Google Meet is also upping its game as video conferencing surges. New features rolling out include a tiled layout that allows users to see up to 16 participants at once; low-light mode, using AI to automatically adjust videos in sub-optimal conditions (that’s on the way to mobile users now, and web users “in the future”) ; noise cancellation to filter out background distractions like barking dogs and keystrokes; and the ability to present via a single chrome tab instead of the entire computer screen.

Spotify ranked number one among apps and social platforms in MBLM’s Brand Intimacy 2020 Study, measuring the emotional bonds between consumers and brands. Pinterest came in second, followed by Apple Music, Facebook, Instagram, Pandora, Snapchat, Twitter, Airbnb, Uber, LinkedIn and Venmo. “Apps & social platforms have become more essential in helping us feel connected during the current crisis,” said Mario Natarelli, managing partner, MBLM. “Although historically weak performers at building emotional connections, the current landscape presents an opportunity for these brands to forge stronger bonds with their audiences and attract new ones.”

In its earning call, Snap revealed Total daily time spent by Snapchatters watching Discover content increased by over 35% year-over-year, while total daily time spent by Snapchatters over the age of 35 watching Discover content doubled. Total daily time spent watching Shows more than doubled compared to Q1 2019.

Snap also said it plans to raise cash with an offer of $750 million in senior notes. The money will go for general corporate purposes, said the company, and possibly “to acquire complementary businesses, products, services, or technologies.”

Coral, Vox Media’s engagement platform, has a new Q&A tool for customers, allowing publishers to host live discussions on their sites with subject matter experts. Readers are able to join the conversation, ask questions, and vote on the next questions that the experts should answer. As part of Coral, the Q&A tool utilizes the platform’s moderation system, helping publishers to identify and remove disruptive contributions. While the tool was originally designed before the COVID-19 crisis, publishers including the Financial Times, local Columbia, SC newspaper, The State and the Detroit Free Press are already using the tool for live discussions related to the pandemic.

Computer vision and AI-powered platform company Mirriad is partnering with the Pact, the UK’s trade body for independent film and TV producers. Working with broadcasters, brands and now producers, Mirriad uses AI to identify opportunities in content and subtly integrate advertising imagery in a realistic way (like digitally embedding a branded bottle on a table, an ad on a billboard, or a commercial running on a TV in the background). “We see this as a great opportunity for independent producers to drive new revenue for their productions,” said Mirriad CEO Stephan Beringer. “After all, it is producers who can bring this technology to life.” Beringer added the technology is especially meaningful as production has ground to a halt and AI can “literally refresh back catalogues with up-to-date imagery.”

Building on its CV225 Lipstick Camera, Marshall releases its CV226 HD Lipstick Camera with new sensor technology. “The CV226 is the fifth camera released as part of our next generation HD camera line,” said Tod Musgrave, director of cameras at Marshall. “The upgraded CV226 utilizes the same upgraded sensor as our new CV503 and CV506 models, but only the CV226 boards are designed to fit into an all-weather miniature lipstick-style body. We have seen our lipstick cameras used in a range of exciting projects and can’t wait for those same engineers to plug in our new models.”

Chesapeake Systems has acquired StorExcel, a systems integrator serving the Rocky Mountain region and US Federal Government. The combination of companies expands Chesapeake System’s services in the media and entertainment and government markets, and integrates StorExcel team members from bases in Colorado and Virginia with the existing Chesapeake teams (located in Baltimore, New York, Los Angeles, DC-metro).

Facebook has released county-by-county maps that show self-reported COVID-19 symptoms. The maps, which will be updated daily, use data from a voluntary survey operated by the Carnegie Mellon University Delphi Research Center. “Overall, since experiencing symptoms is a precursor to going to the hospital or becoming more seriously ill, these maps could be an important tool for governments and public health officials to make decisions on how to allocate scarce resources like ventilators and PPE, and eventually when it’s safe to start re-opening society,” said Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. “I think providing aggregate data to governments and health officials is one of the most important tools tech companies can provide.”

