A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM PREMION

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On the heels of Google’s introduction of its search conversational bot Bard, built in AI, came Microsoft’s announcement that it has partnered with ChatGPT maker OpenAI to add more advanced AI conversation models to power updates to Bing and the Edge browser. The company unveiled the new technology at an event at its headquarters in Redmond, WA, during which Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella noted, “It’s a new day in search.” The latest version of the Bing search engine will use an updated ChatGPT technology known as the Prometheus Model.

Yahoo is laying off over 20% of its total workforce as it restructures its ad tech division. About half of the company’s ad tech employees will be affected by the end of the year, including 1000 this week. “These decisions are never easy, but we believe these changes will simplify and strengthen our advertising business for the long run, while enabling Yahoo to deliver better value to our customers and partners,” said a Yahoo spokesperson.

Google has launched the Cost-Per-Hour Masthead on YouTube, offering brands exclusive ownership of the Masthead leading up to, during or after priority moments. “Marketers, you know this well: you center advertising campaigns around the tentpole moments most likely to inspire your audience, shift perceptions or influence a purchase decision,” said the company in a blog post. “Every industry has a ‘drop’ moment: fashion brands release new lines, production companies share new movie trailers, tech companies host product launch events. Months, if not years, of work go into these launches, making these moments a must win for marketers.” YouTube piloted cost-per-hour during 4Q22.

Baidu also had AI news, reporting it will launch a ChatGPT-life bot next month. The service will be available as an app before being integrating into Baidu’s search engine.

A new social app startup is focusing on better serving users by enabling authentic networking experiences. Antoine Martin, co-founder of Zenly, is behind Amo, offering a waiting list but scant details. Zenly, acquire by Snap in 2017, was just down last year, despite a active user base of 40 million.

TikTok continues to be the social app of choice among minors ages 4-18 in terms of average daily minutes, according to data from Qustodio. In June 2020 TikTok bested YouTube for the first time, with kids watching TikTok for an average 82 minutes per day versus 75 minutes for YouTube. By 2022, the gap had widened to 107 minutes for TikTok and 67 minutes for YouTube.

Infront Bettor, the betting-focused division of Infront, has announced a global agreement with bet365, the world’s largest online betting brand. The deal will see bet365 distribute 18,000 hours of content from over 30 rights holders to more than 80 million customers from over 160 countries around the world.

Web3 entertainment and gaming company Orange Comet announced the latest extension of its collaboration with AMC’s “Immortal Universe of Anne Rice” with the introduction of the Mayfair Witches Pass. Set to mint on March 7, the limited collection will broaden the Immortal Universe community through a variety of virtual and real-life experiences.

Ben Schwerin, SP, Content and Partnerships at Snap, is exiting the company at the end of March. Schwerin, who joined Snap in 2015, is headed to investment management company Coatue, reports Forbes.

Average broadband consumption approached a new high of nearly 600 GB per month and the percentage of subscribers on gigabit speed tiers has more than doubled, according to the Q4 2022 edition of the OpenVault Broadband Insights report. “Demand for greater internet speed continues to increase,” the report noted. “Operators need to be mindful not only of this overall growth, but of growth among specific segments of subscribers and at specific times. Consumption by subscribers in the FCC’s Affordable Connectivity Program continues to outpace that of all subscribers, and rapid growth of peak time consumption – especially during and around the holiday season – both are considerations that need to be addressed in network planning.”

Synacor announced that its CloudID identity and access management platform for premium consumer and entertainment services is available on Oracle Cloud Marketplace. Cloud ID enables consumer-focused applications to offer a secure sign-in experiences and can now be deployed on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). Oracle Cloud Marketplace is a centralized repository of enterprise applications and solutions offered by Oracle and Oracle partners.

Witbe, specialist in test automation and monitoring, has partnered with T-Mobile NL to ensure the quality of T-Mobile NL’s IPTV services being delivered across consumer video devices, such as set-top boxes, smart TVs, and mobile applications. T-Mobile NL will be able to use Witbe’s unified technology for automated QA testing.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM PREMION

PREMION

Viewers are as Dynamic as the Content they Watch.
Leverage the Power of Persona-Based Targeting with
PREMION AUDIENCE FIRST

LEADING THE EVOLUTION IN LOCAL OTT & CTV ADVERTISING
TAG CERTIFIED AGAINST AD FRAUD
TAG BRAND SAFETY CERTIFIED

PREMION.COM/AudienceFirst

MEASUREMENT

At NBCUniversal’s third annual developer conference One23, the company unveiled new capabilities as part of its One Platform technology stack, intended to combine the data and targeting of big tech and the engagement of big media. With an introduction from late-night host Jimmy Fallon, the speaker roster included NBCUniveral Chairman of Global Advertising and Partnerships Linda Yaccarino, a keynote from Steve Wozniak, Andy Cohen, “E! News Rundown” host Erin Lim Rhodes and more on subjects ranging from inclusivity to the self-service revolution.

One23 news included word that Peacock will be shoppable this year. NBCU’s One Platform technology stack will now include Must ShopTV and its Checkout platform with direct integration. And members of the Joint Industry Committee convened onstage for the first time in the pre-upfront period to discuss their commitment to standardization. Joining NBCU were representatives from dentsu, Havas Media, Horizon Media, OpenAP, Omnicom Media Group, Paramount and TelevisaUnivision. The panelists were in unanimous agreement that for positive change to be made, it would take combined and equalized efforts of each company.

