Monday January 23, 2023

Microsoft plans to lay off roughly 10,000 employees this year, CEO Satya Nadella announced Wednesday. The move comes as the tech giant prepares for oncoming difficulties as consumers cut back post-pandemic spending on digital assets. “We’re also seeing organizations in every industry and geography exercise caution as some parts of the world are in a recession and other parts are anticipating one. At the same time, the next major wave of computing is being born with advances in AI, as we’re turning the world’s most advanced models into a new computing platform.” The cuts represent 5% of Microsoft’s workforce, Nadella said, and will take place through Q3 of the current fiscal year. The layoffs follow a 1% reduction in Microsoft’s employee base in July 2021.

Vox Media is also in layoff mode, eliminating about 130 jobs, or 7% of its workforce. “Unfortunately, in this economic climate, we’re not able to sustain projects and areas of the business that have not performed as anticipated, are less core to where we see the biggest opportunities in the coming years, or where we don’t have enough rationale to support ongoing investment in what could be a prolonged downturn,” wrote CEO Jim Bankoff in a memo to staff. “In spite of the dedication of the many talented people involved in these initiatives, we need to scale back.”

Hyperscale data solutions company Ocient has released version 21, adding geospatial and machine learning features. The v21 release focuses on the following:
· Geospacial data analytics, adding 17 new functions to ingest and analyze complex geospatial data sets at a scale with high speed.
· Secondary indexing, bringing comprehensive indexing at hyperscale allows searching larger and more complex sets of data faster and at a lower cost.
· Machine learning data models, adding new supported models plus allowing a feature allowing to build and train models directly at the source.

Direct Digital Holdings announced Misty Locke is joining its Board of Directors. Locke, who brings more than 20 years of experience in digital, performance and brand marketing, joins the Direct Digital Holdings Board of Directors following a tenure as Chief Marketing Officer for Dentsu Media.

The Advertising Research Foundation has added new corporate partners for its Workforce Initiative for Diversity and Excellence scholar program, including Google, Meta, ESPN, UnitedHealth Group, and Analytic Partners. Additionally, ARF has expanded its list of partner schools with Baruch College at the City University of New York. Baruch joins The University of California, Berkeley (College of Letters & Science), John Jay College of Criminal Justice at CUNY, The Ohio State University (Fisher College of Business), and the University of Wisconsin Madison (A.C. Nielsen Center for Marketing Analytics and Insights). “Our goal from the inception of this program has been to not only create opportunities for students looking to work in the field of market research, but enrich our industry with deeply needed diverse, representative perspectives,” said Scott McDonald, president and CEO at the ARF. “It feels like we are making great progress towards realizing this more inclusive future.”

Optable, a software-as-a-service data collaboration platform and clean room solution, has expanded its product capabilities built on Snowflake, the Data Cloud company. The expansion will allow publishers and media owners to activate audiences based on matches obtained using clean room functionality in Snowflake, without data being moved out of Snowflake.

New video ad formats in streaming TV are 2X more favorable than traditional TV ads for consumers, according to a study from Magna Media Trials and the Roku Brand Studio. Key findings from “Beyond the :30 on Streaming TV” include:
· Thematic Tagged Vignettes catch attention: 65% of respondents agreed that the spots “taught me something new,” besting traditional spots by some 20 points.
· Roku Original Vignettes triple return on purchase intent: +10% purchase intent for Roku Originals Vignettes vs +3% for traditional TV ads.
· Watch Alongs improve recall: 66% top-of-mind ad recall for Watch Alongs vs. 39% for traditional ads.
“In the current advertising environment, it is important to recognize that viewers can easily skip over advertising, but our study found they are less likely to do so if the ads are as entertaining as the programming and present a more enjoyable experience,” said Kara Manatt, EVP, Managing Director, Intelligence Solutions, MAGNA. “One of the most memorable formats for viewers is Watch Alongs, likely because the advertiser is offering the viewer added value to the show they are watching.”

IAB Tech Lab shared its key priorities and roadmap for 2023. The product roadmap encompasses consumer privacy, addressability and privacy enhancing technologies, advanced TV, ad supply chain, and cross-media measurement, and outlines the establishment of:
Scalable, efficient, and consistent management of cross-jurisdictional privacy regulations and compliancePost cookie and privacy-first addressability for audience activation and measurementUniversal addressability, reconciliation, and interoperability for TV advertising across streaming AVOD/FAST services, addressable linear and traditional linear TVSecure, flexible, and green programmatic supply chain for all digital advertising mediaCross-media, cross-channel, cross-environment consistent viewability verification and campaign measurement.”We are heading into a transformative year for the digital advertising sector where interoperability, transparency, and scalability will be imperative,” said Anthony Katsur, CEO of IAB Tech Lab. “Tech Lab has a critical responsibility to ensure that the industry works together to tackle these issues head-on. These priorities ensure that buyers and sellers can effectively work together to reach consumers efficiently, placing privacy and sustainability at the forefront.”

