Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here.
Games Or Gains?
Gaming on Netflix isn’t taking off. That’s hardly surprising – you may very well not even have known Netflix has gaming. And that’s a problem for Netflix, which is looking to increase its subscriber base (or at least keep existing subscribers actively engaged) without spending boatloads to make new content.
Netflix has acquired three mobile game studios over the past year in an effort to broaden its entertainment offering. But Netflix Games, which launched last November, only has 1.7 million daily users, as in less than 1% of Netflix’s total subscriber base.
Why? Well, for one, not that many of its subscribers care, Android Central reports, and Netflix isn’t actually spending all that much to bring its gaming vision to life. The company spends more on one big-budget movie than it did to buy all three of the game studios it now owns.
On the other hand, advertising is newly front-and-center for Netflix, which could slash prices as a way to attract and keep subscribers and use ads to make up for any lost revenue (and hopefully boost revenue, too). AVOD is one way to avoid having to justify hiking prices or trying to force gaming on people in a possibly misguided attempt to increase the value of a Netflix subscription.
Even so, Netflix plans to double the size of its game library from 24 games to 50 by the end of the year. Anything to try and reduce subscriber churn.
Measure Up
Nielsen has been relatively quiet on the TV measurement front recently, aside from periodic updates about Nielsen ONE.
But on Wednesday, Nielsen issued a statement assuring the industry that it’s rebuilt its National TV audience panel, which fell to just 29,000 households during the pandemic because Nielsen was unable to schedule in-person visits and installations. As of this week, Nielsen is back up to 42,000 homes and 101,000 individuals, Ad Age reports. Nielsen also says its “streaming meter panel,” a subset of the national TV panel who agree to share internet streaming data, is up to 21,000 households. Nielsen hasn’t disclosed that number before.
Nielsen’s news came just a day after the Video Advertising Bureau announced its plans to build a measurement panel akin to Nielsen’s own – to be used by Nielsen competitors.
But no matter how much Nielsen flaunts its numbers, the question isn’t how much data Nielsen has but whether it can analyze and activate across platforms. On that front, it’s a race against the clock between Nielsen ONE, slated for release in 2024, and the various measurement alternatives striving to win bake-offs this year and into next.
Front-Roe Seats To Mayhem
The media and tech industry is massively unprepared for post-Roe prosecution.
Facebook is dealing with public backlash because it gave Nebraska police a teenager’s DMs, which incriminated both the teenager and her mother, who together had discussed plans to self-operate for an abortion.
Facebook and Google are increasing encryption protections in their apps and automatically deleting more information that might implicate a woman, pharmacist, friend or healthcare provider.
But will Facebook defy warrants by state prosecutors and, eventually, by the Justice Department and FBI?
The issue extends far beyond encryption or Big Tech, though.
Giant Eagle is one of many grocery chains that make data available to brokers for targeting based on, for example, pregnancy-related purchase information. That’s creepy when it’s just to sell diapers – let alone to put women in jail.
As early as 2025 – depending on the outcome of the presidential election – many different entities will soon have to choose whether to incriminate people or risk prosecution themselves. We’re talking about everyone from social platforms, cloud data and infrastructure providers, retailers, location data owners and email inbox services to sites that publish information about how to procure or perform an abortion, telehealth or messaging apps, pharmacists, nurses, doctors and hospitals.
But Wait, There’s More!
US lawmakers want to probe whether online advertising poses a national security threat. [Insider]
Unsurprisingly, ironSource says its proposed Unity merger deal is superior to AppLovin’s offer. [Globes]
MAGNA: The do’s and don’ts of native and repurposed advertising on TikTok. [Digiday]
Customer retention platform CleverTap raises $105 million in Series D funding. [release]
CTV ads generate better brand lift when paired with product placements. [Morning Brew]
Here’s what ad agencies can do to support journalism. [Adweek]
You’re Hired!
IHeartMedia’s Triton Digital makes three executive promotions, including Michael Chien to VP of advertising product strategy. [release]
