Show them the money: A new version of Google Pay rolled out Wednesday that enables users to open mobile bank accounts and send peer-to-peer payments. Google partnered with Citi Bank and Stanford Federal Credit Union for the launch, with plans to add eleven new partner institutions next year.

T-Mobile is discontinuing TVision Home on December 30. The IPTV cable service, launched in April 2019 as an “upgraded, rebranded” version of Layer3, required a set-top box and cost subscribers $90/month. T-Mobile’s new live streaming service, TVision Live, works via an app accessible across many platforms, and offers less expensive bundles of channels.

Fleets, Twitter posts that disappear after 24 hours, are rolling out to iPhone and Android users globally. “People feel more comfortable joining conversations on Twitter with this ephemeral format because what they’re saying lives just for a moment instead of feeling like it’s around forever,” said Joshua Harris, Twitter design director. Twitter joins Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook in offering temporary messages.

Twitter also announced Spaces, allowing users to join virtual rooms and have real-time, audio conversations. How does that compare to a similar service on startup Clubhouse? “It’s not a ‘Here’s an interesting startup doing something interesting. Let’s try and replicate it,’” Twitter product lead Kayvon Beykpour told CNBC. “It’s very fundamental for us. If we want Twitter to be a place where we can have thoughtful conversations, we need to support a wide spectrum of those conversations.”

And Trump concession or not, President-elect Joe Biden will have control of Twitter’s @POTUS account on January 20. “Twitter is actively preparing to support the transition of White House institutional Twitter accounts,” said a Twitter spokesperson. Not that Trump won’t have a voice on the platform. While @POTUS has 32.8 million followers, Trump’s personal account, @realDonaldTrump, has 88.9 million – though post-presidency he will no longer qualify for the exemption that flags tweets that are policy violations, rather than removing them.

Verizon and Snap Inc. released the first 5G-enabled Landmarker Lens, exclusively for Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband customers with 5G smartphones. The Lens uses AR technology and Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband increased capacity to bring to life a musical performance by psychedelic soul band Black Pumas at the New York Public Library, the first 5G experience from Verizon and Snap Inc.’s 5G innovation partnership. “The 5G Landmarker Lens is an example of how 5G can redefine music experiences through augmented reality,” said Frank Boulben, Verizon SVP of Consumer Marketing and Products

Amagi announced that it has enabled Fremantle’s BUZZR, the vintage game show network, to transition into cloud-managed broadcast operations. Using Amagi’s cloud platform, BUZZR has integrated its broadcast workflows across over-the-air, cable and digital OTT operations on to a single unified platform. “Working with Amagi has helped us to significantly simplify our channel management efforts across distribution models, while also saving costs,” said Mark Deetjen, General Manager, BUZZR. “Amagi’s cloud-based platform with a web interface gave us a high degree of transparency and greater flexibility to check for potential issues and fix them proactively.”

The next generation of Verizon’s Stream TV device, an Android TV device that supports Google Chromecast and Google Assistant along with apps like Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video and Hulu, includes a new form factor, new UI and support for 4K Ultra HD, HDR10 and HDR10+. The redesigned body includes a wall mount bracket and supports WiFi 6 (802.11ax) dual-band 2.4 GHz/5GHz connectivity. The new Stream TV UI “organizes the viewer’s favorite shows so they can seamlessly pick up where they left off or dive into new content from the main menu,” said Verizon, which is also launching a Stream TV mobile app.

Visual Data Media Services, which serves studios and distributors with content management and digital media supply chain solutions, is partnering with investment firm Endeavour Capital to support Visual Data’s next phase of growth. John Trautman, founder and CEO and Symon Roue, managing director of the company’s European division, will remain shareholders and will continue to lead the company. “We have built a great foundation and are ready to build on that to create something game-changing for our industry,” said Trautman. “This is a booming time for entertainment, our clients’ needs are growing, and we are well-positioned to meet those needs.”

iZotope Inc., focused on intelligent audio technology, has released an updated version of Vinyl, a free vinyl simulation plug-in that was the first product offered by the company, in 2001. With a modernized UI to contain the vintage tones of the original, users can give their production a new, nostalgic character by applying old-school warmth, age-worn dust, or vintage turntable sounds to their music. The latest version features a Lo-fi effect that allows creators to instantly apply the saturated, worn timbre of late-80’s hip-hop and reproduce the character of second-hand records.

