HEARST ANYSCREEN
A Higher Standard in OTT

Reach your audience, anytime, anywhere, on any screen. Hearst Anyscreen offers a targeted OTT platform that provides a single, centralized access point to the streaming TV marketplace.

With a unique focus on quality, Hearst Anyscreen delivers premium “living room experience” television that is served primarily on Connected TVs.

Monday October 25, 2021

The internet economy grew seven times faster than the total US economy during the past four years, according to a study commissioned by IAB. The internet economy’s contribution to the US GDP grew 22% per year since 2016, in a national economy that grows between two to three percent per year. In 2020 alone, it contributed $2.45 trillion to the United States’ $21.18 trillion GDP. Since IAB began measuring the economic impact of the internet in 2008, the internet’s contribution to GDP has grown eightfold, from $300 billion to $2.45 trillion.

The tech industry responded swiftly to a bill that would take disciplinary action on online platforms. The American Innovation and Choice Online Act would prevent larger platforms from keeping another business from interoperating with a dominant platform of other business; from requiring a business to buy a dominant platform’s wares to get preferred placement; from misusing a business’s data to compete against it; and from biasing search in their favor. The bill allows civil penalties of up to 15% of US revenue, and penalties for CEOs. “The bill allocates vast new powers to the FTC, allowing the commission to ignore the consumer welfare standard, while imposing massive fines with minimal due process,” said Gary Shapiro, President of the Consumer Technology Association. “Further, the bill will take away features and functions that millions of Americans love and use in their everyday lives. Say goodbye to Amazon Prime free shipping, Google maps in search results, preinstalled iPhone apps and many more.”

Comcast Corp. has launched the sales of its XClass TV, a smart TV without the need for a cable TV subscription, loaded with hundreds of streaming apps and TV services including Peacock, Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Prime Video and more. The 4K TV sets are made in partnership with TV set manufacturer Hisense .

UK’s dock10 has announced the launch of a new technology solution for broadcasters that enables AR characters to be rendered in real-time in both traditional and virtual sets. The new solution includes the combination of full-body motion-capture and facial-capture software for more expressive movement, and the real-time rendering of AR characters into virtual sets. The first client to use this new technology is BBC Education with their AR robot character ‘CLOGS’ for BBC Bitesize Daily.

Robert Cruickshank Associates announced nationwide availability of standards-based Optimum Load Shaping signals that enable operators to reduce electrical expenses. RCA’s GRIDIoT OLS signals modulate and time-shift electric load on the power grid by working directly with the Internet of Things such as electric vehicles, batteries, and thermostats.

Grom Social Enterprises, a social media platform and original content provider of entertainment for kids, has added several new in-app safety features that give parents of Grom’s users complete control over their kids’ personal identifiable information and greater ability to monitor their child’s activity while posting, sharing and chatting with other kids on the app. The controls, previously only available in the company’s parental companion app, debuted last week.

APPLE UPDATES

Apple unveiled new MacBooks at its fall event. Among the highlights: The digital Touch Bar is gone, replaced by physical keys. A newly redesigned MacBook Pro will be available in 16-inch and for the first time, a 14-inch model. The new, thinner design has thermal capabilities with fans that move 50% more air, as well as longer-lasting batteries and an advanced front-facing camera that can take 1080p video. And computers weren’t the only products getting upgrades. Third-generation AirPods boast spatial audio, better sound quality and are sweat- and water-resistant for workouts. Apple also introduced a cheaper “Voice Plan” within Apple Music.

As part of its settlement in a lawsuit filed by app developers, Apple introduced a new set of App Store Guidelines that includes the previously announced agreement to permit developers to communicate with their customers about other payment methods available outside their app. In addition, apps may request customer information like name and email, but the request must be optional for the user, and not keep them from using the app. A third guideline relates to in-app events.

Apple launched online developer engagement series Tech Talks 2021, offering over 100 live sessions over the next eight weeks allowing developers to connect with Apple experts. “Every single day, developers around the world are creating incredible apps and games for our platforms, and it’s our goal to provide them with every resource we can to help make the hard work they put in that much easier and more impactful,” said Susan Prescott, Apple’s VP of Worldwide Developer Relations. “Our team is looking forward to connecting with even more developers around the world so we can better support the important work of this incredibly valued community, and listen to and learn from them.”

HEARST ANYSCREEN
A Higher Standard in OTT

Reach your audience, anytime, anywhere, on any screen. Hearst Anyscreen offers a targeted OTT platform that provides a single, centralized access point to the streaming TV marketplace.

With a unique focus on quality, Hearst Anyscreen delivers premium “living room experience” television that is served primarily on Connected TVs.

