Media Beat: August 10, 2020
The latest from Ad Contrarian Bob Hoffman
A lot has happened since I began my self-imposed exile last month.
By David Farrell
The latest from Ad Contrarian Bob Hoffman
A lot has happened since I began my self-imposed exile last month.
- Most fun of all was the Congressional puppet show in which some of the world's most wealthy bullshit artists tested their bullshitting skills against some the world's most pompous bullshit artists. Everyone lost.
- Facebook beat the ad industry in the July "ad boycott" war by a score of 100 to 0. This means we'll get token changes at the social network and another disreputable election.
- From Wired this week: "If you really want to follow the money behind online hate and disinformation, you have to understand programmatic display advertising." Bingo!
- The ad industry has felt pretty comfortable ignoring the feckless GDPR and CCPA. But now that Apple and Google are taking steps to do something about the scourge of third party tracking, the industry is getting nervous. At the instigation of the ANA, they have created an association that includes major advertisers and trade associations (excluding Apple and Google.) It is pompously called the “Partnership for Responsible Addressable Media.” It should be called the "Conspiracy for Sanitized Surveillance."
Stu Jeffries: Mornings on Boom 97.3
You definitely remember Stu Jeffries from Good Rockin' Tonight if you watched CBC between 1985-1993. His radio path is the kind of stuff dreams are made of. At one point he was told he was no longer wanted but just fill in until we find someone. Turns out he was the person after all. He hosts mornings on Boom 97.3 in Toronto and you can hear his enthusiasm for radio which started way back in Winnipeg in the 70's listening to stations like CFRW. – Matt Cundill, SoundOff Media Co.
BCE reports Q2 results
BCE operating revenue was $5,354 million, down 9.1% compared to Q2 2019, due to reduced consumer and commercial activity as COVID-19 negatively impacted financial results across all Bell operating segments. This was comprised of 7.5% lower service revenue of $4,800 million and 20.7% lower product revenue of $554 million.
Total media operating revenue decreased by 31.2% to $579 million due to lower year-over-year advertising and subscriber revenues.
Advertising revenue declined materially on reduced advertiser spending across all platforms – TV, radio, out of home and digital, due to the impact of COVID-19 on commercial activity, the suspension of major league sports schedules and the cancellation of other live events. – BCE earnings report
Canadian Assoc. of Journalists corrects Global layoff numbers
In a news release, With Global layoffs, Canadians losing out on vital journalism during Covid 19, issued 23-Jul-2020 by Canadian Association of Journalists over PR Newswire, “we are advised by the company that several changes were made. Furthermore, the original version of this press release stated that Global had laid off 70 journalists from across its operations. Global claims that number is incorrect but declined to say how many people were laid off. The complete, corrected release follows … - Canada News Wire
CAB seeks new president
At a time when it’s looking to revitalize its organization in the face of many challenges facing broadcasters, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) is looking for a new president to be a strong voice in Ottawa and a tireless advocate for the country’s broadcasting industry. The CAB’s de facto president Sylvie Bissonnette (officially the association’s CFO and vice-president of finance and administration) is retiring in November. The job ad for the new president’s position is posted here on Cartt.ca. Bilingualism is a mandatory requirement for this national role. Executive search firm Boyden is assisting the CAB … CARTT (subscription needed)
An MPE player webinar for Canadian radio
In this webinar Play MPE consultant Stephanie Friedman covers the Player's main functionalities, new additions and shares tips for best practices.
Jordan Bitove and Paul Rivett explain how they came to buy Torstar and what they hope to do next
“Our goal is to change the conversation. Give journalists the tools to do the job. It can’t be fun coming in there every day wondering, is this the day they shut off the lights? Who’s being fired today? It’s about giving support and a vision for where we’re going, which I think has been lacking,’’ Bitove says. – Rosie DiManno, The Star
This moon landing news report is a fake
The MIT’s Center for Advanced Virtuality created the false Nixon video using an A.I. app that combines real footage with an actor’s reading of an unused speech that was actually prepared in case tragedy struck. The video, titled In the Event of Moon Disaster, was cooked up last year, but the MIT team put it online this week to mark the 51st anniversary of the July 20, 1969 moon landing.
The MIT team says it’s meant to serve as a warning of the coming wave of impressively realistic deepfake false videos about to hit us that use A.I. to convincingly reproduce the appearance and sound of real people (you may remember this deepfake of former President Obama from a few years ago). –– Aaron Pressman, Fortune Data Sheet
Noteworthy
Jeff Bezos Sells One Million Amazon Shares Worth $3.1 Billion
Forbes’ first-ever list of TikTok’s highest-paid stars
Roku loss grows despite 65% streaming hours hike
How the media is preparing for an election night that could go on for weeks
Spotify still has a long runway ahead
Here’s how much money Disney’s Star Wars films actually earned the Mouse House
In a State of Emergency, the President can control your phone, your TV, and even your light switches
News Corp seeks ‘carriage fees’ from Google, Facebook in Australia
Joey Zhang's phone number links her to the fake rally in support of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou
