Morning Bulletin: Clinton Podcast, Netflix boss speaks out, Omnicom’s AT&T win and troll hunting taskforce
This week gets underway with reports of Hillary Clinton’s first podcast from the campaign trail, together with a mammoth AT&T win for Omnicom and the establishment of a specialised troll hunting taskforce.
Ad Week gets the ball rolling with news that Hillary Clinton has begun co-hosting a ‘With Her’ podcast in which the Democratic nominee for US president shares ‘intimate’ behind the scenes insight into her election campaign.
Ad Exchanger meanwhile picks up on telecoms giant AT&T’s decision to consolidate its creative, digital and media accounts with Omnicom’s newly launched Hearts & Science division – a major loss for media incumbent WPP.
Reuters picks up on bookmaker William Hill’s rejection of a revised takeover proposal from 888 Holdings and Rank Group on Sunday, despite upping its offer to comprise 199 pence per share in cash and 0.860 BidCo shares per William Hill share, with William Hill shareholders then owning 48.8 per cent of the combined group.
Reuters also carries details of a potential bid by private equity firm KKR for television distributor Entertainment One, as it weighs up a move in the aftermath of a failed takeover bid for the Peppa Pig owner by ITV.
Retail Week opens with reports of a High Street ‘bounce back’ from a poor June performance as sales in the sector outperformed both shopping centres and retail parks despite an overall 0.4 per cent decline in footfall through July.
Agency Spy meanwhile reports the strange case of a fake copyright infringement complaint filed against it by an anonymous individual whom it strongly believes may be Google vice president Torrence Boone. This follows a series of fraudulent takedown requests initiated against stories headlined with her name such as “Google Hires ‘Unemployable’ Torrence Boone.”
The Times meanwhile picks up on a new Cyberpolice unit tasked with identifying and tracking down online trolls and others who propagate hate online. The dedicated team will receive training on identifying suspects via their Twitter and Facebook posts.
The paper also reports the unfortunate case of an Austrian man who has been jailed by authorities after posting a photograph of his cat with paw raised in an apparent Nazi salute on Facebook, together with around 20 other Nazi-related images – all of which earned him a three month stint behind bars.
Over at The Independent comes news that cumulative supermarket sales have fallen below £100bn for the first time in six years as intense competition bites. Retail revenues slipped three per cent to £99bn, according to the Share Centre’s Profit Watch UK.
The Guardian carries a bullish interview with Netflix chief executive Reed Hastings, who is in London to tout the streaming services hunger for further growth in the UK and beyond. Ofcom calculates that 23 per cent of people in the UK have watched a Netflix show over the past week and Hastings is now going after the remaining 77 per cent.
And finally Business Insider reports that ageing former Cuban leader Fidel Castro isn’t just growing long in the tooth but long in the cigar too after Cubans rolled a giant 90m long cigar to mark his 90th birthday.