Twitter is taking steps to protect against the spread of misinformation on the platform ahead of the midterm elections. That includes enforcement of its Civic Integrity Policy, which it says “covers most common types of harmful misleading information about elections and civic events,” as well as new misleading information labels, prompts with information about where and how to vote, localized news and resources by state, and more. “We aim to enable healthy civic conversation on Twitter, while ensuring people have the context they need to make informed decisions about content they encounter,” said the company in a blog post.

Google unveiled technology to improve the quality of featured snippets. “Our systems can check snippet callouts (the word or words called out above the featured snippet in a larger font) against other high-quality sources on the web, to see if there’s a general consensus for that callout, even if sources use different words or concepts to describe the same thing,” wrote Pandu Nayak, VP of search and Google Fellow, in a blog post. Multitask Unified Model (MUM) helps systems “understand the notion of consensus, which is when multiple high-quality sources on the web all agree on the same fact.”

Microsoft’s Bing has added search results that show price history, coupons and ethical ratings for shoppers. Coupons are automatically added to purchases, and an ethical notation lets shoppers know if a company sells ecofriendly fashion.

The US Justice Department is reportedly planning to sue Google as soon as September for illegally dominating the digital advertising market, according to Bloomberg. Not a good thing, argued Google. “Our advertising technologies help websites and apps fund their content, and enable small businesses to reach customers around the world,” said Google spokesperson Peter Schottenfels. “The enormous competition in online advertising has made online ads more relevant, reduces ad tech fees, and expanded options for publishers and advertisers.” The first suit the DOJ filed against Google, for “unlawfully maintaining monopolies in the markets for general search services, search advertising, and general search text advertising in the United States,” is still being fought in court.

Nielsen introduced its Gracenote ID Distribution System, enabling program owners and creators to leverage Gracenote IDs to manage their content, streamline distribution and ensure their content brands are well represented. “With streaming reaching maturity, more focus than ever is placed on securing positive return on investment on programming,” said Simon Adams, Chief Product Officer at Gracenote. “To achieve this, content sources need their offerings to be easily discovered and appropriately represented in distribution channels and their user interfaces. Gracenote ID Distribution System leverages our deep metadata and content ID expertise to streamline this process for content sources, ultimately helping them drive maximum engagement and monetization.”

Meta introduced Advantage+ shopping campaigns to advertisers globally. “We’ve found that 52% of consumers want to find brands and products they haven’t heard about but align with their shopping preferences,” said the company in a blog post. “Through Advantage+ solutions, advertisers can tap into the power of AI to provide more relevant campaigns to the people who matter most to their businesses.” Advantage+ shopping eliminates the manual steps of ad creation and automates up to 150 creative combinations at once. Rolling out to ecommerce and retail advertisers on August 15, the Advantage+ shopping campaigns tool uses AI to automate the campaign creation process and is powered by new machine learning models.

Ninety-five percent of kids 13-17 report using YouTube, followed by 67% for TikTok, according to the Pew Research Center. Only 32% of people in the demo now use Facebook, down from 71% in 2015. Instagram grew from 52% in 2015 to 62% now, and Snapchat rose from 41% to 59%. Twitter dipped from 33% to 23%, and Tumblr fell from 14% to 5%.

VAB found that 85% of TV networks use a new measurement currency, in relation to its recent upfront deals with advertising. The research shows that between 25% and 49% of upfront advertisers are actively using or testing a measurement option other than Nielsen.

Signal AI, the global External Intelligence company, has acquired KELP Inc., the platform for corporate reputation. “85% of business leaders say that reputation is a higher priority than margin in the decision-making process,” said David Benigson, CEO of Signal AI. “At Signal AI, we’re already providing executives with external intelligence to help them cut through the noise and understand which topics and events are impacting their reputation. Together with KELP, we’ll turn this data into truly actionable insight for our customers.”

Spin Master, a children’s entertainment company, announced the acquisition of Nørdlight, a digital game studio based in Stockholm, Sweden. The acquisition supports Spin Master’s plans to grow revenue and penetration within digital gaming as well as leverage its proprietary intellectual property across Toys, Entertainment and Digital Games.

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Video data platform Iris.TV announced an integration with AI-powered adtech solutions provider Silverpush. “For brands looking to shift their linear television investment to Connected TV, transparency and brand safety should be the top priority,” said Kartik Mehta, Co-Founder and COO of Silverpush. “With our partnership with IRIS.TV, brands can now leverage our contextual data to ensure every dollar spent on premium and CTV video aligns with industry-standard safety and suitability frameworks while having full transparency into their buys in these preferred video buying environments.”

