Reverberate: Media and marketing news you need to know today – Alibaba funds Snapchat, Rakuten backs Lyft & Jay Z gets streaming app
Morning all, here’s a glimpse at all the media and marketing news you should know today.
1. Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba looks to invest $200m in photo-messaging app Snapchat, reports Bloomberg. The app is currently valued at $15bn.
2. The Associated Press is to sue the US state department over the Clinton emails, according to the Guardian. The legal action comes after the publication's Freedom of Information Act requests for the emails went unheeded.
3. Brands are posting more content on Instagram than they are on Facebook, according to research published in Adweek. Brands post an average of 9.3 times a week to Instagram, whereas Facebook posts occurred 8.8 times per week.
4. Taxi-hailing app Lyft now carries a valuation of $2.5bn after raising $530m, with Japanese e-commerce firm Rakuten Inc leading the charge. Business Insider reports that Rakuten is to invest $300m for an 11.9 percent stake in Lyft.
5. McDonald’s has U-turned and will pay its musicians performing at SXSW after all. The fast food firm said “all bands performing at our showcase will be compensated,” according to Adage.
6. The Apple Store suffered a number of outages on Wednesday throughout the world shortly after the firm announced the Apple Watch. NBC News states that “an internal DNS error” caused the issues at Apple.
7. Jay Z has acquired streaming apps Tidal and WiMP with the purchase of Swedish firm Aspiro, according to Billboard. The deal went through for a reported $56.2m.
8. Heineken USA has announced it will renew its sponsorship of New York City’s main St. Patrick’s Day parade along Fifth Avenue, writes the Wall Street Journal. Both Heineken and Diageo are on-board after last year boycotting the event with LGBT groups who claimed they were discriminated against.
Stay in the media and marketing news loop at thedrum.com - and for a look at yesterday's round-up hit this link.