Salesforce strikes deal to acquire Slack for $27.7 billion
Cloud services firm Salesforce will pay $27.7 billion to acquire online workplace communication service company Slack, a move seen as likely aiming to bring tighter integration between the two platforms, Salesforce recently announced. Ars Technica
Google Search Podcast Carousel Updated With Larger Graphics
Google has tested significantly larger podcast carousel images within search results, a move that if rolled out would provide marketers greater podcast visibility opportunities in Google search results, and signify the expanding role that podcasts have held over the past year. Search Engine Roundtable
Report: Advertising Bound For ‘K-Shaped’ Recovery
While traditional media advertising spending has fallen by nearly a third in the third quarter of 2020, digital advertising has been the strongest segment, rebounding to rates roughly the same as pre-pandemic levels, and is also set to account for 55 percent of all U.S. ads tracked, according to recently-released GroupM survey data. Advertising Specialty Institute
Are Host-Read Podcast Ads More Effective?
62 percent of consumers say they recall brands in podcast ads when they are not read by a podcast’s host, while host-read ads saw a 71 percent recall rate — one of several findings of interest to digital marketers utilizing podcasts in newly-released Nielsen report data. MarketingProfs
Twitter Is Looking to Re-Open its Account Verification Process, Seeks Feedback on New Guidelines
Twitter will implement a new method for account verification, the social media platform recently announced. The new verification system could instill greater trust in brand Twitter accounts, and the firm said that it was presently seeking input on its forthcoming verification guidelines. Social Media Today
COVID-19 hit the global ad market for more than $63bn in 2020 [WARC report.]
The global advertising industry can expect to see some $63.4 billion in lost spending during 2020 due to the pandemic, with online video advertising spending a lone bright star in recently-released WARC forecast data, expected to climb nearly eight percent this year and an additional 12.8 percent in 2021. Mobile Marketing
The Biggest Benefits of Marketing Revenue Attribution
When it comes to linking marketing efforts with sought-after goals in marketing attribution efforts, marketers say that quality data is the top barrier, while better decision-making was the leading benefit, according to recently-released revenue attribution report data. MarketingProfs
Total Marketing Spending Projected To Fall To Pre-2018 Levels, Ad Budgets Recede Even Faster
U.S. local advertising spending will see levels in 2021 lower than those reached in 2019, with a full recovery not expected until 2022, with digital, interactive, and mobile the only segments expected to grow during 2021, according to newly-released research data. MediaPost
Reddit reveals daily active user count for the first time: 52 million
Social news aggregator and discussion platform Reddit has for the first time shared its active daily user tally, measuring 52 million, which represented growth of 44 percent year-over-year in October, the firm recently announced — greater than Twitter’s 29 percent, Facebook’s 12 percent, and Snap’s 18 percent. The Verge
Half of B2B Marketers Say They’ve Recently Felt Burnt Out
50 percent of B2B marketers have seen burnout during the past four months and seen a negative blurring of professional and personal life — two findings of interest to digital marketers in recently-released survey data. MarketingCharts
ON THE LIGHTER SIDE:
A lighthearted look at “lead generation and gated content” by Marketoonist Tom Fishburne — Marketoonist
These are YouTube’s top-trending videos of 2020 — Fast Company
Alex Honnold Completes First Free Solo Ascent of PS5 — The Hard Times
TOPRANK MARKETING & CLIENTS IN THE NEWS:
- Lee Odden — The B2B Forum 2020 Edition of Marketing Smarts [Podcast] — MarketingProfs
- TopRank Marketing — 12 Crucial Do’s and Don’ts for B2B Influencer Marketing — Webbiquity
- Lee Odden — 10 Examples of Great Content Marketing for Investment Banking Firms — Murry Dare
Have you found your own favorite B2B marketing story from the past week of industry news? Please let us know in the comments below.
Thank you for taking the time to join us for our weekly edition of the B2B marketing news, and we hope that you’ll return again next Friday for another full array of the most relevant B2B and digital marketing industry news. In the meantime, you can follow us at @toprank on Twitter for even more timely daily news.
