Marilynne Robinson on Biblical Interpretation, Calvinist Thought, and Religion in America (Ep. 207)

On the continuing denigration of John Calvin:

The cure, of course, is to read Calvin, which no one does, and the reason no one does is because they think they know what they’ll find. It’s very self-perpetuating from that point of view when a negative reputation is established.

Once you get a reputation it is hard to shake. And you’re rarely in control of the reputation you get.

This is especially true if you’re challenging the status quo.

5 charts on how third-party cookie deprecation will change ad buys

eMarketer chart showing the Average Budget Allocation Across Data Types for Targeting in 2024 According to US Advertisers, Nov 2023 (% of budget) with contextual data number one and first-party data number two, combining for 55%.

AI will turbocharge contextual targeting of all kinds.
Demographics are dead (& generations are garbage).

Microsoft Buying Ads On Google Search To Drive More Searches On Bing

When you click on the ad in Google Search, you are taken to the Bing Search results for that query.

I kind of love this strategy.

TikTok’s algorithm has always been a black box. But researchers are finally figuring it out

According to the study’s findings, between 30% and 50% of the first 1,000 videos TikTok users encounter are exploiting their past interests. Recommended videos are driven by a number of factors, most importantly whether the user liked a similar video, as well as who they follow on the platform. Fewer seem to be driven by the percentage of the video a user watched.

different users have very different experiences and/or are sort of treated differently by the algorithm

The algorithm is evolving. The importance of watch time may be diminishing as the pool of data deepens.

The one constant with any of the platform algorithms is that they change.

Spotify Is Launching New Ad Studio Product

Powered by a model which analyzes behavioral signals, Podcast Streams takes campaigns beyond standard targeting to reach engaged audiences who are more likely to listen to podcasts.

Limited to podcasts…for now?

I expect to see more targeting options like this across platforms as AI becomes further ingrained.

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