With TikTok owner ByteDance facing concerns over data privacy, the Wall Street Journal reported that until late last year, TikTok got around a privacy safeguard in Google’s Android operating system by using an added layer of encryption for cover as it collected unique identifiers, called MAC addresses, from millions of mobile devices. TikTok has said it doesn’t share data with the Chinese government and wouldn’t do so if asked, and that “the current version of TikTok does not collect MAC addresses.”

During a time when live events are happening in bubbles, limiting in-person engagement at arenas or bars, Turner Sports has tapped LiveLike to bring watch parties to the NBA Playoffs. It’s the first time a LiveLike watch party (and other interactive, co-viewing features) has come to a major US pro sports league. LiveLike’s technology is now integrated into the NBA app and NBA.com, and will be part of TNT Overtime. During the NBA Playoffs, fans can invite friends to watch parties where they can engage in private group chats synced to the live action.

Consumers are continuing to increase reliance on upstream bandwidth, according to Open Vault’s Q2 2020 OVBI (OpenVault Broadband Insights) report. Upstream consumption rose 5.3% from the end of Q1 to the end of Q2, likely reflecting increased use during the COVID-19 pandemic. The upstream rise continued even though overall usage actually declined by 5.5% during the same period. Upstream consumption is up 56% year-over-year through 2Q20. The 2Q20 OVBI shows that nearly 5% of subscribers now receive connections of 1 gigabit or faster, up 133% year-over-year and up 75% in the last six months alone. “Yes, overall usage eased in the second quarter, but nothing is forever in this pandemic,” said Mark Trudeau, CEO of OpenVault. “The persistent pressure on upstream plant and the migration of subscribers to faster tiers, not to mention the unknowns of distance learning, remote businesses and emerging Covid hotspots – these are all flashing signals that higher consumption levels lie ahead.”

Judgement welcomed: Entries are flooding in for the Cynopsis Digital Model D Awards, honoring trailblazers in digital media. If you think you’d be a good fit for the judging panel, please fill out this brief application – we’ll be in touch if you’re selected. Judging is done entirely online and will take place in late-August..”

Facebook has expanded its classification of racist content, and will no longer allow depictions of blackface or negative Jewish stereotypes, said Guy Rosen, VP, Integrity. Despite a heavier reliance on technology for content review after content reviewers were sent home due to COVID-19 concerns, “our technology enabled us to take action on more content in some areas, and increase our proactive detection rate in others,” said Rosen. Facebook’s proactive detection rate for hate speech on Facebook increased 6 points from 89% to 95%, and the amount of content Facebook took action on increased from 9.6 million in Q1 to 22.5 million in Q2. Rosen also said Facebook plans to undergo a third-party audit in 2021 to validate the numbers it publishes in its Community Standards Enforcement Reports.

With many businesses bringing events and services online during a time of social distancing, Facebook has launched the ability for businesses, creators, educators and media publishers to earn money from online events on Facebook – and to support small businesses and creators, the company won’t be collecting fees from paid online events for at least a year. Page owners can create an online event, set a price, promote the event, collect payment and host the event, all in one place. “In June, we saw live broadcasts from Pages double compared to the same time last year, largely attributed to broadcasts since March,” said Fidji Simo, VP, Head of Facebook App, in a blog post. “By combining marketing, payment and live video, paid online events meet the end-to-end needs of businesses. Pages can host events on Facebook Live to reach broad audiences, and we’re testing paid events with Messenger Rooms for more personal and interactive gatherings.”

The Facebook blog post took a swipe at Apple. “We asked Apple to reduce its 30% App Store tax or allow us to offer Facebook Pay so we could absorb all costs for businesses struggling during COVID-19,” said Simo. “Unfortunately, they dismissed both our requests and SMBs will only be paid 70% of their hard-earned revenue.”

President Trump’s announcement of a ban on Chinese messaging app WeChat in the US has sent some users to Signal, which has seen a 30% rise in downloads since the August 6 executive order. “In the time since the announcement of WeChat’s impending ban, Signal saw 65,000 installs in the US, up from 50,000 in the six days before,” noted a Stephanie Chan, Sensor Tower Mobile Insights Strategist in a blog post. Most of Signal’s users are in the US.

As of 2Q20, streaming now comprises one-fourth of all television minutes viewed. Netflix is the largest contributor to streaming share at 34%, followed by YouTube at 20%, according to data from Nielsen’s Streaming Meter. Newcomer Disney+ now accounts for 4% of total streaming time. Viewers of all ages have embraced streaming – consumers ages 55 and up now comprise 26% of all streaming minutes viewed, up from 19% one year ago.

Amagi, focused on cloud-based technology for broadcast TV and streaming TV, announced that VENN has launched a free-to-view gaming TV network built on Amagi’s platform. The live network is available on major social media platforms including Twitch, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, as well as its owned and operated app. VENN targets gaming and pop culture audiences.

One third of Quibi subscribers say they plan to cancel the short-form video streaming service within the next three months, according to Kantar’s Entertainment On Demand service. The average Quibi subscriber holds 5.1 SVOD subscriptions, versus the market average of three.

