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100% Media Roundup: 7 March- 11 March

100% Media Roundup: 7 March- 11 March

Introducing today’s digest of stories from around the media world, updated by The Media Leader team to ensure you’re 100% up-to-date.

Friday, 11 March

Russia moves to ban Instagram for “extremist activities”

The Russian state media watchdog, Roskomnadzor, has announced it intends to ban Instagram in the country.

This comes after Instagram’s parent company, Meta changed, its hate speech policies in the region allowing posts referring to violence against Vladimir Putin and Russian soldiers which would usually be against its rules.

However, it said it would not allow calls for violence against Russian civilians.

Russian spokespeople described this change of policy as “extremist activities” that led to inciting “mass riots accompanied by violence”.

Last week Facebook was banned in Russia for “discrimination” against Russian media.

Reporters Without Borders campaign against government censorship uses “their own media against them”

Reporters Without Borders have launched “The Truth Wins” to give people in Russia, Turkey and Brazil access to independent journalists using lottery numbers.

People in these countries can search winning national lottery numbers on Twitter and other social media sites to be directed to sources of current, independent journalism that would normally be censored.

This is made possible through uncensorable blockchain networks and constantly changing access codes.

Reporters Without Borders said Russia, Turkey and Brazil are most responsible for “forcing Twitter to quash dissident voices”, disinformation and journalist harassment.

Agencies involved were DDB Germany and Hyperinteractive.

ISBA searches for new CEO of Origin

ISBA has announced today it will start looking for a CEO of Origin, the UK cross-media measurement initiative.

Pandora and Ancestry trial QR ads with ITV AdLabs

Pandora and Ancestry have become the first advertisers to use ITV’s QR ads format.

NOW READ:

Pandora and Ancestry trial QR ads with ITV AdLabs

The AA’s Media Business Course calls for brands to submit a brief for delegates

The Advertising Association has opened submissions for brands to send briefs for its Media Business Course delegates.

The Media Business Course will be taking place between 5 and 8 July this year and open to those with four to five years’ industry experience.

Previously, attendees of the three-day event have tackled communications briefs from Domino’s, Yorkshire Tea, and easyJet.

The deadline for brands to submit a brief by 31 March which can be done via this link.

Mediatel Media Research award winners

The ISBA / AOP / PwC programmatic supply chain transparency study  and media agency OMD UK took home multiple awards for their media research projects.

Read more on this story here. 

Netflix increases subscription price for UK & Ireland

Netflix is raising the prices of both of its subscription packages for UK and Ireland customers.

The price for its deal which allows people to watch shows like Bridgerton and The Crown on two screens simultaneously, in HD and download them on two devices will be £10.99 a month.

The basic package which allows viewers to watch and download shows on one screen or device at a time will go up by £1 to £6.99.

Pinterest expands trends and shopping tools

Pinterest wants to be known as “the most positive place on the internet” and launched several tools at Pinterest Presents yesterday.

“Checkout” and “Pinterest API” are currently in their beta phases. The first allow shoppers to purchase products from select merchants directly on Pinterest’s platform and the second permits retailers and advertisers to integrate with Pinterest’s first-party data.

“Idea Ads” is also in beta and monetises “Idea Pins” where creators can promote products from partners in their feed.

The “Trends” tool lets creators and advertisers in the US, Canada and the UK identify topics before they trend to prepare content to better engage with users.

Meta temporarily changes hate speech policy for users in eastern Europe and Caucasus

Facebook and Instagram users in some countries will be permitted to call for violence against Russians and Russian soldiers as their parent company temporarily changes hate speech policy.

These are only allowed in the context of the Ukraine invasion and Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia and Ukraine.

The policy change also temporarily allows some posts calling for the death of Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and his ally, Belarussian president, Alexander Lukashenko.

“As a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine we have temporarily made allowances for forms of political expression that would normally violate our rules, like violent speech such as ‘death to the Russian invaders’. We still won’t allow credible calls for violence against Russian civilians,” Meta said in a statement.

Thursday, 10 March

SkyShowtime announces leadership team ahead of European streaming launch later this year

SkyShowtime CEO Monty Sarhan has appointed a senior leadership team ahead of launch in 20 European markets.

Francesca Pierce has been named as chief financial officer and Jen McAleer as chief brand officer, both joining from Sky.

While Josh Snow and Richard Howard join as chief product officer and chief marketing officer respectively from senior positions at NBCUniversal.

SkyShowtime’s platform will host more than 10,000 hours of content including television premieres of first-run theatrical films from Paramount and Universal, new scripted series from Showtime, Paramount+, Sky Studios, and Peacoc,; local original programming, kids and family programming from Nickelodeon, DreamWorks, and Illumination, and a library of films and franchises from the Universal and Paramount catalogues.

SkyShowtime is planned to launch in Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Kosovo, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.

Dentsu wins Santander Europe and USA media account

Two Dentsu agencies have won Santander’s media buying in Europe and the US after a competitive pitch.

Carat has retained Santander’s UK business for 20 years as they worked with Santander’s predecessor Abbey before its rebrand in 2005.

