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100% Media round-up: 14- 18 February

100% Media round-up: 14- 18 February

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, 18 February

DAZN agrees new finance deal

The sports entertainment company, DAZN, has agreed a new financing arrangement with its main shareholder, Access Industries.

Access Industries subscribed to $4.3bn new shares in DAZN to leave it without borrowing at the end of 2021. It has since subscribed to an additional $250m new shares.

DAZN has acquired domestic LaLiga football broadcasting rights in Spain, but its deal to acquire BT Sport in the UK fell through.

NOW READ:

BT and Discovery agree to merge BT Sport and Eurosport

Spotify deal with Joe Rogan worth ‘double’ what previously thought

Spotify’s deal for exclusive hosting rights to The Joe Rogan Experience was worth $200m, two Spotify sources told The New York Times.

Previously it was reported, but never confirmed, that the deal was worth £100m.

This comes as artists like Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and India Arie have withdrawn their music from the streaming platform in protest at the podcast’s alleged Covid misinformation and use of racist language.

Spotify has since removed 70 archived episodes of the podcast, which it acquired in May 2020.

NOW READ:

Audio may be the big Metaverse and commercial winner

Channel 4 launches Winter Paralympics spot

Channel 4 will launch a TV ad tonight to promote its exclusive UK coverage of the Beijing Paralympics 2022.

The 40-second spot will debut on Gogglebox and features first-person view of ParalympicGB alpine skier Millie Knight racing down a ski slope at 70mph with 5% vision.

The campaign continues Channel 4’s Tokyo 2020 Summer Paralympic games message: “to be a Paralympian there’s got to be something wrong with you”.

The trailer will be available with subtitles and audio description for viewers who have those settings activated on their televisions.

Spotify acquires Chartable and Podsights

Spotify has acquired two podcast technology companies to “advance podcast measurement for advertisers and insights for publishers”.

Chartable is a podcast analytics platform and Podsights is a podcast advertising measurement service.

Spotify said it plans to extend its measurement capabilities further to encompass its whole platform, including audio ads within music, video ads, and display ads.

Sir Nick Clegg promoted to Meta head of global affairs and communications

Former Deputy Prime Minister and Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg is now head of global affairs and communications at Meta.

The promotion puts Clegg on the same seniority level as Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer.

Clegg has worked at Facebook since 2018 and will now be responsible for policy decisions and regulatory issues.

Criteo appoints chief revenue officer from GroupM

Criteo has hired Brian Gleason as its new chief revenue officer.

Gleason (pictured, above) will start in the role on 1 April and be responsible for a team of 1,500 and focus on Criteo’s Commerce Media Platform solutions.

He was previously global chief commercial officer at WPP’s media investment arm GroupM and prior to that was CEO of Xaxis.

Thursday, 17 February

Publicis Media poaches Finecast’s Hall

Publicis Media has hired Rachel Hall to lead the media agency group’s recently-launched Advanced TV solution in the UK, PMX Lift.

Hall will report to Steve Bignell (pictured, centre), CEO of the trading and investment practice of Publicis Media, Publicis Media Exchange (PMX). She spent almost seven years at WPP’s advanced TV business, Finecast, where she helped launch and scale the business in the UK.

Publicis Media has also promoted Starcom’s head of investment John Heather to the new role of PMX Head of Trading.

Havas Media promotes James to global transformation chief

Havas Media Group has promoted Greg James to Global Chief Transformation Officer, effective immediately. He was most recently global chief strategy officer.

James will be responsible for the newly formed Strategic Development and Client Experience team, a global hub focused on leading future-forward strategic growth initiatives for the agency and clients. His remit includes serving as executive sponsor on Havas Media Group’s largest global accounts, while also driving operational and strategic client experience excellence across the agency’s portfolio.

He is credited by the agency as the mastermind behind the agency network’s Meaningful Media proposition and Mx system, the agency network’s globally consistent operating model.

