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Monday March 1, 2021

Facebook has launched a campaign aimed at helping people understand how personalized ads can help them discover new things. “Good Ideas Deserve to be Found” spots began airing on TV, digital and radio last week. Facebook said its initiative is intended to help struggling small businesses, and will waive fees for those selling with Checkout on Shops through 2021. The move comes ahead of a change Apple is making to its iOS system that offers Apple device users an easy way to op-out of being targeted by advertisers.

As it deals with Apple at home, Facebook is contending with issues abroad by announcing plans to spend at least $1 billion in the news industry over the next three years. The reveal came two days after Facebook struck a deal with the Australian government that includes adding Australia news pages back to the platform, ending a short-lived ban enacted in reaction to a law requiring Facebook to pay publishers for linking to their stories. “Facebook is more than willing to partner with news publishers,” said Nick Clegg, VP of Global Affairs at Facebook, in a blog post. The social media giant shortly afterward struck agreements with Australian news organizations Private Media, Schwartz Media and Solstice Media.

Live audio chat Clubhouse might not be as exclusive as users think it is, with unofficial apps like Open Clubhouse broadcasting audio feeds in real time to users without access to the app, reports TechCrunch. “Recording or streaming without the explicit permission of the speakers is against the Clubhouse terms of service,” said the company. Clubhouse blocked service to Open Clubhouse five days after its launch.

Centro, provider of enterprise automation technology, announced the acquisition of QuanticMind, a developer of predictive advertising technology for digital channels, to integrate with its combo programmatic advertising and media workflow automation platform, Basis. QuanticMind’s martech platform utilizes artificial intelligence and machine learning to unify and analyze data, which powers its software for search, keyword bid management, and marketing intelligence visualization. “Centro is one step further to completing our vision of a singular, unified platform helping advertising agencies and marketers save time, money and resources by eliminating data and process silos through improved organization and automation of critical functions,” said Shawn Riegsecker, CEO of Centro.

ByteDance agreed to pay a $92 million settlement to US users of TikTok who allege the app failed to get their consent to collect data, a violation of an Illinois biometric privacy law, which allows lawsuits against companies that harvest consumer data without consent. “While we disagree with the assertions, rather than go through lengthy litigation, we’d like to focus our efforts on building a safe and joyful experience for the TikTok community,” said TikTok in a statement.

Sky Media has partnered with Seven.One Media for the launch of CFlight in Germany, introducing transparent criteria for cross-media contacts which take into account a uniform media quality. “When we first launched CFlight, our goal was to rethink our measurement techniques to reflect the future of premium video consumption and highlight the value of this content to marketers,” said Krishan Bhatia, President & Chief Business Officer, Global Advertising & Partnerships, NBCUniversal. “As we’ve continued to innovate and grow globally, at NBCUniversal we’re thrilled to support CFlight’s expansion overseas, first in the UK and now in Germany with our partners at Sky Media along with SevenOne Media.”

CTV leads the share of impressions by device, but it’s not the only place consumers are watching content, according to Extreme Reach’s Video Benchmarks Report. CTV maintains the lead in share of impressions by device with 35%, slightly down in Q4 from Q3 2020, but many direct-to-consumer brands working with ER prioritize the ability to optimize campaigns in real-time based on conversion tracking, and leverage CTV to a lesser extent. Desktop is next in share of impressions, accounting for 25% of impressions served in Q4. Full-year data shows that desktop experienced a 37% increase in impressions, rising from 16% in 2019 to 22% in 2020, perhaps driven by being stuck at home versus on-the-go.

The Media Rating Council has issued a draft document outlining guidance and best practices for advertising measurement in OTT and CTV environments, and when Server Side Ad Insertion digital video techniques are used. Among the main issues addressed:
· A refinement of the definitions MRC uses for “Over the Top” and “Connected TV,” designed to more closely align with current industry terminologies.
· The identification and encouragement of certain measurement-related best practices specific to SSAI.
· The highlighting of relevant existing guidance on issues of particular importance to OTT/CTV and SSAI, including on such matters as the impacts on measurement of latency, continuous play, “TV Off” situations and the application of invalid traffic detection and filtration in these environments.
After a 30-day public comment period, during which comments on the draft will be accepted and considered, the MRC will issue a final draft.