Carat will also work on Santander media in Spain and Portugal, while Dentsu X will be responsible for Poland and the US.

JCDecaux revenue grows nearly 19% in 2021

JCDecaux, the outdoor advertising company, reported adjusted group revenue of €2.74bn in its full year financial results for 2021.

This is an increase of 18.7% (+18.5% on an organic basis) compared to the previous year with “very strong digital revenue growth”.

JCDecaux’s digital out-of-home (DOOH) grew by 33.2% in the twelve months to December 2021, making up over a quarter (26.9%) of group revenue.

The group also reported its programmatic advertising through the VIOOH platform is now trading in 15 countries, connected to multiple demand side platforms.

JCDecaux predicted organic revenue growth of above +40% for Q1 2022 driven by Europe, UK, US, rest of the world while Asia-Pacific revenue growth is lower due to ongoing mobility restrictions.

ITV appoints Andrew Cosslett as its new chair

ITV has appointed Andrew Cosslett to succeed Sir Peter Bazalgette as chair.

Cosslett (pictured- left) will join the ITV board as independent non-executive director and chair designate from 1 June 2022 and will become non-executive chair from 29 September 2022.

He is chair of Kingfisher, an international home improvement company, and was formerly chief executive of InterContinental Hotels Group and chair of the Rugby Football Union.

The current chair Sir Peter Bazalgette is stepping down after being in the role for six years.

Bazalgette was also on the ITV board for nine years.

IAB Europe publishes updated third party cookie guide

IAB Europe’s Programmatic Trading Committee (PTC) has published an updated guide to the post third-party cookie era for brands, agencies, publishers and tech intermediaries.

The guide offers alternative solutions that are being developed to replace third-party cookies when they are deprecated in 2023 such as context, identity, the use of telco data and Google Topics.

The 78-page report is available to download online and also covers the contributing factors to the depletion of third-party cookers, impact on measurement and ad verification.

Wednesday, 9 March

Total Media offers carbon neutral ad campaigns

Total Media says it is the first and only independent media agency in the UK to offer its clients completely carbon neutral advertising campaigns.

The agency has partnered with a climate solutions agency to assess the environmental impact of previous media campaigns and calculate carbon offsetting.

Total Media acquired B-Corp status last year and announced its operations are carbon neutral, three years ahead of their 2025 target.

ITV makes media for equity investment in carwow

ITV has announced its plans to invest new car marketplace carwow and in exchange it will provide advertising inventory across ITV’s channels and ITV Hub.

ITV will acquire a minority stake in carwow valued at  £2.5m with an option to invest a further £2.5m.

This is the fourth investment of its kind since 2021 for the broadcaster.

carwow launched in June 2021 and is reported to be Europe’s biggest new car buying marketplace and the fastest-growing consumer-to-trade selling service.

NewsUK unveils Piers Morgan Uncensored

News UK revealed Piers Morgan’s new global show will be called Piers Morgan Uncensored and launch later this spring.

The sixty-minute show will air on weeknights on TalkTV in the UK, FOX Nation in the US and Sky News Australia.

UK viewers will be able to access the new channel TalkTV live or on-demand on linear and OTT with content also livestreamed on social media and NewsUK’s websites and apps.

Morgan has said he wants to “cancel the Cancel culture” and “annoy all the right people” with his return to live TV.

Bidstack and Xaxis announce global partnership

Bidstack, the in-game advertising specialist, and Xaxis, GroupM’s outcome media specialist, will work together to deliver in-game advertising solutions.

Through the partnership, Xaxis will have access to Bidstack’s portfolio of “seamless” in-game ad formats (pictured- main image), brand experiences and global supply of programmatic inventory with exclusive titles  Dirt 5, Football Manager 2022, and Top Eleven.

This inventory will be available across mobile, PC, cloud gaming and VR formats with additional supply for console being added imminently.

DCMS announces open consultation on online advertising

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport will carry out an open consultation on paid-for online advertising.

The Online Advertising Programme will examine the regulatory framework of paid-for online advertising and “the evident lack of transparency and accountability across the whole supply chain”.

The consultation closes on 1 June 2022.

Online-born businesses take 20% linear TV adspend in 2021

Total TV ad investment in the UK increased to £5.46bn in 2021 an increase of 24% compared to the previous year.

Read more on this story here.

ITV restructures commissioning team

ITV has brought in genre-based commissioning to support its move to one content budget across platforms and a “digital-first windowing strategy”.

Paul Mortimer will be in charge of a commissioning department as director of reality and acquisitions and continue in his role as controller of ITV2, CITV and ITVBe.

Mortimer will be responsible for commissioning shows in this genre for younger audiences and acquisitions in the lead-up to ITVX’s launch.

He will oversee head of acquisitions, Sasha Breslau, and acquisitions manager for film and kids, Darren Nartey.

Amanda Stavri, commissioner of Love Island and The Cabins, and Peter Tierney will also move to the reality and acquisitions team.

The drama, comedy, entertainment and factual entertainment teams will continue to commission for ITVX and for ITV, ITV2, ITVBe and CITV.

Read more on ITVX here. 

Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Starbucks and McDonalds suspend business in Russia

Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, McDonalds and Starbucks have joined other brands in suspending their operations in Russia.

