Google is making passkeys the default authentication method for Google account holders. “This means, next time you sign in to your Google Account, you’ll start seeing prompts to create and use passkeys, simplifying your future sign-ins,” said Google product managers Christiaan Brand and Sriram Karra. “Our goal is the same as it has always been, giving you technology that is secure by default, so that you have the strongest security but without the burden.”

TikTok was asked by the European Union for a “prompt, accurate and complete response” to reports of the platform being misused. “Following the terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas against Israel, we have indications that TikTok is being used to disseminate illegal content and disinformation in the EU. Let me remind you that the Digital Services Act sets very precise obligations regarding content moderation,” wrote EU commissioner Thierry Breton.

X CEO Linda Yaccarino responded to a letter similar to the one received by TikTok from the EU. X has taken down “tens of thousands” of pieces of content that could include false information about the attacks on Israel, posted Yaccarino, adding, “X is committed to serving the public conversation, especially in critical moments like this.”

As for Meta, also the recipient of a letter from Breton, “After the terrorist attacks by Hamas on Israel on Saturday, we quickly established a special operations center staffed with experts, including fluent Hebrew and Arabic speakers, to closely monitor and respond to this rapidly evolving situation,” said the company in a statement. “Our teams are working around the clock to keep our platforms safe, take action on content that violates our policies or local law, and coordinate with third-party fact checkers in the region to limit the spread of misinformation. We’ll continue this work as this conflict unfolds.”

LiveRamp unveiled new clean room activation and cloud-first identity capabilities aimed at enabling clients to more effectively activate and connect their data while unlocking deeper analytics and audience insights. LiveRamp’s clients can now activate their data with hundreds of partners directly from their collaboration platform of choice, including Snowflake and the LiveRamp Clean Room, with enhanced accuracy and connectivity.

Atlassian is acquiring video messaging service Loom for $975 million. “Async video is the next evolution of team collaboration, and teaming up with Loom helps distributed teams communicate in deeply human ways,” said Mike Cannon-Brookes, Atlassian co-founder and co-CEO. Loom was valued at $1.53 billion in May 2021.

Personalized entertainment discovery company Likewise announced Pix, a personal entertainment companion that combines 600 million consumer data points and machine learning algorithms from Likewise with the natural language processing of OpenAI to help people discover TV shows, movies, books and podcasts.

Gamers are both supportive and skeptical of AI, according to Hub Entertainment Research report Gaming 360. Asked how they feel in general about the use of AI in creating video games, 47% of gamers say it’s a good thing; only 16% say it is a bad thing. But when it comes to creating the story and narrative elements of games, two thirds of gamers say humans would do a better job than AI, while 17% think AI would do it better. As far as coding and technical design, AI has the edge – 43% think AI would do a better job, versus 38% for humans.

Vizrt announced that it has completed the AWS FTR process for Viz One. Achieving FTR status provides broadcasters further reassurance that the centralized and scalable media asset management platform can be safely migrated to the cloud.

Broadband communications provider Sparklight Business has launched Business Wi-Fi Plus, a Wi-Fi solution tailored for small-to medium-sized businesses. Teaming up with eero, an Amazon company, Sparklight Business will offer the eero Pro6E to deliver comprehensive Wi-Fi coverage throughout the business.

Smartling has partnered with Akeneo, the product experience (PX) company, for an app that integrates both platforms, streamlining the automation and management of multilingual product information. By combining Akeneo solutions with Smartling’s translation management system, brands, distributors and retailers are able to reduce manual processes, improve translation quality and accelerate time to market for global product launches.

BitFire announced its title sponsorship of SVG TranSPORT. The event focused on the current state of live-sports-transmission technology will take place at The Cutting Room in New York City on October 24, and will feature panel discussions covering the industry’s latest developments in broadcast transmission technology.

Nrby, a technology company specializing in location-centric data visualization and management solutions, announced a significant strategic investment from Service Electric Cablevision (SECV), a leading provider of cable television, internet, and communication services. This investment represents a commitment to driving innovation and expanding the reach of Nrby’s platform.

2023 Tempest Esports & Gaming Awards

One week until…

Attendees take their seats at the Tempest Awards on Oct. 23. Hosted by NBA 2K League’s very own Christina Granville, the ceremony at HyperX Arena in Las Vegas will feature gaming’s best in class. Tickets are going fast…

I’LL BE THERE

ADVERTISING

Google is rolling out Google Ads Data Manager to simplify the ways users connect and use first-party data with Google’s ads solutions. Through one collaborative interface, analysts can create new data connections while marketers can apply discrete data to measure conversions or reach people with relevant ads. “Google Ads Data Manager does not change the way our products work today, but rather simplifies the way you use them,” said Kamal Janardhan, Senior Director of Product Management, Measurement, in a blog post. “It requires minimal or no code knowledge, reducing the workload to use your data in marketing. It puts all your data management controls in one place, enabling you to drive incremental revenue and better outcomes for your business.” Google Ads Data Manager will become generally available in early 2024.

Dentsu and VideoAmp announced an activation enabling dentsu’s US media agencies to guarantee strategic audience buys across seven major media portfolios including A+E Networks, FOX, Hallmark Media, NBCUniversal, Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery, among others. Through dentsu’s Data Enabled Linear TV Activation (DELTA) platform, powered by VideoAmp’s dataset, clients can now transact and guarantee on the same advanced audiences built within dentsu’s Merkury ecosystem that they currently plan and optimize against, with seven major publishers.

