Google released the third Beta of Android 13, building on core themes of privacy and security, developer productivity, and tablet and large screen support. Privacy features include the new notification permission and photo picker, and modern standards like HDR video, Bluetooth LE Audio, and MIDI 2.0 over USB. Beta 3 takes Android 13 to Platform Stability, which means that the developer APIs and all app-facing behaviors are now final.

Amazon introduced a new feature, Virtual Try-On for Shoes, that enables shoppers to see how a pair of shoes would look by pointing their mobile device’s camera at their feet, where AR shoes will appear. “Amazon Fashion’s goal is to create innovative experiences that make shopping for fashion online easier and more delightful for customers,” said Muge Erdirik Dogan, president of Amazon Fashion. “We’re excited to introduce Virtual Try-On for Shoes, so customers can virtually try on thousands of styles from brands they know and love at their convenience, wherever they are.”

TikTok launched new screen time “take a break” feature that enables users to be reminded when to take a break during a social session. The app also added a new screen time dashboard.

YouTube has updated ad requirements for its masthead and will now allow sports betting in the US, and alcohol and prescription drugs in the US, Canada, and New Zealand. The changes in regulations “balances the needs of advertisers and consumers,” said YouTube, which is continuing to restrict categories such as election and political ads.

Donald Trump’s Truth Social is censoring posts about last week’s hearing on the January 6 attack on the Capitol, according to tweets from some users who have been banned from the service. Like Twitter, Truth Social’s terms of service states it reserves the right to deny access to users at its sole discretion.

Meta is no longer producing consumer versions of its Portal video-calling and streaming devices, though it will sell existing inventory and provide long-term support to customers. The company plans to focus on Portal business applications instead. Meta is also scaling back plans to release a series of AR glasses, which had reportedly been slated to begin in 2024, according to The Information.

As the number of young consumers who name gaming as a top entertainment activity increases, Microsoft’s Xbox app on the Samsung Gaming hub is headed to 27 countries. “We are bringing the Xbox app to Samsung Smart TVs first, and our intent is to explore other TV partnerships as part of the next evolution in our vision,” said Ashley McKissick, corporate vice president, gaming experiences and platforms for Xbox. Starting June 30, Samsung 2022 smart TV users will be able to access hundreds of games by creating an account with Micrcosoft.

Basis Technologies, a provider of cloud-based workflow automation and business intelligence software for marketing and advertising, announced the release of data visualization capabilities that streamline campaign reporting. Data Canvas is designed to improve communication between agencies and their clients through live, customizable dashboards.

Rising adoption of higher-speed broadband packages is accelerating the number of “super power user” subscribers who consume more than two terabytes of bandwidth per month, according to the 1Q 2022 OVBI (OpenVault Broadband Insights) report. With the number of subscribers provisioned at speeds of 500Mbps or more per month approaching 20%, the super power user category experienced year-over-year growth of 31% in 1Q22, more than 72% faster than the 18% growth for “power users” of 1 TB or more during the same period. Data in the report was aggregated from OpenVault’s broadband management and analytics tools.

TikTok launched new feature TikTok Avatars, which enables users to customize their avatar from a variety of hairstyles, makeup, outfits, accessories and voice styles. TikTokers can also add a miniature version to their videos by shrinking down the avatar down and placing it anywhere on the screen.

Fuse Group acquired Madrid-based visual effects firm El Ranchito, known for its work on “The Mandalorian,” “Game of Thrones” and “Stranger Things.” It’s the latest tech acquisition for the parent company of FuseFX, Folks and Rising Sun Pictures as it drives to be a full-service provider of VFX services.

Visual effects and animation studio DNEG outlined plans for the upcoming launch of xSTUDIO, a playback and review application designed to meet the needs of content creators throughout the production process. Currently in development at DNEG, xSTUDIO will replace other image review tools across DNEG’s content creation pipeline, allowing individuals and teams to review shots, edits and grades in a single, unified application on all desktop platforms and operating systems (Linux, Mac and Windows).

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ADVERTISING

Advertisers allocate 20-30% of their premium video budget towards streaming, and the rest to traditional TV, according to Comcast Advertising’s inaugural Comcast Advertising Report, “Actionable Insights for the Modern TV Advertiser.” Other findings include:
· Viewers prefer live content on both TV and streaming – 89% of traditional TV viewing is spent watching live TV and 54% of digital video viewing is live.
· Viewers are exposed to more digital ads than ever. Ad views on digital services increased by 45% from 2H20 to 2H21.
· Audience targeted campaigns have increased by over 50% year-over-year.
· Programmatic ad views have grown 80% year over year. There was also an increase in programmatic campaigns bought on a guaranteed basis.
· As sellers move to programmatic models, they are working with an average of 13 different programmatic partners – and up to 30 in total.”

To effectively reach audiences in today’s marketplace, it’s important for advertisers to understand the landscape from all perspectives — how viewers are viewing, buyers are buying, and sellers are selling” Pooja Midha, Chief Growth Officer, Comcast Advertising, tells Cynopsis. “The Comcast Advertising Report offers a uniquely comprehensive perspective across linear and streaming with critical insights, compelling predictions, and actionable advice to help advertisers keep up with this fast-moving industry, and optimize their success.”

AT&T finalized the sale of its ad-tech business Xandr to Microsoft. The sale, first announced in December, brings Xandr’s full ad-tech stack including demand- and sell-side platforms, its ad server and other features to Microsoft’s connected TV ad business. Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, though reports have put the price tag at $1 billion.

