100% Media Roundup: 24- 28 January
Introducing today’s round-up of stories from around the media world, updated by the Mediatel News team, to ensure you’re 100% up-to-date.
Friday, 28 January
Estée Lauder becomes first beauty partner of ITV’s Dancing On Ice
Estée Lauder will have product placement, co-branded VOD-only ads and social media posts on ITV’s Dancing On Ice.
The beauty brand’s partnership with the show was planned and negotiated by media agency MG OMD.
The first episode of the fourteenth series of Dancing On Ice with twelve new celebrity contestants (pictured below) aired on Sunday 16 January at 6.30pm.
Publicis Media UK creates diverse and inclusive media marketplace
Publicis Media UK has launched “a consciously inclusive marketplace” called DIME, Diverse & Inclusive Media Exchange.
DIME will be part of media agency Spark Foundry and allow underrepresented communities access to diverse publisher inventory and make sure media in existing partnerships complies with a set a new list of inclusive values.
The Guardian and Reach Group are the first publishers to take part in the exchange.
Publicis Media has partnered with NewsGuard, a journalism and credibility tool, to verify the news sites and publications listed on the marketplace, and also Brand Advance to reach a network of specialist publishers.
Dreams renews partnership with Team GB and Paralympics GB
The bed retailer, Dreams, has extended its partnership with Team GB and Paralympics GB one week ahead of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.
As part of the partnership, the brand will launch a television campaign on 31 January featuring three winter Olympians as Dreams ambassadors: Katie Ormerod (Beijing 2022 Olympian, Snowboarding), Lamin Deen (two-time Olympian, Bobsleigh) and Millie Knight (ParalympicsGB medallist, Para Alpine Skiing). The campaign will be shown on screens from 31 January
Ofcom to investigate Channel 4 over subtitle issues
Ofcom has announced it will investigate Channel 4 after subtitles, audio description and signing options were interrupted last autumn.
These access services were disrupted on all Channel 4 platforms and several other broadcasters last year after an incident in September 2021 at a broadcast centre run by Red Bee Media.
The outage led Channel 4 to fall short of its subtitling quota on Freesat, although it managed to meet its statutory requirement to subtitle 90% of its programme hours over 2021.
Ofcom will also review all broadcasters transmission arrangements and backup facilities and what changes they have made or planned as a result of the Red Bee Media incident.
London’s Piccadilly Lights and BFI IMAX led outdoor executions as part of the ‘Light the Darkness’ campaign
The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust has commissioned a nationwide multimedia campaign to remember victims of genocide.
Discovery was the greatest global commissioner of TV shows in 2021
Ampere Analysis research revealed Discovery was the greatest global commissioner of TV shows.
Read more on this story on our sister title Videonet.
Taboola adds AI tool to personalise homepages
Ad tech company Taboola has launched product “Homepage for You” giving editors and publishers “the same type of AI tech” that Facebook and TikTok use to personalize their webpages are more customised for their readers.
Publishers including McClatchy, The Independent, and Estado de Minas are early adopters of the tool with the aim to improve homepage click-through rate, page views and bounce rates.
ViacomCBS and Comcast Cable renew content distribution agreement
The U.S. cable TV operator, Comcast Cable, will carry ViacomCBS’ full portfolio of Pay TV channels, including networks such as CBS Television Network, BET and SHOWTIME.
Read more on this story on our sister title Videonet
Thursday, 27 January
UK competition watchdog launches study into music streaming market
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has launched an in-depth study to find if record labels and streaming services hold “excessive power”.
The CMA was asked to launch this study which will also examine how artists and fans far under the current system by a cross-party of MPs last year when they called for “a complete reset” of the streaming model.
TikTok becomes Women’s Six Nations first title partner
TikTok and Six Nations Rugby have announced the social media platform will be the title partner of the Women’s Six Nations with the competition set to be known as the TikTok Women’s Six Nations.
The social media platform will also be an official partner to Guinness Six Nations and Autumn Nations series until 2025 and embed TikTok rugby creators in each home union.
Earlier this month, TikTok announced its first major brand partnership in Africa with the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
NOW READ: TikTok agrees to use AI-powered brand safety measurement
AA/WARC: 2021 was recovery even better than thought
AA/WARC data show actual adspend in Q3 2021 was at £7.3bn, £183m ahead of its forecast with all media recording at least double-digit growth, making it the largest ever summer spend on record.
