Monday November 6, 2023

President Joe Biden issued an executive order intended to mitigate the potential dangers of AI, including tasking the Department of Commerce with developing standards for authentication and watermarking. “Federal agencies will use these tools to make it easy for Americans to know that the communications they receive from the government are authentic — and set an example for the private sector and governments around the world,” said the White House.

Biden’s not the only one pushing for protections. A petition from the Writers Guild of America East is demanding “immediate, good faith negotiations on AI,” with a guarantee that AI protections will be on the table in future bargaining. “We recognize there are ways AI can support our work — but we also know that this technology can introduce factual errors, perpetuate racist biases, compromise data privacy, and diminish our readers’ trust,” says the petition. “We’ve already seen publications make embarrassing fumbles by rushing out AI-generated content, resulting in widespread reputational harm and reader mistrust.” Not to mention concerns about AI replacing union workers. “We cannot allow artificial intelligence to cannibalize the hard work of our journalists,” said Sara David, VP of Online Media at WGAE.

TNT Sports and Cosm, an immersive technology, media, and entertainment company, struck a first-of-its-kind, multi-year broadcast partnership that will see Cosm produce and present live sports programming from across TNT Sports’ footprint in immersive 8K+ at its forthcoming venues. “This partnership is transformative, not just for Cosm but for the live sports and entertainment industry at large,” said Jeb Terry, CEO and President at Cosm. “Cosm enables the best of at-home and in-venue, delivering the ultimate fan experience. It is a privilege to work with great partners like TNT Sports who also share an innovative spirit and commitment to the fan experience.”

TikTok launched a new lead generation integration for Salesforce Marketing Cloud. Features include a user-friendly interface; real-time lead transfer capabilities; and instant access to leads in Salesforce Marketing Cloud. “TikTok enables brands to reach and engage with new audiences and communities they otherwise would not have been connected with before,” said Lorry Destainville, Head of Product Partners for TikTok. “Powered by the new way people discover and connect with businesses, we are excited to partner with Salesforce to help advertisers capture the engaging TikTok community and turn them into leads.”

Paramount Global, home of Super Bowl LVIII, will bring the media brand’s “A Mountain of Entertainment” to Las Vegas, showcasing Paramount Global’s entertainment series and films surrounding CBS Sports’ football coverage on February 11. The four-day-long fan activation begins on February 8 and will feature 10 brands from across the company’s portfolio, including CBS, CBS Sports, Paramount+, Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, BET, Pluto TV and Paramount Home Entertainment. In addition, the “Paramount Mountain” will be constructed on top of the Mirage Volcano. The block-long structure along the Vegas strip will feature interactive fan experiences.

Paramount Global also announced the global expansion of premium video advertising platform EyeQ to regional and multinational marketers. EyeQ, launched in 2020, makes it easier for advertisers to activate campaigns across Paramount’s domestic and international digital content portfolio. “The launch of EyeQ was a game-changer, bringing unprecedented simplicity, efficiency and scale to the premium, ad-supported video marketplace,” said John Halley, President of Paramount Advertising. “We’re excited to deliver this proven formula to partners around the world under a global streaming advertising strategy that will play in more markets than ever before and serve as a catalyst for Paramount’s next stage of growth.”

Omnicom struck an agreement to acquire Flywheel Digital, the digital commerce business of Ascential. Flywheel will operate as a practice area within Omnicom, led by Duncan Painter, currently CEO of Ascential. He will be succeeded at Ascential by Philip Thomas, who has been running the company’s intelligence and events units. “E-commerce sales worldwide are set to increase by 50%, reaching about $7 trillion dollars by 2025,” said John Wren, Chairman and CEO of Omnicom. “The acquisition of Flywheel significantly broadens our reach and influence in the rapidly expanding digital commerce and retail media sectors, two of the fastest-growing parts of the industry. Together, we will seamlessly integrate our offerings across retail and brand media, digital and in-store commerce, and CRM, ultimately delivering superior results for our clients.”

