02/03/25: Cynopsis Media Tech Update

Monday February 3, 2025

Sweet 16: Apple reported record-breaking sales for 4Q24, the first full quarter its new iPhone 16 models were available. While iPhone sales were $69.1 billion, a tad down from $69.7 billion recorded the same period in 2023, CEO Tim Cook noted, “We’ve never seen a higher level of upgraders before. The install base hit a new all-time high as well. And if you look at the 16 compared to the 15 from launch, which occurred in September…the 16 outperformed the 15.” Apple reported revenue of $124.3 billion, up 4% from 2023.

On the heels of the launch of Chinese AI app DeepSeek, OpenAI has released OpenAI o3-mini, the most cost-efficient model in its reasoning series, available in both ChatGPT and the API. The model delivers “exceptional STEM capabilities – with particular strength in science, math, and coding – all while maintaining the low cost and reduced latency of OpenAI o1-mini,” said the company. In ChatGPT, o3-mini is set to medium reasoning effort, offering “a balanced trade-off between speed and accuracy.” Paid users can also opt for o3-mini-high, for “higher intelligence” in exchange for slower responses.

Meanwhile, DeepSeek’s AI has been blocked by “hundreds of companies,” particularly those tied to government, reports Bloomberg. Just a few examples: A memo to NASA employees warned DeepSeek’s servers “operate outside of the United States, raising national security and privacy concerns,” the US Navy said DeepSeek’s AI was not to be used “in any capacity” due to “potential security and ethical concerns associated with the model’s origin and usage,” and congressional offices have been told that use of DeepSeek was “unauthorized for official House use.”

Meta’s independent advisory board, founded in 2009, expressed concern over recent policy changes at the company, including ending fact checking and removing proactive detection methods for borderline harm. In a letter, the Meta Safety Advisory Council said it was not consulted about the “sweeping changes” that set a “troubling precedent for how safety considerations are weighed in major policy decisions.”

In more Meta news, the company has agreed to pay $25 million to settle a lawsuit over President Trump’s suspension from its platforms after the January 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol. Trump claimed in the lawsuit that Meta had violated the First Amendment by banning him. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg appears to have swung to Team Trump, saying during his company’s earnings call, “We now have a US administration that is proud of our leading companies, prioritizing American technology winning, and that will defend our values and interests abroad.”

X has amended its lawsuit over what CEO Linda Yaccarino has claimed is a “systematic illegal boycott” against it to include Nestl, Abbott Laboratories, Colgate, Lego, Pinterest, Tyson Foods, and Shell, reports Business Insider. The complaint alleges that members of the now-defunct Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) conspired to “collectively withhold billions of dollars in advertising revenue” from X. The World Federation of Advertisers, CVS Health, Mars, rsted, and Twitch are also defendants.

Brands spent 13.2% more on digital ad spend in 2024, yet the increased investment has not translated into better results, according to Contentsquare’s 2025 Digital Experience Benchmarks report, which analyzed over 90 billion user sessions across 6,000 websites. The cost of an online visit rose 9% this year, amounting to a 19% increase within the past two years, while conversion rates have dropped 6.1% year-over-year. The report cites declining organic traffic, increased dependence on paid channels (especially paid social), and the challenge of meeting customers’ growing demands for faultless interactions as the culprits. “In 2025, almost half of online visits will continue to suffer from preventable friction, which is, at best, cutting journeys short, and at worst, driving customers away entirely,” said Jean-Christophe Pitié, Chief Marketing and Partnerships Officer of Contentsquare. “Relying on paid channels to drive traffic without addressing the customer journey itself is a short-term fix. The true value lies in nurturing online experiences that are frictionless, engaging, and that keep customers coming back.”

To settle class-action claims over the alleged sale of location data, mobile data broker Kochava has agreed to implement a feature meant to block the sharing or use of raw location data associated with health care facilities, schools, jails and other sensitive venues. Other proposed settlement terms, filed last week, include enabling consumers to opt out of data collection by submitting “a simple web form” and place opted-out consumers on a blacklist, and ensure that any location data collected from an app will be used “exclusively for the benefit” of that app unless the data was collected with consumers’ express consent. The agreement calls for Kochava to pay attorneys’ fees of up to $1.5 million, and awards of up to $17,500 for the lead plaintiffs.

Brightcove has launched its AI Content Suite, the company’s first official general availability release following a customer pilot program in 2024. The suite includes three AI-powered capabilities – content creation, metadata optimization, and translation – to simplify video content production by automating the creation and optimization processes.

Young people spend more time watching “non-premium” online video than they do regular TV shows, according to Hub Entertainment Research report, “Video Redefined.” Consumers aged 13-24 estimate that 21% of all their entertainment screen time goes to non-premium video, compared to16% spent on traditional TV shows. But young people still watch TV, and more than 60% of them say they often watch shows or movies that they discovered for the first time via clips on social platforms like TikTok and Instagram.

