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The Open App Markets Act won Judiciary Committee approval last week. The act would prohibit requiring developers from using an in-app payment system owned or controlled by the company as a condition of distribution or accessibility; requiring that pricing or conditions of sale be equal to or more favorable on its app store than another app store; or taking punitive action against a developer for using or offering different pricing terms or conditions of sale through another in-app payment system or on another app store. Apple has argued that supporting the distribution of apps outside of the App Store could expose users to “serious security risks.”

Pinterest is launching a virtual shopping experience that will allow users to see what furniture and décor would look like in their home, using AR. Shoppers for products from companies including Crate & Barrel, Walmart, West Elm and Wayfair will be able to use the Pinterest app’s Lens camera to envision products, and if they wish, proceed to purchase from the retailer.

Google has stopped serving ads on the website of right-wing commentator and Fox News host Dan Bongino. “We have strict publisher policies in place that explicitly prohibit misleading and harmful content around the COVID-19 pandemic and demonstrably false claims about our elections,” said Google. “When publishers persistently breach our policies, we stop serving Google ads on their sites. Publishers can always appeal a decision once they have addressed any violating content.” After his Google AdSense account was revoked, Bongino’s show’s Twitter account tweeted, “We deeply appreciate your efforts to try & silence us, it presents the perfect foil for the free speech parallel economy.”

The subject of Netflix true crime documentary “The Tinder Swindler,” Shimon Hayut, has been banned for life from the dating app. Hayut has been accused of posing as Simon Leviev, son of a diamond tycoon, to cheat women out of millions of dollars. “We have conducted internal investigations and can confirm Simon Leviev is no longer active on Tinder under any of his known aliases,” said Tinder.

Nineteen percent of Spotify users said they have canceled their subscription or plan to in protest over Covid misinformation spread in Joe Rogan’s smash podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience,” according to a survey from Forrester Research. The survey comes after musicians including Neil Young and Joni Mitchell removed their music from the platform – and before Rogan offered his “sincere and humble apologies” in a lengthy Instagram post on Saturday, after a compilation video surfaced that showed him using a racial slur 24 times. But don’t cry for Spotify. “Consumer boycotts build quickly, but they lose steam fast,” noted Forrester analysts Mike Proulx and Kelsey Chickering of the Spotify poll results.

Let the games…consolidate: Sony Interactive Entertainment has agreed to buy videogame developer Bungie (“Halo,” “Destiny”) for $3.6 billion. The deal follows Take-Two’s $12.7 billion agreement to acquire Zynga, and Microsoft’s agreement to buy Activision for $69 million.

Comcast NBCUniversal announced the launch of the NBC Olympics VR by Xfinity app. Available for the first time in 8K resolution, the app features more than 150 hours of live and on demand interactive virtual reality coverage of the Winter Games. “We strive to create innovative viewing experiences so immersive it rivals being at the Winter Olympics live,” said Sophia Ahmad, EVP, Xfinity Consumer Services. “Our robust network makes it possible for Xfinity customers to get closer to the action than ever before, experiencing for the first-time ever, the Games in 8K VR.”

FloSports has selected Tazos as its official blockchain in a multi-year technical partnership. The deal includes development of non-fungible tokens, fan experiences built on Tezos, as well as branding in FloSports’ owned-and-operated events and other live streamed sporting events. The partnership is set to run through 2024.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM PREMION

PREMION
LEADING THE EVOLUTION IN LOCAL OTT & CTV ADVERTISING

TAG CERTIFIED AGAINST AD FRAUD
125+ Leading TV & Media Brands, Audience Targeting, Closed-Loop Attribution

NEW FOR 2022! PREMION & BIA SPECIAL REPORT
The New Rules Ahead for Streaming TV Advertising
CTV/OTT Forecast & Advertiser Insights

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ON THE MONEY

Snap Inc. exceeded guidance across revenue, daily active users and adjusted EBIDTA in 4Q21, posting its first quarter of positive net income ($23 million). “Achieving positive free cash flow for the full year is an important milestone as we are increasingly able to self-fund our investments in the future, which positions us well to accelerate our vision for computing overlaid on the world through augmented reality,” said co-founder and CEO Evan Spiegel.