Habu announced product updates and enhancements, including new capabilities enabled by Generative AI. “Advertisers are always looking to get as much value as possible from their data, and clean rooms play a critical role in enabling us to meet client needs without jeopardizing consumer privacy,” said Krystal Olivieri, CEO, NA at Choreograph. “Habu’s continuing development of cutting-edge data collaboration and clean room capabilities have made them a key partner for our Platform, which creates competitive advantages for our clients through data and best-in-class media execution.”

ADVERTISING

Conduit, a new product from Paramount Advertising, offers buyers direct access to inventory from Paramount Advertising’s EyeQ digital ad platform, addressing challenges like ad frequency and rival brand separation. “We have dedicated enormous resources to find a way to solve this problem,” said Paramount. “With all systems connected, every deal type is eligible on every ad break and key data is known to eliminate repetition and coordinate a TV quality ad experience. Conduit allows Paramount to finally delivers the true promise of addressable advertising in CTV: the right ad, to the right person at the right time.”

Captify announced the launch of TV Search Lift, a proprietary TV study that evaluates the success and outcomes of CTV campaigns using authentic onsite search data. TV Search Lift is aimed at enabling brands to measure their campaigns based on shifts in consumer behavior, understand changes in brand perception and sentiment inspired by a campaign and determine the effectiveness of a brand message and how it resonates with target audiences. “In order to understand the impact of CTV campaigns, marketers commonly have to rely on unvalidated and outdated data sources, which can leave knowledge gaps for advertisers,” said Britt Augenfeld, VP of Video and Advanced TV at Captify. “With the largest collection of search data outside the walled gardens, Captify’s onsite search data provides a window into consumer true and authentic attitudes towards a brand, its competitors, and the market overall. Now, advertisers can identify consumer interest and purchase intent based on search behaviors, giving them a true measure of campaign impact and success, helping fill those gaps and enabling better CTV outcomes.”

MediaRadar has acquired Kantar Group’s North American Advertising Intelligence unit, Vivvix, which offers competitive advertising intelligence across digital and traditional media channels. “By combining Vivvix and MediaRadar, we offer a complete view of the entire advertising industry,” said Todd Krizelman, CEO and co-founder of MediaRadar. “Together, our unparalleled market intelligence will enable strategic decision-making, allowing media sellers, brands, and agencies to navigate the dynamic advertising landscape with even greater confidence.”

How does YouTubeTV CTV impact Gen Z reach during the Super Bowl? That’s what Comscore and Google set out to learn, examining 15 Super Bowl LVII campaigns and how they reached viewers who watched the ads exclusively on CTV. According to Comscore, during the Super Bowl time period, YouTube reached 88% of adults 18-49 with a Super Bowl ad vs. 68% on linear TV – and over 60% of adults 18-34 saw an ad on YouTube they never saw it on linear TV. “It comes as no surprise that, using the Comscore Campaign Ratings (CCR) measurement solution, we have confirmed that advertising on YouTube CTV can vastly increase a campaign’s reach when used in conjunction with linear TV,” said Comscore in a blog post. The report follows research with Comscore in 2022, which surfaced similar trends.

AI ad spend topped $35 million in 3Q23, up 550% compared to the same period in 2022, according to data from MediaRadar. The number of AI advertisers in Q3 2023 increased 135% YoY, with 180+ AI advertisers compared to around 80 during the same period in 2022. “In today’s advertising landscape, the surge in AI advertising investments in 2023 is not surprising,” said Todd Krizelman, CEO MediaRadar. “It reflects not only the increasing importance of artificial intelligence, but also the dynamic nature of our industry. As AI continues to reshape how businesses connect with their audiences, our data showcases the ever-evolving strategies employed by advertisers.”

