Twitter adjusted its decision to shut down free access to its APIs, which was to go into effect on February 9. Facing outcry from developers, Elon Musk said Twitter will provide a “light, write-only APT for bots providing good content that is free.” Days earlier, Musk had tweeted that API is “being abused badly,” and suggested charging $100 per month for API access with ID verification would “clean things up greatly.”

The Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration issued a report accusing the mobile app ecosystem of stifling competition “which is harmful to developers and consumers,” and recommended the enactment of laws and measures to limit anticompetitive conduct.

Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger have launched a news reading app using machine learning to offer personalized, curated news content and add social elements. The app currently has a wait list for interested users.

There were 1.8MM+ abandoned apps in Q4 2022, up 6% from Q3, the highest volume in 2022, according to Pixalate’s Q4 Abandoned Moble Apps Report. Ninety-seven percent of Apple apps with no privacy policy URL were abandoned (61% on Google) as of Q4 2022, and there was an estimated $29 million estimated programmatic ad spend on abandoned apps in 2022. Forty-five percent (22k+) of apps registered in Russia are abandoned, according to the report, 40% (35k+) in China, and 38% (128k+) in the U.S.

OpenAI, creators of ChatGPT, released in November, is launching a commercial version of the chatbot, ChatGPT Plus, for $20/month. The San Francisco-based company will continue to offer a free version of the service, available to only a limited number of people during peak hours. “We love our free users and will continue to offer free access to ChatGPT,” said ChatGTP in a blog post announcing the new service. “By offering this subscription pricing, we will be able to help support free access availability to as many people as possible.

Seventy-six percent of US adults are concerned that Generative AI images or videos of themselves could become subject of deep fake social media posts, according to a survey rom Big Village Insights. Additional findings included:
* 66% of survey participants are concerned with privacy issues involving the use of Generative AI for social media.
* 48% of U.S. adults believe that neither photoshopped or Generated AI images of faces/people should be used in social media advertising.
* 23% of survey participants trust how Generative AI is being used in social media.
* 39% of U.S adults believe that Generative AI technology will improve at recognizing and generating images of people of color to the point where the experience will be the same for all.

BandLab Technologies, the parent company of social music creation platform, BandLab, digital audio workstation, Cakewalk, and artist services platform, ReverbNation, has acquired beat marketplace Airbit. The acquisition expands upon BandLab’s creator toolset, which includes the free, mobile-first cross-platform DAW and the AI musical idea generator SongStarter.

ADVERTISING

Eighty-two percent of US consumers say they like enhanced ads, according to research from LG Ad Solutions, with 93% saying they feel favorably towards brands that utilize enhanced ads. Additional findings include:
· 94% of consumers feel the same or more favorable towards brands that leverage QR codes with the same number reporting being more likely to buy/use those brands.
· 95% feel the same or are more likely to be favorable towards brands that display the location of the store closest to them with 92% feeling the same towards or more likely to buy/use those brands.
· 72% of consumers like ads that take into consideration the current weather in their city. 94% feel the same or more likely to be favorable towards a brand that utilizes contextual ads based on the weather in their area and 92% feel that same or more likely to buy/use those brands.
· 72% like enhanced ads showing real-time sports scores, countdown to games/events and team-match ups and 64% report being more likely to engage with these types of ads.

DoubleVerify announced the discovery of “BeatSting,” the first large-scale ad impression fraud scheme to target audio inventory. BeatSting is part of a bigger family of server-side ad insertion fraud schemes that emerged in 2019 and initially targeted CTV inventory. In this specific iteration, fraudsters begin by spoofing residential IP addresses and audio apps. At the same time, they also set up fake SSAI servers to falsify audio ad requests, making the inventory attractive to advertisers. If an advertiser bids on this inventory and wins the bid, their ad dollars are wasted on a fraudulent opportunity. “Fraud always follows the money, and increasingly that money is flowing to digital audio, a rapidly emerging channel where digital advertising standards are still evolving,” said Mark Zagorski, CEO at DoubleVerify. “CTV continues to experience this phenomenon and, increasingly, audio is quietly becoming a new channel of interest and attack.”

