Hello
Here’s your Last Week in Digital Media and all the news you may have missed.
GENERAL
- Spotify announced plans to bring loss-less audio streaming to the platform, called Spotify HiFi. It will come at an additional cost. If you’re interested to know whether you can hear the difference between lossless vs. lossy audio, try this test.
- Meanwhile, Apple, who often touts its streaming audio quality, confirmed it will never have a free ad-supported tier. As advertising would “really go against our (Apple’s) fundamental values on privacy.”
- just worth knowing, Facebook has started an ad campaign on why personalized ads matter. Using the tag “Good ideas deserve to be found,” the campaign focuses on small business advertisers who use Facebook advertising.
- Digital Turbine has acquired AdColony in a US$400MM deal. Digital Turbine has experience working with mobile companies and device manufacturers on preloading mobile applications.
- a lot of product updates from twitter, which recently held a day for the analyst community. Features are being developed include Super Follow (the ability for users to charge for tweets and tweet subscription benefits), tipping, as well as communities (aka groups). All of which is linked to plans by twitter to double revenue by 2023.
- Snap held an investor day, where it painted a multi-year growth story of 50%+ for the company. With Snap claiming, it’s barely monetizing the app’s full potential across the entire action bar (maps, discover, spotlight, etc.).
- twitter’s trends report (download, free sign-up required). The 33-page report does make for an interesting read, giving an insight into, as a tweet on the report notes, “the world’s stream of consciousness” from cultural trends to meaningful conversations.
- Facebook’s NPE team is at it again, with the beta of an app called Bars (iOS only). Like Facebook’s NPE Collab, Bars is a music-themed app that lets rappers create and share raps using professional beats.
ONLINE VIDEO
- Disney has launched Disney+ with Star in several US markets. The Star brand is known outside the US, particularly Asia, features more grown-up programming, and comes at an additional cost to the base Disney+ service. In some sense, this is Disney effectively rolling out a Hulu-like offering globally under a different name.
- the CBS-Viacom streaming offering, Paramount+ details have been announced. The launch date is March 4th, pricing starts at US$4.99 a month with ads, US$9.99 without ads, and new theatrical titles will have a 30-45 day window before appearing on the service. CBS All Access will also become Paramount+ so that the service will start with about 19MM US subscribers.
- AT&T has struck a deal to sell a minority stake in DirecTV, AT&T TV U-Verse, to the private equity firm TPG. The deal is valued at US$7.8B, with the proceeds being used to pay down debt.
- YouTube announced a slate of original content for YouTube Kids with a US$100MM investment in content. The announcement lists the content YouTube has commissioned.
AUSTRALIA
Australia passed the News Media Bargaining Code that requires Google and Facebook to pay for news share on the platform. The law passed after an 11th-hour amendment that also resulted in Facebook agreeing to re-enable Australians ability to share news content (described as re-friending Australia by one media outlet). Facebook shared a blog post explaining its decisions and position. Meanwhile, UK politicians continued to both side with Australia to expressing fury with Facebook. It’s definitely implied that Facebook overplayed its hand, and more social media regulation is now likely. To get a sense of how high all the stakes are in the big tech paying for news debate, it’s worth reading what’s playing out in France where antitrust regulators are investigating Alphabet for failing to negotiate a news content licensing deal in good faith. Finally, you’re interested in reading the final Australian law, as passed, you can download it here.
Staying with Australia for a moment, the Digital Industry Group Inc (DiGi), a non-profit industry association advocating for the digital industry in Australia, released a Code of Practice for Misinformation and Disinformation (PDF link). Google, Facebook, twitter, Microsoft, and TikTok have signed onto the code.
REGULATORY
- Insider has a good summary of all of the European Regulatory Investigations currently in play against big tech.
- in what, at least for me, is an unexpected US DOJ antitrust investigation rumor, Apple is allegedly being investigated for its “Sign-in with Apple” offering and whether it is less about privacy and more about locking users into Apple.
- Bytedance (TikTok) has agreed to a US$92MM settlement in response to allegations it illegally collected data from some teenage users.
PRIVACY, TRUST, and SAFETY
- TikTok published its H2 2020 transparency report. TikTok claims that it removed 89MM videos on the platform for policy violations.
- the latest Firefox browser update, Firefox 86, brings something called Total Cookie Protection. In simple terms, it restricts cookies, including 3rd party cookies, to only working on the site where they were created (helpfully visualized here).
- Facebook has responded to the first findings from the Oversight Board. Of the 17 recommendations, Facebook is actioning 11, assessing the feasibility of 5, and taking no action on 1. The one that Facebook is not actioning is adjusting content moderation on COVID-19, where Facebook will continue to strictly remove content it considers harmful. Also, FYI, former US President Trump has submitted an appeal to the Oversight Board on his suspension (in addition to Facebook referring it to the board).
- DoubleVerify has published research (PDF link) on what trends it thinks will influence brand safety and suitability in 2021. The ~20-page report provides a look back at the various events of 2020. One important call-out is that DoubleVerify confirms that advertising on trusted news sites is well received by consumers and the need to limit keyword filters.
Stay safe, and have a great week.
Joshua
PS. The distraction of the week is Iceberger. It lets you draw any shape and see how it would float if it were an Iceberg. It will help challenge your view of the phrase “the tip of the iceberg.”