Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here.
Violation Rate
To demonstrate that it can be effective at finding and removing rule-breaking videos, YouTube will start disclosing a new metric called the Violative View Rate. Essentially, it’s the percentage of total views going to videos that run afoul of YouTube’s guidelines before those videos are removed. According to YouTube, “violative” videos accounted for just 0.16% to 0.18% of all views on the platform in Q4 2020. In other words, out of every 10,000 views on YouTube, 16 to 18 of them were generated by content that was eventually booted for breaking the rules. Although YouTube said that its violative view rate has improved from three years earlier, it did not disclose the total number of times that problematic videos have been watched before they were removed. YouTube’s attempt at greater transparency comes as its platform, along with Facebook and Twitter, remain under heavy fire for spreading misinformation and not doing enough to weed out harmful content and hate speech. Read on.
Antitrust Target
Amazon is being accused of anticompetitive practices yet again (yes, shocking). Now the charge is from a coalition of merchant groups calling for federal legislation that would prevent the owner of a dominant online marketplace from selling its own products in competition with other sellers. Such a policy could effectively separate Amazon’s retail product business from its online marketplace, The Wall Street Journal reports, and members of the House Antitrust Subcommittee are considering legislation along those lines as they weigh changes to US antitrust law. No bills have yet been introduced. The group pushing the effort, dubbed Small Business Rising, includes small hardware stores, office suppliers, booksellers and grocers as well as business groups from 12 cities. Not only are they calling on congressional lawmakers for stricter antitrust laws, they also want tougher enforcement of existing ones. Amazon of course says that the effort is misguided.
Join The Club
Stop me if you’ve been asked this question already: have you joined Clubhouse yet? It seems like almost everyone is using the audio app and the buzz just keeps growing. A year after its launch, the platform is now eyeing a funding round that would value it at $4 billion. According to Bloomberg, such a deal would quadruple its value from January and would reflect the astronomical expectations investors have for the app. It’s still unclear how much Clubhouse is seeking to raise or which investors are participating, and the terms of the round could change. Still, some of the biggest names in business and Hollywood are touting the app and tech companies, including Facebook, Spotify and LinkedIn, are scrambling to launch similar apps and/or related features of their own. Twitter has already introduced one called Spaces.
But Wait, There’s More!
Intel has led a new $18 million Series B investment round in IRIS.TV, a data tech company whose answer to the cookie problem is to focus on contextual. [WSJ]
Data privacy regulations in Europe and California, along with third-party cookie clampdowns by Apple and Google, are causing agencies to rethink their dealings with “complacent” data providers. [Digiday]
Dish Media, Blockgraph, MadHive, VideoAmp, Eyeota and TVSquared have formed the TV Data Initiative, a group that will look to accelerate the use of data in the television industry. [Broadcasting & Cable]
Privacy focused data app Killi has released a product that aims to allow consumers in the US to authenticate their identity and reclaim control of their online data. [Yahoo! Finance]
Video-on-demand and OTT aggregator platform ScreenHits TV has launched its first app for desktop, tablets and smart TVs. [Deadline]
Nativo has a new platform that it says will help publishers compete with walled gardens in a post-cookie world. [release]
You’re Hired!
Amplitude has hired Julie Currie as its first chief people officer and Elizabeth Fisher as the company’s first general counsel. [release]