Charter Communications introduced Unlimited Plus, a new monthly service plan from Spectrum Mobile for customers who regularly use large amounts of cellular data to stream high-definition video outside of the home. “With Unlimited Plus, Spectrum Mobile customers now have three simple and easy-to-understand data plans to choose from to fit their needs and budget, with no taxes and fees,” said Danny Bowman, Chief Mobile Officer for Charter. “As our new top-tier data plan option, Unlimited Plus combined with Spectrum Mobile’s fastest overall speeds is the ideal choice for those customers who watch HD-quality video on the go.”

ADVERTISING

Nearly one-third of people like the ads they see to be personalized, and 30% like brands more when they personalize ads, according to “2020 Consumer Attitudes n Personalized Advertising,” a study from ad platform Innovid. Highlights of the study include:
· Thirty-five percent of respondents said they want to dictate their own data collection preferences.
· The three types of data people are most willing to share are: likes/dislikes (60%), gender (47%) and location (27%).
· One-quarter are actually more willing to share data than they were a year ago.
“The data shows brands aren’t doing enough to personalize across channels, although consumers have voiced a desire for it, which leads to a consumer ad experience that is lacking or low impact,” said Stephanie Geno, SVP of Marketing at Innovid.

Tru Optik has launched a new self-service platform, Data Marketplace, for streaming media and connected device audience planning. The Data Marketplace will be made available directly to brands and agencies, as well as expand the features and capabilities it already provides to ad tech platforms and publishers. “We are excited to be the first to power a consistent, scalable way to leverage both third-party and first-party data across the entire Connected Media ecosystem. By doing so, we are democratizing access to data-driven targeting across the fastest growing mediums in advertising,” said Andre Swanston, Tru Optik CEO & Co-Founder.

IPG Mediabrands released its Media Responsibility Audit, part of a larger effort aimed at enhancing brand safety and media responsibility in advertising. Key findings include:
· Policy Enforcement Matters: Platforms fall short by not backing up their policies with consistent enforcement of those policies.
· Lack of Consistency Across Platforms: Given broad regulations that surround anti-discrimination and data privacy (e.g. GDPR/CCPA?), there are opportunities to become even more consistent in how data collection policies are enacted across the various social platforms.
· Eradicating Hate Speech Is A Common Goal: There is a shared recognition across platforms that eliminating hate speech is important but there are inconsistent definitions of what qualifies as hate speech, inconsistent identification of protected classes of people, and a lack of prevalence reporting and independent auditing of hate speech reports.
· Non-Registered User Experiences Vary: Some platforms still allow certain advertising placements to be viewed by a non-registered user, which may not result in responsible media delivery.
· Urgent Need For Third-party Verification: Only a few partners have specific controls for protecting advertisers from adjacency to content in objectionable or harmful categories.
“With this effort, we are seeking to raise the bar in the industry by holding platforms to a higher standard of responsibility: keeping brands, and the communities they serve, safe,” said Daryl Lee, Global CEO, Mediabrands. “

Video software provider Synamedia introduced Iris, a new addressable advertising solution. From a single platform, Iris supports unified campaign management, delivery, and measurement to multiple screens across apps and live, linear and catch-up services. “With Iris, the TV industry can finally combat the erosion of ad revenues to digital platforms and achieve its long-held ambition of generating new income from advanced TV advertising,” said Scott Kewley, VP Advanced Advertising and Data at Synamedia.

DoubleVerify, a software platform for digital media measurement, data and analytics, and Bidder-as-a-Service platform Beeswax have partnered to allow Beeswax customers to authenticate the quality and performance of their campaigns using DoubleVerify’s pre-bid solutions across fraud, viewability, brand safety, and standard contextual targeting. Key to DV and Beeswax’s new partnership is the availability of DV’s Authentic Brand Safety targeting solution, which Beeswax BaaS customers can now apply across their campaigns.

The Media Rating Council canceled the second phase of an audit of Google’s YouTube audience measurement data, which would validate third-party viewability data processors, explaining since Google recently moved to transition all its third-party processors to its “Ads Data Hub” platform covering all Google properties, the audit was obsolete. The MRC said a new audit of Google’s first-party ADH processes would begin this quarter “on an expedited basis.”

Only 1% of small or mid-sized brands are influenced by the action of large brands when they cut or stop social media campaigns, according a Borrel Associates report, “How COVID-19 Is Shaping Social Media.” Asked about the challenges of marketing their company on social media, the top five that SMBs cited were creating content and messages, measurement, cutting through clutter, lack of staff and time, and staying up to date on best practices.

iSpot.tv will be the exclusive CTV measurement provider for Crackle Plus. The Crackle Plus AVOD will utilize iSpot’s Unified cross-platform TV ad measurement system to prove the incremental audience reach Crackle delivers over linear. iSpot’s TV ad measurement platform will help Crackle Plus’ ad sales team package up audience-based buying opportunities for brands aiming to target “unreachables” who exclusively watch internet-delivered television.