Horizon Media unit Night Market, focused on the direct-to-consumer retail marketplace, now has its own unit, Neon, using proprietary artificial intelligence to buy media. “[Neon is] designed to increase advertisers’ revenue by 20+% when planning and buying retail media to achieve their maximum revenue outcomes,” said the agency in a statement. “Neon starts with the sale in mind using automated predictive analytics to make investment decisions across retailers.”

Streaming technology company Brightcove has entered into a strategic relationship with Magnite, the sell-side advertising platform. Magnite will power advertising for any Brightcove customer, and Brightcove will integrate the SpringServe ad server to provide publishers with greater control, insight, and transparency into available ad supply. “This integration with Magnite and SpringServe is a key step to enabling us to provide our customers with best-in-class solutions to meet their needs, allowing them to increase their ad fill rate and generate better CPMs,” said Marc DeBevoise, CEO of Brightcove.

WideOrbit announced the launch of ZingX, automated media buying that connects advertisers and agencies directly to the premium video and TV ad network, WO Marketplace. Integrated with Comscore’s Local Market TV Measurement, ZingX enables ad buying on an impression vs ratings basis, allowing advertisers to target viewers by market and daypart.

Adtech platform TripleLift has partnered with Cinedigm Corp. to launch in-show advertising for brands and advertisers across streaming service, Cineverse, along with FAST channels including The Bob Ross Channel, Realmadrid TV, The Dove Channel and more. Powered by Triplelift’s In-Show programmatic technology, Cinedigm’s Dynamic Overlay and Split-Screen ad units are contextually aligned to the content and delivered dynamically, enabling these products to be measurable and targetable, and allow brands to leverage the Demand-Side Platform of their choice.

Sixty-nine percent of gamers are open to non-disruptive in-game ads, according to research from Integral Ad Science, with 61% saying they prefer to see ads that are related to the content of the game they’re playing. Placement is key – 44% of gamers said they are likely to avoid purchasing from brands that advertise near risky content.

MEASUREMENT

Media agencies have officially been invited to join the joint industry committee formed by media companies to create standards for audience measurement. A letter on behalf of NBCUniversal, Paramount Global, Fox, TelevisaUnivision and Warner Bros. Discovery asked agencies to nominate three people to participate in the measurement certification council, saying, ‘We believe that if we’re going to realize our collective ambitions of ensuring accurate cross-platform solutions for measuring premium video are available, we cannot do it alone. We want your feedback as we establish new standards for the future.”

The Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement, the 4A’s and the TVB are launching a joint study focused on developing an action plan for supporting the evolution of local TV measurement in the US market. Consulting firm Sequent Partners will undertake a diagnostic exercise, focused on assessing the current state of the market, evaluating requirements across the ecosystem, and identifying potential solutions. “The growth of new platforms has increased the supply of data in the market, opening up new opportunities for measurement, advanced audience buying and attribution,” said Jon Watts, Managing Director at CIMM. “However, there is increasing industry sentiment that these opportunities are unevenly distributed and often unavailable at scale in every local market – and that there is limited coordination on requirements and priorities amongst different players….We’re confident that a collaborative effort like this one can help the industry to make real progress.”

Kantar has launched Vivvix, a new operationally independent brand within the Kantar Group, specializing in syndicated competitive advertising intelligence across digital and traditional media, including mobile apps, streaming, and social media. Vivvix brings together what was previously Kantar Media’s syndicated media coverage with Numerator’s advertising creative data intelligence platform. “We understand the speed and competitiveness of the advertising market,” said Andrew Feigenson, CEO at Vivvix. “For the last year, the businesses in North America have been working to bring together all the ad intel specializations of Kantar Media and Numerator to enable clients to make swift decisions about competitive maneuvers and where to place their ad dollars. In what is going to be another dynamic year in the advertising industry, we are here to provide advertisers, agencies and media owners with the clarity they need to win.“

Instagram is adding a new feature called “Quiet Mode.” The goal is to make users feel more comfortable about taking time off from the app by silencing notifications and informing friends a user is not active. Teens will be prompted to turn on the feature if they’re using Instagram late at night.

As he prepares for his third presidential run, Donald Trump has formally requested that Facebook reinstate his account. In a letter, to Meta, Trump’s campaign said the ban on his account, blocked after the January 6, 2021 Capitol attack, “has dramatically distorted and inhibited the public discourse.” A Facebook rep said the company will “announce a decision in the coming weeks.”

Meta is making it harder to target ads to teens. “We recognize that teens aren’t necessarily as equipped as adults to make decisions about how their online data is used for advertising, particularly when it comes to showing them products available to purchase,” said the company in a blog post. “For that reason, we’re further restricting the options advertisers have to reach teens, as well as the information we use to show ads to teens.” Meta is also offering teens a way to control the types of ads they are shown.

