Google is updating Bard to include coding. Bard, a conversational AI chatbot, can now help with programming and software development tasks, including code generation, debugging and code explanation, wrote Paige Bailey, Group Product Manager, Google Research, in a blog post on Friday. The capabilities are launching in more than 20 programming languages including C++, Go, Java, Javascript, Python and Typescript. “You can easily export Python code to Google Colab — no copy and paste required,” wrote Bailey. In addition to generating code, Bard can help explain code snippets. “This is particularly helpful if you’re learning about programming for the first time, or if you need some additional support to understand what a block of code might output,” noted Bailey.

A journaling app is in the works at Apple, reports The Wall Street Journal. The app, which will let users record their activities and thoughts, is part of Apple’s push into the market for mental and physical health technology. “It will definitely give us some competition,” Paul Mayne, founder of journaling app Day One, told the WSJ of Apple’s possible launch of the app.

Snapchat’s AI chatbot is going global. When it was launched in February, it was available as an experimental feature for subscribers to Snapchat+; now it will be free. My AI is also being upgraded with the ability to add it to group chats, share Snaps and get recommendations on Snap Map and Lenses.

At Snap’s Partner Summit last week, the company also announced that Snapchat+ now has over 3 million users, up from 1 million last August. Updates include new Story modes; an interactive Lens that enables users to play games together face-to-face during a video call; and new AR lenses powered by generative AI. Snap’s AI chatbot, My AI, is now free to all Snapchat users, although a new My AI feature, which enables the chatbot to “Snap” you back using generative AI to create photos, will be available only to subscribers.

Advertisers on Twitter will have to either pony up $8/month for Twitter Blue or $1000/month for Verified Organizations if they want to buy ads on the service, according to what appears to be a notification from Twitter posted by social media expert Matt Navarra. Businesses that spend at least $1000 monthly will be automatically verified, according to the notice, which says, “This change aligns with Twitter’s broader verification strategy: to elevate the quality of content on Twitter and enhance your experience as a user and advertiser.This approach also supports our ongoing efforts to reduce fraudulent accounts and bots.”

Following backlash by the likes of NPR and PBS, on Friday Twitter removed “state-affiliated media” or “government-funded media” labels from accounts. That came the day after Twitter began removing legacy Blue verification check marks from users who have not signed up to pay the fee now required. CEO Elon Musk said he was “personally paying” for badges for William Shatner, LeBron James and Stephen King, who had complained about the revenue grab.

Google plans to merge DeepMind and the Brain team from Google Research, its primary AI research units, into one unit called DeepMind. “Building ever more capable and general AI, safely and responsibly, demands that we solve some of the hardest scientific and engineering challenges of our time,” said CEO Demis Hassabis. To do that, he wrote in a blog post, the company must work with greater speed, stronger collaboration and execution, and to simplify the way decisions are made. Hassabis, co-founder and CEO of DeepMind, which Google acquired for about $500 million in 2014, will head the newly formed unit, while Jeff Dean, who oversaw the Google Brain team, is moving to a new role as chief scientist.

Habu announced a partnership with Google Cloud that integrates Habu’s Data Clean Room applications natively on Google Cloud’s BigQuery to scale data collaboration for companies. The native integration provides companies a secure environment where rich data can be analyzed and processed without the risk of breaches or unauthorized access. “Extending our vision for data clean rooms with partners brings more choice and capability to marketers on Google Cloud,” said Bruno Aziza, Head of Data and Analytics, Google Cloud. “Bringing Habu’s data orchestration and clean room capabilities alongside new privacy-centric BigQuery data clean rooms will help brands get more value and insights from their data across trusted partners.

Eved LLC, a provider of vendor and payment management solutions for the entertainment and media industry, has partnered with SAP, focused on enterprise application software, to bring more efficient and secure accounts payable and vendor management platform to entertainment, media and production companies. The Eved supplier and payments management platform extends SAP solutions to address onboarding, maintenance, validation and payment.

OpenDrives, a provider of software-defined data services and workflow solutions, announces multi-cloud migration, AI-enabled remote production, and backup and recovery workflows at the 2023 NAB Show. “No single vendor can optimize workflows at the individual company, team and workstation level, especially as cloud and hybrid deployments make managing data storage capabilities and accessing data more complex,” said Izhar Sharon, CEO at OpenDrives. “Open integrations unlock powerful capabilities that help to ensure optimal workflow performance across complementary technologies.”

