07/20/20: Cynopsis Media Tech Update

 

Medias First Morning Read
Monday July 20, 2020

After an outage due to issues at Cloudfare’s 1.1.1.1 DNS service disrupted many websites on Friday, Cloudfare issued a statement saying the problem was not the result of an attack “It appears a router on our global backbone announced bad routes and caused some portions of the network to not be available,” said the company.

Zoom is making it simpler for people to run meetings remotely with Zoom for Home – DTEN ME, produced by partner DTEN. The 27” tablet with three wide-angle cameras and 8 microphones has Zoom software pre-installed. “Remote work and distance education are becoming increasingly prevalent in businesses and schools across the globe,” wrote Jeff Smith, head of Zoom Rooms, in a blog post. “Organizations must ensure that their staff have the tools they need to get the best possible communications experience at home.” The $599 device will ship in August.

Applicaster announced it has secured $11 million funding, led by Viola Growth, to support continued technology and customer growth amid record demand for streaming content services. “As consumer viewing habits continue to change, media brands are realizing they need to expand their OTT presence by launching on multiple TV platforms quickly,” Applicaster Co-founder and CEO Jonathan Laor tells Cynopsis. “Applicaster is uniquely positioned to do that. Our flexible Zapp platform enables media companies and developer teams to launch quickly and update great video experiences after launch to meet increasing and evolving content demand.”

Instagram Shop, a new destination in Explore, rolled out in the US on Thursday, with global expansion planned soon. A double arrow on a product means it can be purchased without leaving the app; a new Shop tab will be added in the navigation bar later this year. Payments for purchases will be processed through Facebook Pay, announced last year and rolling out in the coming weeks.

Seventy-nine percent of media companies believe that key stakeholders rely on research and analytics to make business decisions, with 84% rating their companies as above average or best-in-class in their ability to translate research into business recommendations, according the the Advertising Research Foundation’s Organizational Benchmark Study on media companies. Additional insights in the report include:
* 72% of small media companies have primarily or fully centralized departments, while 47% of large media companies have decentralized structures, with multiple centers for research and insights.
* Media companies report sales as the most important KPI for expenditures on research and insights (67% of large and 41% of small companies). However, smaller media companies also place value in brand equity (28%), brand lift (28%), and efficiency (24%).
* 52% of media companies with centralized research and analytics departments say they are investing about the same in market research and data analytics as in the prior year, while 30% have invested somewhat or significantly more.“
* While stakeholder value was highest for research companies and lowest for advertisers in our previous reports, we found that media companies rank highest in the percentage believing that key stakeholders rely on research and analytics to make business decisions,” said Paul Donato, chief research officer, the ARF.

National Geographic introduced the Everest AR Experience, an interactive AR feature on Instagram that will virtually allow users to climb Mt. Everest. The virtual climb will be the first portal 360 AR experience, which allows users to jump between different 360° views at various spots on the mountain; users can take and share selfies along the way. The expedition, part of a partnership with Rolex, uses a new Spark AR feature that allows for AR filters to be chained together.

FOX Sports is working with Google Cloud to automate logging, discovering and storing video assets. The system will utilize Google Cloud’s video search and advanced machine-learning capabilities to help the network unlock the value of its sports content archive in a more effective way. “We’re excited to team with Google on this project that will allow FOX Sports to take the next step toward the most state-of-the-art workflow for accessing all of our media,” said Brad Zager, Executive Producer, EVP/Head of Production & Operations at FOX Sports. “It’s been amazing to see all the different tools that Google Cloud will provide our network to transform the way we work, while also helping to make the way we create content so much easier for our production teams.”

Verizon Media has been named the preferred supply side platform for CBSN, CBS News’ free 24/7 digital streaming news service, and for streaming network ET Live. “CTV is seeing significant growth,” said Iván Markman, Chief Business Officer at Verizon Media. “We are uniquely positioned to help premium CTV publishers like CBS News Digital meet that opportunity, giving them access to leading advertisers who use our ad platform to uniquely plan, buy and measure the impact across all media campaigns. This relationship reinforces our commitment to supporting editorially-driven inventory in a connected, omnichannel environment.”

Data and digital media consultancy MightyHive announced the launch of its global data practice to help organizations better understand their customers and make informed decisions across their businesses with machine-learning technologies. “Data is the vital connective tissue that drives personalization at scale and makes good creative even more powerful,” said Sir Martin Sorrell, executive chairperson of S4Capital. “As the leading tech-led new age marketing services company, launching the MightyHive data practice is a natural step in our evolution.”

