Facebook Rethinks Pre-Roll; Snapchat Makes Gains

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Facebook Mulls Pre-Roll

“We don’t need to do pre-roll because our model is not one where you come to Facebook to watch one piece of content, you come to look at a feed,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg said as recently as July. But the company is now experimenting with the most interruptive of video formats in its new Watch video hub, sources tell AdAge. The company has already played around with mid-roll, with middling results. “YouTube already established that people will sit through and tolerate pre-roll,” says Steve Ellis, CEO of social influencer marketing company WhoSay. More.

Child’s Play

Snapchat is not down for the count. UK media regulator Ofcom released a report last week that said Snapchat has surpassed Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp as the most widely used social media platform in the United Kingdom among kids 12-15. Twice as many kids called Snapchat their primary social app in this yearly survey, while the number choosing Facebook went down. In the US, eMarketer said Snapchat’s adoption among 12-17-year-olds stands at 15.8% to Facebook’s 14.5% and Instagram’s 4.2%. Snapchat is losing the ad revenue battle – and losing it badly. But the DAU battle rages on.

Screened Out

Google is sharpening its policy for lock-screen ads on Android OS devices. Unlike iOS-based iPhones, Android phones allow users to download lock-screen app services that monetize with ads on the lock screen. Google’s new policy doesn’t outright ban lock-screen ads, but aims to restrict them to only those apps explicitly approved for lock-screen services – such as scheduling, messaging or news. “It’s been a few years since these ads started showing up, and it’s getting pretty out of hand,” writes Android Police. “Hopefully Google follows through and actually pulls offending apps from the Play Store.” More.

Musical Chairs

Tencent and Spotify are in talks to swap up to 10% of each others’ shares ahead of both companies’ expected 2018 IPOs, The Wall Street Journal reports. The deal would give both Spotify and Tencent Music (Tencent’s streaming music division) more clout in negotiating licensing deals with music labels. Additionally, Tencent’s prowess in gaming and social media could help Spotify expand its ad products and user engagement. Tencent has been friendly to popular US tech startups, most recently raising $2 billion to increase its investment in Snap Inc. by 12% last month. More.

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