Hello
Thanks to everyone who sent a note of thanks last week. Here’s your Last Week in Digital Media.
GENERAL
- Pinterest has introduced a Today tab, a tab designed to better help people discover new content on the platform, or as Pinterest describes it, a place for “daily inspiration with curated topics and trending Pins.” The Today tab is rolling out to Pinterest users in the US and UK progressively, so you might not see it just yet.
- Instagram has introduced a co-watching feature, letting you browse posts with friends over video chat. To access co-watching, from a video chat, tap the photo icon in the bottom left.
- the New York Times has acquired Audm, the company behind the same-named Audm app, that helps turn long-form text content into audio.
- Firefox is experimenting with the content subscription service Scroll, a new service called “Better Web with Scroll.” Letting people have an ad-free experience for a monthly subscription (US$2.50 a month for the first 6 months). The test is US-only for now.
- Google has made a change to the Google My Business product letting business owners mark a location as temporarily closed to account for pandemic closures.
- reverse engineer, Jane Wong, has discovered that Instagram is working on AR effects for stories as well as AR codes.
- for global clients with an app, worth knowing that Apple will be expanding the Apple App Store to 20 new countries. The full list of new countries is here.
- the primarily live sports streaming service FuboTV has been acquired by FaceBank Group (not to be confused with Facebook). According to its website, FaceBank is a “virtual entertainment company” focused on creating digital likenesses and assets of celebrities.
- an unusual rumor doing the rounds is that Facebook is looking to purchase a stake in one of India’s largest telcos (Jio). It’s possible that investment makes sense given Facebook’s Internet.org connectivity mission and Jio’s proven success in providing and scaling affordable internet access.
CORONAVIRUS RELATED
- the eNASCAR iRacing eSports event attracted 903,000 viewers, according to Nielsen, making it one of the highest ever ratings in broadcast eSports.
- the Snapchat-owned app Zenly (iOS and Android links) has gamified staying at home, introducing a stay-at-home leaderboard.
- brands are experimenting with Zoom backgrounds to help people make their video calls more interesting. Notably, West Elm is also sharing their backgrounds on Instagram and also making them shoppable.
- NBC’s Peacock, HBO Max, and Quibi are still planning to launch as scheduled (paywall).
- Disney+ has launched in the UK and Ireland, with more countries still planned for April, but like a lot of services, it will be streaming at a lower bandwidth.
- As people stay at home, podcasting in the US has seen an 8% drop in listeners. Podtrac, which specializes in podcast analytics, breaks this down by category on their website.
- reddit has introduced native polls. Previously it required a 3rd party service if a subreddit wanted to poll their community.
RESEARCH
- MAGNA has reduced US ad spend forecasts for 2020, expecting a decline of 2.8%, citing the impact of the Coronavirus. Digital is still expected to grow by 3.9%. This is to be expected with multiple companies (media and otherwise) issuing revised earnings guidance reports during the week.
- a poll conducted by Morning Consult, examine how social-distancing appropriate creative would impact purchase intent. As would be expected, at this point in time, as an example, people are more receptive to creative with video calls vs. hugging. The full poll data can be here (PDF link)
- there’s an excellent historical perspective on Forbes of the why it is important to continue to advertise even during an economic downturn.
REGULATION
- Maryland passed HB732, the “Taxation – Tobacco Tax, Sales and Use Tax, and Digital Advertising Gross Revenues Tax,” which would put a sales tax on Gross Digital Advertising Revenues sold in the State (including Google, Facebook, etc.). There’s a media industry perspective on the Maryland Digital tax here, noting that the bill is before the Governor who may veto it as well as the fact that industry groups are challenging it.
- the FCC has extended the public comment period on proposed changes to Net Neutrality rules until April 20th.
PRIVACY, TRUST, and SAFETY
- Apple released an iOS/macOS update during the week, with 3rd party cookies now blocked by default on Safari. Safari has ~17% browser share overall, ~24% on mobile.
- a reminder to not block Coronavirus/COVID-19 terms for brand safety reasons, with 4As research showing that 56% of consumers want to hear what pro-active steps are being taken by brands and only 15% not wanting to hear from brands at all.
ONLINE TRAINING
If you have some downtime and are looking to improve your digital skills, here are some options:
- Facebook has an extensive online training program called Blueprint.
- Google has a lot of free online training or email me for agency-specific courses.
- Pinterest has an agency-specific training program, contact me for details.
- Amazon has a free advertising training console here.
And an update from last week’s online events, Snapchat’s partner summit is now permanently canceled both in-person and online.
Stay safe, and please stay inside.
Joshua
PS. If you’re looking to liven up your personal video calls, Snapchat’s desktop version of Snap Camera, which lets you add lenses to any chat is fun and available here. Just remember to turn it off before you do a work call!