AWS Launches DatabaseDB, Google Better Ads Goes Global, Spotify Focuses on Podcasting: Newsletter January 11, 2019

AWS has this week released DocumentDB, a MongoDB API-compatible database, as a competing document database alternative to the Apache 2.0 incumbent. DocumentDB is designed to integrate with MongoDB and improve the speed and scalability of managing semi-structured data when managing clusters at scale. AWS has built the open-source document database to be compatible with the Apache 2.0 software’s existing tools while offering developers to increase reading and writing capacity to millions of requests per second.

In digital marketing news this week, Google Chrome’s Better Ads Standards’ accompanying blocking function is set to soon roll out worldwide. The Coalition for Better Ads, of which Google is a founding member, announced that from July 9, 2019, Google Chrome will filter ads from sites all over the world after any of the 12 ad versions flagged as annoying occur repeatedly. Publishers and online advertisers with verified sites on Google Search Console will be notified of violations on both desktop and mobile through Search Console’s Ad Experience Report.

The SaaS world saw Spotify announce an increased focus on podcast advertising directly on the platform, just as it surpassed 200 million users. The music streaming service, which went public via direct listing in April last year, will increase its focus on personalization for podcasts to offer tailored recommendations to users. With the ability to make more informed recommendations, Spotify hopes to drive more listeners and thus broker exclusive advertising agreements with podcast creators. Selling ads to podcasts as a means of generating new revenue will be one of the platform’s most proximal benefits of increased listeners.

New in display advertising business listings this week we have a $269K current events and entertainment business, with nearly a decade of operational history helping establish a strong brand and impressive SEO presence, over 2.1M live backlinks with the site ranking for c.208,000 keywords, steady traffic, with the site seeing over 10M sessions in the past year, loyal following with over 100,000 likes on Facebook and c.30,000 under-utilized user emails. New in display advertising listings this week we have a $80.3K music and lyrics content business, with thousands of pages of content helping the site rank for over 1.2M keywords, years of operational history with the business withstanding numerous Google algorithm changes and high net margins.

New in SaaS business listings this week we have a $42.8K B2B WordPress food blogging software business, with one of the highest-rated food recipe plugins on WordPress with a near-perfect product rating, robust functionality with over 4,000 active installs, steady MRR growth, with MRR rising at a c.5.1% CMGR over the past year and low MRR churn rate of c.4.3% and high LTV of c.$200 in the LTM. If you are interested any of the above businesses, please follow the link to request a prospectus.

Featured in display advertising listings this week we have a unique $1.04M digital music platform business, with an authoritative brand with a decade of operational history, excellent traffic profile with over 1.2 billion page views and 420 million sessions in the past four years, strong backlink profile with hundreds of thousands of backlinks and keyword rankings ranking for c.75,000 keywords, vast user base of over 670,000 registered users and lean, simple operational cost structure allowing for high and steady margins.

In events news, FE International is extending a 10% discount to clients and subscribers for LTV Conf, coming April 3-4, 2019 to New York City! Use code FEINTERNATIONAL10 at checkout to purchase Early Bird Tickets (currently 75% off full price) at the lowest they will ever be. Discounts are offered to bigger groups, so make sure to bring your team. Up to 400 invited SaaS Founders, Executives and Investors from private and public companies will be in attendance making this the perfect place to learn and make new connections.

Founder Thomas Smale had a great time catching up with clients at Affiliate Summit West this past week. Next up, he is looking forward to CapCon2019 on January 21-23 where he will join fellow entrepreneurs in learning about the biggest business trends in the coming year. If you are planning on attending or in the Dallas area, reply to this email to set up a meeting!

Continue reading below for more on AWS launching DocumentDB, Google’s Better Ads update and Spotify’s increased focus on podcasting.

