GAMUT TOTAL
THE LEADER IN LOCAL OTT

WINNER: Digiday Video & TV Award
WINNER: Broadcasting+Cable Advanced Advertising Innovation Award

Only Gamut TOTAL delivers everything the evolving local OTT advertising landscape demands: content, audience, data, reach, transparency—and total expertise. Now is the time to move beyond impressions, to impact—at massive scale.

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Monday November 22, 2021

Spotify announced the worldwide rollout of lyrics that scroll during song playback. The feature, powered by Musixmatch, will be available on iOS and Android devices, desktop computers, and connected-TV and gaming consoles including Roku, PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Samsung and LG smart TVs. Apple Music and Amazon Music already offer the feature.

Instagram is snipping off its standalone messaging app, Threads. Introduced in 2019, the app has drawn complaints about bugs and usability issues, and will no longer be supported by year’s end.

Instagram also introduced a new feature, “Rage Shake,” that enables users to shake their phone to report a problem. “You ever use Instagram and it wasn’t working like it was supposed to? Maybe Stories didn’t load, maybe the audio wasn’t working, maybe you just couldn’t upload a photo and it was just really getting you, really just pissing you off? Now, you can literally shake the phone and a little option will come up that allows you to report a problem,” said head of Instagram Adam Mosseri in a video announcing the feature.

React Media, producer of brands across social media including Kids React, Teens React, Celebs React and Try Not To, has been acquired by digital startup Electric Monster Media. Electric Monster Media will take over all of React Media’s IPs. While most of React’s team will move to Electric Monster, company founders Benny and Rafi Fine will not, saying they are “stepping away to spend some quality time” with family.

A bill has been reintroduced that would require companies to obtain consumers’ explicit consent before collecting or drawing on their personal information in order to serve them with targeted ads or to personalize content. The Online Privacy Act, first proposed in 2019 by California Reps. Anna Eshoo and Zoe Lofgren, would give consumers the right to access, edit and delete data about themselves, and require companies to inform users about data breaches as well as “data abuses,” which including data processing by third parties. Companies would also be prohibited from intentionally taking “any action that substantially impairs, obscures, or subverts” people’s ability to understand a privacy policy, or their ability to consent to the use of their data.

Facebook unveiled tools to help users and advertisers customize and control what they see, and don’t see, in their news feeds. The new options in news feed preferences will enable users to increase or reduce the amount of content they see from friends and family, as well as the groups, pages, and topics they are connected to. Changes will be tested with a small percentage of users in the coming weeks. For advertisers, Facebook announced a “topic exclusion” control enabling them to select a specific topic to help define how Facebook will show an ad on its platform. Topics so far include “News and Politics,” “Social Issues,” and “Crime and Tragedy.” Advertisers’ ads will not be delivered to people engaging with those topics in their news feed.

The percentage of subscribers who are pushing against the upper limits of their broadband speed tiers has spiked nearly 400% during the past 18 months, according to the 3Q 2021 OVBI report. “By effectively identifying speed-clipping subscribers [those that exceed 80% of provisional broadband speed], network operators can prevent unnecessary truck rolls and better target them with speed upgrade offers that ultimately provide the consumer with a better experience,” the report says. “The results can improve customer satisfaction and net promoter scores (NPS), reduce operational expenses, and increase ARPU.”

Enterprise customer data platform Treasure Data has introduced the Treasure Data Trusted Foundation, a suite of features enabling marketers to manage all data privacy and consent preferences related to individuals in the unified customer data record with data access permissions and controls, within one smart platform. “Just as marketers understand the need for one-to-one personalization, they must also recognize the need for one-to-one privacy,” said Tamar Shor, VP of Product Strategy at Treasure Data. “Brand reputation now relies on customer data stewardship balanced with personalization across every touchpoint.”

A Snap Inc. investor has sued the social media company, alleging Snap downplayed how a change in privacy policy by Apple Inc. threatened its advertising revenue. Filed in LA federal court, the suit comes three weeks after Snap shares fell 25 percent on news that changes restricting user tracking on Apple devices hobbled Snap’s ability to target and measure advertising.

AI technology provider Media Distillery and Nielsen’s Gracenote have integrated their respective technologies and datasets to create a solution to optimize Electronic Programme Guide utility. The offering helps pay-TV operators including cable, satellite, terrestrial, IPTV, streaming and D2C service providers as well as broadcasters to deliver improved content navigation, replay and DVR functionality to viewers through increased guide and recording accuracy.

