Mobile dominates online ad spends, Google Assistant’s SDK release and more: mobile buzz of the week

The lines between digital, mobile, technology and apps are blurring in today’s world. We at Robosoft are keen followers of developments in this arena. Here’s a quick summary of what’s buzzing:

Google Assistant releases developer view of its Google Assistant SDK

Last week, Google in its blog announced the release of developer preview of its Google Assistant SDK. This SDK will let developers build their own hardware prototypes that include Google Assistant’s AI technology, like a self-built robot or a voice-enabled smart mirror and will also allow interaction with Google Assistant from any platform.

The SDK includes a gRPC API, a Python open source client to handle authentication and access to the API, samples and documentation. It will allow the capture of an audio query, for e.g.” what’s on my calendar?” send it to the Google Assistant Service and receive an audio response.

This move from Google has come after Amazon’s release of the SDK for hardware and software that enables its Echo devices’ voice recognition. With Google releasing the SDK for Google Assistant, both the players are trying to expand the presence of their virtual assistants in the market.

Right now, there are 4 major players in the digital assistant space – Amazon’s Alexa, Google Assistant, Apple’s Siri, Microsoft’s Cortana. Release of virtual assistant SDKs by both Amazon and Google will open up whole new possibilities for developers to build their own smart devices like Google Home.

In a bid to boost its ad revenue, Snapchat will now allow its advertising partners in U.S., U.K., Australia and Canada to sell sponsored geofilters along with video ads. Opening up the geofilter format will also lead to a wider adoption of the format by advertisers. Currently the pricing of the geofilters is based on duration and location.

According to a TechCrunch report Snapchat generates $360 million of revenue from selling location based geofilters or photofilters. Last month Snaphat acquired the geofilter patent from Mobli an Instagram competitor, until then it did not hold any patent for the platform.

With the expansion of the geofilters, Snapchat will open up more inventories to 3rd party sellers. This will also lead to a more competitive market space. With Instagram taking share of Snapchat’s user base, this move by Snapchat is an attempt to sustain its revenue and carve out its niche in the cluttered social space.

Mobile dominates online ad spends: an IAB report

According to Interactive Advertising Bureau, the total digital ad spends in 2016 reached $72.5 Billion. Compared to 2015, the ad spends in 2016 grew by 25%. Mobile advertising contributed a whopping 51% to these spends. The IAB report reinstates the fact that marketers are increasingly realizing that the future of digital is going to be mobile.

We have already seen numerous mobile formats including 360-degree video, live videos etc become popular last year. With Mobile fuelling the internet economy, we can expect to see a proliferation of innovative content and formats this year as well.

It is also interesting to note that the Digital Audio platform, which hit $1.1 billion, was measured for the first time in last year’s report. The revenue generated from Digital Audio platform, is indicative of the growth in the evolution of newer formats which will enable marketers to reach their audience at multiple touch points.