Facebook also removed posts created to organize anti-quarantine events in California, Nebraska and New Jersey. While organizers have been using Facebook to drive turnout to protests, the company said states will determine what’s allowed. “Unless government prohibits the event during this time, we allow it to be organized on Facebook,” said a Facebook spokesperson. “For this same reason, events that defy government’s guidance on social distancing aren’t allowed on Facebook.”

Facebook is taking on YouTube, Twitch and Microsoft’s Mixer with the Facebook Gaming mobile app, launched Monday on Android; iOS is on the way. Facebook Gaming, which allows users to create and watch live gameplay, has a”Go Live” function that lets them livestream mobile games directly from their smartphone to Facebook. With gaming hours soaring amid COVID-19 lockdown, Facebook accelerated the launch, originally slated for summer.

“It’s always been true that viewer connection is the most important predictor of success in media content, but this is doubly so during the Covid-19 crisis. This shift uncovers the opportunity to develop deeper relationships with consumers, which our panelists will discuss in detail & with specifics.”-Robbie Caploe, Publisher -Cynopsis

REGISTER NOW
(Hook up a friend/colleague – you can share your login)

NBCUniversal is making shopping from home even easier with NBCUniversal Checkout, a commerce platform allowing viewers to use their phone cameras to scan codes during “On-Air Shoppable Moments.” NBCU’s Creative Partnerships team will serve as a production resource to help retailers create, build and distribute new marketing assets. From now until the end of the year, technology and cart fees for ShoppableTV and digital branded content experiences will be waived. “With ShoppableTV, NBCUniversal is transcending the legacy business practices of television and driving business outcomes by creating an on-air real-time commerce experience,” said Josh Feldman, EVP, Head of Marketing and Advertising Creative, NBCUniversal. “By pairing brands with our premium content, owning every stage of the purchase funnel and removing the barriers consumers traditionally encounter between seeing a product and making a purchase, we’re giving marketers a direct sales channel to millions of viewers across the country.”

Imagine Communications, a provider of ad tech solutions for broadcasters, content owners, MVPDs, and vMVPDs, announced an alliance with Innovar Media Solutions to accelerate the adoption of next-gen ad tech solutions. The companies will integrate Innovar’s ad automation solutions and consulting services to help Imagine customers migrate to feature-rich platforms for inventory management and optimization, traffic and billing.

TVSquared has been named MediaMath’s preferred partner for connected TV attribution, enabling advertisers to attribute actions directly to programmatic CTV campaigns delivered across screens. “Our partnership with TVSquared furthers our ability to deliver greater accountability and addressability to brands and agencies through proven accuracy, scalability and fast time-to-insights,” said Jeremy Steinberg, Head of Ecosystem, MediaMath.

PM360 and Mediaocean struck a partnership to bring greater agility to TV workflow, through automated in-flight broadcast campaign validation. The expanded partnership is aimed at improving productivity for local broadcasters and sellers by automating the resolution of in-flight copy and buy discrepancies through a direct integration between Mediaocean’s broadcast buying systems and PremiuMedia360’s CLIR Flight. “The TV industry is now facing the tremendous task of reallocating billions of dollars – amounting to an incredible number of investment decisions – as fast as possible,” said Ramsey McGrory, CRO of Mediaocean. “Mediaocean’s partnership with PM360 brings much needed data automation to the reconciliation process so that buyers can move quickly, reduce wasted spend, and maximize their efforts.”

Innovid’s iQ dashboard, offering marketers a weekly view of the video ad landscape amid the coronavirus crisis, found that during the week of April 12-18, for the second week in a row CTV ad impressions surpassed mobile, accounting for 43% of global video impressions versus 39% on mobile devices. Traditional broadcast publishers led the growth, accounting for 82% of total CTV impression volume. “Innovid’s goal with this dashboard is to leverage the video delivery data we have in a privacy safe way to shine a light into what is going on, enabling advertisers to adapt their strategies accordingly,” said CEO Zvika Netter. “In this unprecedented time, it’s critical for advertisers to pay attention to the rapidly changing trends in media delivery to best manage their investments.”

