Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here.
Serious Music
Move over, Howard Stern. SiriusXM is trying to attract younger listeners with the launch of a TikTok music channel called (you guessed it) TikTok Radio. The service will broadcast trending music through the SiriusXM app, browsers and connected devices. Sirius – which owns Pandora and the podcasting company Stitcher – will also launch a Pandora series, called TikTok Tastemakers, with popular TikTok creators who host radio-style talk shows and curate playlists (and also promote the shows to listeners on TikTok). The deal is a win-win for TikTok and Sirius, since TikTok gets brand promotion and potentially more music industry inroads, while the old-school radio brand gains something to market to teens. The Verge has more.
Internet Regulation
Nick Clegg, Facebook’s Vice President of Global Affairs, says there is bipartisan support for internet regulation and lauded lawmakers in Europe, India, Australia and elsewhere who have proposed laws governing privacy and content. As for Facebook – which is itself under intense scrutiny for alleged privacy policy violations, not to mention the spread of disinformation and hate speech – Clegg said that the company has long advocated for internet regulation. In an op-ed for CNBC, Clegg outlined four areas of US internet regulation that have bipartisan support, including reform of Section 230, tougher rules governing the use of social media during elections, and repercussions for organizations that spread disinformation. He also said Congress could break the deadlock on federal privacy legislation and set out clear rules of data portability. That has yet to happen in the United States, according to Clegg (a former British politician), because the debate about tech regulation in America is consumed with whether to break up big tech companies, not societal issues such as privacy, safety, content moderation and data sharing.
Opening The Books?
Speaking of Facebook … The World Federation of Advertisers’ Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) is closing in on a standardized set of brand safety measures agreed upon by walled garden platforms and advertisers. And it only took a measly two years, Digiday reports. Members of the GARM brand safety initiative include YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Snap and Pinterest, as well as big-spending global brands like Anheuser-Busch InBev and Unilever. And while GARM published its first Aggregated Measurement Report in April, the walled gardens supplied their own unverified results. Grade your own homework, much? GARM is trying to get the platforms on board with third-party audits by the Media Rating Council to confirm the independence of the reporting data. Only Facebook has committed so far, but no brand safety audit specifically related to GARM reporting has been done.
But Wait, There’s More!
Sensor Tower made its first acquisition with a deal for market intelligence company Pathmatics. [TechCrunch]
Meet Lina Khan, the big tech foe awaiting Senate confirmation for a seat on the FTC. [WSJ]
Bottoms not up: Alcohol ad spending won’t reach pre-pandemic levels until 2023, but Zenith forecasts a 5.3% rise this year. [Campaign US]
Invoca acquired customer and call center AI startup DialogTech for a reported $100 million. [SiliconANGLE]
Out-of-home media has always been an outlier relative to TV or digital, from both a buyer and seller perspective. But programmatic and digital out-of-home opportunities are shifting perceptions – and budgets. [Digiday]
JP Colaco, WarnerMedia head of ad sales, dishes on HBO Max with ads and what the merger with Discovery means for this year’s upfront negotiations. [Adweek]
You’re Hired!
Vox Media has named Jennifer Cullem as its head of product. [release]