LiveRamp announced the launch of a new partner solution for AWS Clean by Amazon Web Services. The solution allows customers to use LiveRamp’s transcoding and identity resolution capabilities within AWS Clean Rooms. “Our continued work with AWS allows LiveRamp’s person-based identifier to be used as a key to connect data and drive more impactful audience modeling and planning for global clients, ensuring they can extend the utility of data safely and securely,” said Katrina Cho, Head of Cloud Partnerships, at LiveRamp.

Havas Media North America and FreeWheel have partnered to scale premium CTV campaigns for US advertisers. The integration will provide marketers with direct access to premium CTV programmers and MVPDs across more than 90% of the premium video ecosystem, and marks FreeWheel’s first preferred agency supply-side platform partnership for premium video. “What we are doing with Havas is, in its most simplistic form, removing friction and the traditional barriers their brands face when trying to connect with premium supply inventory,” Cameron Miille, Head of Marketplace Activation at FreeWheel, tells Cynopsis. “To use retail as an analogy, this is as direct to consumer as it gets. And, by doing this, Havas is getting unparalleled transparency, supply path optimization and access to the audiences they are looking for.”

Pixalate has released new iCloud Private Relay IVT detection features in the Pixalate Analytics dashboard to help clients measure their exposure to iCPR traffic. The new IVT type covers potentially fraudulent behavior within iCPR traffic including:
* Data Centers: Traffic originating from an invalid data center IP range
* Device Types: Traffic that has inappropriate device types associated with it
* Traffic Patterns: Traffic featuring suspicious patterns and associations that are not appropriate for iCPR or HideMyIP

Amazon has expanded its partnership with Paramount Global. The deal will allow advertisers using Amazon DSP to reach Amazon audiences through the premium video advertising platform EyeQ, owned by Paramount Global, and will include the company’s streaming services Pluto TV and Paramount+, as well as broadcast brands CBS News, Comedy Central, VH1 and more.

Programmatic consultancy AI Digital has launched its proprietary platform ELEVATE. Designed for the programmatic marketplace, ELEVATE is an optimization and measurement solution aimed at helping marketers to make clear correlations between digital campaigns and brand and business outcomes. “We have had better campaign outcomes and are able to more easily demonstrate how campaigns are driving towards brand goals, which is top of mind for marketers,” said Marina Miller, EVP, Marketing & Media Strategy, Media Brokers International. “We believe ELEVATE will push the industry forward and make media more accountable.”

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STREAMING

Netflix is adding spatial audio and a higher device accessibility to its premium plan. The $19.99 per month tier will offer subscribers the option to stream and download on six devices (previously four), and theater-like sound to over 700 titles, including upcoming releases including “You” and “Tour de France.” The upgraded features will be available at no additional cost.

That’s the good news. Netflix will also continue to crack down on password sharing by asking people to pay an extra fee to use its services outside the household. Under the new terms, subscribers will have to choose a primary location for their TV, where all accounts and devices are connected to the same Wi-Fi. Subscribers using a separate device in the same home will have to launch the app at least once a month, “to ensure that [the] devices are associated with [the] primary location,” according to the company’s website. The streamer has already tested additional membership fees for account sharing in Chile, Costa Rica and Peru.

Tubi has signed a content deal with Warner Bros. Discovery that will add 14 WB branded FAST channels and over 225 AVOD titles totaling over 2,000 hours to the platform. Tubi is launching three curated FAST channels – WB TV Reality, WB TV Series and WB TV Family – along with 11 FAST channels focused around genres including Lifestyles, Homes, Classic Movies, Education, Mysteries, and Weddings, among others.

TuneIn announced an improved listener experience is now available within the Sonos app, making it easier to access TuneIn’s radio and podcast catalog on Sonos speakers. This new integration includes a new user interface for browsing content in the Sonos app as well as access to TuneIn’s premium content on Sonos. “When it comes to the holistic streaming audio experience, you not only need easy access to quality content but you also need to be able to hear it with pristine sound,” said Richard Stern, CEO of TuneIn. “This new integration combines the outstanding audio quality of Sonos’ high-end speakers with an improved user experience that makes it much easier for users to access their favorite content on those speakers.”

