On this week's episode of The MadTech Podcast, Vincent Flood, founder and editor-in-chief at VideoWeek, joins John Still and Lindsay Rowntree to discuss Tencent bringing ads to their short-form video service, video staying up as WARC revise their ad spend forecast downwards, and Google's new cross-device SDK.

Tencent explore advertising within short-form video

Could the move into short-form video advertising give Tencent a seemingly much-needed boost? How do you think they will fare against incumbents Douyin and Kuaishou?

Tech titan Tencent has begun running ads on their short-form video service. The Chinese powerhouse first introduced adverts to the offering, which is available within the company’s hugely popular WeChat app, in July, and has said that the move could make the service a “substantial” source of future revenue.

The bullish outlook comes despite Tencent facing difficulties, with the business reporting their first ever year-on-year quarterly decline in revenue last month as they contend with tighter regulation and a Chinese economy left insecure following the re-emergence of COVID-19. The company’s online ad revenue dropped by 18% year-on-year in Q2, and their gaming division also saw a fall over the period.

WARC lower global ad spend predictions, but forecasts video streaming to remain strong

Do you think AVOD will continue to see growth?

WARC have revised their predictions for global ad spend growth in 2022, lowering their estimation to an 8.3% rise. The figure, which represents USD $67.3bn (~£57.8bn), marks a 4.3% drop from the forecast released by the advertising research firm last December. Spend estimates for 2023 have also been revised downwards. 

Whilst social media stands to slow thanks to changes to Apple’s tracking changes, growth in video streaming ad spend is expected to outpace the rest of the sector (up 8.4% in 2022 and 7% in 2023). WARC anticipate that AVOD ad spend will rise to nearly USD $65bn (~£55.9bn) by 2023, growing 8% in 2022 and 7% the following year. Unlike their competitors, YouTube will see growth wane over the period as a result of Apple’s aforementioned privacy changes. BVOD and linear spend are also expected to see ad spend diminish.

Google to launch new cross-device SDK

If Google’s ambition for this SDK is fully realised, what impact could it have on the app ecosystem?

Google are set to release a new software development kit (SDK) aimed at helping developers create Android apps that can connect across devices. The cross-device SDK will use Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and ultra-wideband to facilitate multi-device connectivity, and will enable developers to discover devices in close proximity, make secure connections between devices, and deliver the same app experience across numerous devices.

The new SDK, which commentators note is similar to Google’s existing Nearby Share service, is currently only available in developer preview and only operative on Android phones and tablets. However, Google have said that their aim is to make the toolkit accessible on “other Android surfaces and non-Android OSs”.