DISH Media announced that its set-top box VOD ads are available for purchase programmatically and in real time. “Enabling our set-top box VOD inventory drives programmatic video ads into traditional linear households, a previously untapped audience for digital buyers,” said Kevin Arrix, SVP, DISH Media. The company can now sell ads programmatically across both DISH and Sling TV platforms.

STREAMING

With most gyms across the country shuttered, Samsung Smart TVs now offer access to six new health and wellness apps in partnership with fitness brands barre3, Calm, Echelon, Fitplan, Jillian Michaels Fitness and obé Fitness. Later this year, the apps will be part of Samsung Health, a fitness platform for Samsung Smart TVs announced at CES. “As our community grapples with unprecedented disruptions to their daily routines, it is important for homebound consumers to have access to free high-quality health and wellness offerings,” said Salek Brodsky, VP of Strategic Partnerships and Business Development for Samsung Electronics. “Our partnership with these premium brands redefines the boundaries of what free streaming services can provide.”

New Nielsen data looks at streaming trends across markets, age groups and times of day during the first month of living restrictions in the U.S. The consumption of non-linear content via internet-connected devices continued to rise week after week, hitting its peak the week of March 23. Top markets, specifically New York and Chicago, both saw dramatic increases in streaming consumption of more than 74% between the weeks of March 2 and March 23. In terms of connected device streaming ratings, week to week, heavy streaming markets such as Orlando, Milwaukee and Norfolk remain among the top markets, while others, previously ranked outside the top fifteen, made sizable gains week to week. Chicago and Denver moved from 17 and 21, to 5 and 10, respectively.

Netflix added nearly 16 million global subscribers in 1Q20, more the doubling the quarterly growth predicted in January, before COVID-19 lockdowns. In the US and Canada, subscribers were up 2.3 million. It was the biggest quarterly gain in Netflix’s 13 years as a streaming service, but the company noted in its earnings release, “Like other home entertainment services, we’re seeing temporarily higher viewing and increased membership growth. We expect viewing to decline and membership growth to decelerate as home confinement ends, which we hope is soon.” On Wednesday, Netflix said it plans to offer $1 billion in senior notes, with the proceeds going for “general corporate purposes, which may include content acquisitions, production and development, capital expenditures, investments, working capital and potential acquisitions and strategic transactions.”

ABC News Live has launched on YouTube TV and on Fire tablets, and is headed to Amazon’s news app on Fire TV devices. “High quality, credible news and information is more important than ever right now,” said Justin Dial, Senior Executive Producer, ABC News Live. “Since the outbreak began, ABC News Live has been committed to reporting and telling all of the stories and angles that have emerged from the pandemic.”

MEASUREMENT

TV measurement and analytics company 605 has made a strategic investment in AdScribe, a London and Dublin-based advertising technology, measurement and services business. 605 and AdScribe partnered to develop 605 PLATF0RM, a self-service, web-based application that reports TV viewership of programming and advertising by advanced, custom-defined audiences. “PLATF0RM has been a remarkable success for 605, and our strategic investment in the AdScribe business will allow us to develop new measurement solutions for our current clients and extend our reach into Europe,” said Kristin Dolan, CEO and founder of 605. “We are seeing tremendous momentum in our business – even amid this uncertain time – as television and video content consumption grows quickly and in new ways. Sophisticated measurement and analytics matter now more than ever.”

TV data and analytics TVadSync announced a new campaign attribution platform that provides automated attribution reports based on Smart TV data within 24 hours of the live campaign. “With automated attribution, media buyers are able to measure business outcomes in near-real time, which represents a significant improvement over the market standard,” said John McNicholas, Head of Product at TVadSync. The solution is based on a Smart TV data set representing over 80% of US market share.