18-34 year olds are on Facebook Watch.

140 M people around the world come to Watch every day for at least one minute.

And of those people who visit daily, they spend an average of 26 min in Watch.

Reserve top-tier videos across Facebook and Facebook Watch for help reaching audiences you can’t always find with tv. All placement is brand safe and bought upfront with reliable delivery.

Source: Facebook data, Aug 2018, June 2019

Attribution specialist AppsFlyer has added linking tool OneLink to Salesforce AppExchange. OneLink generates a link that takes customers to a mobile app or app store; brands can track the journey post-email, allowing companies to “not only create enhanced user experiences but better track the effectiveness of campaigns,” said Elad Mashiach, Chief Partnerships Officer for AppsFlyer.

IBM has added three new products to add to its suite of AI solutions for brand and publishers. The new capabilities are privacy-forward and designed to allow brands to reach consumers while considering user privacy. “While the advertising industry strives to re-emerge strong from the global economic and societal issues we faced this year, it’s also deep in the throes of a major transformation with changes to mobile identity, certain elimination of third-party cookies, compliance and regulatory shifts and increased demand for trust and transparency,” said Bob Lord, SVP, Cognitive Applications and Blockchain, IBM. “We believe AI will be the ‘backbone’ of the new era as the industry prepares for the next generation of advertising.” The planned AI-enabled capabilities include:
* Extensions for IBM Watson Advertising Accelerator: Enhanced video and OTT capabilities available in the coming months that are expected to leverage Watson Machine Learning, to help enable marketers to pivot video advertising creative based on individual user reaction.
* IBM Watson Advertising Attribution: Beta Solution available in the coming months that leverages Watson Machine Learning, which allows marketers to accurately quantify the efficacy of their advertising spend while understanding intent and performance drivers.
* IBM Watson Advertising Predictive Audiences: Solution leverages Watson Studio, to help enable marketers to progress beyond ‘look-alike’ to ‘do-alike’ segments in a privacy-forward format to reach consumers that exhibit similar behaviors.

Why has Twitter become such a significant hub for parents? Twitter offered some new stats about its community of moms during a panel at Advertising Week. Insights on that community include:
· 50% of the moms are on Twitter daily
· 78% of Twitter moms feel their voice as a mom will be heard on Twitter
· 78% of Twitter moms report using the platform as a vital source of news
· Moms on Twitter are receptive to brands – 64% of US moms follow brands
· Moms are in a discovery mindset on Twitter – 83% of moms often look for further product information after seeing an ad on Twitter

Apple TV+ is joining anti-piracy coalition the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment, launched in 2017 with Netflix and Amazon as founding members. ‌Apple TV‌+ will join the ACE governing board, which includes Amazon, Disney, NBCUniversal, Netflix, Paramount, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros., in addition to Apple.

Video software provider Synamedia announced it has joined the global non-profit organization LOT Network, as a protective measure against patent trolls. “To retain our competitive advantage, we need to be able to protect our ability to innovate and our patents,” said Ismat Levin, SVP and General Counsel, Synamedia. “We recently launched a new intelligence-first security model laser-focused on eradicating streaming pirates’ businesses and protecting legitimate providers’ revenues. This will help to ensure that we continue to protect approximately $70 billion in operator revenues every year. By joining LOT Network, we have an additional layer of protection against the potential threats of costly patent troll litigation.”

Uberall, provider of “Near Me” Brand Experience marketing solutions, announced a partnership with Nextdoor, the neighborhood app for trusted connections, to boost local business visibility and engagement with consumers. “The growth of ‘Near Me’ online searches is a development that companies need to take into account when interacting with their local consumers,” said Florian Hübner, CEO and founder of Uberall. “The partnership between Uberall and Nextdoor will enable many companies to get closer to their local customers by providing them with accurate and up-to-date information in their search for products and services nearby.”

New data shows video is trending to dominate the fitness business. A report from Apptopia and Penthera analyzed 2020 fitness mobile app downloads and surveyed consumers. Key insights include:
· Among the top 10 workout apps, those with video were installed 65% more, recorded 38.5% more daily active users, and generated 15% more revenue than fitness apps without video.
· The popularity of apps has been increased by COVID-19, but they won’t wane post-pandemic. 94.7% of respondents said they will continue to use Health & Fitness apps, even after returning to a normal routine.

OpenDrive, the provider of network-attached-storage solutions, announced availability of Atlas 2.1, the next version of its software platform and file system that powers all OpenDrives storage solutions. Atlas 2.1 enables a scale-out storage architecture to accelerate performance, power, and flexibility of OpenDrives’ storage lineup, including the recently released Ultra Hardware series enabling customers to overcome constraints within key functional areas, such as scalability, operational management, performance analytics, and service availability.

Blend Media announced the launch of Blend Market, a marketplace dedicated to connecting clients with creators and solution-providers with relevant skills across the Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, 3D and Mixed Reality spectrum. The platform’s mission: make immersive content, creators and solutions more accessible.

MDC Partners launched PRophet, an AI-driven platform for the PR community to help predict media interest, sentiment and spread before a story is pitched. PRophet’s proprietary technology samples millions of reporters’ stories spanning thousands of print media outlets by deploying a combination of natural language processing and machine learning technologies. “PRophet uses AI to analyze past reporter behavior to actually predict future reporting potential. This has never been done before. It will revolutionize how PR professionals interact with journalists, making the interaction more efficient, and also provide them with irrefutable data to support their pitch strategy to internal stakeholders. It’s like Waze for PR people,” said Aaron Kwittken, founder and CEO.

