Why examining memes and social media is important

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin One of the biggest narratives out of TV’s recent Upfront ad showcases was the growing importance of social-media giants YouTube and TikTok for even the biggest and most traditional brands seeking more effective ways to reach elusive younger viewers. At YouTube’s first appearance at the Upfronts, its executives claimed that it attracts more than 50% of watchtime for the booming Connected TV market . Days before that, the company reported a 14% jump in ad revenues for the quarter. A just-released survey of 2,000 social-video users by Channel Factory found that 56% of respondents said they turn to YouTube videos to relax, and 62% rely on YouTube over other services. TikTok has a powerful pitch too. It attracts more than twice the view time of Netflix NFLX , as NYU marketing professor and commentator Scott Galloway noted in a recent analysis . Even Netflix Co-CEO Reed Hastings has acknowledged in investor letters … [Read more...] about As Social-Video Ad Metrics Become More Vital, Tubular Names Digital Veteran Greg Coleman As CEO

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin By coincidence, a turn of events on Monday helped lay a bit of groundwork to justify an expansion of sorts by finance media company TheStreet , which is launching a new cryptocurrency-focused media brand — as well as expanding the availability of crypto coverage on its own website. Rob Barrett, president of media for TheStreet parent company Maven, said in an interview ahead of Wednesday’s launch that the new offering fits right into the slipstream of a few different industry trends. The editorial expansion includes Crypto Investor , a new subscription-based weekly newsletter product (priced at $29.99/month, or $299.99 annually) geared toward both retail and institutional investors that will chronicle the adoption of Bitcoin on Wall Street. That newsletter, developed in concert with BTC Inc. — the publisher and venture group behind Bitcoin Magazine — will also complement a new dedicated channel on TheStreet’s … [Read more...] about TheStreet Launches A New Cryptocurrency Media Brand, As The Market Tops $2 Trillion

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Iconic Sports Illustrated covers Courtesy Sports Illustrated Earlier this week, Sports Illustrated was acquired by Authentic Brands Group LLC for $110 million. If you’re not familiar with it, Authentic Brands Group owns brands but doesn’t make any products itself. Authentic Brands licenses its brands out to other companies that make and sell the products to retailers and consumers. It is the owner of many brands you probably know, including Nautica , Juicy , Prince (tennis), Hickey Freeman , Spyder and others. Authentic Brands is big; it says the retail sales volume of the brands it owns is over $9 billion. You may be asking yourself, what does Sports Illustrated have to do with men’s suits and women’s fashion? That’s what makes the deal so interesting. Consumers are changing, and what they want from brands and retailers is changing too. In the past, a brand stood for just its products and the … [Read more...] about Why The Acquisition Of Sports Illustrated Is Important

At first glance, it makes little sense. It’s a black sphere with a thin strip of rainbow pulsating LEDs. Maybe it’s something crafted in the deepest dungeons of Sony without the suits finding out, like the Rolly–conceptual masturbation more than a consumer good, something made mostly because it could be. advertisement advertisement In reality, it’s the Nexus Q , Google’s remarkably practical spherical media streamer. It has the guts of a tablet–in fact, the same internal horsepower as you’ll find in the Nexus 7 along with an amplifier–and the body of a sci-fi bocce ball. Look closer, and it does have “buttons” of a sort. Twisting the unit can change the volume, and tapping it will mute the machine. Its only design nod to the year 2012 is a slew of cords pouring out its back for speakers, home automation, HD videos, and even “general hackability,” as Google mentioned in their press conference. With so few identifiable features, the Q becomes something … [Read more...] about Google’s Nexus Q Teases A Future Of Smart, Social Hardware

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Elon Musk appears to have gotten cold feet about buying Twitter TWTR , and is now serving up the excuse that they are putting forth false statistics on user numbers, while offering up that 20% of their accounts are fake or spam versus the company’s claim they are under 5% despite Musk having no proof of the 20% number. In fact, this is likely a guess and comes out of left field as he fires off tweets like “My offer was based on Twitter’s SEC filings being accurate,” sending a turd emoji to Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal and suggesting the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) conduct an investigation into Twitter. This could backfire, as the SEC filed charges in 2019 against Mus k for falsely tweeting, “considering taking Tesla TSLA private at $420/share. Funding secured. Mr. Musk settled with the SEC, paying $20 million personally and $20 million from Tesla and agreeing to run certain Twitter posts by … [Read more...] about Is Twitter Really Worth $46.5 Billion Dollars?

