Digital Ad Spending Projected to Finally Surpass Offline Spending This Year

Financialnewsmedia.com News Commentary

PALM BEACH, Florida, Oct. 17, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Advertising revenue is extremely important to the internet sector, though reliance on advertising revenue varies among industry participants. Certain Internet marketplaces derive their main revenue from premium postings and commissions from sales on their respective platforms, reducing the importance of advertisements, but other companies that generate revenue by charging users for services (such as SaaS platforms), and media companies charge users for subscription memberships because they offer unique, high-quality content. However, other companies that draw users to their sites such as search engines and gaming sites rely heavily on income from advertising. According to Search Engine Watch, 47% to 64% of total website traffic comes through search engines. This allows search providers to charge vendors for display ad placement or sponsored search results. Active companies in the markets this week include Versus Systems Inc. (CSE: VS) (OTCQB: VRSSF), Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), Avaya Holdings Corp. (NYSE: AVYA), Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), Pinterest, Inc. (NYSE: PINS).

A recent market report from IAB (conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP) contained the following. It said that digital revenues for full year 2018 surpassed $100 billion for the first time and that internet advertising revenues in the United States totaled $107.5 billion for the full year ("FY") of 2018, with Q4 2018 accounting for "approximately $31.4 billion and Q3 2018 accounting for approximately $26.6 billion. Revenues for FY 2018 totaled $19.2 billion (21.8%) higher than in FY 2017 and that advertising revenues delivered on mobile devices totaled $69.9 billion in FY 2018, a 39.7% increase from the prior FY 2017 revenues of $50.1 billion. Advertising delivered on a mobile device now makes up 65.1% of total internet advertising revenues. Advertising revenues from digital video totaled $16.3 billion for FY 2018, up 37% from the prior year. Revenues from digital video now make up more than 15% of total revenues

Versus Systems Inc. (CSE: VS) (OTCQB: VRSSF) BREAKING NEWS: Versus Systems which offers a proprietary in-game prizing and promotions engine, is announcing the launch of its #VersusXP service.

#VersusXP allows any company offering games or other media powered by Versus Systems to create prized campaigns as a real-time response to organic, #hashtag trends and cultural moments. It's first successful campaign was launched following the #FortniteBlackout on Sunday, October 13, 2019 that lasted two days.

"We did not work directly with Epic or Fortnite, but in response to the event, launched a challenge on social media that encouraged those playing the game to launch the game via a platform powered by Versus such as HP's OMEN Command Center," said Christian Miranda, Head of Accounts and Product Integration at Versus. "Once the player watched the black hole for a specific period of time, the players were entered into a sweepstakes". The contest was shared widely online and tweeted by brands such as HP.

It is estimated that approximately 60% of the game's player base joined the challenge, and Versus continuously updated the contest to increase engagement, beginning with a "minutes watched" challenge. Versus later updated it to incorporate the act of opening the game as well. This type of game activity has never been done before

"We live in a real-time society, where the next big thing can launch on social media and reach millions worldwide in minutes. Marketing and PR teams need tools to be able to leverage these global trends quickly," added Miranda. "A traditional sweepstakes can take months to set up - but with Versus' technology we are able to develop and launch these campaigns in a matter of hours.". Read this and more news for Versus Systems at: https://www.financialnewsmedia.com/news-vs/

Other commentary and developments in the markets this week include:

Randall Rothenberg, President and CEO, IAB said: "Surpassing $100 billion in annual revenue is a watershed moment for the digital advertising ecosystem—one built on its power to build direct relationships between brands and today's consumers. Innovative platforms like over-the- top television, podcasts, virtual reality, and augmented reality all have the potential to help marketers forge even stronger ties with audiences, as brands navigate the new 'consumer first' playing field."

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) recently, Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com company, announced that Old Mutual Limited has selected AWS as its preferred cloud provider and will migrate its digital customer platforms, core insurance applications, and product administration systems to the cloud. With the help of AWS's expert professional services organization, the company will migrate over 1,000 applications to AWS, shutting down its data centers by early 2022. AWS's unmatched functionality, performance, reliable global infrastructure, and security will help Old Mutual modernize its technology infrastructure, rapidly innovate, and enhance the insurance and banking experience for customers, while also improving intermediary and employee interactions.

Old Mutual is integrating AWS's analytics and machine learning (ML) services into its business processes to drive greater insights to help the company build more personalized customer facing applications and experiences. Old Mutual is building a data lake on AWS, called the Information Fabric, which will provide a single, consistent view of a customer's information across the entire business. Historically, it was challenging for customers to access their financial portfolio because their information was distributed across multiple data sources.

Avaya Holdings Corp. (NYSE: AVYA) recently announced its new Avaya IX Subscription program, making it easier than ever for Enterprise customers to purchase and consume Avaya's world-class communications and collaboration solutions to drive their business growth. The Avaya subscription program provides customers with a flexible new consumption-based alternative to traditional perpetual pricing models, and can also facilitate their transition to cloud.

Avaya IX Subscription gives customers the flexibility to scale consumption of Avaya's contact center and unified communications solutions based on their unique needs. This comprehensive new program offering monthly or annual subscription payments enables customers to avoid the complexity and cost of software licensing and contract renewals and instead focus on growing their businesses. Additional benefits to customers of the program include lowered business risk, increased operational agility, streamlined budgeting and purchasing processes, and maximum flexibility when adding new services and users.

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) AppDynamics, a Cisco company and the world's largest and fastest growing APM vendor, today released the latest report in its App Attention Index research series, revealing the emergence of 'The Era of The Digital Reflex' - a seismic shift in the way consumers interact and engage with digital services and applications. The global study, which examines consumers' reliance on applications and digital services, also identified how these digital dependencies impact consumers' expectations of the businesses and brands they engage with, their increasing intolerance of performance problems and the urgency with which brands must take action in order to remain relevant and competitive in a world where application loyalty is the new brand loyalty.

Modern technology has transformed the way we live, work and play, making digital experiences a fundamental part of everyday life. However, many consumers are unaware of how much their use of digital services has evolved. While the average person estimates that they use seven digital services each day, in fact they are using more than 30 digital services on a daily basis¹. While 68 percent² recognize they use many more digital services than they are consciously aware of, they also acknowledge the positive impact digital services have on many aspects of their daily lives.

Pinterest, Inc. (NYSE: PINS) will release financial results and a letter to shareholders for the third quarter 2019 on Thursday, October 31, 2019 after market close. The company will host a Q&A conference call to discuss these results at 2:00 p.m. PT (5:00 p.m. ET) on the same day.

Pinterest is a visual discovery engine people use to find inspiration for their lives, including recipes, home and style ideas, travel destinations and more. People have saved more than 200 billion Pins across a range of interests, which others with similar tastes can discover through search and recommendations. Located in San Francisco, Pinterest launched in 2010 and has hundreds of millions of monthly active users around the world.

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