Emplifi, a customer experience platform, announced the launch of Emplifi™ AI Composer, a solution the company says can generate ready-to-publish social media copy. “Emplifi is leveraging AI technology to make it easier for marketers to curate relevant and engaging social media content tailored for their audiences,” said Emplifi Chief Technology Officer Todd McCaslin. “OpenAI GPT-3 APIs have improved software performance and accuracy with iterative query and learning capabilities that streamline tasks and deliver insights to help professionals work more intelligently.” The goal is not to cut humans out of the process, said IDC Research Director Heather Hershey, but to “allow content creators to avoid the churn and burn-out associated with online ‘content farms.’ Marketing teams can spend less time rapidly generating content to appease social media algorithms and more time on strategy and quality engagements.”

DEALS

Doing Things Media has acquired social-first media brand Overheard in an all-cash deal. Overheard joins DTM’s existing portfolio of more than 35 original content brands that reach over 75 million followers, including Recess Therapy, Bob Does Sports, Rad Dad, Neat Mom and Animals Doing Things.

CertifiKID has acquired Hulafrog, a digital media company that helps parents find the best things to do in their local community and nationwide. Hulafrog joins CertifiKID’s existing portfolio of brands: CertifiKID, a website that offers discounts on kids’ activities and family experiences; and Macaroni KID, a digital media and advertising platform delivering hyperlocal content regarding kids’ activities and family-friendly events, destinations, products and services to parents.

STREAMING

Netflix added 7.66 million subscribers in the fourth quarter, handily besting the 4.57 million analysts had forecast. Revenue of $7.82 billion edged near the $7.85 billion expected, but earnings per share came in at 12 cents, a big miss from the 45 cents projected. Netflix also revealed that co-CEO Reed Hastings is stepping down and transitioning to the role of Executive Chairman. Chief Operating Officer Greg Peters has been promoted to share the co-CEO title with Ted Sarandos.

“I want to thank Reed for his visionary leadership, mentorship and friendship over the last 20 years,” said Sarandos. “We’ve all learned so much from his intellectual rigor, honesty and willingness to take big bets – and we look forward to working with him for many more years to come. Since Reed started to delegate management to us, Greg and I have built a strong operating model based on our shared values and like-minded approach to growth. I am so excited to start this new chapter with Greg as co-CEO.”

Netflix’s crackdown on password sharing might not lead to as big a loss in viewers as expected, suggests a new study by Horowitz Research. Horowitz’s State of OTA 2022 found that 7 out of 10 Netflix users who password share would be willing to pay full price for the service if they could no longer share access. The more valuable the service is perceived to be, the less likely it is that consumers will share their passwords – and 83% of Netflix users (and 81% of Amazon Prime Video users) think the respective services offer excellent value for the money. The challenge for Netflix is to keep its perceived value high in order for consumers to continue to justify the investment, notes Adriana Waterston, Chief Revenue Officer and Insights & Strategy Lead for Horowitz Research. “This will certainly be a challenge for Netflix moving forward as their programming costs continue to increase and as they add commercials,” said Waterston. “Also, other services considering a similar crackdown will need to justify this move by finding ways to add value to their services, making them stickier for consumers.”

Peacock captured a 1% share of total viewing time in the US for the first time in December, according to Nielsen’s The Gauge tracker. The Gauge pointed to Peacock’s December numbers corresponding with the success of Peacock Original “The Best Man: The Final Chapters,” released ahead of the Christmas holiday; Peacock also added Hallmark holiday content.

YouTube TV is updating its Live Guide with a new content grid and curated recommendations. “Somehow we still spend too much time scrolling through channels just to find something to watch,” noted Esther Ahn, Head of Design for YouTube TV and Primetime Channels, in a blog post. “When we were building YouTube TV, our team spent a lot of time thinking about how we could make that experience better — we even considered not having a live guide whatsoever! But we decided we needed to meet our viewers where they are.”

SiriusXM’s SXM App, which delivers more than 425 SiriusXM channels, is now available on VIZIO Smart TVs. “VIZIO users can now access their favorite on-the-go programs directly on the biggest screen in their homes,” said Katherine Pond, Group Vice President, Platform Content & Partnerships at VIZIO. “From podcasts to music, we are happy to bring SirusXM’s audio and video entertainment to millions of VIZIO users across the US.”

While streamers are expected to spend over $6 billion on livestream sporting events rights in 2023, according to TMT Predictions from Deloitte Global, Amazon will offer advertisers refunds or alternate ad inventory after audiences for the “Thursday Night Football” 2022 season fell approximately 25% short of preseason viewership estimates. According to Nielsen data, viewership exceeded 10 million more than six times last year, and peak viewership over 15 games averaged 11.3 million, but the overall season average hovered around 9.58 million.