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin With upfront presentations occurring this month, marketers will have the opportunity to negotiate advertising time on Disney+ and Netflix. Both SVO VO D providers announced an ad supported tier will become available by year end. Disney+ and Netflix join HBO Max which launched an ad supported version last June as well as Peacock, Paramount+, Hulu and others. There is the possibility that in the months ahead Apple TV+ and Amazon Prime Video may soon open its doors to Madison Avenue. To find out what brands have an affinity with selected streaming programs and their audiences, Diesel Labs , a content intelligence company using social media and other sources provided a few insights. Diesel Labs measured the audience and percentage of brand engagement for several streaming programs, many of them to be available for sponsorships and/or ad messages this year. Diesel Labs points out that streaming platforms know which … [Read more...] about The Advertisers With Strong Affinity On Netflix, Disney+ & HBO Max Programs

If you’re an active social media user, perhaps you’ve noticed a surge in posts recently about paprika , reflective shaving glasses and castle hospitality in Transylvania . One hundred twenty-five years after its initial publication, Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” is having a resurgence. advertisement The current popularity bump is thanks to an email newsletter called “ Dracula Daily .” The original 1897 version of “Dracula” was told in epistolary format, meaning the novel’s plot is presented through journal entries, letters, newspaper articles and the like. Matt Kirkland hit on a simple idea : Release the novel “Dracula” by entry, by date. Subscribers to his Substack newsletter receive messages in their inboxes day by day as the vampire tale unfolds in real time. If there’s no action on that date, there’s no message sent. “Dracula Daily” has become the coolest book club on the internet , taking Tumblr, especially, by storm . As a Dracula and vampire scholar … [Read more...] about How a Substack newsletter gave Dracula a new lease on life

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin (DON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images) A small bronze sculpture of a little girl in a defiant pose has garnered enormous worldwide attention since it first appeared in early March on the eve of International Women’s Day on Wall Street. “Fearless Girl” stands facing iconic sculpture “Charging Bull,” created decades ago by artist Arturo di Modica; she was conceived by State Street Global Advisors, the asset-management business of State Street Corp., and its advertising agency, McCann Worldwide. As much as it has received attention, providing the perfect selfie sidekick for curious visitors and beloved by supporters of its intended message of empowerment and hope, it has nevertheless spurred controversy too. For one thing, some people didn’t react well when it became clear that it was a marketing move on the part of SSGA to promote the appointment of women on corporate boards and, via a plaque on the ground in front of … [Read more...] about ‘Fearless Girl’: State Street Global Advisors’ CMO On The Rationale, The Controversy And What’s Next

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin The problem, in recent years, is that there aren’t enough people who care about it. The hard-hitting observation—and partial truth—was a line in “What Will Become of Sports Illustrated?” published in The Ringer on April 11, 2018. As much a part of the American fabric as baseball, hot dogs and apple pie, Sports Illustrated , the go-to source for sports for more than 60 years, “seems to be dying” penned Michael MacCambridge, who also wrote The Franchise: A History Of Sports Illustrated Magazine a decade prior. At the time, he wasn’t lying. Sports Illustrated publisher Time Inc. laid off or bought out 300 employees in June 2017. Magazine subscribers were down from 3.2 million a decade prior to 2.75 million. The once-weekly magazine trimmed its number of issues from 50 to 46 in 2016, then again to 38 a year later. SI was reduced to a biweekly publication in 2018 as subscribers and advertisers abandoned print … [Read more...] about Sports Illustrated ‘Is On Fire Right Now’

When the draft of a Supreme Court decision that would overturn Roe v. Wade was leaked to the press, many of us who have been studying privacy for vulnerable individuals came to a troubling realization: The marginalized and vulnerable populations whose online risks have been the subject of our attention are likely to grow exponentially. These groups are poised to encompass all women of child-bearing age, regardless of how secure and how privileged they may have imagined themselves to be. advertisement advertisement In overturning Roe , the anticipated decision would not merely deprive women of reproductive control and physical agency as a matter of constitutional law, but it would also change their relationship with the online world. Anyone in a state where abortion becomes illegal who relies on the internet for information, products and services related to reproductive health would be subject to online policing. As a researcher who studies … [Read more...] about How online data could be used against people seeking abortions if Roe v. Wade falls