Atmosphere has struck an exclusive content partnership with streaming and community-driven entertainment company TMB to bring its diverse library of content, including The Pet Collective and Weather Spy, exclusively to Atmosphere. “TMB’s content is some of the most compelling content online and plays spectacularly in businesses,” said Blake Sabatinelli, COO at Atmosphere. “We are elated to become the exclusive out-of-home destination for high-quality programming like FailArmy and People Are Awesome, and to provide TMB with their largest out-of-home audience yet.”

Video streaming company 24i announced it has supported Signify, the owner of the Philips Hue brand, with the creation of its Philips Hue Sync TV App.The Philips Hue Sync TV App synchronizes the color of the lighting in a consumer’s room with the content they are seeing on their Samsung TV, offering a more immersive and personalized viewing experience. It works with any on-screen content, including games and videos streamed using third-party smart TV apps.

Liberated Syndication announced a data integration partnership with YouTube for podcasters. Libsyn’s podcast advertising marketplace, AdvertiseCast, that connects advertisers with podcasters, is now connected with YouTube, to feed real-time, IAB-compliant data into its marketplace, enabling Libsyn podcasters, brands, and advertisers to gain streamlined access to accurate insights on podcast downloads from YouTube.

MyBundle, an online platform connecting consumers, streaming services, and broadband providers, announced that the company’s total number of broadband service provider partnerships has reached 150. As a result, the company’s services and solutions for broadband partners are now available to nearly 10 million household subscribers in the US.

Future Today shared that it has experienced three consecutive years of 100% YoY revenue growth with Unruly, an omnichannel advertising platform with a specialization in CTV and video, and the SSP in Tremor International’s end-to-end platform. Following Tremor’s 2022 acquisition of the Amobee DSP and its integration into the end-to-end platform, Amobee CTV spend on Future Today from Unruly grew 336%.

Software provider Synameda announced that Israeli telco Cellcom is employing Synamedia Vivid Workflow as a Service low latency streaming to enhance its FIFA World Cup viewing experience. With deployment in three weeks, Cellcom was able to stream matches in full HD with broadcast-equivalent latency on its Cellcom TV streaming service running on Android TV set-top boxes using LL-DASH.

A slew of media giants have left Fubo. Station signals from Sinclair Broadcast Group, Nexstar Media, Gray Television, E.W. Scripps Co., Tegna, Hearst Television and Cox Media Group are not airing on the streaming platform amid a dispute with CBS, which provides a network feed to Fubo for markets, without local programming. Nexstar said in a statement, “This programming is being denied to Fubo subscribers because CBS’s owner, Paramount, has been unwilling to include Nexstar and other local broadcast groups in the negotiating process and unwilling to allow them to negotiate with Fubo on their own.”

Allen Media Group and Condé Nast have partnered to add Bon Appétit, Architectural Digest and GQ to the Local Now streaming service. Three new FAST channels focus on topics such as food journalism, design and architecture, and men’s fashion and culture from the magazines on the free streaming platform.

4Q22 EARNINGS

Meta posted lower 4Q22 profit, with earnings of $4.65 billion, or $1.76 per share, down 55% from $10.29 billion, or $3.67 per share, a year earlier, and versus expected earnings of $2.26 per share. A dip in the advertising market and competition in the space were blamed for the tech giant’s third consecutive quarter of revenue decline. But revenue fell 4% to $32.17 billion, while analysts had forecast $31.55 billion, and the company announced a $40 billion stock buyback, spurring a rise in the stock price.

Apple reported revenue of $117.2 billion, down 5% from the year-ago quarter, versus a forecast of $121.1 billion, pointing a “challenging environment” during the quarter. Revenue in the company’s Services unit, which includes streaming offerings, hit a record $20.8 billion during the quarter.

With a boost from offerings like “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” and “Thursday Night Football,” Amazon bucked the trend of missed forecasts with a 9% rise in revenue, to $149 billion. Sales in web services division AWS rose 20% year-over-year, to $21.4 billion.
 

Cynopsis Team