In this week’s Week in Review: Magna predicts strong growth in CTV revenues, Sky launches a plug-in device, and agencies report a drop in programmatic in-housing.
Top Stories
Magna Predicts Strong Growth in CTV Ad Revenues Next Year
Interpublic Group-owned media agency Magna this week released an updated ad revenue forecast running up to the end of 2023, predicting that while CTV revenues are set for a strong two years, other TV ad revenues will suffer next year due to macroeconomic conditions.
Magna predicts ‘long-form video’, which includes broadcaster video on-demand and networks, will be up by 6.6 percent for the current year, but then will drop by 7.5 percent next year. National linear TV revenues meanwhile are expected to be down by 3.3 percent this year, and by a further 5.8 percent next year.
Non-broadcaster CTV revenues meanwhile are expected to see continued strong growth, particularly given the entrance of Disney+ and Netflix into the AVOD market. Magna says that while these two new entrants may take some spend away from linear TV or rival AVOD services, it expects they will “grow the pie” for CTV as a whole. CTV revenues are expected to grow by 22.1 percent overall this year, and a further 32.7 percent next year.
Sky Debuts New CTV Plug-In Device ‘Stream’
Sky this week unveiled Sky Stream, a new plug-in device which brings its Sky Glass platform onto third-party TVs. Sky will hope the device will help it capture a larger share of the UK’s CTV device market by offering a cheaper alternative to its Sky Glass TVs.
Sky Stream isn’t Sky’s first plug-in device – its existing Now TV boxes give access to Sky’s own Now service, as well as third-party apps. But Sky Stream includes the full Sky Glass UI, which means it will include live Sky TV channels alongside various on-demand apps.
Sky Stream will compete directly with rival telco Virgin Media’s own plug-in device – (confusingly) also called ‘Stream’.
Advertisers Report Drop in In-House Programmatic Buying
Advertisers are shifting from in-housing programmatic buying to a more hybrid approach, according to IAB Europe’s most recent Attitudes to Programmatic study. Just 16 percent of those surveyed this year said they use an in-house model, down from 50 percent last year. More now report outsourcing programmatic buying to a demand-side platform or independent trading desk.
The study also found that all stakeholders (74 percent of advertisers, 80 percent of agencies and 68 percent of publishers) are expecting their programmatic investment to increase over the next 12 months. There seems to be consensus around connected TV as a key growth area; more than 50 percent of all stakeholder groups cite this as a key to programmatic growth over the next 12 months.
The Week in Tech
Nielsen and Roku Team Up on Four-Screen Measurement
Nielsen and Roku are expanding their partnership to enable four-screen measurement across traditional TV, CTV, desktop and mobile. The move allows marketers who run ads on Roku to deduplicate campaign reach and frequency across the four screens, using Nielsen’s Total Ad Ratings product. The ad deduplication offering will also form a key part of Nielsen One, due to launch in December. “Marketers can now better evaluate CTV inventory’s unique reach and frequency in conjunction with their entire Roku buy in a comparable and comprehensive manner,” said Kim Gilberti, SVP Product Management at Nielsen. “Advertisers can reduce waste and help ensure that relevant ads are delivered to the right audiences across devices.”
IAB Tech Lab to Draft Clean Room Standards
IAB Tech Lab is drafting a set of standards for data clean rooms, the first draft due by December. The standards are designed to clear up definitions of clean rooms, establish how they operate and safeguard their security. “There are a lot of different solutions calling themselves clean rooms today,” said Meta’s Dennis Buchheim, former IAB Tech Lab CEO. “But in many cases, they’re not fully secure [or] private at this point. That just begs for standards to be developed.”
Facebook Freezes Hiring for First Time
Mark Zuckerberg has told Meta employees the company will freeze hiring and restructure its teams, according to Bloomberg. It would mark the first major budget cut in Facebook history, following its first ever revenue fall in Q2 2022. The social media giant is not alone in curtailing its workforce amid macroeconomic instability, with redundancies reported across Snap, Netflix and even Google.
TikTok Faces UK Fine Over Children’s Data Breach
TikTok could be facing a £27 million fine from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The watchdog’s investigation found that the social video platform may have breached UK data law and failed to protect children’s privacy. This included processing the data of children under the age of 13 without appropriate parental consent. The ICO has issued a notice of intent preceding a fine.
