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 November 8, 2021

Google said it would comply with a law passed in South Korea – dubbed the “anti-Google law” – that requires apps store businesses to change their policies to enable better competition. “In response to the recent legislation, developers will now be able to add an alternative in-app billing system, alongside Google Play’s billing system, for their mobile and tablet users in South Korea,” said Google in a blog post. “At checkout, users will be able to choose which billing system to use.”

Facebook is seeking to evade App Store fees with a new feature that allows creators to share custom subscription links that let them collect money directly from fans. Facebook would not be taking a cut of the payments.

Instagram brought back Twitter Card preview support for posts, which had been removed in 2012. Users will now once again see a small photo when they tweet an Instagram link.

Moonbug Entertainment (“CoComelon”) has been acquired by Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs’ media venture for a price Bloomberg reports as $3 billion. The unnamed venture is backed by Blackstone Group. “We and our partners at Blackstone look forward to helping expand Moonbug’s portfolio of titles and further extend its franchises across digital platforms and key licensing and merchandising channels,” said Mayer and Staggs.

Starting tomorrow, T-Mobile will give qualified customers one year free of the ad-supported tier of ViacomCBS streamer Paramount+. T-Mobile users already get a free year of Apple TV+.

Cuebiq has joined the Amazon Web Services Independent Software Vendor Accelerate program, making Cuebiq Workbench available on the AWS Marketplace. Cuebiq Workbench is a ready-made, privacy-safe, “sandbox” environment where marketers, developers, and analysts can import data, combine it with other sources, and leverage Cuebiq’s geospatial expertise. “Cuebiq Workbench simplifies the process of creating custom location-based solutions by supplying the data, tools, guidance, and privacy-focused development environment required for companies to start building your custom solution immediately, now further scalable with its availability on AWS,” said Antonio Tomarchio, CEO and Co-Founder at Cuebiq.

Many media execs aren’t sweet on a cookie-less future, according to a study from Lotame, “Beyond the Cookie: Identity Solution Adoption & Testing Among Marketers and Publishers.” In the survey, 42% of marketers said the loss of cookies will decrease revenue, with nearly 60% (57%) expecting a drop of 10-25% and 31% a drop of 26-50%. Key findings also include:
? While marketers say their primary reason for adopting new identity solutions is to support audience targeting (52%), for publishers, the central reason is data privacy (59%).
? When asked what the optimal number of ID solutions was, 33% of marketers said three or that they were “open to using any number.”
? When asked to react to Google’s decision to delay the end of third-party cookies, 47% said they were “glad because we needed more time to prepare,” while 42% said “I was expecting them to delay.” 40% also said “I’m suspicious of the reasoning behind it.”
“A cookieless future is closer on the horizon and whether or not the industry ‘feels prepared,’ the end result is inevitable,” said Andy Monfried, Founder & CEO of Lotame. “Digital advertising is changing, and identity solutions will be part of that new future.”

Sixty-five percent of consumers say they order takeaway food on an app or website more so than they did before the pandemic, according to a report from AdColony on the correlation between the pandemic-era surge in popularity for quick-serve restaurants and increased mobile usage. In findings that are not necessarily the healthiest, more than a third of mobile users eat fast food at least once a week, while 1 in 5 said they are eating fast food more than once a week. Among the mobile users who say they are more active in drive-thrus than before the pandemic, the most popular places to go to are McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Wendy’s, Burger King, Chick-fil-A and Starbucks.

Virtual production content creation company DGene announced its Series A funding round led by Alibaba Group. The company intends to revive older films and TV shows so they can be watched across streaming platforms In an upcoming collaboration with film producer Jeff Apple, DGene will use AI-driven characters combined with real-life actors’ performances to feature digital characters who appear completely human and lifelike on screen.

Montreal-based Digital Dimension Entertainment Group was awarded its second Epic MegaGrant to pursue the integration of Epic Games’ Unreal Engine technology into its animation pipeline. “The objective is to implement a robust production pipeline centered on real-time rendering using advanced creative/production tools and methodologies based on proven animation workflows,” said Martin Walker, DDEG CTO.

Something Special, the Seoul-based international format agency, announced that they formed a co-development partnership with media technology company 4DREPLAY to create non-scripted and scripted formats incorporating 4DREPLAY technology, a four-dimensional time slice video production system that creates any-time, any-angle highlights.

Grom Social Enterprises unveiled new features in the Grom Social media app that allow schools, teachers, classrooms, and students to connect in a safe forum overseen by educators. Classrooms can use the Grom Social media app as an educational tool designed to promote the benefits of kids being safe and responsible while on social media.

