Interest in the 2020 elections likely resulted in significantly increased broadband usage on Tuesday evening, reports OpenVault. Key data from aggregated from OpenVault’s tools and solutions include (times listed are Central Time):
· A 7% increase in usage/subscriber for the hours of 5p-8p relative to the average over the previous 4 Tuesdays
· Usage/subscriber during 7p hour was 10% greater, on average, than usage during the same time period on the previous nine Tuesdays
· Cord cutter usage/subscriber increased 16.4%, or more than double the rate of increase for all subscribers

Snapchat is now allowing creators to display their follower counts. “We’ve listened to feedback from our creator community and many of them expressed interest in having the option to show that their community on Snapchat is growing,” said Snap. “We are giving creators the option to make subscriber counts visible on their public profiles.” Until now, while Snapchat users could see their own subscriber counts, they could not be made public.

Sony’s PlayStation 5 will launch online-only, starting November 12 in North America. “No units will be available in-store for purchase on launch day,” said the company in a blog post. “Please don’t plan on camping out or lining up at your local retailer on launch day in hopes of finding a PS5 console for purchase. Be safe, stay home, and place your order online.”

Intel has acquired Israeli company Cnvrg.io, which built and operates a platform for data scientists to build and run machine learning models. Convrg will be an independent Intel company and serve its existing customers, said Intel.

TEGNA announced it has partnered with GatesAir on the technological infrastructure for the launch of NextGen TV (aka ATSC 3.0) in the Seattle-Tacoma, Washington market. Pending final FCC approvals, TEGNA’s independent station KONG-TV will begin NextGen TV broadcasts for KONG-TV and KING 5, the NBC affiliate in Seattle, in early December, with KONG-TV serving as the host, or lighthouse station. “The transition to NextGen TV requires cooperation from all stakeholders as we begin shaping the future of local broadcast television in Seattle and across TEGNA markets,” said Kurt Rao, SVP and chief technology officer, TEGNA.

As an advocate for our industry, we’re delighted to shine a spotlight on those who are making a difference in the digital media supply chain with our Adtech Awards program. Finalists have been announced… now it’s time to register for the 12/1 to see who will win a trophy!

Sharp Corporation and NEC completed the previously announced transaction to form a joint venture by Sharp acquiring 66% of shares for NEC Display Solutions Ltd., a subsidiary of NEC. NDS has changed its company name to Sharp NEC Display Solutions Ltd. and has started business operations as a subsidiary of Sharp. The newly formed SNDS will continue its focus on the BtoB display business, producing and developing a broad range of visual display solutions for a variety of markets and applications. Fujikazu Nakayama, Senior Executive Managing Officer and Business Solutions BU President of Sharp, will serve as Chairman of the new business and Hisatsugu Nakatani, President of NEC Display Solutions, will serve as President of SNDS.

ironSource Aura, the engagement platform for mobile carriers and OEMs, announced that it has launched its mobile app distribution platform in the Russian market. The company gives local app marketers the unique opportunity to run performance campaigns on devices, from the moment a user first sets up their device and throughout the device’s lifecycle. “Aura creates a win-win solution for all parties – the advertiser, the device manufacturer and, most importantly, to the users themselves,” explains Anatoly Dehtiar, Partnership Lead at ironSource Aura in Russia. “By providing smart app recommendations, users have full power to customize their device with the apps they want and need, ultimately improving their overall device experience and increasing brand loyalty for the OEM and carrier.”

Michael Bologna, former President of GroupM’s Modi Media, and Joanna Drews, previously Director of Product Management and Emerging Assets at Comscore, have started HyphaMetrics. The media metrics company plans to track all TV screens and devices into a single-source data stream for licensing to TV networks, media agencies, digital media platforms, MVPDs, and other research companies.

TEGNA has completed an update of its stations’ over-the-top streaming apps on Roku, and announced plans to launch OTT streaming apps for its stations on Amazon Fire TV by the end of 2020. TEGNA’s station apps offer streaming viewers free, ad-supported access to live news and recent news broadcasts, breaking news and weather forecasts, in addition to VERIFY fact-checking reports and TEGNA’s live entertainment program, Daily Blast LIVE. A new “Watch” feature has also been launched on stations’ websites and mobile apps in order to create a unified video consumption experience across all consumer digital platforms. TEGNA’s True Crime Network app is also now available on Roku, after an initial launch on Amazon Fire TV and other platforms in August.

