Labs, going for scale and a possible IPO.
Guest interviews
- Alex Cone, Group Product Manager at Google Chrome. Core Web Vitals track how fast and responsive a page feels, and a third metric covers layout stability. The CrUX report covers about 18m origins, free via API and a monthly BigQuery drop, and now adds ad load metrics that Jounce found correlate with conversions, with performance dropping past 1.2 to 1.3 ads in view. Cone says the aim is to reward less overwhelming sites with more demand, and that two metrics came from Sincera's feedback.
News
- OpenAI said to take 20% of Google searches. An OpenAI executive told Alex Kantrowitz that OpenAI accounts for 20% of Google's search volume. Paparo calls that eye-popping and part of the bear case against Google.
- AppLovin revenue jumps 55% to record $2.18bn. Revenue rose 55% to a record $2.18bn with a $90bn market cap as it pushes into connected TV. Ari Paparo credits its performance-first model, closer to Meta than classic ad tech, for the run.
- Reddit to require login as ad revenue jumps. Search referrals fell by a million a week in October, so Reddit will test requiring login in some markets, which protects first-party data from AI crawlers. Ad revenue grew 54% and it joins the S&P 500 in Q3.
- Open web ad tech earnings slide. Criteo fell 12% and Teads 37%, leaving Teads' stock at 19 cents. Paparo says the more exposure a company has to web advertising the worse its earnings, while connected TV is the open growth area.
- ChatGPT reported to work with Magnite and PubMatic. The Information's report lifted both stocks. Paparo reads it as an API integration for direct demand, similar to how StackAdapt and Criteo bid, not a transformation of demand into text. Franchi expects ChatGPT advertising to matter eventually.
- Magnite revenue rises 14% on CTV strength. Revenue reached $204m with connected TV up 39%, a bright spot in a weak earnings week for ad tech. Paparo keeps returning to CTV as the growth area advertisers love.
- MNTN grows 15% but loses its CEO. Revenue grew 15%, but its CEO is out amid talk of an execution crisis and the stock was hit hard. Paparo says MNTN's political ad exposure made that growth disappointing after the election.