Speaking on measurement fragmentation, David Levy, OpenAP CEO, said, “The acceleration of a multi-currency future requires that both programmers and buyers coalesce around the standards needed to power emerging cross-platform measurement solutions. By partnering on the initiatives laid out by the JIC, we will enable more measurement innovation for the benefit of the entire ecosystem.” After the event, Yaccarino asked which description best captured the spirit of One23: #NerdCoachella (Jimmy Fallon’s suggestion); #AdTechPalooza (from Forbes) and Yaccarino’s #SouthBySouthWz. You can cast a vote here.

GumGum has earned the Media Rating Council’s first accreditation for measurement of content-level classification and URL reporting through the Verity API for CTV. “The addition of accredited content-level classification for CTV to GumGum’s existing MRC accreditations, which had already included classification and reporting for desktop and mobile web, is a noteworthy achievement,” said George W. Ivie, Executive Director and CEO of the MRC. “It speaks to GumGum’s commitments to both transparency and innovation, and we’re pleased that advertisers and others now have the benefit of an MRC-accredited solution to help them navigate this critical emerging space.”

ADVERTISING

Kubient, a cloud-based software platform for digital advertising, has released KAI 2.0, the latest update to its proprietary ad fraud identification and prevention technology, Kubient Artificial Intelligence. “While ChatGPT has shown the public the productive power of what AI can bring, fraudsters are using similar AI tools to continue building their arsenal for fake websites, apps, digital media impressions, etc. This launch ensures that our core AI technology stays many steps ahead of the fraudsters with significant AI firepower to thwart their efforts,” said Leon Zemel, Chief Product Officer of Kubient. “At the same time, this release drives significant feature benefits for our publisher and advertiser clients.”

Cadent, an independent platform for advanced TV advertising, is partnering with consumer data platform Affinity Solutions to help advertisers looking to implement campaigns across audiences who purchase specific brands or categories. “Our partnership with Affinity Solutions allows customers of Aperture Platform to optimize the impact of their data-driven campaigns,” said Tony Yi, EVP Business Development and GM Platform, Cadent. “We want to help brands engage the right consumers by leveraging the deepest available audience insights.”

As advertisers diversify buys across linear, CTV, and digital, internal silos between digital and traditional channels also seem to be breaking down, with 80% now buying converged TV through a centralized team, according to a new report from Innovid. Key findings include:
· Goals for converged TV buys span reach and performance. The top goals for converged TV were 1) audience targeting; 2) reach/incremental reach; and 3) outcomes.
· A unified view of converged TV reach and performance is needed, but remains a challenge. While the way measurement was done differed widely by respondent, what was being measured was increasingly aligned, with 45% measuring the same KPIs across linear, CTV, and digital. The top KPIs for converged TV were online outcomes (86%), offline outcomes (57%), and brand reach (43%).
· Creative strategies are still rooted in the linear 60-second spot, but starting to evolve along with converged TV. Personalization at scale (48%) and interactivity at scale (35%) ranked as high creative priorities in 2023 for all respondents.

Magnite, the omnichannel sell-side advertising platform, announced Magnite Streaming, a supply-side platform that merges technology from the Magnite CTV and SpotX platforms. Magnite Streaming empowers media owners to maximize the value of their assets holistically across live and VOD inventory, CTV and OTT environments, and addressable linear. Magnite also launched research around streaming growth that showed:
* Streaming TV is now the most watched form of TV – 81% of respondents said they watched streaming TV, compared to 48% and 30% who reported watching paid traditional TV and broadcast TV, respectively.
* 86% of streaming TV viewers reported watching some form of ad-supported content.

STREAMING

Amazon spent $16.6 billion on digital video and music content in 2022, up from $13 billion the year prior. About $7 billion went toward Amazon originals, live sports and licensed third-party video content, said Amazon CFO Brian Olsavsky on the company’s quarterly earnings call. “We regularly evaluate the return on the spend and continue to be encouraged by what we see, as video has proven to be a strong driver of Prime member engagement and new Prime member acquisition,” said Olsavsky.

Peacock is launching “Watch With,” a new product experience that allows fans to watch special episodes alongside talent, with real time reactions, live commentary, and Q&A. Directly following the season two premiere of “Bel-Air,” “Watch With” officially launches with Jabari Banks + Olly Sholotan on February 24 at 9p. The feature will soon extend to “Eurovision” with two-time Olympian and NBC correspondent Johnny Weir, and “The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip” with Candiace Dillard Bassett and Marysol Patton.

Dana Walden and Alan Bergman, now heads of Disney Entertainment, a new division that’s part of Disney’s restructuring, will oversee the company’s global streaming businesses. Michael Paull, who was previously President, Direct to Consumer, Disney Media and Entertainment and Distribution, will continue to oversee Disney+ and Hulu, reporting to Walden and Bergman.

Dish-owned Sling TV has launched a free ad-supported service offering more than 210 channels. Now available on Roku devices, Sling Freestream will be added to select LG, Samsung and Vizio TVs. The announcement was made on February 9, Sling TV-created National Cut the Cord Day.

Sandbox VR has partnered with Netflix for a VR experience based on “Squid Game,” slated to open in late 2023. Players will be transported to “Squid Game” locations where they will compete in challenges based on the South Korean series. Players will receive personalized highlight reels of how their story played out.

Pluto TV and channel operator, Blue Ant Media are partnering for content with four Blue Ant Media-owned channels now live on Pluto TV in Canada. The new channels include HauntTV, Crimetime, HistoryTime and Homeful.

Guru Studio and Future Today are teaming to launch a dedicated FAST channel for the series “True and the Rainbow Kingdom” in the US. The new channel will deliver content from Gurus’ preschool series across Future Today’s partnerships with CTV and OTT platforms.

Cynopsis Team