10/27/17: Twitter bands ads from Russian government-affiliated news sources

Good morning. It’s Friday October 27, 2017 and this is your your first early morning Digital briefing.

TODAY’S CODEBREAKER

Asynchronous Communication: Asynchronous communication is two-way communication that involves a time delay between when a message is sent and when it’s received. Email is one of the most prominent examples. Phone calls and web-video chats, on the other hand, are examples of synchronous communication – a simultaneous two-way exchange of information.

JUST IN…

Twitter, like Facebook and Google, is still grappling with revelations that Russian-bought ads, designed to influence the 2016 election, ran on its platform last year. Now the company is taking an extraordinary step: Effective immediately, Russia Today (Russia’s state-funded broadcaster) and Sputnik (a government-controlled news agency) will be banned from advertising on Twitter. “We did not come to this decision lightly, and are taking this step now as part of our ongoing commitment to help protect the integrity of the user experience on Twitter,” the company wrote in a blog post. The company clarified that the decision only applied to advertising; Sputnik and Russia Today will still be able to tweet from their accounts.

In other Twitter news, the company beat Wall Street’s expectations in Q3. Twitter’s monthly active user base increased by four million, as compared to the previous quarter. All told, Twitter reported a total monthly active user base of 330 million during Q3 – a year-over-year increase of 4%. The company’s third-quarter revenue amounted to $590 million, a year-over-year decline of four percent. The company also reported net losses of $21 million – but that’s actually a significant improvement over Q3 of 2016, when the company saw a net loss of $103 million. (It’s entirely possible that Twitter could reach profitability in Q4, which would be a first.) Across the board, the financial numbers were better than what Wall Street had expected. The company’s stock rose by over 13% after the company issued its report.

One complicating factor in Twitter’s Q3 report: In a new regulatory filing, the company revealed that it had accidentally been misstating its monthly active user counts since Q4 of 2014. “[W]e had included users of certain third-party applications as Twitter MAUS that should not have been considered MAUs,” the company explained. The company says it has since made the appropriate corrections, but the impact isn’t insubstantial. For instance, Twitter issued a downward revision for Q2 – a drop of about 2 million monthly active users.

Google parent Alphabet blew past analysts’ expectations in Q3, reporting $27.77 billion in total revenue. That’s an increase of more than $5 billion over last year’s third quarter, when the company took in $22.45 billion. The company’s net income for the quarter amounted to $6.73 billion on an adjusted basis, up from $5 billion one year ago. The company’s earnings per share sat at $9.57, up from $7.25 in Q3 of 2016. Most of Alphabet’s revenue came from Google’s ad business, which took in more than $24 billion. The company also saw growth in its digital media and hardware sales, which amounted to $3.4 billion in the Q3. In last year’s third quarter, the number was $2.4 billion.

Amazon, too, beat Wall Street’s expectations in Q3, posting sales of $43.7 billion. Wall Street had projected $41.6 billion in sales. Total sales saw a 34% increase over last year’s third quarter. (Some of that had to do with the $1.3 billion that Amazon took in from the recently-acquired Whole Foods Market.) All told, net income was $256 million the third quarter. Notably, CEO Jeff Bezos devoted much of the earnings announcement to the success of Alexa-enabled devices like the Amazon Echo. Customers have now purchased “tens of millions” of Alexa devices, he said. Bezos gave Amazon Studios much less of a spotlight, in contrast to previous quarterly announcements. But perhaps it’s not terribly surprising: The company’s video division – still a small part of its overall business – has experienced significant upheaval of late, including a number of executive departures. Among those was the recent resignation – amidst a cloud of sexual harassment allegations – of former Amazon Studios chief Roy Price.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

Space is limited and last year’s luncheon sold out!

The Cynopsis Model D & Digital “It List” Awards

Friday, November 10 | 12pm – 2pm | TriBeca’s ThreeSixty° (NYC)

“Cynopsis Award shows are fun ways to recognize leaders and companies in the industry.”

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In addition to our impressive Model D Award finalists and “It List” honorees, we’ve got an incredibly talented cast of speakers and presenters to make this year’s reception our best ever.