Self-service CTV ad platform BidMind by Fiksu is partnering with The ViewPoint, an ad monetization platform for CTV and OTT publishers and broadcasters, to expand its presence in the digital media buying market. BidMind by Fiksu will obtain access to the exclusive partner’s inventory of TheViewPoint, giving the company’s clients an opportunity to broaden the outreach and target the relevant audience through holistic ad display based on the audiences’ interests and needs. “In 2020, we witnessed skyrocketing CTV popularity. The channel’s immense growth has brought in a pool of tremendous opportunities for all players,” said The ViewPoint CSO Daniel Elad. “So, now supply significantly outweighs demand. However, it’s crucial to understand that not only profit but also brand safety and transparency are critical for companies in the digital TV world. With a rich portfolio of premium publishers, we can ensure that ads will land next to top quality, brand-safe content.”

Mediaocean, the platform for omnichannel advertising, introduced a new set of tools aimed at modernizing local TV planning and optimization. Available in Mediaocean’s Prisma product and integrated with the company’s broader media management and finance solutions, the new capabilities make it easier to apply historical and predictive intelligence to improve local TV investments. “For most brands and agencies, local TV remains a unique channel driven by specialized teams of buyers and planners,” said Anupam Gupta, Chief Product Officer at Mediaocean. “With all the convergence underway across TV and video, it’s our role to standardize workflow across channels and enable truly omnichannel advertising strategies.”

Advanced TV platform company Cadent has expanded its strategic partnership with Catalina, focused on shopper intelligence and personalized digital media for CPG brands and retailers. Catalina will use the Cadent Platform to expand its marketing services to include linear TV, advanced TV and OTT programming as part of its BuyerVision managed service, which also includes digital and in-store activation. Additionally, Cadent will offer its clients Catalina’s purchase-based audiences and cross-screen measurement services. “The value of this partnership – using data and analytics to gain a better understanding of the shopper journey, what they’re watching and the device they’re using – is incalculable to marketers today,” said Kevin Hunter, EVP, Chief Commercial Officer at Catalina. “

LiveRamp TV and Kinetiq announced a partnership to streamline measurement of TV ad exposures across traditionally siloed channels. By leveraging Kinetiq’s international ad catalog of 2,600 TV stations, LiveRamp’s Data Plus Math TV measurement solution can capture ad airings, impressions and formats to connect previously disparate channels and produce more comprehensive measurement and accurate reports. “As viewership continues to fragment throughout the rapidly changing TV landscape, the value of cross-screen measurement and reporting increases tenfold,” said John Hoctor, GM of LiveRamp TV. “Access to Kinetiq’s intelligence platform allows us to connect the highest quantities of data with the agility and foresight necessary to deliver across any screen, be it linear, digital, streaming or beyond.”

DoubleVerify announced a new solution, Video Complete, aimed at holistic campaign quality measurement and maximum brand protection across video environments. Video Complete offers three layers of protection, including pre-bid avoidance, post-bid blocking and Video Filtering, a DV innovation that lets advertisers reduce quality infractions and associated wasted investment across video environments and devices, even where blocking is not supported.

Identity resolution company Tru Optik has struck a partnership with SpringServe, the ad serving platform for OTT and CTV, to bring audience targeting, measurement and attribution to CTV publishers and broadcasters using SpringServe’s management platform. CTV buyers and sellers utilizing SpringServe’s platform will be able to segment and target audiences based on data offered through TruOptik’s Data Marketplace. “Tru Optik’s patented approach to OTT identity resolution and associated massive scale enriches SpringServe’s robust ad serving tools with unique functionality. The Tru Optik Data Marketplace dramatically expands our third-party data library and empowers our suppliers to sell against deterministic data,” said Joe Hirsch, CEO of SpringServe.

Programmatic video platform Tremor Video announced that the number of clients using its self-service DSP has more than doubled and self-service ad spend has increased by 650% since 3Q19. New enhancements include quick and bulk editing tools and programmatic guarantees, which enable direct 1:1 deals with publishers. “Tremor Video’s self-service DSP allows us to be an even stronger partner for our brand clients by ensuring their ad campaigns reach the most highly-targeted audience possible,” said Tim Lathrop, Digital Director at Mediassociates. “It affords us a greater sense of ownership over these campaigns, while helping us execute more efficiently and providing key insights we can use to optimize performance.”