MEASUREMENT

The Media Rating Council has reinstated the accreditation of Nielsen’s National Television Audience Measurement service. Accreditation had been suspended in September 2021. “Nielsen has undertaken strong efforts to correct the issues that led to its loss of MRC accreditation 19 months ago and to restore key aspects of its panel performance,” said George W. Ivie, Executive Director and CEO of the MRC. “That said, there is still more work to be done both in the near and long term to ensure Nielsen’s National TAM measurements continue to meet our standards and the requirements of the industry.”

The reinstatement excludes the Digital in TV Ratings (dTVR) component of the TAM service, nor does it include Nielsen’s Local Market Television Service (which remains in an accreditation suspension status), Nielsen’s Digital Ad Ratings (DAR), the forthcoming integration of certain Return Path and ACR Data into the TAM service, or the Nielsen One measurement service.

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ADVERTISING

TV ads elicit more positive reactions and greater short- and long-term business impact among addressable audiences, according to new research from Finecast, GroupM Nexus’s addressable TV solution. In addition, addressable TV ads that emphasize melodic music, people touching, a clear sense of place and humor produce more intense emotional reactions and long-lasting effects. “Our research outlines that addressable TV advertising has a direct impact on how consumers ‘feel’ and outlines important factors for maximizing attention for greater business effects,” said Kristian Claxton, Managing Partner, Global Innovation at Finecast, “This enables us to provide smarter and more robust solutions to our clients by helping them optimize the creative message of their ads while improving efficiency.”

AMC Networks unveiled Audience+, to ensure addressable ads are reaching desired audiences regardless of their individual consumption habits across linear, video on demand and digital platforms. “Never before have we been able to pull all of our viewership across all platforms, into one unduplicated view and see who is watching, what they are watching and when across linear, VOD, and all CTV streaming, to map a path to viewers across all of our shows and platforms,” said Evan Adlman, EVP of Commercial Sales and Revenue Operations. “Audience+ is also the culmination of all the development of our true cross platform addressable capabilities, allowing an advertiser to take one targeted data segment and singularly deliver it across all our linear networks and CTV streaming channels, inclusive of AMC+, to deliver unduplicated reach within all of our programming.”

Magnite, the sell-side ad company, announced the launch of ClearLine, a direct buying solution that gives agencies access to video inventory within Magnite’s ecosystem. Built from Magnite’s sell-side technologies, ClearLine increases spend going towards working media, makes it easier for sellers and agencies to securely share data, and helps Magnite publishers generate more revenue and develop new sources of unique demand. “While DSPs will remain the primary method for agencies to access premium video on our platforms, we’ve heard agencies’ requests for a more direct connection in certain scenarios,” said Sean Buckley, CRO at Magnite. “Clearline delivers agencies that additional path into our ecosystem while also benefitting media owners.”

MiQ announced a new partnership with streaming tech provider Seen This to modernize creative delivery for eco-conscious brands and agencies, using the power of streaming to advance more sustainable MiQ-driven campaigns. Compared to conventional technology used to deliver programmatic creative, SeenThis is fueled by adaptive streaming, instantly delivers the highest quality creative possible and with less data waste. These ads stream in bite-sized pieces when in-view, ensuring that data is transferred only when actively consumed by users and is otherwise paused.

Optable, a Software-as-a-Service data collaboration platform and clean room solution designed for the advertising ecosystem, has secured $20 million in Series A financing from a syndicate of investors which includes Hearst Ventures, Brightspark Ventures, Desjardins Capital, Deloitte Ventures, asterX, and others. “Optable has made enormous progress in delivering a privacy-centric, transparent, and interoperable solution to the market,” said Yves Poiré, Co-founder and CEO, Optable. “Having such a great and diverse syndicate of strategic investors validates our approach.”

STREAMING

Through Q1 of 2023, SVOD lost 2.2 million subscribers compared to 2Q22, while AVOD gained 2.6 million subscribers and FAST gained 1.7 million users, according to an analysis by Kantar’s Entertainment on Demand service. Additional findings include:
· From December 2022 to March 2023, the number of households with video streaming declined 0.3 million, reaching a total of 115.3 million households. Household penetration of video streaming is now 89%.
· Stacking continues to climb. The average household uses 5.5 different streaming services, up from 5.4 in 2Q22.
· 6% of US households used a new streaming service in 1Q23, down from 7% in Q4.
· Losses in SVOD subscribers in 1Q23 can be traced to Apple TV+, Netflix, and discovery+.
· Among new services used in 1Q23, Amazon Prime Video, Peacock, and Paramount+ had the largest gains for the third quarter in a row.
· Children’s content is increasingly driving sign-up, now at roughly the size of sports. For paid streaming, children’s content now drives 8% of new subscriptions.