Tripadvisor has created its first immersive audio experience in North America via Amazon Alexa, in partnership with Visit Orlando, the Official Tourism Association for Orlando. The new Alexa skill utilizes highlights undiscovered activities throughout the destination’s neighborhoods, such as ecotourism attractions from hiking to airboat rides, celebrity-chef dining, and local arts and culture from museums to live performances.

GAMUT TOTAL
THE LEADER IN LOCAL OTT

WINNER: Digiday Video & TV Award
WINNER: Broadcasting+Cable Advanced Advertising Innovation Award

Only Gamut TOTAL delivers everything the evolving local OTT advertising landscape demands: content, audience, data, reach, transparency—and total expertise. Now is the time to move beyond impressions, to impact—at massive scale.

LEARN MORE

Discovery Advertising Sales announced a suite of streaming advertising solutions that provide interactive, advanced advertising products to drive engagement, reach younger demographics and amplify advertisers’ messages across the company’s streaming platforms. Discovery’s Advanced Streaming Advertising Products include:
· Green-Light Ads: A one-day immersive sponsorship that allows advertisers to be the first ad that all viewers see on discovery+.
· High-Light Ads allow advertisers to own the first ad break of a show.
· Lime-Light Ads: A limited commercial interruption experience.
· Stop-Light Ads interact with viewers even when they take a break from viewing.
· Showcase Ads: A shoppable ad format allows viewers to take action from their TV screen and purchase the items and products.
· Spot-Lite Ads: Advertisers can reward committed viewers with an ad-free environment.
· Marquee Collections: Custom curated collections that allow advertisers to select episodes from Discovery’s streaming library to tell their story.
· Search-Light Ads help advertisers align their message with contextually relevant content.
“Our suite of advanced advertising solutions is an opportunity for our partners to amplify their brand messages across Discovery’s valuable streaming platforms,” said Jim Keller, EVP, Digital Advertising Sales and Advanced Advertising, Discovery, Inc.

Sixty-seven percent of Gen Z and Millennial consumers recall seeing out of home advertising on social media, and 91% of Gen Zers and 82% of Millennials say they would reshare OOH ads on social. That’s according to “OOH Media Opportunities: Consumer Insights and Intent – Early 2022,” a new research report from the Out of Home Advertising Association of America. “This should be a wake-up call to all digital marketers: although Americans, particularly young Americans, are wary of targeted online advertising, they have a growing appetite for advertising that speaks to their need state,” said Anna Bager, President and CEO, OAAA.

Reaching people when they are in a relevant mindset is the driving force behind advertising effectiveness, according to a new study by MAGNA Media Trials in partnership with GumGum. The new report, “Mindset Matters: Deconstructing Contextual Video,” found that ads that are delivered within contextually relevant environments are more positive for people, and work harder for brands. Contextual video targeting drives metrics for brands, with brand favorability up +4%, recommendation intent up +5%, and search intent up +6%. “While we’ve seen the power of contextual in our research, it was fascinating to finally identify the strongest driver of contextual performance – mindset,” said Kara Manatt, SVP, Intelligence Solutions, MAGNA.

Video ads dominate programmatic buying, while CTV and Audio are up and coming, according to a new IAS study, “Perfecting Your Supply Path.” Social video (71%), mobile web video (61%), and mobile app video (60%) were top formats, while CTV (38%) and Digital Audio (37%) are still emerging. 54% of advertisers say that maximizing audience reach and scale is the primary benefit of programmatic, but a lack of transparency in programmatic (42%), plus increased ad fraud (44%) and brand risk (46%), are prominent challenges. SPO strategies are on the rise – 95% of ad buyers will boost their SPO efforts by working with third parties – yet brands and agencies don’t see eye to eye on who should take responsibility for SPO and media quality, notes the report.

Yahoo is expanding its strategic partnership with BuzzFeed, to provide advertisers premium access to BuzzFeed’s inventory while ensuring post-cookie addressability. With the partnership, BuzzFeed will leverage Yahoo’s unified advertising technology stack, and provide Yahoo with preferred programmatic access to deals via the Yahoo SSP. BuzzFeed will also adopt Yahoo’s people-first identity solutions, Yahoo ConnectID and Next-Gen Solutions for mobile app, pairing the media company’s first-party data with Yahoo’s. “By bringing together Yahoo’s unified ad tech with our premium sites and creator network, we will unlock unique opportunities for advertisers to connect with Millennial and Gen-Z audiences at scale, while maximizing monetization for BuzzFeed,” said Ken Blom, SVP of Ad Strategy and Partnerships at BuzzFeed.