Spotify removes Neil Young’s music and keeps Joe Rogan podcast
Spotify is in the process of removing Neil Young’s songs from its platform after the musician gave the streaming giant an ultimatum earlier this week in a letter to his manager and record label.
Young has accused Rogan of spreading misinformation about Covid-19 vaccinations on his exclusive Spotify podcast The Joe Rogan Experience. The artist said: “They can have Rogan or Young. Not both.”
Spotify reportedly bought the podcast in a $100m deal in 2020.
Bill Ackman buys $1.1bn stake in Netflix
Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square has acquired 3.1 million shares in Netflix since Friday.
The billionaire hedge fund manager suggested investors were ignoring long-term potential of the streaming giant.
Netflix’s stock price fell by more than 20% on Friday after it significantly downgraded its forecast for subscriber growth this quarter.
- Netflix stock tumbles as subscription growth slumps
- Amazon Prime Video is catching Netflix at an ‘astonishing’ rate
- Editor’s comment: “Netflix et al may have been overvalued during pandemic times, but their recent stock stumbles do not change the fact that millions of people are consuming more of their content each month.”
Wednesday, 26 January
WarnerMedia beats Netflix on new US subscribers in Q4 2021
WarnerMedia, the owner of streaming platform HBO Max, signed up 1.3 million US subscribers in the last three months of 2021 compared to Netflix’s 1.2 million according FT.com.
In the company’s earnings report, WarnerMedia said it had “surpassed the high end of its guidance” for global HBO Max and HBO subscribers, reaching 73.8 million subscribers at the end of last year – an increase of 13.1 million over the year.
In terms of domestic subscribers, WarnerMedia reported 46.8 million domestic subscribers which was 5.3 million up over the year.
YouTube ‘closing gap’ with Facebook
We Are Social and Hootsuite’s annual report on global social media and digital trends has found YouTube is closing the gap on Facebook as the world’s most used social platform.
YouTube had most time spent per month with nearly 24 hours, but Facebook still had more global users.
Additional findings included that there are now 4.62 billion social media users around the world (up more than 10%) which is more than 58% of the world’s total population.
The UK also had 84.3% active social media users aged between 16-64 and 23.4% of those users owning a type of smart home device, both well above the worldwide average.
Media Trust launches inclusive reporting programme with Meta and NCTJ
Media Trust has launched a programme to deliver inclusive reporting workshops to journalists and editors, sector-wide open masterclasses and speed networking sessions to help underrepresented communities.
Hannah Fearn, formerly of the Guardian, Independent and Charity Times will be the principal training facilitator and the programme will explore topics like identifying and working with sources and contributors with lived experience, building trust, language and tone.
The Meta Journalism Project will provide funding while the NCTJ will provide support alongside a cross-sector advisory group chaired by Kamal Ahmed who works with News Movement.
The first formal workshop took place for 15 editors and journalists from Reach.
Snap upgrades AR shopping experience
Snap has announced it will be rolling out “catalog-powered shopping lenses” to make shopping in augmented reality (AR) easier and more engaging for users of the platform.
Snapchatters will be able to see key product information and real-time updated prices, descriptions and colours when they are using “try-on experiences” and they will be able to click unique URLs on the Lens Product Card to make a purchase.
For brands, the new AR shopping lenses are directly linked to a company’s product catalog meaning they can track engagement and trends in real-time.
Ulta Beauty and MAC Cosmetics have been trialling these AR shopping lenses.
Mediabrands introduces 50/50 hybrid working model
From next Monday (31 January), IPG Mediabrands will launch in a “half and half” hybrid model where employees are asked come into the office for the equivalent of 10 out of every 20 days, in “whatever shape” that looks like for them. IPG Mediabrands is IPG’s media services group and includes agencies such as UM, Initiative and Reprise.
Read today’s interview with Richard Morris, CEO UK & Ireland of IPG Mediabrands.
Dentsu: return of travel and car adspend to boost 2022 recovery
Global advertising investment is predicted to grow by 9.2% this year according to latest Global Ad Spend Forecast report.
YouTube CEO considers NFTS for creators in open letter
Susan Wojcicki YouTube CEO suggested the video platform was looking at web3 and NFT technologies as part of its future development.
In an open letter published yesterday she said: “We’re also looking further ahead to the future and have been following everything happening in Web3 as a source of inspiration to continue innovating on YouTube. The past year in the world of crypto, nonfungible tokens (NFTs), and even decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) has highlighted a previously unimaginable opportunity to grow the connection between creators and their fans.”