Fan platform Fandom has launched a customizable video offering allowing fans to create a personalized video experience with TV shows, movies and video games. Fandom Interactive Video allows fans to engage and navigate imagined worlds with customized trailers, and interactive guides and map. “Fandom Interactive puts the fans in control of their online experience, giving them the tools to access the content they personally want, while acting as a guide throughout our expansive wiki platforms, said Michael Chiang, Chief Business Officer at Fandom. “It also provides a completely one-of-a-kind opportunity for advertisers to deliver meaningful branded content to fans.”

Habu announced a partnership with data cloud company Snowflake that integrates Habu’s Data Clean Room applications natively on the Snowflake Media Data Cloud to scale data collaboration for companies. The partnership enables Snowflake customers to leverage Habu’s intelligence applications while maintaining data security and without copying or moving the data out of Snowflake.

Yahoo Finance and crypto news site Decrypt are teaming for a day of live conversations to discuss a broad agenda ranging from retail and institutional investment, mass adoption, and how to get started. The 1:00p-5:30p event will be streamed online Yahoo Finance and Decrypt’s combined audience.

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 announced the general availability of Performance Max, which launched in beta in 2020. The features offers advertisers the option of selecting a marketing objective and choosing the conversion goals supporting the objective. “Smart Shopping” and “Local” campaigns will upgrade to Performance Max next year. other technology, to automated goal-based campaign type.

People-based ad software company Viant Technology and convergent TV advertising platform Beachfront announced the integration of Beachfront’s linear and CTV inventory into Viant’s Adelphic advertising software. With the integration, Adelphic becomes the first demand-side platform to support Beachfront’s unique linear TV inventory, which is enabled for real-time bidding.

DoubleVerify, the software platform for digital media measurement, data and analytics, announced the launch of its Authentic Brand Suitability solution with Tremor International. The launch allows Tremor Video and Unruly’s advertising clients to leverage the pre-bid targeting solution to create a centralized set of brand safety/suitability and fraud controls, and automatically deploy these controls across campaigns and devices. In addition, advertisers within the platform will have access to heightened levels of protection.

Dun & Bradstreet Holdings has entered into agreements to acquire data companies Eyeota and NetWise. The acquisitions are aimed at extending Dun & Bradstreet’s position in B2B online marketing and enabling the combined businesses to provide data and technology for businesses looking to identify, reach and engage high-propensity audiences for multichannel marketing campaigns.

People-based ad software company Viant Technology and convergent TV advertising platform Beachfront announced the integration of Beachfront’s linear and CTV inventory into Viant’s Adelphic advertising software. With the integration, Adelphic becomes the first demand-side platform to support Beachfront’s unique linear TV inventory, which is enabled for real-time bidding.

fuboTV announced it is fully integrated with dentsu international’s M1 people-based identity and data platform. Through M1, advertisers can couple their proprietary custom CRM data with fuboTV’s exclusive first-party addressable data, as well as reach fuboTV’s cord-cutting audience of sports fans.

Captify has launched search-powered addressable TV. Through a new partnership with LiveRamp, advertisers can reach prequalified viewing audiences based on their search behavior, rather than rely on assumptive data. “Through this new partnership, advertisers can combine an intent-rich dataset like search with the at-home viewing experience, bringing a level of personalization to the living room that improves both the advertising experience for the user and buying efficiency and strategy for the marketer,” said Jay Prasad CSO TV at LiveRamp.

Ateliere and Creative Technologies are partnering to deliver Synchronized’s fully automated workflow for adding thumbnail views, ad-markers and previews to linear TV and online content. The newly integrated solution provides a shortcut to fully automate the creation of previews, thumbnails, and ad-markers with full editorial control of the output and the ability to swiftly package and deliver to customers. “Thumbnails, ad-markers and previews are critical to content discoverability,” said Robert Cloudt, SVP Business Development, Ateliere Creative Technologies. “But they are also labor intensive and time consuming to produce. Connect’s workflow automation combined with Synchronized’s AI capabilities will accelerate throughput and reduce the amount of manual effort for our joint end-customers.”

US audio media advertising & marketing spending, as well as consumer audio usage and consumer spending on audio media, are on pace for record growth in 2021, amplified by new technologies, changing consumer behaviors and shifting ad budgets, according to new research from PQ Media. Audio ad & marketing spending is forecast to grow 14.4% this year to $18.06 billion, the fastest growth rate in 40 years, driven by double-digit increases in OTA, streaming, podcast, satellite and Hispanic audio ad & marketing spend. Podcast advertising is expected to surge 32% in 2021, while Hispanic audio ad spend is set to rise 16.5%, OTA advertising is expected to increase 14.2%, and streaming audio ad spend is projected to grow 13.4%. The caveat: the growth spike follow the steepest drops on record in pandemic-impacted 2020.

MEASURE UP

The Association of National Advertisers announced plans to test a cross-media measurement system from advertising software/data company VideoAmp in the US, as part of its Cross-Media Measurement Initiative. The move follows ViacomCBS’ deal with VideoAmp, signed in September, for “alternative currency.”