“While consumers embrace social video as essential entertainment, many are aware that it may be at the expense of watching longer form TV and movies,” said Jason Platt Zolov, Senior Consultant at Hub and one of the study authors. “Studios have an opportunity to continue to lean into short-form to build connections with audiences – but bringing consumers back to longer-form content can potentially deepen engagement with brands in meaningful ways.”

CG animation company Mindshow unveiled its virtual production platform, enabling entertainment brands and studios, including Mattel, ESPN, Netflix, Pepsi, and Original Pictures, to deliver high-quality animation with speed and efficiency. Mindshow merges real-time rendering with asset ingest and character animation tools accessible across the production pipeline, from storyboarding to final pass.”Content distribution hit a historic inflection point when streaming put libraries of content at viewers’ fingertips. Mindshow brings that same accessibility to creation,” said new COO David Baron. “Brands can now move from concept to delivery in one production cycle, turning characters into multi-platform properties across social, streaming, previsualization, and beyond. For the business of animation, this changes everything.”

Media solutions company USIM is partnering with streaming media content data marketplace IRIS.TV to leverage its content identifier, the IRIS_ID, to enhance the impact of CTV campaigns. “By leveraging IRIS.TV, USIM’s programmatic team can accurately target our clients’ advertisements within emotionally aligned television content,” said Dan Bealey, VP of Programmatic Media and Advanced TV at USIM. “[This] maximizes audience engagement, ensuring that clients’ messages resonate deeply with consumers at the moment they are most engaged. As a result, USIM develops campaigns that deliver high-impact ad units with measurable outcomes on their programmatic connected TV buys.”

Sabio, an adtech company specializing in helping brands reach streaming TV audiences, announced the launch of Creator Television. The FAST channel featuring diverse creators is aimed at bridging the gap between social media storytelling and the streaming TV landscape. Plex will distribute Creator TV internationally. “Creator-led TV or show formats that blend user-generated content with traditional TV narrative techniques, is pushing the boundaries of storytelling,” said Charlie Ibarra, Head of Content at Creator TV. “Much like the introduction of music videos and unscripted show formats, creator-led TV has the potential to completely reshape the content landscape.”

SPORTS MEDIA AWARDS

Category Spotlight: Best Sports Social Media Campaign

Have you mastered the art of engaging fans on social media? The Best Sports Social Media Campaign category recognizes innovative strategies that connect with audiences, build loyalty, and amplify sports storytelling in new and exciting ways.

Whether it’s a viral campaign, real-time engagement during live events, or creating a digital community, this is your chance to shine.

Submit your entry and showcase how your campaign changed the game! Pricing increases February 26 — don’t wait!

Enter Now to be part of the celebration!

   ADVERTISING

Amazon’s AI-driven optimization platform Brand+ is now available to advertisers, employing trillions of shopping, browsing, and streaming signals from across Amazon to pinpoint the consumers that advertisers want to find. “For the first time on the Amazon DSP, advertisers can apply AI-optimized automation to purchase TV advertising that reaches unique audiences of customers most likely to buy their products or services,” said Kelly MacLean, VP of Amazon DSP. “With this advanced AI technology, the Amazon DSP enables advertisers and agencies to automatically reach, engage, and nurture potential customers throughout their journey, turning brand awareness into a strategic driver of conversions.”

CTV advertisers are increasingly adopting digital media buying practices, prioritizing advanced ad tech solutions when choosing a CTV provider, according to Advertiser Perceptions’ bi-annual “CTV Landscape 2H 2024” study. Of note: While direct buys remain the go-to method for SVOD inventory, programmatic guaranteed transactions are gaining traction – advertisers’ preference for buying SVOD inventory via programmatic guaranteed transactions is up 5 percentage points versus 2023. Other key findings include:
· First-party data is a key differentiator for advertisers. Access to provider’s first-party data and a clean room solution for data integration are top considerations when choosing a CTV/streaming TV advertising partner. New this wave: First-party data targeting (both advertiser and publisher data) and behavioral targeting are considered the most valuable CTV targeting capabilities.
· Innovative CTV ad formats (pause ads, binge ads, QR codes, shoppable ads, or in-scene ads) saw a significant rise in adoption in the past year. While traditional video ads remain the most common, innovative formats now comprise a quarter of all CTV ads.
· 75% of respondents consider the ability to buy across linear and streaming properties with one provider as important solutions when choosing to partner with a CTV advertising provider.
· Original content drives CTV advertising investment. When choosing a CTV advertising partner, 56% of respondents consider original content as the most important content. In the top five: exclusivity to the platform, new content, live content, and sports content follow.

BrightLine and TripleLift announced a partnership aimed at empowering advertisers and agencies to seamlessly launch interactive campaigns across top tier publishers. The approach enables advertisers to run consistent campaigns across multiple platforms at once with the same interactive ad formats.