Listings

New

Display Advertising – Current Events & Entertainment – $10K gross/mo

• Nearly a decade of operational history helping establish a strong brand and impressive SEO presence
• Over 2.1M live backlinks with the site ranking for c.208,000 keywords
• Steady traffic, with the site seeing over 10M sessions in the past year
• Loyal following with over 100,000 likes on Facebook and c.30,000 under-utilized user emails

Yearly net profit: $111,000
Asking price: $269,000

Display Advertising – Music & Lyrics – $2.6K gross/mo

• Thousands pages of content helping the site rank for over 1.2M keywords
• Years of operational history with the business withstanding numerous Google algorithm changes
• Strong website traffic with over 3.4M sessions in the past year
• Powerful YouTube video crawler allowing for automated lyrics extraction
• Lean and scalable cost structure driving high net margins​

Yearly net profit: $31,000
Asking price: $80,300

SaaS – B2B WordPress Food Blogging Software – $1.4K MRR

• One of the highest-rated food recipe plugins on WordPress with a near-perfect product rating
• Robust functionality with over 4,000 active installs
• Steady MRR growth, with MRR rising at a c.5.1% CMGR over the past year
• Low MRR churn rate of c.4.3% and high LTV of c.$200 in the LTM

Yearly net profit: $10,700
Asking price: $42,800

Featured

Display Advertising – Digital Music Platform – $39K gross/mo

• Authoritative brand with a decade of operational history
• Excellent traffic profile with over 1.2 billion page views and 420 million sessions in the past four years
• Strong backlink profile with hundreds of thousands of backlinks and keyword rankings ranking for c.75,000 keywords
• Vast user base of over 670,000 registered users
• Lean and simple operational cost structure allowing for high and steady margins

Yearly net profit: $405,000
Asking price: $1,044,000

Sold

SaaS – B2B Digital Sales & Marketing – $13K MRR

Affiliate – Arts and Crafts – $600 gross/mo

In The News…

AWS Releases DocumentDB

AWS has this week launched DocumentDB, a MongoDB API-compatible document database.

DocumentDB is AWS’s solution for building fast and quickly available applications on an open-source platform, allowing developers to scale by the terabyte as well as achieve hundreds of thousands of reads and writes a second. AWS spoke on DocumentDB calling it a “fast, scalable, and highly available document database that is designed to be compatible with your existing MongoDB applications and tools.” The platform is an intended replacement for its incumbent, does not use MongoDB code and is compatible with an earlier version of the MongoDB API (3.6).

DatabaseDB is intended to help developers through an improvement to MongoDB’s open service semi-structured data management.

Better Ads Blocking Standards Extended Worldwide

A year after Google Chrome released the ability to block or filter ads in North America and Europe, the function is being granted global application.

As a founding member of the Coalition for Better Ads, Google has helped develop the Better Ads Standards initiative, and Chrome’s resulting ad filtering will now apply globally. On July 9, Chrome will begin filtering ads on websites worldwide which display any of the Better Ads Standards’ 12 ad experiences marked as “annoying”. These formats include: pop-ups, prestitials and auto-play videos, as well as a few others. Publishers with verified sites on Google Search Console will find violation notifications for both mobile and desktop infractions in the Ad Experience Report, which will show the region a publisher’s site has been allocated to (the options being United States and Canada, Europe or Rest of World). There has been pushback from people noting that Google, the dominant ad seller, is now dictating the types of ads publishers can show on their sites. Google’s response to controversy that as a major ads retailer it is taking unfair control of the types of ads publishers can show, has been to point out that ads on native Google platforms are also subject to filtering, and this initiative intends to reduce adoption of ad blocking software by browsers.

Sridhar Ramaswamy, former Head of Ads and Commerce at Google, previously stated of the Better Ads Standards initative , “Our hope is once this is in place, there’s no need for ad blocking on mobile.”

Spotify Focuses in on Podcast Listeners

In 2018, Spotify reached 200 million users, and has recently announced that it is focusing on podcast advertising and personalization.

Having already developed significant functionality for personalization in music, Spotify is working to bring the same framework to podcasts to offer recommendations more closely tailored to users’ tastes. Spotify will also update the app’s interface to make podcasts more readily available and focus on agreeing more exclusive deals with podcast creators. As part of the new focus on podcasts, Spotify will be ramping up the level of advertising sold on the platform’s podcasts as it encourages higher rates of listening. While this is not the first attempt at this revenue stream (Spotify began selling ads to platform-original podcasts in 2018) this increased focus has come accompanied by several exclusive shows already contracted.

Advertisers should take note of rising listeners and determine whether this is a potential opportunity for a high ROI promotional campaign.