Vincent Grippi

Jun 7, 20245 min read

Health Data Ad Targeting: Coming Soon to Your Screen?

Updated: 6 days ago

The Grip is a newsletter that compiles essential news and insights for bold healthcare marketers, brought to you by Grippi Media .

–

If you've ever watched TV, you've likely seen numerous ads for healthcare conditions and pharmaceuticals that don't apply to you.

This happens because healthcare advertisers face significant restrictions on how they can target their ads, largely due to legal policies.

But what if these advertisers could safely and legally target viewers based on health data?

In issue 6 of The Grip, we explore how the new startup BranchLab aims to bring health data targeting to TV advertising.

I Can’t Believe That’s a Keyword

Using Semrush, we hunt down bizarre (and totally real) search queries and try to answer them.

This Week’s Keyword: Where is My Refund?

Avg. Monthly Search Volume: 135,000

Answer: Okay, so...that's not how Google works.

Top Stories We’re Tracking

Essential marketing and healthcare headlines of the week.

Pharma Ad Startup Snags Seed Funding To Support Better TV Ad Targeting

BranchLab , a startup launched by three ad tech veterans, aims to improve TV advertising for healthcare and pharma by offering audience segments that don't use identifiable patient information.

Despite the abundance of poorly targeted health and pharma ads on TV, the sector is underserved due to inadequate data for effective targeting. Traditional TV advertising relies on broad age and gender demographics and household-level targeting, which are incompatible with the one-to-one targeting used in digital advertising. This mismatch results in low match rates and limited scale, forcing health and pharma advertisers to accept subpar outcomes that would be deemed unacceptable in the digital advertising world.

BranchLab differentiates itself by using health data in a privacy-safe "clean room" environment, ensuring patient identities are protected. It employs machine learning to create audience models based on attributes like age, gender, and social determinants of health. By integrating directly with TV publishers, BranchLab scores audience segments to match its models, such as targeting households likely to include patients with specific conditions. Agencies can purchase this inventory directly from TV publishers or major DSPs, with the startup integrated with several SSPs, primarily using Magnite for programmatic buys.

📄 Read Article (Source: AdExchanger)

TikTok Accounts Are Being Hacked Via DMs. What to Know

Hackers recently targeted high-profile TikTok accounts, including those of Paris Hilton, CNN, and Sony. TikTok's security team has taken measures to stop the attack and prevent future incidents. While Hilton's account was not compromised, CNN's account was affected.

Jason Grosse, a spokesperson for TikTok's privacy and security team, mentioned that the attack exploited a zero-day vulnerability through direct messaging features. The attack focused on a small number of high-profile accounts, leaving standard users largely unaffected.

This incident occurs amid ongoing concerns about TikTok's privacy and security, particularly regarding its Chinese parent company, ByteDance. The U.S. government has threatened to ban TikTok if ByteDance does not divest its stake, leading to legal action from TikTok and its users.

Meanwhile, both former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden's campaign have joined TikTok to engage with younger voters.

📄 Read Article (Source: MSN)

Google's Privacy Chief is Leaving. He Won't Be Replaced.

Google is undergoing significant restructuring, leading to the departure of key leaders, including Chief Privacy Officer Keith Enright and Head of Competition Law Matthew Bye, with no immediate replacements planned. Enright's exit comes amid increased scrutiny over user data privacy and follows a $5 billion privacy lawsuit settlement. Recent leaks revealed privacy incidents, such as accidental voice recordings and data leaks from Google-owned Waze. These changes coincide with a landmark antitrust trial accusing Google of monopolizing the search engine market. Amidst these shifts, Google has laid off around 1,500 employees in 2024.

📄 Read Article (Source: Quartz)

Reddit Announces First Ads API Partner in Sprinklr

Reddit is expanding its business relationships to maximize revenue through a new Ads API partnership with customer experience management platform Sprinklr. This partnership, Reddit's first of its kind, will integrate Reddit's Data API into Sprinklr's platform, allowing Sprinklr customers to analyze public conversations on Reddit and enhance their paid and organic strategies.

The integration provides access to Reddit’s ad solutions, opening new opportunities for companies like PepsiCo, Uber, Puma, and Honda, which use Sprinklr for social media management. This collaboration aims to increase the adoption of Reddit ads by providing deeper insights and streamlined access. Reddit plans to appoint more partners for its Ads API, further expanding third-party ad opportunities.

Between going public and signing data deals with Google, OpenAI, and now Sprinklr, 2024 has been a big year for Reddit, Inc.!

📄 Read Article (Source: Social Media Today, LLC)

LinkedIn Adds Premium Video Ad Placement, More AI Ad Tools

Exciting news for my fellow B2B healthcare marketers! LinkedIn is introducing a new ad placement option and integrating more AI capabilities to enhance ad creatives and add to its current ad offering like LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms. The new video sponsorship program is titled "The Wire" - not to be confused with the classic HBO show, which we've referenced twice in The Grip now. "The Wire" allows brands to run in-stream video ads with trusted publisher content, partnering with high-profile providers like Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal.

This initiative aims to leverage the increasing digital video consumption, which outpaces traditional TV viewing, to improve brand recall. Additionally, LinkedIn is incorporating Microsoft's AI tools, such as Microsoft Designer, into its ad tools, allowing for automated and customizable ad creation.

The AI integration also includes features like targeting exclusions and AI-driven recommendations to optimize ad performance. This move aligns with the broader AI-focused strategy of LinkedIn's parent company, Microsoft, offering marketers advanced tools and premium ad placement options

📄 Read Article (Source: Social Media Today, LLC)

Our Latest Podcasts

Recent episodes of the podcasts that we help produce.

How Calm App is Innovating Mental Wellness

Anxiety and depression in the US have surged, and consequently, poor sleep habits have increased as well.

According to Gallup, over 17% of Americans report depression, and the Sleep Health Foundation states that up to 40% of those individuals also suffer from insomnia.

Getting help is harder than ever, due to caregiver shortages, soaring costs, and persistent social stigma.

But what if an app could help?While smartphones are often criticized for their negative impact on sleep and mental health, Calm is reshaping that narrative.

Originally conceptualized as a meditation app, Calm has swiftly expanded its offerings to address a spectrum of issues from insomnia to mental health, amassing over 160 million users.

In our latest episode, David E. Williams and John Driscoll are joined by David Ko, CEO of Calm, to explore how his company seamlessly integrates meditation, sleep, and mental health solutions directly into your smartphone.

📲 Listen to the full episode

Unlocking the Secrets of Cells with AI, Jonathan Baptista from DeepLife

Pushing the boundaries of drug research and development, visionary companies are harnessing the power of engineering, artificial intelligence, and novel technologies to revolutionize how we discover and design new therapies.

In this compilation episode, host Alex Merwin explores the cutting-edge approaches of Vivodyne (w/ CEO, Andrei Georgescu, Ph.D., Seer (w/ Chief Data Officer, Serafim Batzoglou), Ordaos Bio (w/ CEO, David Longo ), Insilico Medicine (w/ Founder and CEO, Alex Zhavoronkov), and Alchemab Therapeutics Ltd (w/ CEO, Young Kwon).

📲 Listen to the full episode

What We’re Listening To

New music that has been inspiring us.

Papooz - Resonate

Resonate is a fun, airy, funky, and dancy record from French indie pop duo, Papooz. A little reminiscent of early Phoenix, Hot Chip, with a dash of MGMT and ABBA. Strange combination? Sure. Worthy of a listen? Absolutely!

🎧 Listen on Spotify