During 3Q20, smart TV streaming apps were up 200% in viewing time, according to Conviva’s “State of Streaming” report. While CTV devices still dominate streaming ownership, with a 50% share of global viewing time, first the first time they did not keep up with overall streaming growth, up 55% versus 57%. “Streaming has exploded in the past year as illustrated by content like the NFL which saw 41% growth on streaming and remained relatively flat on linear TV,” said Conviva CEO Bill Demas. “As a result, we are seeing more investment in streaming services, advertisers shifting to streaming platforms and consumers adopting streaming-enabled devices and TVs at a rapid pace.”

Haystack News has added ABC News Live and CBSN, in addition to Al Jazeera, Euronews, Newsmax, Yahoo Finance and select live local news broadcast stations across the US. The AVOD offers curated stories from nearly 350 news providers. ““Haystack News is now available on every major Smart TV brand and streaming device,” said Daniel Barreto, Co-Founder and CEO of Haystack TV. “We have added more news partners, approaching 350 total partners and have extended our lead in providing streaming’s largest portfolio of local, national and world news.”

Wurl, a provider of streaming video distribution and advertising services for CTV, announced accelerating ad impressions served via the Wurl Network by 129% compared to 2Q20, as well as 98% year-over-year hours of viewing across the Wurl Network. With nearly 160 new channels, the overall network counts over 500 channels.

CJC Network signed an agreement to be distributed on the new Atari VCS game console. With the expansion, the network will broadcast a weekly 4-hour block of programming for children every Saturday morning starting November 7, under the banner CJC Kids.

Vudu will launch on Microsoft’s Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S starting on November 10. The on-demand streaming service, acquired by Comcast’s Fandango unit from Walmart in July, delivers over 150,000 new releases, catalog films and TV shows upon their launch on digital.

ADVERTISING

The new Microsoft Promotion Extensions enable brands running ads on Microsoft Advertising to highlight a specific deal or special offer in their text ad, as well as tie special deals to a holiday advertisement. Advertisers can also customize promotion extensions in Microsoft Advertising by occasion, and select a holiday or special occasion to tie into the promotion.

TheViewPoint, the video ad monetization platform for CTV/OTT publishers and broadcasters, announced a partnership with distribution and monetization platform, VlogBox. TheViewPoint brings in its ad tech solutions to power up VlogBox’s monetization capabilities, as well as analytics and pricing control over the CTV inventory. “The first outcomes of this partnership had exceeded all expectations. So far, TheViewPoint has contributed to an overall demand increase for VlogBox inventory,” said Daniel Elad, CSO of TheViewPoint. “Specifically, our team performed the integration of a proprietary SDK into the VlogBox applications as well as API integration between platforms, which allowed us to streamline accurate reporting and analytics”

DoubleVerify announced the launch of Authentic Brand Safety targeting on Google Marketing Platform’s demand-side platform, Display & Video 360. Authentic Brand Safety enables consistent activation of brand suitability criteria in a pre-bid setting, helping advertisers reduce block rates. “With our proprietary Authentic Brand Safety solution, global brands can create a single quality profile that is centrally deployed, managed and optimized – ensuring seamless brand protection, while making execution far more efficient,” said Mark Zagorski, CEO of DoubleVerify.

UB Media has joined digital OOH association DPAA. UB Media connects Canadians to brands through indoor media networks including Restobar, Cinema and Campus. Said Barry Frey, President & CEO of DPAA, “UB Media has developed an outstanding portfolio of media networks and services that help brands connect with consumers across Canada.”

Octopus Interactive, which sells digital-video ad inventory on screens it places in the back of Uber and Lyft vehicles, conducted a survey from Oct. 20-26 regarding QSR category brands and found that customers of Uber and Lyft have some real affection for certain chains. Chipotle, McDonald’s, and Wendy’s were respondents’ most preferred and most frequented QSR brands. Respondents are also somewhat likely to use coupons based on their QSR destination (38%) and will clip from social media (38%).