A+E Networks is partnering with Opendoor, a digital platform for residential real estate, for a creative integration in the premiere season of A&E’s “Move or Improve.” In each weekly episode, couples will use the Opendoor app or Opendoor.com to surface potential new homes when considering selling their current one. “Current trends in both the housing market and consumption of home genre content make this the perfect time to bring Opendoor’s message to our audiences,” said David DeSocio, EVP Ad Sales Marketing & Partnerships, A+E Networks. “This strategic and serendipitous integration enabled us to tell compelling and organic stories that are relatable and helpful to so many viewers.” “Move or Improve” debuted August 13.

Iterable has released an AI product aimed at helping brands deliver outcome-based marketing strategies that drive stronger, individualized customer experiences. “Our AI Optimization Suite unlocks limitless possibilities for our customers, who now have access to powerful AI tools that are comprehensive and entirely customizable. With detailed insight into how customer behaviors are correlated to specific goals and business outcomes, marketers can approach their work with the strategic, high-impact mindset of a data scientist,” said Bela Stepanova, SVP of Product at Iterable. “Understanding the inner workings (the ‘why’ and ‘how’) behind the intelligent system gives marketers the clarity and confidence to improve and refine the predictions they create, design goals that fit their unique business needs, and implement fresh ideas about how to approach building customer-first campaigns.”

TikTok is launching new ad-targeting tools aimed at providing users with information about the ads they see on the app. “About this ad” enables users to tap on an ad and see why TikTok has selected that ad for them. By going to the “share” menu in the lower right corner of an ad, users can access the personalized ad targeting information, and make changes to their preferences.

STREAMING

Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment has completed the acquisition of Redbox Entertainment. The combined companies now offer AVOD, over 145 FAST channels, transactional video on demand, and a network of over 36,000 kiosks. The company expects revenue to more than triple through this acquisition to approximately $500 million annually. Galen C. Smith, former CEO of Redbox, has been appointed to the new role of Executive Vice Chairman of Redbox and Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, and Jonathan Katz has been named president of Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment. Katz previously held senior executive roles at Scripps Networks, Katz Networks, and Turner Broadcasting.

Future Today announced an expanded partnership with Hasbro’s entertainment studio, Entertainment One, to add 750 additional episodes of content to AVOD HappyKids. “We are dedicated to offering content that both educates and entertains through iconic brands and TV shows,” said David Di Lorenzo, SVP of Kids & Family at Future Today. “With our growing audience, driven by the surge in adoption of free, ad-supported streaming, we want to continue to meet demand with high-quality content that keeps viewers engaged.”

Shows hosted by Zerlina Maxwell and Ayman Mohyeldin have been cut from MSNBC’s Peacock hub, but they’ll likely still be at MSNBC. Starting next month, the news net hopes to have Maxwell to serve as an analyst, while Mohyeldin will continue his weekend cable show.

XUMO has partnered with Magnolia Pictures in a two-year distribution deal that brings movie titles to the FAST market for the first time. These “first on FAST” movies will be streamed on an ongoing basis with a new title launching nearly every month, each available during an exclusive three-month window. Additionally, XUMO has partnered with Oscilloscope and Brainstorm Media, adding to its roster of media providers selecting XUMO as its first and exclusive FAST partner.

Netflix inked a contract with SAG-AFTRA to join Legacy Studios’ bargaining unit. The new agreement is a follow-up to the 2019 contract, and will be the last one made exclusively between the two sides. Netflix will join the unit run by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, after having signed with the organization last year.

Speaking of Netflix, less than 1% of the streamer’s subscribers are playing its mobile games, according to a report by Apptopia. Netflix intends to double its catalogue by the end of the year, with more than 50 game releases

Multicultural households are more likely to stream TV apps than the general market, a new report from App Science found. Sports, crime and drama were the most popular CTV viewing genres among multicultural audiences.

“Love Island USA” was the most streamed unscripted original series on Peacock in its first three weeks. The series received a two-season order, with the next installment coming in 2023.

The Starz app is now available on Smart TVs from Vizio. The smart TV already has apps for many other streaming services available, including Apple TV+, HBO Max and Netflix, among others.

Hallmark Movies Now is now available on LG Smart TVs. The launch comes as the service rolls out including Season 6 of original series “Chesapeake Shores” and Hallmark films such as “Sand Dollar Cove,” “Sweet Pecan Summer,” and more.

Cynopsis Team