A+E Networks UK has transitioned its playout and service delivery for its 30 channels in Europe to Amagi’s cloud platform running on Amazon Web Services. A+E Networks UK has partnered with over 360 pay TV operators to broadcast channels; the complete bouquet of A+E Networks UK 30 channels across EMEA will now be delivered and managed by Amagi.

Kantar announced its Profiles Network inked a new partnership with UUPON, Taiwan’s leading loyalty points app. The opinions and insights of UUPON’s subscriber base of almost 4 million consumers will be accessible to users of Kantar’s Profiles Network in a privacy compliant partnership. UUPON is a loyalty program partner with EasyCard, the contactless smartcard payment system used on the Taipei Metro and other transport systems across Taiwan. UUPON also partners with retailers representing 5,000+ stores including FamilyMart, Hi-Life and OK, as well as YouBike and Taiwan Taxi.

After Wells Fargo instructed employees to refrain from using TikTok over privacy concerns, and the Democratic and Republican national committees warned staffs about using the social media app, TikTok issued a statement saying, “We are fully committed to protecting our users’ privacy and security. We welcome a dialogue with anyone who has questions about TikTok so that we can ease concerns they may have.” Chinese company ByteDance owns the app, which has been downloaded 165 million times in the US.

CALLING DIGITAL’S TOP INNOVATORS

We’re searching for the most innovative executives in digital media who excel in digital content, marketing, advertising, social media to take their place on Cynopsis Digital’s “It List.” These are the people who shake up the status quo and are shaping digital media’s future.

NOMINATE BY AUG 11th

ADVERTISING

DoubleVerify announced a measurement offering that will allow advertisers to measure signals that offer a strong proxy for viewability on CTV. DV’s Fully On-Screen Completion measurement capabilities provide insight into quartile completion metrics and fully on-screen metrics, enabling advertisers to understand how many impressions were played to completion and identify drop-off points along the way, and confirm that impressions originate from sources that deliver 100% of the ad’s pixels on the screen consistently. “Viewability measurement in the CTV environment has been challenging for multiple reasons – from technical execution to lack of agreed-upon standards,” said Matt McLaughlin, COO of DoubleVerify. “DV’s innovative approach to measuring ad presentation on CTV is a market first. It extends to both the app and device levels, and represents a close proxy to traditional viewability available to advertisers today.”

Cross-screen advertising technology company Sabio shared the results of a CTV fraud analysis from its technology platform App Science, which cross-referenced location, census, traffic, content, device technographics, and third-party app data to identify some of the telltale signs of fraud in the CTV space. While fraudulent methods like server-side ad insertion, platform mismatch, and app ID spoofing have been behind the high profile CTV fraud schemes, other indicators that can serve as early warning signs include:
· Improper Site IDs: only 12.5% of Roku site IDs meet the IAB standards. The remaining 87.5% have their own naming convention, which is not necessarily fraud but opens up risks when buying inventory.
· “One-Time” Devices: a large portion of devices (22.4%) are classified as “one-time,” meaning they have device IDs that have been seen only once in the system. People typically use the same connected TV or streaming stick to view video content repeatedly.
· Operating Systems: 5% of CTV devices and operating systems are obsolete, which should be monitored to ensure that traffic coming from these sources is declining. When traffic from these sources increases in certain weeks, this needs to be evaluated further.
“CTV fraud schemes like ICEBUCKET, DiCaprio and Monarch have already siphoned billions of dollars from advertisers,” said Sudha Reddy, VP of Product Innovation at App Science. “The industry must learn from these operations, identify the tactics behind them, and proactively put measures in place to weed out this suspicious behavior in the future.”

Acxiom announced a new offering that integrates audience insights and strategy, media analytics, addressable advertising, advisory and digital platform services under a brand dubbed ConneCXions. “By bringing together Acxiom’s customer intelligence capabilities with Kinesso and Matterkind solutions, clients are in a position to bring their media, digital and offline marketing together and break down the silos that limit marketing performance,” said Arun Kumar, Chief Data and Marketing Technology Officer at IPG.

Hulu is launching a new tool that will help small and medium-sized businesses buy ads on the service. The “self-service” Ad Manager tool offers advertisers with a minimum spend of $500 access to support, with ads vetted via a series of automated and human review processes. Hulu said it is recruiting businesses to join a beta test.