Alphabet reported better-than-expected 4Q21 earnings, and set a 20-for-1 stock split for July. Revenue hit $75.33 billion, versus a projected $72.17 billion. Google’s advertising revenue was $61.24 billion for the quarter, versus $46.2 billion in the year-ago quarter. The company’s “deep investment in AI technologies continues to drive extraordinary and helpful experiences for people and businesses, across our most important products,” said Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai. “Q4 saw ongoing strong growth in our advertising business, which helped millions of businesses thrive and find new customers, a quarterly sales record for our Pixel phones despite supply constraints, and our Cloud business continuing to grow strongly.”

Shares of Meta Platforms tanked 26.4% on Thursday, with a record market cap loss of $237 billion. The plunge came after the company warned of “headwinds” in 1Q22 including an estimated $10 billion impact from Apple’s iOS privacy changes, along with new EU regulations, “macroeconomic challenges,” and competition from TikTok.

Spotify’s 4Q21 report boasted an increase of 8 million paying subscribers, to 180 million, and a rise in total revenue to $3.04 billion, up 24% year-over-year. But average revenue per user grew a disappointing 3% year-over-year. As for the aforementioned Joe Rogan situation, Spotify CEO Daniel Eks told staff in a town hall meeting, “If we want even a shot at achieving our bold ambitions, it will mean having content on Spotify that many of us may not be proud to be associated with. Not anything goes, but there will be opinions, ideas, and beliefs that we disagree with strongly and even makes us angry or sad.”

ADVERTISING

Google has added new exposure frequency controls for CTV campaigns, enabling advertisers to avoid over-saturation – and viewer frustration – for their spots. If an advertiser sets a frequency goal of five ads per week for a CTV campaign, instead of showing up to five CTV ads on YouTube and five ads on other CTV apps, Display & Video 360 will now aim to show the ad no more than five times total. “Viewers won’t see your ad more than they should as they navigate across YouTube, Hulu or any of their other favorite CTV apps,” said Google. “This more user-centric approach lowers your risk of triggering ad fatigue.”

Fifty-nine percent of consumers hold social media platforms responsible for ads next to unsafe content, according to research from Integral Ad Science. Other findings include:
· 47% of consumers report having an unfavorable view of brands whose ads appear next to unsuitable content.
· 46% of consumers are likely to remember a social ad if the message relates to surrounding content, while 41% would feel favorable towards these brands.
· 32% of respondents are likely to purchase a product or service if the ad in their social feed is contextually relevant. Meanwhile, 60% of consumers are unlikely to purchase a product or service advertised next to unsafe content.
“As the future of walled gardens evolves, our latest research will help marketers think differently about their ads and the importance of context in dynamic social media environments,” said Tony Marlow, CMO, IAS. “Consumers have developed more critical eyes for ads on social platforms, so brands need to adapt as well by tapping into the latest technology to align with what’s relevant and avoid unsuitable content.”

FreeWheel announced the launch of its Partner Certification Program, focused on certifying its integrated TV and premium video buyers and sellers and data companies. “The goal of the Partner Certification Program is to provide another tool to make TV simpler and more efficient to plan and transact upon, while continuing our commitment to interoperability in a way that benefits the future of the industry,” said Mark McKee, GM, FreeWheel.

DoubleVerify introduced Fully On-Screen pre-bid targeting, enabling CTV advertisers to target inventory from sources that have received DV’s Fully On-Screen Certification, an MRC-accredited post-bid measurement solution. DV tests and evaluates CTV devices and apps to ensure ads are only displayed 100% on-screen and when the TV screen is turned on. DV Fully On-Screen pre-bid segments are available on Amobee, MediaMath and Xandr, with more media-buying platform integrations forthcoming.

