‘Frogs in the boiling water’: The Amazon-FTC case and the myth of ad auction transparency

For digital ad buyers, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s lawsuit against Amazon’s on-platform search advertising business appears to be a tempest in a teapot. Marketers have not been panicking and haranguing their agencies for information on the e-commerce giant’s shifty ad auction dynamics, according to agency executives.

“No one has necessarily come to me concerned or asking hard-hitting questions. It’s still business as usual overall,” said one agency executive.

“Business as usual” is an apt description for Amazon’s auction dynamics under FTC scrutiny. What the FTC has flagged Amazon for seems to be a gross violation of digital advertising’s auction standards, but in reality it appears to be more a latent confirmation of how opaque these auctions have become.

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Media Buying Briefing: Back-to-school brand spending on TikTok rises

Advertisers bumped up their TikTok spending 20-40% over the summer months as they worked to tempt consumers to open up wallets during the annual back-to-school sales period.

“From July and August year over year, TikTok spend is up about 20%,” said Jack Johnston, vp, social innovation and growth at Tinuiti, without providing exact figures. TikTok’s share of overall social spending by Tinuiti clients increased 55% between July and August, he added.

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