MediaRadar Gains Private Equity Investment
Advertising intelligence platform MediaRadar has received investment from Endicott Capital and Thompson Street Capital Partners (TSCP). MediaRadar claims 20,000 users leverage its media spend-tracking database to identify business prospects, build relationships and monitor competitors. “We are excited to bring TSCP and Endicott on as new partners in our next phase of growth,” said MediaRadar Founder and CEO Todd Krizelman. “Their experience investing in information services companies and supporting growth acceleration, both organically and through acquisition, will be highly valuable as we continue to develop new ways to enhance our customers’ experience.” Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Twitter Adds Video Features to Explore Page
Twitter has added an immersive video player and video carousel to its Explore page, continuing the widespread push for video by social media platforms. Akin to videos on Instagram, the player enables users to swipe up in order to discover similar videos. The carousel displays relevant videos alongside tweets and trends. “Videos are a huge part of the public conversation, and they’re one of the most engaging ways people can express themselves online,” the company said in a blog post.
Best Buy Ads Taps DoubleVerify for Measurement
Verification specialist DoubleVerify (DV) announced a new partnership with Best Buy Ads, providing measurement tools for the company’s in-house retail media network (RMN) and its partners. The deal grants Best Buy advertisers access to DV’s pre-campaign activation and post-bid filtering and measurement tools. “DoubleVerify’s product advancements and partnerships in the retail media sector are further examples of how we are leading the industry in developing innovative quality and performance solutions for emerging digital platforms,” said DV CEO Mark Zagorski.
Digital Remedy Rolls Out E-Commerce CTV Platform
Ad tech firm Digital Remedy launched a CTV platform for e-commerce and retail advertisers on Thursday. Flip connects mobile location data with CTV ad impressions to help brands understand campaign performance, attribution and Return on Ad Spend (ROAS). “We’re ecstatic to extend Flip’s capabilities in the retail and ecommerce sector, and remain committed to providing a holistic solution by which advertisers can unlock and optimise real-time insights, measure campaign effectiveness, and drive valuable results,” said Digital Remedy CSO Matt Sotebeer.
Netflix Builds In-House Games Studio
Netflix is forming its own in-house game studio in Helsinki. The streaming company has been building up its game business and now seeks to rely less on third-party developers by building its own games without ads or in-app purchases. The studio will join Next Games, Night School Studio and Boss Fight Entertainment, all acquired by Netflix over the last year, to develop games “that will suit the diverse tastes of our members,” according to Amir Rahimi, Netflix VP of Game Studios.
The Week in TV
M6 Receives Trio of Purchase Offers
Bertelsmann has received three offers from potential buyers of M6, after its attempted merger with TF1 fell through last week. One bid combines MediaForEurope with Xavier Niel, the billionaire founder of Iliad and minority investor in Vodafone. Banijay chairman Stephane Courbit then offered a premium of €20 per share for Bertelsmann’s controlling 48.3 percent stake in M6, while Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky also bid for the company. M6 shares rose around 10 percent as a result.
Marketers Incredulous Over Netflix Ad Offering
Launching without a measurement partner makes advertising on Netflix “deal-breaking” for potential advertisers, according to marketers quoted in The Drum. The $65 CPM price tag, $20 million minimum spend (previously misreported as a spend cap) and lack of live sport content have left media buyers “unimpressed.”
OpenAP Enables Programmatic Buying with OpenID
OpenAP, an industry consortium of broadcasters aimed at standardising and enabling data activation in TV inventory, this week opened up use of its OpenID identifier in programmatic buys. OpenID is designed to unify audiences across linear and digital environments, giving advertisers a better understanding of reach, more control over frequency, and better targeting capabilities. Previously OpenID has been confined to direct buys across linear and digital inventory, but the identifier can now be used in programmatic buys via integrations with FreeWheel, Magnite, and Xandr’s Monetise SSP.
Red Bee Media, Nowtilus and Equativ Team Up for Joint FAST Offering
Red Bee Media, Nowtilus and Equativ are launching a joint Free Ad-Supported Streaming TV (FAST) offering. The solution enables publishers to implement and manage FAST channels, dynamic ad insertion and programmatic advertising. The companies announced the debut customer is High View on LG Channels. “We are hugely excited about this partnership with Nowtilus and Equativ to empower customers such as High View with the flexibility to spin up FAST channels as and when required,” said Red Bee Media CEO Steve Nylund. “It will provide consumers with unique and personalised media experiences, whilst accessing new ad revenues for our customers.”