Comscore and Eyeota announced they are bringing their cookie-free contextual targeting system to the Americas and Asia. It’s an expansion of an agreement that has had the companies providing contextual capabilities for B2B Predictive Audiences in European markets since 1Q21. Predictive Audiences is enabled by Comscore’s users panels and AI classification engine, said the companies.

Integral Ad Science has been accredited by the Media Rating Council for impression and viewability measurement and reporting of display and video ads across Facebook and Instagram. “Accreditation of IAS as compliant with MRC’s Viewable Impression Standards for its integrated viewability measurement and reporting of display and video inventory on Facebook and Instagram is an important achievement that will help bring marketers the transparency they need to better evaluate ad spend on these critical platforms,” said George W. Ivie, Executive Director and CEO of the MRC.

Fifty-five percent of US smart TV owners age 18-64 watch ad-supported video-on-demand programming weekly, while 39% of viewers who use less expensive devices watch AVOD programming, according to a study by Vizio and Magid. Which indicates that viewers of means are “not at all resistant to ads even when they have paid options that would allow them to avoid ads completely,” said the report. “In fact, they’re highly receptive to ad supported content, given the right circumstances.”

Chicken Soup for the Soul is now available as a FAST channel on Plex, FreeCast, and Redbox, with LG Channels, Stirr, XUMO, and VIZIO’s WatchFree joining in December. Additional platforms will roll out prior to the launch of a full Chicken Soup for the Soul AVOD offering, which will be available around the end of the year.

Global streaming time rose 21% in 3Q21, according to the State of Streaming Report from Conviva. Africa had by far the biggest growth, rising 273%, while North America inched up 2%.

Black listeners have lagged behind the general market when it comes to enthusiasm for podcasts, but that’s changing, according to a the first SXM Media, Edison Research and Mindshare Black podcast listener report. More than 12 million Black adults in the US are listening to podcasts every month, with 42% of respondents say they’ve been listening to podcasts for a year or less. Other findings include:
* The top three podcast categories for Black adults are comedy, music, and health & fitness (the latter being a genre not found in the top rankings among the general population).
* 70% of Black monthly podcast listeners say they listened to a podcast with a Black host in the last month. 47% prefer to listen to podcasts with Black hosts or hosts who are people of color, while 51% say it is important that the podcasts they listen to are hosted by Black podcast hosts.
* 81% of Black monthly podcast listeners say they would be very or somewhat likely to trust a brand if they heard an advertisement on a podcast with Black hostsj.

Roku is cleaning up. The company said it will remove the porn site Pornhub and ban other porn operations from its platform starting in March 2022. Developers had been using non-certified channels, available to support testing, to deliver content that was not allowed by Roku; the company has new tools for testing and will remove non-certified channels.

Rakuten Viki, a streaming service for Asian content, and Well Go USA Entertainment have struck a deal to bring 10 Korean and Chinese films to the platform. “Propelled by a deep knowledge of and passion for Asian cinema, Viki has really become an emerging destination for Korean cinema in particular,” said Jason Pfardrescher, EVP Digital and Theatrical Distribution at Well Go USA.

Discovery U.S. Hispanic net Hogar de HGTV will board the DirecTV and DIRECTV Stream lineups in mid-November. Created in June 2020, Hogar de HGTV joins Discovery en Español and Discovery Familia on DirecTV’s MAS and DirecTV Stream’s En Español services.

Music video network Vevo reached an agreement with Shaw Communications to make the Vevo app available for Shaw TV customers across Western Canada. “Music videos have been missing from traditional TV for nearly two decades, yet the consumer demand for music videos has not faded away – in fact, it’s growing,” said Rob Christensen, VP, Advanced TV, Vevo.

Free streaming service Documentary+ has launched on Samsung TV Plus. “FAST channels are the most disruptive thing to happen to television since cable, and nobody has a bigger footprint or audience than Samsung,” said Bryn Mooser, Documentary+ CEO and Founder. “This is a big moment for Documentary+ and the nonfiction industry as a whole.”

AVOD VUit has struck agreements with eight station groups and independent stations including Hearst Television, Citadel Communications, Morris Network, and News Press & Gazette that will add 71 stations to the platform .“VUit has enabled our local stations to reach viewers with not only live news and programming relevant to them, but locally-produced on-demand content that viewers from across the country tune into,” said Pat LaPlatney, Co-CEO & President at Gray Television, a major investor in Syncbak, VUit’s parent company.

Experiential sport and extreme wellness brand Spartan Race and FAST Studios have partnered to launch SpartanTV, a 24/7 AVOD on XUMO, with additional platforms to follow. Air Force Special Warfare will serve as an anchor sponsor.