STREAMING

Prime Video maintains its top position in Parks Associates’ top 10 list of US subscription video services. Based on estimated numbers of subscribers through September 2023 from the firm’s Streaming Video Tracker, Prime Video ranked above Netflix, Paramount+ moved ahead of ESPN+ and YouTube Premium pushed into the 10th position for the first time. According to the report, 89% of broadband households have at least one OTT service, 41% have used an AVOD service in the past 30 days and 29% subscribe to eight or more OTT subscriptions.

Fifty-two percent of consumers canceled a streaming subscription due to streaming service increasing prices, according to data from TransUnion, 29% canceled due to finishing a specific show or movie exclusive to the service, and 28% due to lack of new content on the service. Seventeen percent said they canceled a service when they were provided access to someone else’s credentials.

NBTV Channels’ Golf Nation is set to officially debut its FAST channel on VIZIO Smart TVs. Golf Nation will be available on WatchFree+ channel 612 and on demand.
Speedvision’s two-day Graveyard Carz Classics “Mopar-ty” stunt wraps today, with a marathon of Graveyard Carz Classic running through 3a.

Travel-entertainment digital channel Journy has launched on DTS AutoStage video service Powered by TiVo. TiVo and DTS, which are subsidiaries of Xperi, have teamed up with the BMW Group to bring video content to the car. BMW’s implementation of DTS AutoStage video service Powered by TiVo includes a variety of country-specific content, offering news, movies, and access to media libraries.

Email is the most effective advertising tactics among consumers (42%), followed by ads on live TV (32%), streamed shows (29%), and YouTube and websites in general, according to Horowitz Research study State of Media, Entertainment, and Tech: Consumer Engagement 2023. The study finds younger consumers (18-34 and 35-49 year-olds) are more likely to find text messages, social media posts, influencer sponsorships, ads in podcasts and ads in music streaming services much more effective than consumers 50+.

“The fact that younger consumers find ads in TV shows less effective is a reflection of their media behaviors and how the TV industry has evolved. Young people are heavy users of subscription streaming services that are generally not ad-supported, and have pretty much gravitated away from ad-supported live TV,” notes Adriana Waterston, EVP and Insights and Strategy Lead at Horowitz Research. “It makes sense that they see other platforms as more effective since that is where they are seeing the most advertising. However, the past few years have seen an enormous increase in the number of ad-supported streaming services, opening up new opportunities for brands to re-connect with younger audiences through TV content.”

Netflix has hit 15 million monthly active users on its ad-supported subscription tier, launched a year ago. The streamer reported 5 million MAUs in May. “We have built an incredible foundation, focusing on areas advertisers told us matter most,” wrote Amy Reinhard, President of Advertising, in a blog post. “Our goal isn’t just to offer the same products and tools the industry has come to expect — although we’ve made a lot of progress on that front over the last year. It’s to build something bigger and better than what exists today.”

Nielsen unveiled a new product fusing its national TV audience panel with Global Web Index’s digital consumer research panel. Through integrating GWI USA’s national sample of 80k annual respondents, users are able to analyze targets by their media behaviors and get cross-media rankers on their audiences. Users can also apply GWI segments to evaluate variables like time spent, duplication, reach and frequency. “The industry has shown increasing demand for more advanced audience insights that connect key targets to their media consumption across platforms,” said Angela Girardin, SVP of Audience Intelligence at Nielsen. “The Nielsen GWI Fusion empowers users with rich audience data and insights that will enable them to effectively plan, transact and measure across platforms against the audiences that matter most.”

Hallmark Media has joined the ranks of companies adding VideoAmp as a currency for making deals for advanced audiences and demo guarantees. “As we head into the launch of our highly anticipated holiday season, this partnership will offer our advertisers new, rewarding data findings that showcase the value of advertising within our unique brand of feel-good content and reinforce our presence as a leading destination in the cable landscape,” said Casey Gould, SVP, Ad Sales and Advanced Advertising, Hallmark Media.

Cynopsis Team