ITV and Travel Weekly Launch Growth Fund
ITV is teaming up with trade publication Travel Weekly to launch a Backing Business Fund, designed to support the tourism industry’s return to growth. New and lapsed TV brands across the sector will have access to a ring-fenced fund of £500,000, subject to qualifying criteria. The initiative also includes creative support to help businesses make adverts. “This adds up to experiencing the effectiveness of ITV for your business at a significantly lower cost of entry, enabling you to measure the impact and scale-up as a result,” the broadcaster said.
IPTV to Boost Pay-TV Subscriptions
The number of pay-TV subscribers is set to grow over the next five years, according to Digital TV Research. The report forecasts 1.03 billion subscribers across 138 countries by 2027, slightly up on 2021 but down from 2018. Satellite TV will lose 12 million subs over the period, as homes convert to high-speed broadband platforms. “Given the increasing demand for fast broadband connections, IPTV will be the pay-TV winner,” said Simon Murray, Principal Analyst at Digital TV Research.
Sky Sports Scores NBA, Scottish Football and NFL Deals
Sky Sports has renewed its deal to broadcast the NBA for the 2022/23 season. The coverage includes a UK primetime evening match every Saturday and Sunday, as well as 135 Regular Season games, selections from Rounds 1 and 2 of the NBA Playoffs, and every game of the Conference Finals and NBA Finals. The Sunday evening primetime game will also be streamed for free on the Sky Sports YouTube Channel.
Meanwhile the broadcaster renewed its arrangement with the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), granting Sky Sports the broadcast rights through to 2029. The package includes Scottish Women’s Premier League (SWPL) fixtures, and makes Sky Sports the title sponsor of the SWPL League Cup for the next seven seasons. Also this week, the broadcaster struck an agreement with the NFL’s New York Jets to air dedicated team programming throughout the season.
Apple to Sponsor Super Bowl Halftime Show
Apple will replace Pepsi as the official sponsor of the Super Bowl Halftime show. The five-year deal is worth a reported $50 million per annum. The Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show (featuring Rihanna) will be broadcast on 12th February 2023 by Fox, which has already sold out its ad inventory for the event, with some 30-second slots exceeding $7 million in price.
The Week for Publishers
TechCrunch Sees Revenue Growth from Subscriptions and Events
Yahoo-owned tech publisher TechCrunch is seeing gains in its non-advertising revenues, according to Adweek. The publisher has seen 142 percent growth in its subscription count since 2021 according to Adweek, and 82 percent growth in revenues from its events business. The two revenue streams now account for nearly 50 percent of TechCrunch’s total revenues.
The New York Times Turns to Games to Drive Subscriptions
The New York Times is looking to its games brand to drive more paid subscriptions, Digiday reported this week, following its acquisition of popular word game Wordle earlier this year. While Wordle remains free, many other NYT games (as well as its Wordle companion WordleBot) are only available through the NYT games subscription. The Times’ head of games Jonathan Knight told Digiday that when offered a choice of a games-only subscription or a bundled NYT subscription, most choose the latter.
US Senate Committee Approves Journalism Competition and Preservation Act
The Senate Judiciary Committee this week approved the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act, a proposed piece of legislation which would force digital platforms to negotiate with publishers in order to be able to post snippets of their content. The bill is still yet to clear the House Judiciary Committee.
Mail Online and Daily Mail to Increase Collaboration
The Daily Mail is set to collaborate more closely with its digital edition, Mail Online, with the two set to share reporting on the same stories. Despite being under the same brand, the Daily Mail and Mail Online have operated separately for years, though have begun working together more closely since the end of last year. The two will still retain their own separate editors, but each will feature stories written by the other much more frequently.
The Tab Provides Quick Return for Digitalbox
Digitalbox has seen a quick return from its late 2020 purchase of The Tab, a student newspaper brand in the UK, Press Gazette reported this week. The Tab has already paid off its entire £750,000 purchase cost, according to the Gazette, with its revenues for the first half of this year reaching £513,000.