In collaboration with NASA, National Geographic debuted an augmented reality experience on the @natgeo Instagram account. The activation gives users an opportunity to be “on” the Perseverance rover, and offers a 360 look at the panorama from the robot’s point of view.

PREMION
LEADING THE EVOLUTION IN LOCAL OTT & CTV ADVERTISING

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OUTSTANDING LOCAL ADVERTISING SOLUTION

TAG CERTIFIED AGAINST AD FRAUD
125+ Leading TV & Media Brands, No Open Exchanges
Audience Targeting Across All DMAs, Website & Location Attribution

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A Telegram update offers an auto-delete timer for messages in any chat; new flexible invite links, including links with a limited duration and/or number of uses; and faster access to chats with home screen widgets. Groups can now have unlimited members by converting into Broadcast Groups, where only admins can send messages, but members can still join voice chats.

During its virtual analyst day presentation last week, Twitter shared a peek at its first paid feature, Super Follow, allowing users to charge followers a monthly fee for things like “exclusive content” and “subscriber-only newsletters.” Super Follow would also enable creators to put certain tweets, fleets and chats behind a paywall. The feature is still being tested; no roll-out date was announced.

Twitter Canada and so.da unveiled a new online shopping experience, Twitter Shops Fueled by so.da. Users can discover and shop for products on Twitter with virtual pop-ups designed to help people discover brands, learn more about their products, and then drive traffic directly to the brand’s site.

A new Netflix feature, Downloads for You, will automatically download
programs it thinks users will like. “Whether you’re a comedy fan stuck on a long car ride or a rom com lover without internet, we do the work so there is always something new waiting to entertain and delight you,” the company said. The feature is available on Android, and will be tested soon on iOS.

YouTube is adding new parental controls. Set to launch in beta, the “supervised experiences” will include three tiers: “Explore,” with material suitable for viewers at 9+; “Explore More,” with content for viewers 13+; and “Most of YouTube,” including almost all videos except those that are age-restricted or have “sensitive topics” suitable only for older teens. Parents will also be able to manage watch and search history from their child’s account settings.

ADVERTISING

NBCUniversal announced a new advanced advertising agreement with Charter Communications that will expand NBCUniversal’s US household addressable footprint by nearly 40 percent to 45 million households, allowing access to NBCUniversal to sell addressable campaigns on their own inventory across Charter’s Spectrum platforms. The integration across Charter’s Spectrum VOD is slated for launch in 4Q21. “Advertisers need to meet viewers in the moment, and that’s why NBCUniversal has been laser-focused on expanding our addressable capabilities,” said NBCU’s Krishan Bhatia. “Through our partnership with Charter Communications, we are taking an important step forward by delivering targeted advertising to millions of Spectrum viewers who are watching video on demand.”

AMC Networks and Omnicom Media Group announced the successful completion of two first-to-market national linear addressable campaigns. The November and December campaigns, featuring Volkswagen and another major advertiser, utilized AMC Networks’ On Addressability partnership with Canoe Ventures, with spots running across Comcast and Charter cable systems, reaching nearly 25 million homes across the US. Future executions will include Cox cable systems as well. “This is a moment television networks, distributors and our advertising partners have been anticipating and working toward for many years, unleashing the power and potential of addressable advertising on the national level to deliver highly relevant and customized commercial spots to viewers,” said Kim Kelleher, President of Commercial Revenue and Partnerships for AMC Networks. “Our goal for 2021 and beyond is to make 100 percent of our linear, VOD and digital inventory addressable, with advanced cross-platform reach, measurement and sophisticated data analytics with attribution.”

