Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here.
Panel Discussion
Bad news for Nielsen: Another panel has entered the arena.
Samba TV is teaming up with HyphaMetrics to launch a panel for measuring video viewership across linear, streaming and other digital formats, Ad Age reports.
HyphaMetrics plans to use Samba TV’s data set covering the viewing habits of 3 million households to create an initial panel of around 5,000 people by next year, with plans to eventually grow to 10,000.
HyphaMetrics says its panel will be cheaper to maintain than Nielsen’s because it can use in-house AI capabilities to identify on-screen content rather than having to license media libraries or automated content recognition tech.
Although Samba TV is the launch partner, HyphaMetrics says the panel will be available to other measurement providers, such as VideoAmp and Comscore, and to industry organizations, including the VAB and ANA.
The announcement of this new panel comes after a two-year joint effort by the VAB and ANA to launch a competitor to Nielsen hit the skids in October. HyphaMetrics participated in that process and was reportedly the preferred choice among VAB members to oversee an alternative solution.
Ready for Prime Time
Down go the CPMs.
Amazon Prime Video’s ad-supported tier, which launches Jan. 29, will charge advertisers CPMs between $30 and $35, Adweek reports.
These prices are similar to Amazon’s rates for its Thursday Night Football inventory. But they’re much lower than the ad rates for streaming rivals, including Netflix ($38 to $55), Max ($33 to $53) and Disney-owned ESPN+ ($38 to $48). Amazon’s CPMs could drive down overall rates.
Advertisers are excited about Amazon’s ad tier as a sizable source of new inventory and audiences. Prime subscribers – who number more than 200 million – will be auto enrolled in Prime Video’s ad tier. To opt out of ads, subscribers must pay an additional $2.99 a month.
Amazon claims advertisers will be able to reach an audience of more than 100 million. But it’s unclear whether people will watch the ad-supported tier of Prime Video or choose to pay a monthly fee rather than sit through ads.
To court brands, Amazon is among the cohort of streaming platforms attending CES this week.
Dodging Drama
Bowing to pressure from politicians and academics to take control of its geopolitical content, TikTok is watering down its Creative Center tool, which allows advertisers to monitor trending hashtags on its platform, The New York Times reports.
Unease about TikTok’s content moderation has grown from rumblings to a fever pitch since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. Legislators and researchers have accused TikTok of promoting certain views (such as through the #freepalestine hashtag) and muffling certain topics censored in China, such as the persecution of the Uyghur population and pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong against the government.
TikTok nixed its search button last week, and hashtag links related to the Israel-Hamas war and the US political landscape have stopped working.
The Creative Center tool now shares data on the top 100 hashtags in various industries, like pets or travel. In other words, anodyne, brand-safe hashtags.
“Anything that’s politically sensitive or could be politically sensitive or explosive is gone, and anything that is M&M’s or pop culture, no problem,” Joel Finkelstein, a founder of the Network Contagion Research Institute, told NYT.
But Wait, There’s More!
Instacart is expanding its ad offerings to AI-powered in-store shopping carts. [Bloomberg]
SoundCloud is for sale at a $1 billion asking price. [Sky News]
How AI will (and won’t) affect the 2024 US election. [The Information]
Group Black will offer marketers a first-party data platform for Black and Hispanic audiences starting in Q3. [Digiday]
Charter Communications-owned Spectrum is angling for a rebundling of streaming and live TV. [Wall Street Journal]
Big Tech generative AI makers – think Google, Amazon and Microsoft – only offer limited protection to users sued for copyright violations. [Ars Technica]
Meanwhile, OpenAI tells UK regulators it would be “impossible” to train generative AI tools like ChatGPT without using copyrighted material. [The Guardian]
You’re Hired!
Former Twitch exec Walker Jacobs joins sports streamer DAZN as CRO and president of its US division. [Variety]
Havas Media Network appoints Greg Walsh as global chief business transformation officer and Greg James as CEO of Havas Media North America. [release]
Black and brown publisher network URL Media names Ishena Robinson as editorial director. [release]