Nine out of ten advertisers and marketers agree that DOOH is the right place to invest currently due to consumers’ device fatigue and a shift to spending more time outdoors due to the pandemic, according to a survey Verizon Media’s “Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Advertiser Attitudes & Behavior Research Report.” After advertisers flocked to digital and away from OOH in the early stages of the pandemic, the trend is now reversing. Additional findings include:
· With DOOH budgets bouncing back, spending is surging as well. 39% of advertisers expect to increase DOOH spending immediately, in the next 6 months, while 59% are expected to increase spending within 18 months.
· 53% of advertisers find it “difficult” to buy DOOH today. In addition, 29% are having more difficulty buying now compared to 6 months ago.
· The top-three obstacles when buying DOOH among advertisers/marketers are “high costs” (50%), “finding the right partner to work with” (44%), and “managing and optimization” (36%).
· The top things that could make buying DOOH easier are “competitive pricing” (50%), “real-time audience indexing,” i.e. showing ads only at times where there’s a high concentration of your target audience (50%), and “the ability to quickly change creative or frequency of my campaign” (49%).

Google Ads will start showing new Recommendations for advertisers switching to broad match in Google Ads. “We want to make it easier for you to benefit from this strategy in your own accounts,” said Google in a blog post. “If you’re using Smart Bidding, we’ll identify existing keywords that are likely to improve performance if you switch them to broad match.” By pairing a broad match keyword with Smart Bidding, “you can use auction-time signals to set the right bid for each of these queries,” said Google. “This means that you no longer need to anticipate and manage every potential search.”

VIZIO Ads, the direct-to-device advertising business for TV brand VIZIO, announced that it will use Nielsen’s Digital Ad Ratings to help advertisers better measure and optimize digital audience metrics across VIZIO SmartCast inventory on VIZIO connected TVs. Nielsen is also measuring addressable campaigns on VIZIO that utilize the open addressable standard developed by Project OAR. “Implementing Nielsen advanced TV measurement will be a catalyst for our already exploding ads business because it enables brands to transact on traditional linear and connected TV seamlessly,” said Mike O’Donnell, Chief Revenue Officer of VIZIO’s Platform Business.

Simpli.fi has launched a feature in its attribution and reporting suite called Transaction Value Reporting, enabling advertisers to track purchase price and order ID data to attribute performance such as return on ad spend. “During COVID we’ve seen an interest in making sure every media dollar counts,” said Frost Prioleau, CEO at Simpli.fi. “People have a tight advertising budget and want to make sure they’re getting a return.”

STREAMING SNIPPETS

Paid subscriptions to Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Disney+, HBO Max and Netflix will grow 62% by 2025, hitting 678 million, according to a forecast from Digital TV Research. Disney+ is projected to grow 58%, to 112 million, surpassing current #2 Amazon Prime Video; top dog Netflix is expected to rise 36%, to 274 million.

Litton Entertainment is jumping into the streaming game with the launch of Xplore, a a free, ad-supported channel that houses more than 2,500 hours of content across travel, lifestyle, animals, natural sciences, tech and sports. With an estimated audience reach of more 50 million viewers, launch partners include Samsung TV Plus, VIZIO SmartCast, The Roku Channel and Plex, scheduled to launch by late November, and Xumo, scheduled to launch by Q1 2021. Talent lineup includes Mo Rocca, Miranda Cosgrove, Dylan Dreyer, Kevin Frazier and Jack Hanna.

WarnerMedia and Amazon finally signed off on a streaming deal that has HBO Max rolling out on Amazon Fire TV streaming devices, Fire TV Edition smart TVs and Fire tablets. Current subscribers of HBO through Amazon’s Prime Video Channels will be able to log in to the HBO Max app with their Amazon credentials at no additional cost. The HBO app on Fire TV and Fire tablets will automatically update to become the HBO Max app.

AVOD service Pluto TV is boosting brand awareness during the holiday season. Debuting across broadcast, cable, CTV, streaming audio, social media and out-of-home, the new “Pluto TV by the Numbers” campaign highlights the platform’s scale and diverse content. Building on its spring brand refresh, the campaign will feature Narcos, Dora the Explorer, Star Trek, RuPaul’s Drag Race and other content, highlighted by stats like: 9,844 Big Entrances, 45,192 Screams, 76,059 Laughs and 93,798 Escapes.

Free live TV service Redbox is adding a new channels including Pac-12 Insider, Conde Nast’s GQ, Bon Appetit, Vanity Fair, Glamour, Divorce Court, Stingray and So Yummy. The addition of Pac-12 Insider expands Redbox’s multiyear deal with the Pac-12; the newly added net will stream football and basketball game previews, highlights and encores and behind-the-scenes stories.

Lifestyle and entertainment streaming service Philo launched the Philo Phone Line, which provides personalized TV recommendations. Recs from a live-human are available 6p-9p every night via a toll-free line for both subscribers and non-subscribers. Philo currently has 800,000-plus subscribers.