SaaS data connectivity platform Optable announced a partnership to provide privacy-respecting ad products supporting all digital channels for Quebecor Expertise Media, a subsidiary of Quebecor. Quebecor will utilize Optable’s platform to onboard first-party customer data, and Optable’s cleanroom technology will enable Quebecor to enhance offerings for advertising partners by allowing publishers to safely compare and leverage audience data with data partners.

METAVERSE MOVES

NFT content developer and publisher Concept Art House is partnering with Genopets to reimagine game design through personalized, evolving NFTs. “Our team has meticulously created an anatomical design system that allows for a massive range of permutations so that each Genopet can be unique to each player,” said Benjamin Tse, CPO and Co-Founder of Genopets. “Genopets are designed to be completely modular and are procedurally generated and upgraded to evolve as players interact with the game, essentially allowing users to become virtual graphic artists in their own right.”

Thunder Studios and Infinite Reality have entered into a strategic alliance with social media ecommerce platform Display Social to bring virtual production tools to user-generated live content broadcast in the metaverse. Infinite Reality’s photo-realistic metaverse technology will fuel Display’s metaverse experiences for the platform’s stable of content creators and curated communities. “Our strategic alliance with Display Social enables us to empower content creators in the metaverse by combining the three categories where Gen Z and Millennial consumers spend 80% of their time on mobile devices- gaming, entertainment, and social media,” said Rodric David, CEO of Thunder Studios.

Hulu+ Live TV subscribers are being notified they’ll be getting Disney Plus and ESPN Plus as part of their package – and $5 added to their monthly bills. For Hulu subscribers who already have Disney Plus and/or ESPN Plus, those accounts will roll into their new plan.

The Roku Channel is launching 15 new live linear channels, plus a refreshed GQ Channel. Among the diverse offerings: Holiday Movie Favorites by Lifetime; LiveNOW from Fox; Midsomer Murders; Swerve Sports and The Country Network.
New channels are also launching on Samsung TV Plus (including Holiday Movies by Lifetime). Among the newcomers are Million Dollar Listing, That Girl, Holiday Fireplace, News Weather Nation, Tastemade Travel and That Girl.

Paramount+ experienced its most successful week ever, adding more than one million new subscribers and setting a record for total signups since its rebrand. The service reports it also set new records for most hours streamed and highest level of subscriber engagement. The success was fueled by the premiere of the film “Clifford the Big Red Dog”; new original scripted drama “Mayor of Kingstown”; live NFL ON CBS local market games; CBS event “Adele One Night Only”; “60 Minutes”; and Paramount+ originals “SEAL Team,” “The Game” and the second season of “The Challenge: All Stars.

Struum is now available on all “living room” platforms including all Android Devices, the Roku platform, Amazon Fire TV, and Apple TV. Struum has also partnered with Groupon on a deal that offers subscriptions to the service for six months for $9.99.

Interra Systems, provider of content QC, monitoring, and analysis solutions to the digital media industry, announced that software company Frequency has deployed Interra Systems’ ORION and ORION-OTT systems in an AWS cloud environment. Using Interra Systems’ end-to-end, cloud-based solutions, Frequency can monitor TSoIP contribution feeds while assuring audio-video quality and stability across its network of of FAST channels.

Spectrum Networks announced the launch of Spectrum News in Hawaii via the Spectrum News App. Spectrum customers can download the app on iOS and Android smartphones and tablets to read, listen or watch local news.

rlaxx TV, the European-based FAST AVOD, has partnered with CTV ad platform Publica to provide its advertisers with ad break controls and the ability to reach a wide audience with TV-like ad experiences when streaming. Through this strategic partnership, rlaxx TV can access the ad decisioning technology required to grow their global CTV advertising revenue, empower advertisers with additional controls, and improve the streaming experience for their audiences, said Ben Antier, Co- Founder and CEO, Publica.

The aha streaming service is using Firstlight Media’s end-to-end cloud-native OTT platform as the technology foundation to power its next phases of growth in India and beyond. Running on Google Cloud, the Firstlight Media technology allows aha to create local storefronts using local languages and local currency.