Disney+ UK subs grew 5% in final quarter of 2021

The number of UK households with access to a subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service rose in the final quarter of 2021 to above 19 million homes for the first time, latest Barb figures show.

In Q4 2021, 19.1 million homes (66.9% of households), had access to a paid streaming platform up from 65.8% in the third quarter.

Disney+ showed the largest increase in the number of homes with access to its service, up 5% in Q4 to 5.5 million homes. Now TV also grew by 1% to 2.06 million homes.

Quarterly growth for Netflix was less than 1% to 16.8 million homes, with a similar marginal increase for Amazon Prime Video (12.6 million homes). 

The number of homes that subscribe to two or more SVOD services rose to 12.4 million homes (43.3%) in Q4 2021, up from 12.3 million homes (43.1%) in Q3.  

Yet another survey shows lack of diversity in UK media

British media and advertising is failing to adequately represent minority groups, according to a study from social media agency We Are Social and entertainment company Wattpad.

The findings include:
  • Only 15% of respondents of diverse ethnic heritage felt their ethnic identity was well represented in media and advertising
  • Only 15% of respondents with a disability felt their ability was well represented in media and advertising
  • Almost 60% of respondents saw themselves represented on social media – the highest scoring media type in the survey.

Wednesday, 16 February

UK media inflation predicted to increase in 2022

The net cost of buying media across all channels in the UK is forecast to increase to 4.4% in 2022, according to latest forecasts.

This is in comparison to UK media inflation at 3.4% last year.

ECI Media Management’s annual Media Inflation Report predicts global and regional media inflation for TV, online display, online video, newspapers, magazines, OOH and radio.

Ocean Outdoor reports £124.4m full-year 2021 group revenue

Ocean Outdoor has reported full-year group revenue at £124.4m, a 44.3% increase on the previous year.

In its full-year earnings results, it highlights “power brands” and new adopters committing budgets to digital out-of-home from Q2 of last year when Covid restrictions lifted contributing to its bounce back from the pandemic.

Also, its rollout of its 3D product DeepScreen across its full motion portfolio, an exclusive long-term £30m contract with the Canary Wharf Group and a partnership with Edinburgh’s St James Quarter £1bn regeneration project contributed.

The digital out-of-home operator works across the UK, the Netherlands, the Nordics and Germany.

READ MORE:  ‘Interest and offers’ made for recovering Ocean Outdoor

The Trade Desk turns off Google Open Bidding

The Trade Desk has launched a new product giving advertisers direct access to premium digital inventory and will turn off Google Open Bidding as a result.

OpenPath integrates publishers directly into The Trade Desk and “ensures transparent price competition and maximises value for both advertisers and publishers”, said Jeff Green, co-founder of The Trade Desk.

Publishers joining OpenPath currently include Reuters, The Washington Post, Gannett | USA Today Network, Conde Nast, McClatchy, Hearst Magazines, Hearst Newspapers, Advance Local, MediaNews Group, Tribune Publishing, Nexstar Digital and CafeMedia.

Tuesday, 15 February

Discovery UK looks to introduce ‘Ad-Lite’ subscription option

Discovery UK has announced plans to bring an ‘Ad-Lite’ offering to discovery+ customers in the UK and Ireland.

From 16 March onwards, the discovery+ Entertainment Pass will feature limited ads and be priced lower at £3.99 a month while the Entertainment & Sport Pass will remain ad-free on demand.

This follows a successful launch of “Ad-Lite” in the US with the intention to roll out the “Ad-Lite” disocvery+ product across EMEA later this year.

DCM picks specialist KBH for cinema OOH push

KBH Group will be responsible for digital and classic six-sheets in high-traffic areas such as cinema entrances and foyers.

Meta and the NCTJ expands regional journalism initiative

Meta’s Community News Project has added 14 new publishers, 18 reporter roles and £6m funding.

The scheme with the NCTJ to train regional journalists to report on under-represented communities now has 23 participating publishers.

