Digital Video Ad Spend to Grow 16% in 2024; UK Watchdog to Investigate Amazon and Microsoft’s AI Relationships; Meta’s Ad Tracking Under EU Scrutiny

by Aimee Newell Tarín on 29th Apr 2024 in News

On today’s news digest: Social Video to Grow 16% in 2024; UK Watchdog to Investigate Amazon and Microsoft’s AI Relationships; Meta’s Ad Tracking Under EU Scrutiny

Total digital video ad spend is expected to grow 16% this year, according to IAB’s research. By the end of the year, digital video ad revenues are expected to reach USD$36bn (£28.77). Meanwhile, social video is on track for its second year of 20% year-over-year growth and CTV’s is expected to grow by 12%. Looking back over the past four years, ad spend share has shifted by nearly 20% from linear TV to digital video – which now gives it 52% of the total market share.

With antitrust alert at an all-time high, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is launching inquiries into whether the close relationships between certain big tech and startup companies fall within the scope of its merger rules. The companies coming under scrutiny are Microsoft, Amazon, Mistral AI and Anthropic. This follows a report published by the CMA, which outlines key risks to effective competition in the markets for AI Foundation Models.

Meta is not safe from scrutiny either: its ad tracking business could be facing further investigation from the EU. The region’s privacy laws limit how long people’s data can be used for targeted advertising – this will affect Meta, as its ad tracking business model relies on vast amounts of data which builds profiles of individuals. Now, the EU’s Court of Justice must decide “the extent to which the data retention period and the amount of data processed are justified having regard to the legitimate aim of processing those data for the purposes of personalised advertising.”