This comes as the companies were criticised for still operating in Russia over a week after the invasion of Ukraine.

The Premier League and EFL have also suspended their broadcast deals in Russia in response to the conflict.

Outvertising reopens applications for LGBTQ+ mentorship scheme

The six month programme gives support to those who are LGBTQ+ at the beginning of their careers and has opened applications for mentors and mentees.

Read more on this story here.

Tuesday, 8 March

Channel 4 highlights issue of “Manterruption” on air for International Women’s Day

Channel 4’s female continuity announcers will be interrupted on air today to highlight research that revealed men interrupt women 33% more often than when they are talking to other men.

The interrupted announcements will run on Channel 4 and All 4 all day for International Women’s Day.

The channel will also use the hashtag #LetHerFinish.

All In announces “how to” sessions on workplace inclusion

The UK advertising industry’s inclusion initiative, All In, has announced registrations are open for new sessions on improving experience and representation of women, Asian talent and older talent.

Read more on this story here. 

HBO Max launches in 15 additional European countries

HBO Max, the streaming platform for Warner Media, is now available in 61 territories globally.

The service launched today in the Netherlands, Portugal, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Slovakia, and Slovenia.

It is set to roll out in Turkey, Greece, Iceland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania later this year.

Wunderman Thompson UK launches peer-to-peer mentoring app for women

Wunderman Thompson UK has designed and created an app called Magpie to link women mentors and mentees.

Magpie will match women across the business based on the mentor’s expertise and the mentee’s needs across 15 themes from maternity and motherhood, leadership, building your personal brand and managing stress.

It is integrated into Microsoft Teams and mentoring can be accessed on an ad hoc basis.

The app will launch at an event today hosted by RISE, the agency’s network for women.

Publicis Groupe UK creates film to break the bias around menopause

Publicis Groupe UK has made a film for International Women’s Day to raise awareness of the mental and physical effects of menopause.

The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day is “Break the Bias” and the film shows several diverse experiences of menopause and highlights a gap in workplace policy around supporting people through this change.

Publicis Groupe UK launched a menopause policy and training last year.

Monday, 7 March

Wavemaker UK appoints new head of innovation

Rozzi Merrington  has joined Wavemaker UK as head of innovation, replacing Sarah Salter who was made Wavemaker’s global head of applied innovation earlier this year.

Merrington (pictured- above) will report into chief strategy officer Verra Budimlija and be responsible for innovation, insight and digital solution strategies.

Most recently she worked at Voxly Digital where she was head of innovation strategy and also had roles at M&C Saatchi network and co-founded Send Me a Sample, a voice-activated sampling platform.

Sainsbury’s to sponsor Channel 4’s The Great British Bake Off

Channel 4 has announced today Sainsbury’s will be the exclusive broadcast sponsor of The Great British Bake Off franchise.

Sainsbury’s Taste The Difference range will replace Aldi as broadcast sponsor on the upcoming thirteenth series with Prue Leith, Paul Hollywood, Matt Lucas and Noel Fielding (pictured- above) as well as Bake Off: An Extra Slice, Bake Off: The Professionals, Junior Bake Off, festive and charity specials for Stand Up to Cancer on Channel 4 and All 4.

Channel 4 says this “marks the biggest sponsorship deal of the show to date” which was negotiated by 4Sales and Sainsbury’s media agency PHD.

TikTok blocks livestreaming and uploading content in Russia

Bytedance-owned video-sharing platform TikTok has announced it will restrict its services in Russia.

This is to safeguard TikTok users and employees from potential recriminations after a change to the criminal code was passed last week making it a crime punishable by 15 years in prison to spread “misinformation” about the invasion of Ukraine.

Streaming giant Netflix has also completely suspended its subscription service in Russia.

This comes as many western companies withdraw from the country.

BBC, CNN and other local and global news outlets suspend operations in Russia

Global news providers like the BBC, CNN, CBS News, Bloomberg and more have suspended their reporting in Russia to protect their journalists from reprisals.

A new law introduced in Russia last week makes the spreading of “fake information” about the invasion of Ukraine or calling for sanctions against the country punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

 BBC director-general Tim Davie said in a statement: “This legislation appears to criminalise the process of independent journalism. It leaves us no other option than to temporarily suspend the work of all BBC News journalists and their support staff within the Russian Federation while we assess the fill implications of this unwelcome development.”

Russia blocks Facebook

Russia’s communications regulator, Roskomnadzor, has banned Facebook citing 26 cases of discrimination against Russian media.

This is a step up from when the platform was just restricted along with Twitter.

During the conflict in Ukraine, Meta has restricted Kremlin-backed outlets across the European Union and demoted or fact-checked similar content from Russia Today and Sputnik.

WPP withdraws its operations from Russia

Holding group WPP announced last week it will discontinue operations in Russia.

The board decided it “WPP’s ongoing presence in Russia would be inconsistent with our values as a company”.

In a statement, WPP said it has nearly 1400 people in Russia and regrets the impact this will have on these colleagues but they will provide support and work closely with clients and partners as they discontinue their activities in the country.

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