Centro launched a new product, Basis Assistant, that’s a web browser extension for digital media buyers to track the changes they make on campaigns running through any self-serve walled garden ad platform, and consolidate the information in one centralized location. “Effective teams do not just ‘set and forget’ campaigns on digital ad tools. Basis Assistant enhances our use of multiple advertising technologies by creating a well-organized process for managing tactics across all campaigns,” said Carol Gleeson, founder and CEO of Gleeson Digital Strategies. “Combining Basis Assistant with the Basis platform empowers us to consolidate insights that highlight our value to clients, and also make our most effective strategies repeatable.” Basis Assistant is compatible with Google, Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft, LinkedIn and all web-based advertising tools.

Personalization is a key to success in advertising – now more than ever, according to Innovid’s new study, “2020 Consumer Attitudes on Personalized Advertising.” When asked if personalization matters, 43% of respondents said it was important that the online ads they see are personalized, incorporating geography, interests and behaviors. Twenty-nine percent said they would be more likely to buy something if an ad was personalized, and 31% said they tend to be more loyal to brands that embrace personalized ads. “Advertisers aren’t doing enough to personalize across channels, despite strong demand among consumers,” said Stephanie Geno, SVP of Marketing, Innovid. “COVID-19 is also accelerating the need to be more personalized as a one-size-fits-all approach in this environment can turn off customers, hurt your reputation and undercut revenue.”

Speaking of personalization, Clinch, a provider of cross-channel dynamic creative optimization technology to advertisers, announced the launch of a video rendering engine, Clinch Xenon, to provide customization and control for video editing that makes it easier and more cost-efficient to produce assets required for omni-channel personalization. “Clinch Xenon is purpose-built to personalize video at scale today and into the future,” said Oz Etzioni, CEO of Clinch. “Clients and partners are now able to enjoy much greater control over their video parameters, without any creative or production limitations.”

The Advertising Research Foundation announced a collaborative research initiative designed to establish methods for applying randomized control testing to cross-platform advertising impact analysis. The proof-of-concept study, named RCT21, will apply experimentation methods to measure incremental ROI of large ad campaigns run across multiple media channels at once, including addressable linear TV and multiple major digital media platforms. “The digital platforms have championed the value of random control tests and have made them a cornerstone of their success,” said Scott McDonald, CEO of the ARF. “ARF has highlighted the scientific progress that has been made on ‘incrementality,’ but we needed to take it farther to have more extensive impact on existing marketing practice.” The ARF is conducting the research in collaboration with 605, Central Control and Bill Harvey Consulting. A select number of national advertisers are also being recruited to join in the project.

The Black Lives Matter protests have had a bigger impact than the coronavirus on the volume of posts that top advertiser brands are sharing on social media, according to data from ListenFirst. In June, during the Black Lives Matter protests, top brands shared 44,938 new posts on social media, a decrease of -27.83% from June 2019. In comparison, in March 2020 when the coronavirus was becoming a pandemic, they shared 58,754 new posts on social media, -14.35% less than the number of new posts they shared in March 2019. Between July 1-12, top advertisers shared 19,151 new posts on social media, a -21.63% decrease from the number of new posts they shared during the same period in 2019.

Mediaocean is acquiring 4C Insights, a marketing tech firm specializing in audience data and planning on streaming video and social media. “The COVID crisis will be remembered as a tipping point in the digital disruption of many industries including advertising,” said Mediaocean CEO Bill Wise. “Mediaocean and 4C together will lead the evolution of modern omnichannel advertising by addressing the needs of global marketers and agencies – transparency, neutrality, intelligence and accountability.” Mediaocean in paying over $150 million in cash and equity in the deal, which will make Lance Neuhauser President of Mediaocean; 4C founder Alok Choudhary will become Chief Scientist at Mediaocean, a role he currently holds at 4C.

Freaks 4U Gaming GmbH, a marketing agency specialized in targeting PC and console gamers, has expanded its complex, building an additional three 4K studios and three control rooms. Looking to integrate control solutions that could both improve production quality and simplify operator workflow, Qvest Media, the project’s main technology and product supplier for 4K slow motion operation, audio and video routing, IP KVM systems, studio lighting and grip equipment, introduced Freaks 4U to TSL Products. The company integrated three units of TSL’s TallyMan TM1+ Broadcast Control and four licenses of its Flashboard Technical Display systems into Freaks 4U’s new facility. “For Freaks 4U Gaming, the most beneficial feature of the TallyMan system has been its ability to control multiple routers, vision mixers and multi-view displays in one place, keeping all routers connected with the option to deploy an automatic update if there are any signal changes,” says Timo Krey, senior broadcast engineer at Freaks 4U Gaming GmbH. “Since we are working with a large router with 160×160 SDI channels, we need to be able to manage routing on a device with over 5,000 sources and destinations. TallyMan makes it easy to keep an overview of everything on one display and offers significant workflow improvements for the production crew.”