Spectrum News announced the launch of Spectrum News+, a streaming news network that provides localized reporting and stories from Spectrum News’ local news networks, as well as coverage of weather and broader topics and headlines. Spectrum News+ is available to Spectrum residential customers, including those who do not live in an existing Spectrum News market, via the Spectrum News mobile app and Roku and Apple TV streaming devices. “By combining the power of our deeply-rooted local newsrooms with objective coverage of the day’s headlines, we are helping our audiences connect with their communities while also providing them with a comprehensive view of the world around them,” said Alison Hellman, SVP, Spectrum News.

Roku is offering advertisers a “Primetime Reach Guarantee,” aimed at bringing “a key benefit of cable advertising to TV streaming advertising.” The guarantee “prioritizes” delivery to unique households across The Roku Channel and the additional top 100 channels on the platform. “TV streaming has long brought precision and measurement to the largest screen in the home,” said Kristina Shepard, Roku’s Co-Head of US Brand Sales. “Now, marketers can launch campaigns knowing they will deliver meaningful reach and impact quickly, too.” Roku has 70 million active accounts.

Fuse Media has expanded its agreement with Amazon to launch two additional FAST channels – Latino Vibes and OUTtv Proud – on Freevee. The launch marks the debut of OUTtv Proud in the US. Fuse Media’s Shades of Black and Backstage FAST channels launched on Freevee last year.

Fox Television Stations and Amazon are partnering to distribute FTS’s local news content across Amazon’s devices. FTS is providing 17 local FAST channels, one from each market covered by the Fox Television Stations, via the Amazon News app on Fire TV and Alexa on Echo Show devices. “We know that choice and accessibility matter to our viewers and this launch is another key step in our overall strategy and goal of giving our viewers the live and on-demand content from the stations they love,” said Jeff Zellmer, FTS SVP, digital operations.

Brightcove has entered into a partnership with Frequency, a cloud-based video platform powering linear channel creation for content providers. Frequency’s integration into Brightcove’s video platform is aimed at enabling customers to seamlessly create, launch and manage FAST channels to expand their reach and increase their revenue. “Empowering media companies to reach, engage and monetize new audiences is at the core of Brightcove’s Media Studio solution,” said Marc DeBevoise, CEO of Brightcove. “With this partnership, we are expanding the way our customers can grow via launching their own FAST channels directly from our powerful video platform. Our integration with Frequency will also help our customers centralize their video content, programming, distribution and ad monetization via an integrated workflow.”

Pluto TV will offer full previous seasons of series that are about to launch new seasons on Paramount Global networks, starting April 20 with “Mike Judge’s Beavis & Butt-Head.” Other shows getting the catch-up treatment include “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars,” “iCarly,” “Queen of the Universe,” “Joe Pickett” and “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.”

MuxIP, provider of automated solutions for ad-supported streaming, will deliver both 24/7 live and on-demand FAST channel capabilities for Recursion Media Group, which is set to launch its 100 channels of lifestyle content. MuxIP’s FASTHub platform will deliver the Recursion channels on all major OTT platforms, mobile and smart devices.

GAMING

Gamers are more likely to watch free, ad-supported streaming than all CTV owners, with nearly two-thirds of gamers spending at least two hours a week streaming via FASTs, according to a survey from LG Ad Solutions. Additionally, gamers subscribe to subscription streaming services at a higher rate than all CTV owners, over-indexing on Discovery+, Apple TV+, Peacock and Paramount+.
Additional findings include:
· 68% of CTV owners play video games, with 71% playing on mobile devices and 64% using consoles. Forty-two percent of gamers cite streaming ads as a way they discover new games.
· 80% of gamers prefer seeing ads relevant to their interests, compared to 73% of all CTV users. Similarly, they are more likely to prefer seeing ads that are relevant to the content they are watching (76%) than the average CTV user (63%).
· Gamers are more likely to multitask while watching TV than the average CTV owner, with 53% playing games and 50% shopping while streaming.

TransUnion has entered a partnership with Frameplay to offer enhanced audience targeting capabilities for brands and marketers to reach relevant gaming audiences at scale. Through TransUnion’s TruAudience® Platform and Data Marketplace solutions, brands can enhance their data-driven in-game advertising strategies to connect with. “TransUnion’s trusted and valued audience data allows brands to make more informed and impactful decisions about seamlessly integrating ads into gaming environments,” said Jonathon Troughton, CEO at Frameplay. “Through our partnership, we’re able to provide insights that ultimately create a better experience for gamers and make brands’ ad dollars go even further.”

Cynopsis Team