Media and marketing services company Engine announced the launch of Engine Device Graph+, expanding its cookieless offering with a suite of CTV and omnichannel media solutions, allowing for integrated planning and buying across CTV, mobile, display and video environments. Engine Device Graph+ combines proprietary data from Engine Media Exchange and Engine Insights with multiple data partners across automatic content recognition, cross-device data, location-based attribution partners and identity resolution providers. “With Engine Device Graph+ we’re providing a solution that not only enables accurate buying decisions for CTV, but we are able to gain a holistic view of the entire household and offer targeting and measurement across multiple devices,” said Michael Zacharski, CEO, ENGINE Media Exchange.

It’s official. NBCUniversal’s 42 NBC/Telemundo stations and seven regional sports nets are moving to 100 percent impressions-based buying for all local ad campaigns as of April 1. After the stations announced their move to impressions in September 2019, clients and agencies that weren’t trading on impressions were granted additional time to transition while they evaluated the impact the change would have on their business and clients.

Team Whistle has entered into a strategic partnership with ad serving platform SpringServe, which makes SpringServe the primary ad server for Team Whistle’s OTT linear and VOD network, Whistle TV. SpringServe’s programmatic technology will allow Team Whistle to better manage and more effectively monetize their video advertising inventory as the company continues to expand its AVOD and OTT businesses.

Enterprise software platform and data provider Whip Media announced that media company Tastemade will utilize its data performance tracking solution for linear free ad-supported streaming TV. “We applaud Tastemade, a truly data-forward modern media company and streaming network, for bringing more visibility to the industry and FAST networks to drive innovation in their businesses,” said Carol Hanley, Chief Revenue and Strategy Officer of Whip Media.

Amagi is working with digital content studio and broadcaster Little Dot Studios to help deliver its expansion into OTT and CTV platforms. Little Dot Studios is now distributing its linear streaming channels and AVOD to over 15 digital platforms; its digital brands Timeline and Absolute History generate more than 650,000 unique views a day, with Timeline amassing 1.9 million subscribers on YouTube alone.

Pluto TV is launching a new channel with Major League Baseball on March 2, featuring classic games and highlights. The branded MLB channel will stream over 200 hours of classic content licensed from the Major League Baseball Film & Video Archive, with quarterly refreshes. The channel will air a variety of curated content including iconic World Series and All-Star games and milestones, episodes of “Epic Moments,” “Baseball’s Seasons” and “Cathedrals of the Game,” in addition to curated clips and playlists featuring top plays.

Canela.TV, a streaming service aimed at US Hispanics, is now available on Samsung TV Pus and select Galaxy devices. Available on channel 1272, Canela.TV, features a mixture of Spanish-language movies and series.

Building on its partnership with Samsung TV Plus in the US, Vevo will now be available to Samsung TV Plus users in the UK. Linear, ad-supported Vevo Pop is the first Vevo channel available on Samsung TV Plus in the UK. Additional genre-curated channels are being explored for launch later this year, as are additional European markets.

Cable news channel Newsmax TV launched its channel on Vizio SmartCast. The SmartCast operating system comes equipped with every Vizio Smart TV and provides free content available from the SmartCast Home screen.

ShortsTV is expanding into OTT via a new partnership with India’s Airtel Xstream to launch a VOD service viewable on a mobile app and television screens. The move adds Airtel’s 340 million subscribers to ShortsTV’s current universe of 60 million TV households.

Tubi, a division of FOX Entertainment, is getting more animated. The streamer has entered a licensing agreement with Toei Animation, the anime studio and pioneer in Japanese animation. The deal includes seven television series totaling nearly 500 episodes, as well as six TV specials. As part of the deal and for the first time ever, Tubi will stream English subtitled versions of “Dr. Slump” (from Akira Toriyama) and “Saint Seiya: Hades.”

AT&T TV customers can now watch up to 20 simultaneous streams in their homes, and have an unlimited DVR option. (The number of out-of-home streams customers can watch remains three.) The change goes live today, February 25. Excluded from the 20 in-home streams are Fox networks, Starz, NHL Network, Showtime and PBS. Subscribers can also pay an extra $10 a month to boost their storage from 20 hours to unlimited. The recordings stay in the cloud-based DVR for 90 days.