Google’s Meridian, an open-source marketing mix model (MMM) designed to help marketers allocate budgets, is now available to everyone, offering advanced customization and actionable insights. Key features include:
· Meridian’s hierarchical geo-level model enables users to make use of geo-level marketing data.
· Meridian’s Bayesian model lets users incorporate existing knowledge about media performance through the use of ROI priors.
· Saturation and lagged effects for paid and organic media are modeled using parametric transformation functions.
· In addition to using impressions, Meridian provides the option to use reach and frequency data as model inputs to provide additional insights.
· Meridian provides an option to use Google Query Volume (GQV) as a control variable when measuring the impact of paid search.
· The optimization phase determines the optimal budget allocation across channels based on the overall budget.
· Estimation using what-if scenarios.
· Evaluating and reporting model goodness of fit.
· Optional inclusion of non-media treatment variables.

Yahoo DSP became the first Demand Side Platform to adopt IAB Tech Lab’s standardized Data Transparency Labels, providing marketers, agencies, and data providers with detailed, standardized information about audience segments. “Transparency is critical to reinforce trust and drive better outcomes for advertisers,” said Giovanni Gardelli, VP of DSP Data Products at Yahoo. “Our adoption of IAB Tech Lab’s Data Transparency Labels reflects our commitment to delivering the highest level of clarity and quality to Yahoo DSP partners.”

Eighty percent of US consumers prefer free internet access supported by ads, and over 70% are willing to share data to enable personalized experiences, according to IAB study, “Striking the Balance: the Consumer Perspective on Privacy, Preference and Personalization.” Other findings include:
· 80% are concerned about data misuse for criminal activity, but only 2% worry about their data being used for personalized advertising.
· There are gaps in privacy education: only 40% of consumers know they can access or delete their data, and 60% find privacy management complex and confusing.
· Despite challenges, 82% of consumers agree personalized ads help them discover relevant products.
· 79% of consumers feel more positive about brands that tailor their advertising to their preferences.

“This study validates and builds upon what we heard from consumers during our 2024 survey. Personalization and privacy can co-exist and benefit both consumers and the growth of the free and open internet,” said David Cohen, CEO, IAB. “Consumers understand the advertising value proposition and are willing to share their data to enable a personalized experience.”

CABLE & BROADBAND JOBS

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Contact Carley to Get Started!

Viant struck a partnership with TransUnion allowing Viant’s Household ID to identify 95% of US adults. Leveraging Viant’s patented Household ID™, Viant’s native identity solution is interoperable with various IDs, giving advertisers precise targeting across all channels, including CTV. “This partnership with Viant is about building something advertisers can truly rely on,” said Dorean Kass, EVP, Diversified Markets, at TransUnion. “By augmenting the Viant Household ID with TruAudience identity data, we’re helping brands tackle today’s challenges head-on – like signal loss – to continue delivering impactful marketing campaigns.”

AnalyticsIQ, the leading provider of predictive people-based data, has partnered with Doceree to offer persona-based attributes tied to National Provider Identifiers (NPI) within Doceree’s Marketplace, a platform dedicated to nudging sharper healthcare professional segmentation and targeting with focused data. As part of the partnership, AnalyticsIQ will initially provide HCP audiences covering actionable provider attributes including:
· Specific disciplines
· Use of AI and technology
· Provider ethnicity
· Interests such as sports, video games, and foodies
· Channel behaviors including podcasts and streaming

“As the first data provider offering persona audiences in Doceree’s HCP-focused Marketplace, pharma marketers can now leverage our people-based audiences specifically designed to provide insight into the provider-as-a-person for better HCP marketing,” said Christine Lee, Head of Health Strategy & Partnerships, AnalyticsIQ.

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Job of the day
VICE PRESIDENT BUSINESS AFFAIRS >>
HEARST MEDIA PRODUCTION GROUP/CHARLOTTE, NC: Focus on FCC compliance, brand integrity for all current series and day-to-day business affairs for development and production. Strategize with management and outside counsel on business issues, and draft, review and execute various short-form business documents. Legal background and/or related media experience is required. Full info HERE

SALES LEAD – AGENCY PARTNERSHIPS
UPWAVE
NEW YORK, NY
Build and manage relationships with our agency partners – mostly targeting media buyers and planners – and help them see the value of adding Upwave measurement to The Trade Desk campaigns. You will both leverage your existing network and open new doors to achieve aggressive but achievable sales targets. Full info HERE

VICE PRESIDENT, POLITICAL SALES >>
NEXSTAR MEDIA GROUP, INC./WASHINGTON, DC: Lead the company’s political advertising revenue across its dynamic portfolio of broadcast stations. Responsible for developing sales strategies tailored to the fast-paced, high-stakes political advertising market. You will possess an understanding of the political advertising landscape, and the ability to forge strong relationships with campaigns. Full info HERE

COUNSEL, LEGAL & BUSINESS AFFAIRS
>>
MLB NETWORK/SECAUCUS, NJ: Responsible for a variety of matters, including services agreements, production related agreements, talent agreements, software and other technology related agreements, licensing and programming agreements, third party rights clearances, distribution agreements, contract summaries, confidentiality, and general contract matters. Full info HERE

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