Tubular Labs’ introduced a new eCommerce product, Consumer Insights, connecting social video viewership with viewers’ shopping behaviors. Tying social viewership to Amazon purchases, findings include:
· People who watch videos about home automation are 36 times more likely to shop for cleaning supplies.
· The top three categories watched for candy shoppers include: travel, family & parenting and food & drink.
· Toothpaste shoppers are most likely to watch Beauty content.

SiriusXM’s SXM Media introduced AudioID powered by AdsWizz, a listener identity solution for marketers. With an algorithm that accepts and matches a variety of consented listener signals and inputs then weighs them accordingly, the identity solution responds to ad requests by finding or creating unique, anonymized AudioIDs. These IDs can then be tapped into for everything from reach and forecasting to frequency capping, advanced first-party targeting, enhanced measurement, and more.

Roku is adding Nielsen’s Digital Ad Ratings audience guarantees to OneView, its cross-screen streaming ad buying platform. OneView is the first ad buying platform to enable Nielsen guarantees across TV streaming. OneView users can now choose a specific age and gender demographic, like adults ages 18 to 49, and pay only for the ad impressions that reach their target audience. “We believe that all TV ads will be streamed and that all TV ad measurement will be automated. Now, upfront advertisers in OneView will be among the first to see audience overlap across major devices, channels, and publishers on their plan,” said Louqman Parampath, VP of Product Management. “Our goal is to offer diverse tech and measurement offerings that move the industry forward.”

Simulmedia has launched a new platform, TV Plus, that provides advertisers and media buyers with access to cable, broadcast and streaming commercial inventory. The platform automates planning, buying, activation and measurement and guarantees that advertisers target TV viewers at scale no matter how they’re consuming programming.

Engine Media Exchange, an SSP and end-to-end technology solution, and Audigent, the data activation, curation, and identity company, have teamed to expand the first-party data capabilities of EMX’s Data Connected Marketplace. As a preferred SSP of Audigent’s SmartPMP product, EMX provides greater audience lift, targeting, scale and delivery. “The cookieless future is powered by new ways of thinking about data, and EMX is prepared with our expansion of the Data Connected Marketplace with Audigent’s leading identifiers,” said Michael Zacharski, CEO of ENGINE Media Exchange. “Our partnership also reinforces our commitment to provide media buyers with greater fidelity, accuracy, and visibility in ad targeting.”

STREAMING

Fox Entertainment and Hulu announced a new program output deal enabling Hulu to stream all out-of-season episodes of a number of Fox series, including all of the network’s unscripted content. That includes “The Masked Singer,” “LEGO Masters,” “Name that Tune,” “MasterChef” and more. The deal also included future unscripted programming. “This deal proudly continues the Fox/Hulu partnership. Hulu continues to be a great place for fans to catch-up on, and even discover, Fox’s iconic, talked-about stories and characters,” said Fox Entertainment CEO Charlie Collier.

VIZIO has expanded A+E Networks content line-up on SmartCast with the addition of HISTORY Vault, A&E Crime Central and Lifetime Movie Club apps. “VIZIO’s commitment to offer viewers a wide breadth of compelling content and experiences makes expanding A+E on SmartCast a natural fit,” said Katherine Pond, Vice President of Business Development for VIZIO.

FAST Studios unveiled a plan to build the Women’s Sports Network, a free, ad-supported, 24/7 streaming destination where fans will find women’s sports content featured around the clock. To complement the array of programming from its content partners, Women’s Sports Network will produce flagship daily and weekly women’s sports news, talk and highlights shows.

AccuWeather NOW is joining LG Channels’ roster of over 300 channels. LG users can now access AccuWeather’s forecasts as well as 24/7, continuous daily programming, dedicated to all things weather

EXECUTIVE MOVES

IRI, provider of technology, data and predictive analytics for the consumer, retail and media sectors, announced that Misty Muscatel Davis will join the company as global chief marketing officer. Davis was most recently director, Global Client and Agency Solutions, Consumer Packaged Goods, Consumer Health and Tech at Google.

Cynopsis Team