Programmatic DOOH ad tech company Hivestack has partnered with Grupo Expansion, the omnichannel media owner in Latin America, for the integration of Grupo Expansión’s network of DOOH screens into the Hivestack SSP, available to purchase programmatically for local and global agencies and omnichannel DSPs. In addition, Grupo Expansión will leverage Hivestack’s ad server to manage both direct and programmatic sold inventory across their screen networks and mediate programmatic bids in a unified auction model from multiple SSPs exclusively through the Hivestack header bidder.

The DPAA Global Summit took place Tuesday at NYC’s Chelsea Piers, to a packed house galvanized by master of ceremonies/DPAA president and CEO Barry Frey and speakers including Tariq Hassan, Chief Marketing & Customer Experience Officer at McDonald’s; Google’s AR/XR Product Marketing Kira Rich; Todd Kaplan, CMO of Pepsi, and more. The message? “You can’t buy reach and relevance anymore,” said Mastercard’s VP of Global Media Traci Spiegelman. As it gets more and more difficult to reach a brand’s targets where they are, she noted, “Out of home is one of those channels that will stand the test of time.”

Want the latest news and updates about fast-growing DOOH? Cynopsis is launching a weekly newsletter dedicated to the topic on November 1. For details, contact [email protected].

ThinkAnalytics has launched its targeted contextual advertising solution, ThinkAdvertising, on AWS Clean Rooms from Amazon Web Services. The move enables publishers to activate cross-channel audience segments for programmatic advertising. AWS Clean Rooms helps customers and their partners more easily and securely collaborate and analyze their collective datasets—without sharing or copying one another’s underlying data.

STREAMING

MotorTrend Group announced the launch of its first Spanish-language FAST channel, MotorTrend Veloz TV on ViX. There will be 12 series to start, including “Shorty’s Dream Shop.”

Among US adults who FAST channels, 40% increased their FAST viewing time over the past year, and for two-thirds of that group it came at the expense of other streaming and linear services, according to Aluma Insights. “While free TV streaming services are generally used as secondary or tertiary sources of content, they are putting a dent in the viewing of primary paid sources,” said Michael Greeson, founder and principal analyst at Aluma Insights. “Given how rapidly the retail prices of paid services are increasing, we expect not only that more viewers will turn to free streaming services for TV content, but they will spend more time watching them.”

Kargo is expanding CTV and video with a partnership with IRIS.TV to enrich its CTV and video offering with new contextual signals. Kargo will leverage universal content identifier, the IRIS_ID, into its CTV and video suite of solutions. Kargo’s advertisers can access data to reach relevant viewers in video and streaming environments. IRIS.TV’s data partner ecosystem includes Captify, GumGum, 4D, Kerv, IAS, Oracle Advertising, Pixability, Reticle, Silverpush, Sightly, and Sounder.

MuxIP, provider of automated solutions for ad-supported streaming, has launched NitchTV, a creator, curator, and distributor of niche content channels, across FAST platforms globally, available to Samsung TV+, LG Channels, Amazon FreeVee, and others.

Among the most common items in US household budgets were subscription streaming services – Amazon Prime (52%), Netflix (50%), Hulu (34%) and Spotify (29%), Disney+ (28%), Max (21%) and Apple TV+, according to a survey by Vivent. Topping the list of those most likely to be cut if budgets are pinched were Disney+, Apple TV+, Netflix, Hulu and Spotify.

Sabio, a provider of CTV platforms, announced the launch of SabioTV, a free, creator-first content streaming platform founded on the commitment to bring multicultural voices to the forefront of the CTV ecosystem. SabioTV will connect creators and brands to underrepresented audiences.

Crunchyroll and GSN announced a new 24/7 channel to promote the medium of anime. The channel has launched on LG Channels and the Roku Channel and Vizio WatchFree+, and drops on Amazon Freevee on October 17. “The Crunchyroll channel is a gateway to the world of anime where we will guide viewers to discover new worlds, new stories and new characters,” said Rahul Purini, President of Crunchyroll.

Ebony Media Group and Lionsgate have teamed up to launch Ebony TV by Lionsgate. The FAST channel – featuring titles such as “The Great Debaters,” “Snitch,” “Dear White People” and more – are available on Samsung TV Plus. Before the end of the month, the channel will also be available on The Roku Channel, Tubi and Amazon Freevee.

MEASUREMENT

Cloud-based cross-channel marketing measurement and optimization company OptiMine and NP Digital have partnered to provide NP Digital’s clients with OptiMine’s measurement guidance and marketing optimization to lift brands’ marketing performance. “Marketing performance is stronger when brands understand the total impact of their investments and optimize accordingly,” said OptiMine CEO Matt Voda. “Doing this successfully requires measurement capabilities that can measure all marketing channels across all conversion points. We’re thrilled to partner and provide our privacy-safe, future-proof measurement approach to NP Digital, who’s mission aligns with our culture of agility, accountability, thinking big, putting clients first and having fun along the way.”

iSpot.tv and Paramount Global announced a currency partnership that facilitates transactions for both linear and total cross-platform reach for Paramount’s portfolio of networks and platforms. “Paramount has taken the lead in accelerating new measurement and currency enablement because the future of our industry depends on it,” said John Halley, President of Paramount Advertising. “We are committed to supporting all new currency providers certified by the US Joint Industry Committee, and we look forward to bringing greater transparency and flexibility to the way TV is transacted and measured. Our partnership with iSpot helps facilitate that goal.”

Cynopsis Team