Tuesday, 25 January
Ofcom names Dawn Airey as Channel 4 interim chair
‘Biggest ever’ female mentoring programme launches
Kepler promotes co-founder and CSO to CEO North America
Digital services provider Kepler has promoted Remy Stiles to newly created role CEO, North America.
Stiles (pictured above) has been working at the company for more than nine years and will now lead a team of more than 600 people in media and consulting across the US, Canada and Costa Rica.
She will report to Joshua Lerman, recently promoted to the new role of Global President.
Kick It Out to work with England and Wales Cricket Board
Football’s leading anti-discrimination organisation has announced it will work with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to “identify and address issues of equality, diversity and inclusion within cricket”.
This “exploratory partnership” will focus on research and forms part of the ECB’s 12-point action plan after allegations of racism came to light at different clubs in the sport over the last year.
Sky and ECB have each donated £100,000 to the intiative.
Eurosport enjoys Australian Open bounce
Streaming platform Discovery+ and Eurosport have reported audience and digital engagement growth across Discovery’s platforms during The Australian Open.
Eurosport’s TV audience has grown 13% (vs 2021) across Europe with viewers increasing in almost every one of its 50 countries and territories. The number of viewers streaming the tournament via discovery+ and Eurosport’s digital services has increased 11% year-on-year during the first four days and opening two rounds.
ITV axes 6pm regional news programme
ITV’s evening national and international news programme will be extended to an hour, with more focus on reporting from outside of London feeding into the programme, to reflect the whole of the UK. The broadcaster currently runs a dedicated regional news programme at 6pm, followed by national and international news at 6.30pm.
ITV soaps are also going to be shuffled: Coronation Street is moving to hour-long episodes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 8pm, while Emmerdale is being given a regular 7.30pm slot.
The changes are due to come into effect in March.
Ex-Unilever VP of global media joins Amplified Intelligence
David Porter (pictured, below) will be joining Amplified Intelligence, the attention measurement platform, as a strategic advisor.
Porter had been at the FMCG company for more than 11 years holding several senior roles, starting out as media director for North Africa and the Middle East and finally moving to vice president of global media.
Prior to this he had positions at Mindshare and MediaCom London and is currently VP, APAC at the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA).
Monday, 24 January
‘Trigger Point’ debuts with 8m peak on ITV
The debut of police thriller Trigger Point on ITV was watched by a peak audience of 8.4 million people last night, according to TV overnights data. The show, produced by Line of Duty and Bodyguard creator Jed Mercurio, yielded a 31% share of audience across ITV and ITV HD on Sunday evening.
In the run-up to the show’s airing at 9pm, ITV promoted Trigger Point by launching a huge countdown clock onto County Hall in London. Once the countdown hit 9pm, a QR code could be scanned to watch Trigger Point on ITV Hub.
ITV Creative worked with Kinetic and Pixel Artworks to create the work.
Good Housekeeping turns 100
Hearst’s Good Housekeeping, the UK’s highest-circulating monthly women’s lifestyle magazine, is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.
To mark its centenary, the title will be celebrating throughout 2022 with a host of “big-name cover stars” and initiatives such as the launch of a live event and its biggest-ever consumer research survey, via the Hearst Panel, which has access to more than 27,000 reader panellists.
News UK unveils TalkTV logo
News UK has revealed the logo for its new TV channel TalkTV ahead of the channel’s launch this Spring.
TalkTV will be streamed live from News UK’s London Bridge headquarters and will be on linear TV and streaming platforms. It is widely expected to be rival to GBNews by offering robust debate and opinion-led features.
Piers Morgan, the former Daily Mirror editor and Good Morning Britain presenter on ITV, has been contracted to host a primetime show which News UK is billing as “a fearless forum for lively debate and agenda-setting interviews”.
News UK Broadcasting executive creative director, Erron Gordon, said: “Our intention was to create a logo that is a bold, clear, recognisable and unique mark, one that stands out and cuts-through the rest of the established news and current affairs ‘noise’.”
m/SIX unveils global strategy chief
Shula Sinclair will join WPP-backed media agency m/SIX as EMEA and worldwide chief strategy officer.
Sinclair will look after multi-market strategy with the ambition of making m/SIX a top-10 agency in every market.
She was previously global head of strategy at Publicis Groupe’s Spark Foundry, after being a a senior partner in global strategy at WPP’s Wavemaker for more than four years.
m/SIX is a joint venture between The&Partnership and GroupM, backed by WPP.
NOW READ: M/SIX elevates Burley and Swayne in leadership shuffle