Google is lowering commissions on subscription-based businesses on the Google Play Store. Instead of paying 30% for the first year and 15% afterward, app makers who generate revenue through recurring subscriptions will be charged 15% from the start. “Digital subscriptions have become one of the fastest growing models for developers but we know that subscription businesses face specific challenges in customer acquisition and retention,” said Google’s Sameer Samat, VP, Product Management, in an announcement. “We’ve worked with our partners in dating, fitness, education and other sectors to understand the nuances of their businesses. Our current service fee drops from 30% to 15% after 12 months of a recurring subscription. But we’ve heard that customer churn makes it challenging for subscription businesses to benefit from that reduced rate. So, we’re simplifying things to ensure they can.”

Google also rolled out Android 12, with new feature Material You – when a user changes wallpaper, the Android 12 experience changes colors to match the look. Personalization is available for the lock screen, settings, notifications, and apps. Another highlight: the OS separates the connection between location and Bluetooth. “While your wireless headphones need to connect to your phone, they probably don’t need to know where you are,” said Google.

With no carriage agreement in sight, YouTube and YouTube TV may well be yanked from Roku devices, warns Google. “Since we haven’t been able to continue our conversations in good faith, our partnership for all new Roku devices will unfortunately end on December 9,” Google said in a statement. “We are, however, giving Roku the ability to continue distributing both YouTube and YouTube TV apps to all existing users to make sure they are not impacted.” Responded Roku, which has accused Google of anticompetitive conduct, “While not surprising, this kind of blatant retaliation and monopoly conduct is likely why the U.S. Department of Justice and 30 State Attorneys General are investigating Google for violating fair competition laws.”

TRUTH SOCIAL

Former president Donald Trump announced he is launching a media company, Trump Media & Technology Group, which will have its own social media platform, dubbed TRUTH Social. “We live in a world where the Taliban has a huge presence on Twitter, yet your favorite American President has been silenced,” said Trump, who was banned from major social media platforms after the January 6 insurrection. TRUTH Social’s terms of service bar users from statements that “disparage, tarnish, or otherwise harm, in our opinion, us and/or the Site,” and prohibits the use of excessive capital letters. Trump Media & Technology Group would be formed by joining with SPAC Digital World Acquisition Corp. pending regulatory and stockholder approval. TRUTH Social is on pre-order at the Apple App Store, with a full launch expected in 2022.

Despite a surge in stock price, one of Digital World’s major investors, Saba Capital, a $3.5 billion hedge fund run by Boaz Weinstein, sold much of its stake in Digital World after the news of the Trump connection was revealed. “Many investors are grappling with hard questions about how to incorporate their values into their work,” said Weinstein. “For us, this was not a close call.”

The Software Freedom Conservancy claims Trump’s site violates a free and open-source software licensing agreement by reusing code from decentralized social network Mastodon without complying with the Affero General Public License that governs the code. The Trump Media & Technology Group has 30 days to comply with the terms of the license before its access is terminated, which would force it to either rebuild the platform or face legal action.

And then there were the hackers. Within hours of the announcement of TRUTH Social, hackers affiliated with Anonymous had gained access to a private version of the social network, posting pictures of defecating pigs, spoofing Trump and others, and asking where Melania Trump is. Developers shut down the development platform.

ON THE FACEBOOK FRONT…

Facebook is planning to announce a new name for the company, according to The Verge. The name change is intended to reflect Facebook’s ambition to build out the metaverse, focusing on products like Oculus headsets and AR/VR wearable devices, versus being grounded in social media, for which the company is currently being hammered with criticism. The company’s annual Connect conference takes place October 28, where details of the rebrand are expected.

On the subject of Facebook criticism, the company’s Oversight Board has accused it of withholding information about its XCheck moderation system, a platform used to apply moderation rules to celebrities and VIPs. “Facebook has not been fully forthcoming with the Board on its ‘cross-check’ system, which the company uses to review content decisions relating to high-profile users,” the Board said in its Transparency Report. “Facebook is answering most of the Board’s questions, but not all of them.” The board started investigating the XCheck system last month, after The Wall Street Journal reported many VIP users abuse it.

More worrisome were reports Friday night about internal Facebook documents that show the degree to which the company was aware that extremist groups on its site were trying to polarize American voters before the election, and that Facebook employees believed the company could have done more to stop it. In a blog post, Facebook VP of Integrity Guy Rosen noted the measures Facebook took to protect the platform, and said of critics who blame the social media site for the January 6 attack on the Capitol, “We are a significant social media platform so it’s only natural for content about major events like that to show up on Facebook. But responsibility for the insurrection itself falls squarely on the insurrectionists who broke the law and those who incited them.”

People-based advertising software company Viant Technology and Wiland, focused on spend-based audiences for digital advertising campaigns, announced the integration of Wiland’s predictive audience segments into the Adelphic advertising software. “As third-party cookies are phased out, brands are adjusting to new approaches to help improve their understanding of target audiences,” said Jon Schulz, Chief Marketing Officer, Viant. “Purchase-based targeting reduces waste, drives measurable increases in media productivity and ultimately increases top-line revenue and bottom-line performance.”

