Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here.
Swimming With The Stream
In an effort to change with the times, Nielsen is releasing a new ratings system that will measure streaming more like linear TV, Adweek reports. The system, called Nielsen Streaming Video Ratings, will track who is watching, when they’re watching, what app they’re watching on and the platform they’re using to access the content. On top of that, Nielsen will provide demographic information for streaming audiences, such as race and ethnicity breakdowns, household income level and geo. Although Nielsen plans to keep expanding its purview to new apps and platforms, it’ll start out by measuring viewership on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Disney Plus, YouTube, Tubi, Pluto TV, Comcast, Charter Spectrum and Sling TV. Armed with this data, programmers and advertisers will be able to, in theory at least, see how their total TV time compares across linear and streaming. Nielsen will install “streaming meters” into its panel homes in order to collect the data. Maybe this will help appease TV programmers, some of who are demanding an audit of Nielsen’s allegedly less-than-stellar job of measuring TV audiences during the pandemic.
You And Me … And UnifID
There’s a new identity solution kid on the block. Not to be confused with Unified ID 2.0, the email-based third-party cookie alternative, InMobi announced the launch of UnifID on Thursday, which will be part of an ongoing effort to help simplify identity resolution for mobile app publishers and developers. Read the release. To start, UnifID will have integrations with LiveRamp, ID5 and BritePool. The goal is to help publishers more easily work with multiple identity players and target users without relying on mobile ad IDs. UnifID collects first-party data, retrieves the corresponding identifiers and then transfers those IDs to demand partners on behalf of publishers. “The partnership with InMobi enables us to make our first-party identifier available to a wider audience, allowing app publishers to better monetize their audiences and advertisers to run targeted and measurable campaigns beyond the enforcement of the ATT framework,” said Mathieu Roche, co-founder and CEO of ID5. But will Apple consider this a workaround to its AppTrackingTransparency framework? Who knows, maybe Apple will be too busy expanding its own advertising network to notice.
New Feed?
Facebook is launching a series of global tests that will inform how it ranks and surfaces content in the news feed, TechCrunch reports. Why now? Could be related to Mark Zuckerberg’s appearance before lawmakers in early April, when he was grilled about the role Facebook played in the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol. According to BuzzFeed, an internal task force at Facebook acknowledged that the company failed to take appropriate actions against the Stop the Steal movement ahead of the insurrection. Facebook’s news feed ranking tests will ask users to share feedback on the posts they’re seeing. This information will later be incorporated into Facebook’s news feed ranking process. For example, Facebook will expand its “Worth Your Time?” surveys function to better understand what content people are attracted to and then demote content that responders don’t find meaningful. Speaking of content people want to see less of, Facebook acknowledges that certain topics, such as politics, are “sensitive” and can “detract” from their news feed experience. “Over the next few months, we’ll work to better understand what kinds of content are linked with those negative experiences,” Facebook wrote in a blog post.
But Wait, There’s More!
Tech companies and Hollywood studios are increasingly looking to expand their streaming services abroad by spending more money on developing local content geared to billions of potential overseas subscribers as the US market becomes saturated. [WSJ]
Amazon brand advertising is booming, with a 41% YoY increase in sponsored product spend and an 89% uptick in sponsored brand spend, according to Pacvue. [release]
Integrations alert: Mediavine’s first-party data solution has integrated with ID5’s Univeral ID. [MarTech Series], and IP audience targeting vendor Semcasting has integrated its contextual insights to the AudienceDesigner Data Center. [release]
Lotame has 11 new data partners for its Panorama ID, including Dun & Bradstreet, ShareThis and Throtle. [release]
Music video network Vevo has partnered with smart TV operating system VIDAA to launch the Vevo app on VIDAA-powered smart TVs, including models by Hisense and Toshiba. [Advanced Television]
Streaming TV platform Atmosphere has closed a $25 million Series B round at a $275 million valuation. [release]
You’re Hired!
Havas Media Group has appointed Meghan Grant as chief strategy officer for North America, [release]
Eric Nelson has joined DDB-owned ad agency Rodgers Townsend as a VP and director of media. [release]