REGISTER BY 10/31

PROGRAMMING

It looks like Apple is approaching its TV push with a family-friendly philosophy. Back in April, the tech giant delayed the launch of its Carpool Karaoke series by several months. Nobody knew why at the time, but according to a new story from Bloomberg, it all had to do with profanity and anatomical references: CEO Tim Cook ordered his deputies to remove edgy subject matter before the show could be released. And according to the report, that’s the approach Apple plans to take as it starts rolling out new comedies and dramas: Content will be appropriate for families and younger viewers – suitable for anyone who walks into an Apple store or turns on an Apple device. According to Bloomberg, Apple hopes to have a small slate of original shows prepped for release in 2019. The company will reportedly spent $1 billion on shows over the next year, and plans to hire a staff of about 70 development execs, marketers, and publicists.

Rotten Tomatoes has spent years aggregating critical reviews of other people’s movies and TV shows; now it’s making a show of its own. The site is set to launch Rotten Tomatoes See It/Skip It, a new weekly series that will run on Facebook’s Watch platform. The show will be hosted by entertainment commentator Segun Oduolowu and Black Girl Nerds film critic Jacqueline Coley. Coley and Oduolowu will discuss their opinions on upcoming shows and movies. They’ll also talk about recent entertainment news, and will solicit reactions from Facebook users. In addition, the co-hosts will unveil a “Tomatometer” score for new movie or show at the end of every episode. Rotten Tomatoes See It/Skip It premieres November 1. Subsequent episodes will debut on Thursdays at 12:01 AM. Rotten Tomatoes is majority-owned by NBCU’s Fandango.

APPS + PLATFORMS

Instagram has introduced Superzoom, a new camera feature. If you’re familiar with the “Dramatic Chipmunk” meme, you’ll recognize Superzoom: The camera zooms in on a user’s face, complete with dramatic sound effects. It’s now available for both iOS and Android devices.

PUBLISHERS

Bloomberg Media has laid off at least 11 staffers from its Bloomberg Media Distribution division, according to a new report from Digiday. The unit, which previously had about 50 employees, focuses on distribution deals for Bloomberg’s video, text, data, and photo content. “We recently made some changes in our organization to bring media distribution and digital together under one group,” said a Bloomberg Media spokesperson, “directing our resources towards digital and other areas of growth.”

Crowd-funding platform GoFundMe has launched GoFundMe Studios, a new video-production unit. GoFundMe Studios will create short-form docs, podcasts, and even feature-length films. Former GoPro exec Wil Tidman will head up the unit, serving as Executive Producer. Filmmaker and commercial director Chris Neil has also been brought on as an Executive Producer.

TRIVIA

DramaFever, a streaming service focused on East Asian (especially Korean) television, was acquired by a major media company last year. Which one? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company, city and state.)

Which music and TV star plays the character of Lennie Dale, opposite Woody Allen, in the Amazon original series Crisis in Six Scenes? Answer: Miley Cyrus. Kudos to Andrew Bellamy-Producers Guild of America/NY, Andy Pittman-TAMU/TX, Len Appel-Branded Entertainment Network/NY, Jerry Kapner-Kapner Group/NJ, Sheena Das-Disney ABC/NY, Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/CA, David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA-Federal Credit Union/CA, Linda Porto-CLGR Communications/NY, Lorrie Shilling/CA, and Aaron Paquette-Screen Engine/ASI/TX

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

DEADLINE DAY

Cynopsis Short Form Video Festival: Entries due by 11:59pm tonight!

The deadline for the Cynopsis Short Form Video Festival is tonight and you don’t want to miss out. With a range of categories to choose from and a judging panel of the best in the industry, this is the perfect opportunity to shine light on your team’s content. Finalists will be notified in mid-November and the winning videos will be screened at our festival this March in NYC.

The online submission process is quick and easy – Get Started Here

If you have any questions about your submissions, contact Cathy Pearson at 203.899.8470

SHORT FORM SPOTLIGHT

Hulu dropped the new trailer for Runaways, its upcoming Marvel series. Check it out here.

David Teich
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