OpenVault, a provider of industry analytics and SaaS technology solutions for broadband operators, and Power & Tel announced a new cooperation that will
enable seamless integration of OpenVault products and solutions into the Power & Tel portfolio, creating opportunities for both companies collaboratively to improve business results for customers. Through Power & Tel’s vast sales and support network in the Americas. “Broadband’s increased role in global connectivity during the pandemic has driven home how providers need to have a clear picture of when, how and by whom their networks are being used,” said Josh Barstow, Chief Revenue Officer of OpenVault. “By including Power & Tel in our sales partner ecosystem, we can help the industry harness OpenVault solutions at a time when the operational and business benefits are more important than ever.”

Animation studio ZAG has launched a new business division, ZAG Games & Interactive Experiences, to develop new gaming experiences and interactive for the properties under the ZAG Heroez label. Elinor Schops will spearhead ZAG Games & Interactive Experiences as VP.

SCTE·ISBE, the cable industry’s association training organization, is launching a new learning management system. The LMS places increased focus on content, provides better data reporting and a more user-friendly interface, and supports innovative training methods. “We have always been focused on training and certifications for the cable industry, but this new platform makes the learner experience more engaging, more impactful and more about knowledge retention,” said Robin Fenton, VP, Membership and Learning Operations, SCTE·ISBE. “With a more robust and modern LMS, we are able to push forward with new developments in our learning and development strategies.”

Syncbak’s new OTT platform, VUit, has launched Battlegound States, a limited time channel offering 24/7 local news segments and campaign events about the presidential election from the key swing states. The new channel will help viewers track voter sentiment, campaign engagement and real-time election updates.Gray Television, an initial lead investor in VUit, will be sourcing a majority of the coverage.

AVOD Xumo, acquired by Comcast in February, reports that since January it has experienced 2.5x growth and grown its monthly active user total to more than 24 million, with total hour streamed more than doubling. CEO Petrie-Norris attributes the growth in part to the pandemic, but also new distribution partners, expanded content and a deeper integration with Comcast Cable’s Xfinity X1 and Flex.

YouTube TV is giving Google’s new Chromecast, worth $49.99, to people who subscribe to YouTube TV and pay $64.99 the first month. While YouTube is looking to lure new subscribers with the streaming device, Google has a promotion that offers a new Chromecast with six months of Netflix for $89.99.

Audible announced a first look development and production deal with Conan O’Brien’s digital media company, Team Coco, to produce scripted and unscripted episodic series, non-fiction documentaries, and other audio original projects. Already greenlit: real-life mother-daughter duo Lea Thompson and Zoey Deutch in a scripted, episodic comedy podcast titled A Total Switch Show.

Accuweather TV is now available on fuboTV. The network is in base package fubo Standard.

ADVERTISING

Data-driven affiliate management solutions company Advertise Purple announced the release of its automated affiliate program management tool, Purply. Powered by Advertise Purple’s proprietary technology and real-time, data-driven insights, the new affiliate discovery, recruitment and tracking offering is designed for small-to-medium-sized businesses and those new to affiliate marketing. “Affiliate marketing is one of the most effective performance-focused strategies an online business can engage in,” said Kyle Mitnick, President of Advertise Purple. “Dollar for dollar, affiliate marketing is the most profitable revenue channel for e-commerce companies. But the fact is that navigating the affiliate market is not easy. There are over 1.2 million affiliates active today and counting, the vast majority of which don’t drive meaningful revenue. We created Purply to enable any sized company to create and execute an effective data-driven affiliate strategy.”

Ampersand announced a limited Beta release of a new self-serve functionality of The AND Platform, its multiscreen TV planning, buying and measurement platform launched at the beginning of 2020. The AND Platform provides marketers with reach across 85 million households, 120+ cable networks and more than 60% of all U.S. addressable households, and is the first advanced buy-side TV platform to centralize campaign planning and measurement within a single interface, supporting both local and national TV investment strategies. Local TV advertisers can define their target audiences by leveraging their own first party data or choosing from thousands of audience segments built with data from third-party data providers, together with the aggregated set-top box insights at a DMA level. For national TV advertisers, The AND Platform now offers access to audience-based campaign viewership insights to identify un/underexposed audiences, and the ability to reach those audiences across the largest footprint of addressable TV inventory in the US. The Beta is expected to run through the end of 2020 with general availability expected in 1Q21.

Group Nine Media announced the launch of “G9 Direct,” a performance marketing solution for DTC and direct response-focused brand partners. G9 Direct leverages consumers’ brand affinities for the five Group Nine brands (The Dodo, NowThis, POPSUGAR, Thrillist and Seeker) and the digital media company’s first-party data, coupled with scroll-stopping social media creative from its branded content studio, Brandshop. The first DTC advertisers to work with G9 Direct are Casper, Fi and by Humankind. “G9 Direct is unique from other performance marketing agencies because we are able to tap into Group Nine’s massive audience and their deep love for our five brands — across numerous lifestyle categories,” said Group Nine’s Chief Revenue Officer, Geoff Schiller. “We are combining our rich, first-party data, huge reach and social media expertise with the advertiser’s second-party data to deliver impactful, bottom of the funnel marketing campaigns with relevant messaging that drives real results.”

Entertainment marketing strategist Lee Hunt and business development expert Lori Pate have launched CMOmarketplace, to help connect buyers and sellers of creative services. The portal offers a streamlined alternative to the traditional agency-client business development model, is accessible 24/7, and anyone can register for free. CMOmarketplace uses search capabilities that allow marketing executives at media companies, entertainment and corporate brands to learn about vetted agencies. Since soft launching over the summer, more than 100 media companies have registered for the portal, which features the work of 22 creative agencies of varying sizes and specialties.