Canada publishers want Google and Meta to pay for news by end of June

Canadian publishers have said they want Australian-style legislation which would make Google and Meta pay for journalism, according to reports in Press Gazette.

In the Canadian Parliament, Paul Deegan, chief executive of News Media Canada, said he is expecting a media bargaining code to be announced by the government “very soon” and hopes royal assent could be given in June. 

Previously, it was reported this could mean Google and Meta would need to pay Canadian publishers between £100m and £150m a year.

Monday, 14 February

Snap introduces mid-roll ads in Snap Star Stories

Snap plans to roll out a new tool to give creators a share of revenue generated from ads within Public stories later this year.

Snap has been beta testing this format with creators in the US which it says “lowers the barrier to content creation and engagement”.

This could also represent a new “high-value placement” opportunity for advertisers.

Snap has also introduced Spotlight Snaps, Spotlight Challenges, Gifting, the Creator Marketplace, and syndicated Shows on Discover in the last year to help creators using its platform.

Carat UK chooses new CEO

Clare Chapman starts as CEO of Carat UK today.

Chapman (pictured, above) will report to Hamish Nicklin, CEO of media, and be responsible for leading and growing the media agency across its six UK offices.

She joins from Essence where she was most recently EVP head of media for EMEA.

She has previous roles at Maxus, Havas Media UK, MPG, Mediavest Manchester and Universal McCann.

Organic hires new head of paid media

Digital agency Organic has appointed Dids Reeve as head of paid media.

Reeve (pictured, above ) will report into operations director Charlie Lycett-Smith and will be responsible for the agency’s media clients such as Capita, Improve International and Honestly Tasty.

Most recently, she has worked at AccuraCast, and prior to that had roles at Launch Online and Fluid Branding Limited.

Dentsu Group organic growth ‘ahead of expectations’ for 2021

Dentsu Group’s organic growth across the group was at 13.1% according to its latest full year financial results.

Full year 2021 revenues were higher than those for 2019 and the report found underlying operating profit for 2021 was 27.2% higher than pre-pandemic.

Revenues in Q4 2021 were also ahead of predictions due to “increased spend from existing clients across the group”.

Dentsu Japan Network organic growth was 17.3% and Dentsu International was 12.1% in the last quarter.

The Dentsu Group expects slightly lower organic growth in 2022 of 17.7% because of “investment in future growth”.

Amazon and Spotify consider acquiring podcast platform Audioboom

Amazon and Spotify have both been looking at taking over Audioboom, and may make formal offers soon, Sky News reported today.

The London-listed podcasting company has a market capitalisation of more than £275m and seen its shares go up more than five times in the last year as podcasts have grown in popularity over the pandemic.

IAB UK calls for advertisers to stop using click-through rates

IAB UK has launched a Valentine’s Day campaign for advertisers to “find their strategy soulmate” and ditch click-through rates.

This is part of ongoing efforts to showcase different digital metrics available that can show a fuller picture to advertisers.

Women’s Aid launches Valentine’s Day ‘Love is Not…’ campaign

Women’s Aid has launched a nationwide digital out-of-home and social campaign to highlight the danger of unhealthy relationships and coercive control (pictured, below).

This comes as records of coercive control offences have been rising (+50% between 2015 and 2020), with the pandemic exacerbating the problem with 41% more users reaching out to Women’s Aid Live Chat for help on the issue in the first two weeks of lockdown.

Creative was done pro-bono by Engine Creative and media was donated by Ocean Outdoor and Rapport.

UK watchdog receives commitments from Google on cookies

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has secured “legally binding commitments” from Google to address competition concerns over its Privacy Sandbox.

The CMA announced it will work with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) to supervise Google as it moves into the next phase  of the Privacy Sandbox development.

It said Google will now engage in “a more transparent process” with involvement of third parties and publication of sandbox test results.

It also stated Google will not remove third-party cookies until the CMA can be shown competition concerns have been addressed.

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