For 88% of marketers, the impending deprecation of cookies will have a negative effect on scale, with 82% of C-level marketers already reporting a negative impact. That’s according to Emodo’s Voice of the Marketer Series report, which noted 88% of marketers are bullish about the adoption of AI-based audiences, with 91% already testing such solutions to improve on scale issues. Over 60% marketers reported privacy and identity were bigger concerns than fraud and invalid traffic. “One year after Apple changed their device ID tracking model, we’re recognizing that once-promising identity alternatives such as universal IDs and first-party data collection are not providing enough scale,” said Jake Moskowitz?, Head of the Emodo Institute & VP of Data Strategy. “It’s paramount to equip brands and marketers with tools for addressability, as the concerns and negative effects of campaign effectiveness and scale are very real.”

Crackle Plus will expand its CTV inventory for direct and programmatic ad sales with Amagi’s Ads Plus SAAS technology. Ads Plus offers a unified marketplace and ad insertion, and supports more than 700 content brands on 2,000+ channels and delivers over 50 billion ad impressions, per the company.

OOH advertising platform AdQuick.com has partnered with direct mail automation platform Lob to provide customers with cross-channel direct mail retargeting. This partnership enables advertisers to deliver direct mail advertising to an audience of consumers that have been previously exposed to outdoor ads. “With the increasing decline in digital ad effectiveness, savvy marketers are actively seeking to diversify their media mix,” said Matthew O’Connor, CEO of AdQuick. “By partnering with Lob, we’re pumped to make it easy for marketers to amplify the effectiveness of both their out-of-home ad campaigns and direct mail initiatives through coordinated, targeted, cross-channel campaigns.”

IAB Tech Lab’s Open Measurement SDK will be made available on Connected TV starting in Q3. OM SDK gives advertisers flexibility and choice in the verification solutions from their preferred providers by making it easier for publishers to integrate one SDK and enable ad verification with all verification vendors. “Buyers need consistent and standardized cross screen viewability measurement to feel confident that their ads are being seen,” said Shailley Singh, SVP, Product, IAB Tech Lab. “With the growth of CTV, it was a critical next step to develop Open Measurement SDK for supporting CTV specific viewability signals in an established and standardized manner. The tvOS and Android TV SDKs are the first two platforms, and we plan to continuously add more CTV devices and platforms in the near future.” Currently, OM SDK is available for iOS, Android, and web browsers. The CTV expansion will bring consistent video viewability measurement signals to CTV platforms.

Fox, NBCUniversal, Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery—the companies that own ad tech firm OpenAP—are hosting a summit Thursday, June 23 at Cannes Lions where they’ll aim to convince advertisers to move their dollars to new kinds of measurement technologies beyond Nielsen.

Ad sales and tech firm Ampersand is expanding its relationships with Charter, Comcast, Cox and Altice by launching incremental reach capabilities powered by its AND Platform. Incremental reach enables its clients to use the MVPDs’ aggregated viewership insights to target households that have been unexposed or under-exposed to a national TV campaign or to target specific regions with a multi-DMA heavy-up.

Future Today launched its first dedicated ad-sales team, called FTI+. The newly-created team will offer personalized relationships to help meet advertisers’ goals through direct, pg and pmp pipelines.

Clinch, creator of Flight Control, the Omnichannel Campaign Management Platform, announced a partnership with DeepIntent, the healthcare advertising technology company, to bring new workflow automation and omnichannel DCO capabilities to healthcare marketers. Healthcare marketers leveraging Clinch’s Flight Control platform now can streamline their entire digital campaign lifecycle.

STREAMING

VUit has reached new carriage agreements with six broadcast groups that will result in 18 new stations and five new markets joining the leading hyper-local news platform. The new carriage deals are with Weigel Broadcasting Co., Capitol Broadcasting Company, Lockwood Broadcast Group, Marquee Broadcasting Inc., Fort Myers Broadcasting Company, and Sunbeam Television.

Allen Media Group’s Local Now has partnered with Arab media company Rotana Media to launch four Rotana channels: Rotana Cinema, Rotana Classic, Rotana Drama, and Rotana Music. These channels are the first Arabic FAST channels in the US.

Shopping channel QVC is now live on Fubo TV. “QVC’s fun and engaging livestream shopping experience lines up with FuboTV’s mission to offer a leading portfolio of premium entertainment and lifestyle content alongside sports and news,” said David Apostolico, SVP Platform Strategy, Development & Distribution for Qurate Retail Group.

Wurl struck an agreement with TED to power the launch of the TED channel, the company’s first FAST channel. The channel will distribute and monetize select programming from a library of original content designed to make great ideas accessible.

Adobe has partnered with media company Crooked Media, leveraging Adobe Premiere Pro’s Speech to Text technology to caption popular content. “Speech to Text in Premiere Pro allows us to put high-quality captions on all our video content, opening the door for more people to participate in the podcast experience,” said Matt DeGroot, senior director of video production at Crooked Media.

Roku launched a free Hispanic streaming hub on the Roku Channel. Espacio Latino will feature thousands of movies, series and telenovela titles as well as family entertainment and news.

Cinedigm launched The Bob Ross Channel en Español on The Roku Channel. The free, ad-supported linear Spanish language-dubbed channel will stream through Espacio Latino.

Cynopsis Team