Newsnow Funds Project to Aid UK Local News
Newsnow, a digital news aggregation platform, is working with the Public Interest News Foundation to look at ways of helping maintain the supply of local news in the UK. The two will work out how local news can be boosted without the need to parachute in money, and will create templates for individual regions which will secure commitments to boost local journalism.
The Week For Agencies
CMOs Prioritise Data Ethics, but Need Help Putting it Into Practice
Ninety-two percent of CMOs say they are prioritising ethical use of data, but fifty percent don’t really know how to do so, according to research released by the World Federation of Advertisers. The WFA has launched a handbook, The CMO Guide to Data Ethics in Practice, to help solve this issue.
Essence UK Launches Sustainable Publisher Marketplace
GroupM’s Essence UK has announced the creation of a sustainable programmatic marketplace which it says will further the adoption of GroupM’s recently announced media decarbonisation framework, reduce the carbon footprint of advertising campaigns, and reward publishers that are actively addressing the climate crisis in their editorial coverage. The marketplace consists of trusted UK publishers with clear Net Zero strategies who have committed to decarbonising their media supply and adopting GroupM’s framework for measuring and reducing carbon emissions.
NextFifteen Posts Pre-Tax Loss in H1 After Acquisition Spate
NextFifteen, one of the two suitors attempting to buy M&C Saatchi, this week reported a pre-tax loss for the first half of the year in its financial results. Net revenues were up by 63 percent and operating profits more than doubled, but its recent acquisition of Engine contributed to the overall loss.
Starcom Launches Sustainable Media Report
Starcom this week launched a new sustainable media report, which it says aims to address “the marketing tension in the room; that advertising, growth and product sales are at odds with sustainability, leaving marketers with lots of questions around their advertising and how to make their media plans more sustainable”. The microsite aims to address this tension, providing marketers with solutions for truly sustainable advertising.
Moneysupermarket Conducts Media Review
Price comparison website Moneysupermarket is reviewing its media buying and planning account, which is currently held by Mediacom, Campaign reported this week.
Omnicom Media Group and Sanofi Test Ad Carbon Emission Tracking
Healthcare brand Sanofi and Omnicom Media Group have announced they are testing IAS Signal, a platform which tracks carbon emissions from ad campaigns developed by IAS and Good-Loop.
Unilever CEO Announces Intention to Retire Next Year
Alan Jope, CEO of Unilever, one of the world’s largest advertisers, has announced his intentions to retire at the end of next year. Jope will have spent five years as CEO, and more than 35 years at the company.
Hires of the Week
ShowHeroes Group Appoints Amelia Parsons as UK Head of Supply
ShowHeroes Group this week announced the appointment of Amelia Parsons as its new UK head of supply. Parsons most recently worked as head of publishing at digital entertainment and media platform Azerion UK. In her new role at ShowHeroes, Amelia will be tasked with helping ShowHeroes grow its UK publisher network and increase its strategic partnerships.
Charlie Collier Leaves Fox for Roku
Roku has named Fox Entertainment CEO Charlie Collier as its new president. Collier departs Fox after four years, in order to oversee ad sales and content for the streaming company. Roku also announced the promotion of Mustafa Ozgen to president of Devices, and Gidon Katz as president of Consumer Experience.
Lawyer James Evans Joins TripleLift
Ad placement specialist TripleLift has hired James Evans as Chief Privacy Officer and Vice President of Legal. The role includes leading a team of attorneys supporting TripleLift’s go-to-market (GTM) product and commercial initiatives. Evans has over 15 years of experience in media and advertising, including legal roles at Yahoo, Millennial Media and the UK’s Professional Publishers Association.
This Week on VideoWeek
TF1 says Alliances, New KPIs, and Unified Sales will Drive Growth in 2023, read on VideoWeek
DAZN Brings Rival Streamer Eleven Sports Onside, read on VideoWeek
The Global Case for Local Content, read on VideoWeek
Why ‘Content Object’ Signals Could be Key for Boosting CTV Investment, read on VideoWeek
ITV Pins Hopes on ITVX in Volatile Ad Market, read on VideoWeek
Advertisers Quit Twitter Over Child Pornography Placements, read on VideoWeek
The CTV Advertising Guide 2023 is Now Available to Download, read on VideoWeek
Ad of the Week
Ebay France, L’E-commerce Original
