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Brands Back CGI Influencers |
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Hello CMOs. Each year, YouTube’s marketing department releases a slick “Rewind” video, showcasing the top talent and best videos from the past 12 months.
There are some notable absences this year. Sure, we see Will Smith, K-pop boy band BTS, Fortnite gamer Ninja and the floss dance. But where are PewDiePie, KSI and Logan Paul? Viewers and YouTube creators alike protested that this year’s video isn’t a celebration of the YouTube community, but a cynical showcase of squeaky-clean content designed to appeal to advertisers.
Still, the YouTube Rewind 2018 video has gone down in history: It’s the most disliked video on YouTube ever, overtaking Justin Bieber’s “Baby.” In just over a week, the video has notched 11 million dislikes and and more than 127 million views—a perfect showcase to advertisers of YouTube’s huge, engaged audience. Everyone’s a winner!
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| Future's Made of Virtual Insanity |
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In this Instagram post, an image of the CGI-based personality Lil Miquela was placed into a seemingly real photo from an Oct. 12 event at the Blue Hill at Stone Barns restaurant in Tarrytown, N.Y. The image was posted to the character’s Instagram account on Oct. 15.
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Speaking of controversial YouTubers, working with influencers can be a risky business when the ambassador your brand decides to back gets up to bad behavior.
So why work with humans at all? The Journal takes a look at the making of “Lil Miquela,” a computer-generated character. She has appeared on buildings across the world as part of an Ugg ad campaign, has a ridiculously huge Instagram following and, of course, has released singles on Spotify.
Lil Miquela’s parents, so to speak, are the folks at Brud—a Los Angeles startup that is creating a cast of CGI social-media characters. Often their storylines interweave. Earlier this year, Brud created Miquela’s nemesis, Bermuda, who “hacked” the Lil Miquela account to accuse her of being a “fake a*s” person.
Golf clap, please, for this excellent quote from Cyan Banister, a partner at Founders Fund, which invested in Brud’s seed round: “You can create the Kardashians without any of the inherent issues that come with being human.”
If this is what the future looks like, I'm not sure I want any part of it.
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Elizabeth Olsen, star of the Facebook Watch series "Sorry For Your Loss." PHOTO: JORDAN STRAUSS/ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Facebook’s Watch, the video destination it launched last year, hasn’t quite found its feet as a YouTube competitor just yet. The company said Thursday that Watch has more than 400 million monthly users and 75 million daily visitors.
Impressive numbers, right? Well, Axios’s Sara Fischer did some digging, and it turns out that Facebook calculates a daily active visitor as someone who has watched at least one minute of Watch content—but those seconds don’t need to be consecutive. When TV networks talk about their minute-average audience, they count viewers who watched for 60 consecutive seconds.
Not all Watch content has been resonating with users. The Information reported that Facebook is already talking about cutting funding for some news shows on Watch, just six months after it launched a slate of original content from the likes of CNN and BuzzFeed.
The Information reports that media executives are uncertain how they can continue funding those shows with ad revenue alone, although some have begun discussing other ways to make money, such as sponsorships.
Still, Facebook did also announce that it’s renewing some of its popular original shows, including “Huda Boss” and “Sorry for Your Loss”. And it’s expanding its 15-second commercial break ads to more than a dozen new countries.
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PHOTO: ROBERT GALBRAITH/REUTERS
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Meanwhile, Recode’s Peter Kafka reports that Facebook is talking to HBO, Showtime and Starz about helping those channels sell subscriptions to Facebook users, who would be encouraged to watch on Watch or other Facebook apps.
Facebook would most likely look to keep a cut of the subscription revenue. Amazon has adopted a similar strategy, and Apple is reportedly looking to do something similar next year.
What’s the idea? Shows from the likes of HBO bring more premium gloss to Watch. Plus, big TV networks already spend a lot of money advertising on Facebook. Rather than sending users away when people click on those ads, why not keep them logged in and take a cut of the subscriptions?
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| Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger |
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Nielsen CEO David Kenny. PHOTO: MIKE SHORT/BLOOMBERG NEWS
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Advertising and technology veteran David Kenny became CEO of measurement company Nielsen on Dec. 3, and he’s already in a hurry to get things done faster.
Advertising and media folk have sometimes criticized Nielsen for being slow to keep up with how consumers are viewing content and how advertisers want to measure ads. “I can change that,” Mr. Kenny told Adweek, saying his software background will help “accelerate the pace of product velocity.”
Mr. Kenny suggested that big changes could begin next year. “We’re overdue for going beyond C3 and C7,” he said, referring to the ratings metrics that calculate viewing three days and seven days after a show airs.
Nielsen, of course, is undergoing a strategic review that could result in all or some of its business being sold. Whatever happens, Mr. Kenny promises, “I plan to be here no matter what.”
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“We care deeply, as deep as a company can care about privacy. It’s the foundation of our company, and we want people to know that we care.”
| — Facebook Vice President of Marketing Solutions Carolyn Everson, speaking to Digiday |
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Chevrolet CMO Tim Mahoney plans to retire on March 1. [MediaPost]
Medium had preliminary talks to discuss New York Magazine and other media properties. Medium CEO Evan Williams said the company is going to “significantly increase our investment in original editorial in the next year.” [Bloomberg]
WPP hired Publicis Groupe veteran Laurent Ezekiel as its first chief marketing and growth officer. [Adweek]
Kellogg Chief Growth Officer Clive Sirkin is leaving the company. From January, his role will be filled by Monica McGurk, who joined in July as chief revenue and e-commerce officer. [Ad Age]
Chrysler has sent its $950 million U.S. media business to Publicis Groupe’s Starcom. [Adweek]
The U.K.’s Committee of Advertising Practice, which writes the U.K.’s advertising code, will ban advertisers from presenting gender stereotypes that “are likely to cause harm, or serious or widespread offence,” from June 2019. [Campaign]
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