STREAMING

TEGNA’s Justice Network will relaunch on July 27 as True Crime Network
. “True Crime Network capitalizes on the rapid growth of several distinct segments of media and entertainment: over-the-air television viewing, on-demand and binge streaming, podcasting and the true crime genre,” said Brian Weiss, President and GM, TEGNA’s entertainment multicast networks. “Our audience has spoken passionately about their desire to binge true crime mystery content.”

Eighty percent of streaming viewers watch ad-supported content and 60% would choose to watch free content over a paid ad-free service, according to SpotX’s report, in partnership with Mintel, “CTV Is for Everyone.” Key findings include:
* Every type of consumer can be reached by CTV, as the audience is extremely diverse and includes all ages, ethnicities, socioeconomic backgrounds, and family compositions. The median age of US CTV viewers is 45 years old.
* CTV viewers are highly engaged, as over 60% watch every day at an average of three hours, a significant increase from just 46 minutes in 2018 (according to Nielsen).
* Seventy-five percent of CTV viewers consume some sort of live programming and 48% of those audiences regularly watch sports.
* Only 16% of CTV viewers stream alone. Most audiences regularly consume content with others, usually a partner or kids, and sometimes with friends.
* 42% of CTV households earn more than $75k.
* Personalization of CTV ads is improving with nearly 60% of streamers saying they have seen ads for products that they have an interest in, 17% considering making a purchase because of an ad they viewed, and 12% making a purchase because of an ad they were exposed to.

Crash Cinema, purveyor of classic Hong Kong action films, inked a deal with US streaming company Bingey TV to launch the streaming channel Crash Kung Fu Theater on platforms including Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire.

Topic, the streaming service from First Look Media, is now available to customers in the US and Canada through Apple TV channels.
After a seven-day free trial, viewers can subscribe directly on the Apple TV app for $5.99 per month. Launched in November 2019, Topic focuses on “intensely curated content from creators who have passionate points of view.”

Cynopsis Team

Lynn Leahey
Editorial Director
@Lynn_Leahey
Kerry Smith
Division President
Access Intelligence

Roberta Caploe
Publisher
@robertacaploe

Cynopsis Ad Sales
Mike Farina
203-218-6480

Albert Nassour
917-545-3129

Cynopsis Job Listings Sales
Trish Pihonak
203-899-8459
Director of Operations

CynopsisJobs
Check out more jobs in Cynopsis Classifieds »
Job of the day
PROGRAMMATIC SPECIALIST
Insight TV Studios US
NYC

Ambitious candidate to leverage their own ntwk of ad and media agencies as well as direct advertisers to expand our reach. Oversee campaign executions w/support teams incl mktg, acct mngmnt, Insights, OTT Programming & Media Plan’g. 5 yrs exp OTT sales and/or multi-platform dig. Full info HERE

VIDEOGRAPHER/EDITOR >>
Newsmax Media/DC:
The candidate will have expert level shooting skills including all aspects of field production setup from sound mixing and lighting design to camera position and subject framing with a specific focus in a live news based medium. The candidates will be required to have a deep knowledge of post production workflows and be able to flow seamlessly from shooter to producer to editor. Full info HERE (7/31)

ON-AIR MEDIA STRATEGY MGR, MARKETING >>
VENN/LA:
New 24/7 streaming network aimed at gaming and pop culture audiences is seeking a candidate to plan, schedule and analyze promos and graphics across linear platform. 5+ yrs in broadcast field, media scheduling and analytics perf’d. Full info HERE (7/24)

VP, TALENT ACQUISITION & CULTURE >>
A+E/NY:
Leads all aspects of the recruitment function for the enterprise. Works in tandem with sr. mgmt to understand the company’s current and forecasted business priorities. 10+ yrs TA exp, pref within a media envir. Full info HERE (7/23)

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MGR >>
Ring2Media: Highly motivated & self-starter type candidate with guerilla mktg mentality & strong tech ability to fully mng/grow our outbound mktg efforts & dvlp new relationships. Strong comm skills are a must to fully understand our data-driven business model & communicate that to prospects. Full info/apply HERE (7/22)

CAMPAIGN OPERATIONS MGR >>
Ring2Media: Great opportunity for a passionate person to learn how TV advertising works from ground up. Having strong analytical skills, you will own the day-to-day operations of our insurance-focused TV ad campaigns airing nationally. Highly organized & able to multi-task in fast-paced environment a must. Full info HERE (7/22)

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER >>
Newsmax Media/NYC:
Resp for working with show hosts, preparing the rundown of new stories, identifying and integrating guests, overseeing and executing the production of key video and graphic elements. 3+yrs exec producing exp or overseeing newscast prod. Full info HERE (7/22)

ASSOCIATE PRODUCER >>
Newsmax Media/NYC:
Write for fast paced prime time and overnight newscasts. You are an exceptional storyteller with a dedicated command for news and cultural trends. At least 3 years of national or large market local news exp. Full info HERE (7/22)

LINE PRODUCER >>
Newsmax Media/NYC:
Responsible for the production of live newscasts and recorded video segments for television, and digital platforms. 3 years’ experience line producing a newscast. Full info HERE (7/22)

PRODUCER >>
Newsmax Media/NYC:
Responsible for the production of live newscasts, news shows and recorded video segments for television, and digital platforms. BA Deg pref’d. Full info HERE (7/22)

PRODUCTION ASSISTANT >>
Newsmax Media/NYC:
Responsible for the administration, organization and secretarial work involved in producing a television program. At least 1 yr of news prod. Full info HERE (7/22)

BRAND INTEGRATION SALES EXEC >>
Weather Channel
Identify, negotiate, and secure product placement and brand integration deals across The Weather Channel and Entertainment Studios live and long-form original programming. 7-10 years in Product Integration or Branded Content. Full info HERE (7/22)

M & A and INT’L PARTNERSHIP COUNSEL >>
A+E/NY: Support the Int’l, Corp Dev & Corp Divisions, incl domestic & int’l mergers & acquisitions and general corporate matters. Min 7 yrs legal exp at a major law firm or in-house counsel at a media co., exp in an active M&A practice, content licensing exp & strong negotiation & drafting skills. APPLY HERE (7/21)

PROGRAMMATIC SPECIALIST >>
Insight TV Studios US/NYC: Ambitious candidate to leverage their own ntwk of ad and media agencies as well as direct advertisers to expand our reach. Oversee campaign executions w/support teams incl mktg, acct mngmnt, Insights, OTT Programming & Media Plan’g. 5 yrs exp OTT sales and/or multi-platform dig. Full info HERE (7/21)

BRAND INTEGRATION SALES EXEC >>
Weather Channel: Identify, negotiate, and secure product placement and brand integration deals across The Weather Channel and Entertainment Studios live and long-form original programming. 7-10 years in Product Integration or Branded Content. Full info HERE (7/21)

@{optoutfooterhtml}@

Related Stories

12/04/24: Cynopsis Jobs

hand shake

Wednesday December 4, 2024 COUNSEL, LEGAL & BUSINESS AFFAIRS >> MLB NETWORK/SECAUCUS, NJ: Responsible for a variety of matters, including services agreements, production related agreements, talent agreements, software and other technology related agreements, licensing and programming agreements, third party rights clearances, distribution agreements, contract summaries, confidentiality, and general contract matters. Full info

Cynopsis 12/04/24: “Family Guy” returns to Adult Swim

Wednesday December 4, 2024    IN THE NEWS In its annual ad-spending forecast, Dentsu offered a sunnier projection than it did last year, upgrading growth estimates for both its US and worldwide outlooks through 2027. Dentsu now estimates global ad spending will expand 6.8% this year, up 2.2 percentage points from its last release in […]

Cynopsis 12/03/24: TelevisaUnivision undergoes major restructuring

TelevisaUnivision undergoes major restructuring

Tuesday December 3, 2024    IN THE NEWS TelevisaUnivision is implementing “significant and necessary changes,” wrote CEO Daniel Alegre in a memo to employees on Monday. In addition to layoffs, those changes include a major adjustment to the company’s organizational structure. Jose Luis Fabila, currently Head of Content and Strategy at TelevisaUnivision in Mexico, will […]

11/27/24: Cynopsis Jobs

jobs5

Wednesday November 27, 2024 COUNSEL, LEGAL & BUSINESS AFFAIRS >> MLB NETWORK/SECAUCUS, NJ: Responsible for a variety of matters, including services agreements, production related agreements, talent agreements, software and other technology related agreements, licensing and programming agreements, third party rights clearances, distribution agreements, contract summaries, confidentiality, and general contract matters. Full info

CynCity

Cynsiders