TV

Views of Shorts on CTV devices more than doubled last year, people watch more than 1 billion hours of YouTube daily on their TVs – and other fun facts from YouTube’s Brandcast event.

Remember back when Netflix insisted it would never run ads on its platform? Well, not only does it now have 40 million MAUs for its AVOD tier, it’s also launching an ad tech platform.

Warner Bros. Discovery had the most to prove during this week’s upfronts. So, the company used its upfront stage on Wednesday to showcase a new suite of ad products.

During Disney’s upfront event on Tuesday, just hours after Amazon’s, the Mouse House couldn’t hold back on pitching its content and advertising prowess. Sports was a big highlight.

Amazon kicked off its first-ever upfront event with advertising right out of the gate, including pitches about its scale, shopper data and content, particularly its sports programming.

TelevisaUnivision used its upfront stage to remind agencies and advertisers that Hispanic audiences drive business results. It shared ways buyers can work directly with it for targeting and measurement, plus new video currency options for media transactions.

Actors, musicians, dancers and comedians vouched for the value of NBCU media in between flashy performances and trailers during the programmer’s TV upfront. But about advertising, NBCU execs barely made a mention.

For Magnite, the biggest growth opportunity lies in supply-path optimization. The trade-off is the pressure to differentiate itself from other supply-side platforms competing for agency deals.

Disney is on track for its combined streaming offerings to reach profitability by the end of this year. Continued growth will hinge on bundling its streaming properties and its management of sports media.

NBCUniversal’s upfront pitch centers on advanced audiences, attribution and the fact that it built Peacock with advertising features baked in, rather than retrofitting it to support an AVOD model (unlike newer entrants to the ad-supported streaming competition).

TV buyers predict that streaming publishers will heed their demands for greater flexibility, more programmatic execution and improved measurement during this year’s upfront season.

Paramount Global is reeling from shareholder pushback against a pending merger with private equity-backed production company Skydance Media. In the meantime, it’s hoping to impress advertisers with streaming subscriber and advertising growth.

The 4A’s measurement committee, a working group for marketers and media buyers to discuss their opinions and concerns about video ad measurement, has some thoughts on the status of alternative TV currencies.

LinkedIn has new connected TV ad placements to help its B2B marketers target audiences off-platform, while they’re streaming shows and movies.

The broadcaster-backed joint industry committee announced it will certify Comscore and VideoAmp as national TV currencies ahead of May’s upfront negotiations.

Nielsen held a press briefing to reassert itself as the go-to TV measurement and currency company ahead of upfront negotiations. To back up its assertion, it shared a status update on its currency offerings and a comparison to its competitors.

Advanced TV advertising company Cadent announced plans to drop $324 million to acquire the performance marketing company AdTheorent.

The MRC and the broadcaster-backed joint industry committee released a joint statement to clarify the difference between them, which has been a charged topic ever since the JIC formed last year.

NBCUniversal is making its annual case for bigger streaming ad budgets at One24, NBCU’s annual ad tech and data dog and pony show, which took place in New York City this week.

Comscore announced that it secured Media Rating Council accreditation for both national and local TV ratings – just in time for this year’s upfront negotiations.

Paramount touted its tailwinds during its Q4 earnings call, including a new partnership with Walmart that gives it access to the retailer’s shopper data.

Warner Bros. Discovery is in a tight spot with double-digit TV ad revenue declines – and its core streaming service, Max, hasn’t picked up the slack … yet.

NASCAR’s Cup Series kicked off on Monday with the Daytona 500 race, an annual opportunity for paid brand sponsorships and prime time ad spots airing on FOX (or, for cord-cutters, Fubo and Sling TV).

Walmart buys smart TV maker Vizio to boost its ads business with streaming inventory, viewership data and, of course, shoppable TV ads.

Loop Media is squarely focused on monetizing out-of-home streaming in public venues such as bars and restaurants. But it takes legwork to convince advertisers to give “sorta CTV” a try.

Roku had a promising Q4, with steady revenue growth thanks to more active accounts and new ad offerings. But ARPU was down, and investors had a skeptical response.

This past weekend’s Super Bowl was different for a few reasons, particularly the presence of Taylor Swift and Chinese ecommerce challenger brand Temu.

Nielsen’s complaint against VideoAmp is the ninth patent infringement lawsuit it’s brought against rival companies in just three years.

HyphaMetrics is integrating its own data with viewing data from measurement provider Samba TV as part of a new panel offering later this year. But make no mistake: HyphaMetrics is not trying to become a currency.

On Thursday, TEGNA-owned CTV ad platform Premion announced the acquisition of Octillion Media, a DSP launched in 2019 to serve local CTV ad buyers. Premion declined to disclose the terms of the deal.