Merkle announced a new partnership with TransUnion through with Merkle’s identity resolution and data platform Merkury will leverage TransUnion’s TruAudience Data Marketplace, formerly Tru Optik, to enable people-based audience activation in CTV. The integration of Merkury with TruAudience Data Marketplace enables brands to leverage first- and third-party data and reach advanced audiences across CTV campaigns.

Vistar Media, provider of software for programmatic OOH, is partnering with outcome-based marketing company Epsilon, part of Publicis Groupe, to provide access to Epsilon’s consumer data in the Vistar demand-side platform. The partnership will allow clients to increase relevancy and reach of their messages through digital out-of-home channels. “Our buyers are eager to apply Epsilon’s unique audience segments – especially in the B2B, health, and lifestyle categories – to their DOOH activations,” said Laura Kasakoff, Data Partnerships Director at Vistar Media.

3PD isn’t dead yet, according to Lotame. The data company announced its US third-party data sales increased by more than 30% from 1H20 to 1H21, while globally, third-party audience segments have seen a 41% increase in data sales YoY, with demographics remaining the highest revenue generating category. “While many are declaring contextual targeting as the only solution for the digital identity shift- our data tells a different story,” said Brian O’Connor, General Manager of Lotame’s Global Data Exchange. “The market is in fact heavily investing in demographic information in the form of third-party data buys because it plays an integral part in the holistic view of the consumer. The use of supplemental data is imperative in order to effectively leverage first-party data, ultimately allowing for successful marketing campaigns and consumer experiences in the post-cookie era.”

Advertisers in the Americas saw progress in brand safety as they adopted sophisticated risk prevention strategies, according to the IAS Media Quality Report for 1H21. Global brand risk dropped below 4%, with display being the safest ad format. For desktop display campaigns, brand risk dropped in Brazil (-3.9 percentage points), Mexico (-3.6pp), Canada (-3.4pp), and the US (-2.4pp). CTV was determined to be the most viewable ad format, at 93.2%.

Media technology company ElementalTV has launched its Engagement Lift Media platform to the public. The fully vertically integrated platform offers advanced ad decisioning, a demand-side platform, creative optimization, transcoding and stitching capabilities, aimed at enabling ElementalTV’s partners to deliver cost-effective, next generation CTV ad experiences.

Basis Technologies, a provider of cloud-based workflow automation and business intelligence software for marketing and advertising, released research and benchmarking capabilities on its Basis platform. The platform for Basis Technologies, which previously operated as Centro, now provides a proprietary tool, Market Trends, that delivers rapid reporting of industry-wide digital ad performance trends on all major channels and properties.

Innovid and ION Acquisition Corp. 2, a special purpose acquisition company, announced an additional $50 million private placement of common stock from a group of existing PIPE investors, bringing the aggregate amount of PIPE commitments to $200 million. “The rapid increase in CTV advertising investment has created an undeniable opportunity for Innovid’s independent technology platform to deliver and measure CTV advertising free of media bias,” said Zvika Netter, CEO of Innovid. “We believe this is only the beginning as more viewers and dollars shift from linear TV to CTV.”

STREAMING

Wurl has announced the launch of Global FAST Pass, a solution for content companies to create, manage, distribute and monetize their programming. “By integrating with Streamers on a global basis, Wurl has created a superhighway for FAST channels,” said Sean Doherty, Jr., COO, Wurl. “Global FAST Pass provides the lowest possible barrier to entry–technically, operationally and commercially–thanks to end-to-end connectivity, monetization, security and reporting.”

While the streaming pie grows, Netflix’s slice is shrinking, as more streamers enter the market. According to Parrot Analytics, Netflix’s share of global and US demand for digital originals has hit a record low, down to 45.8% globally, and 43.7% in the US. In 2Q21, Netflix was at 48.3% globally, and 46% in the US. The total global demand for Netflix originals grew 3.3% compared to Q2 2021, and is up 74% since 2Q19, but global demand for original content from Netflix’s competitors grew 14.3% in 3Q21, and is up 196% since 2Q19, before competitors like Disney+, HBO Max, and Apple TV+ entered the market.

Not that Netflix isn’t still going gangbusters. The company beat forecasts for growth in 3Q21, hitting 213 million subscribers globally, and handily beat earnings per share estimates, with $3.13. Household viewership for surprise smash “Squid Game,” which has become the most-viewed original title in Netflix history, has risen to 142 million.

Netflix noted it will turn from reporting the number of households or accounts that watch its shows, to reporting on hours viewed. “We think engagement as measured by hours viewed is a slightly better indicator of the overall success of our titles and member satisfaction. It also matches how outside services measure TV viewing and gives proper credit to rewatching,” said the company in a letter to shareholders.

Fuse Media inked a content deal with BBC Studios that will bring more than 60 hours of programming to its Fuse Beat streaming brand. The deal includes the first four seasons of “Luther,” as well as the US premiere of British sketch show, “Famalam.” FAST brand Fuse Beat launched in partnership with Quincy Newell’s Twentyone14 Media and Cinedigm earlier this year.