Need to Know – The latest US media & marketing news: YouTube reveals analytics for artists, Dish in talks with T-Mobile & Yahoo inks NFL livestream deal
Morning all, here’s a glimpse at all the media and marketing news you should know today.
Need to Know – The latest US media & marketing news
1. YouTube has unveiled Music Insights for artists, a tool which lets musicians track their fan base. VentureBeat says that the new feature will initially provide analytics for a list of the 10,000 most popular musicians on Youtube worldwide – including Katy Perry, Taylor Swift and One Direction – though Google has plans to expand the program.
2. Dish is in talks to merge with T-Mobile, according to the International Business Times. The TV network and the mobile provider are allegedly in agreement that a merged company would see Dish's chief executive Charlie Ergen as chairman and T-Mobile chief executive John Legere retain his current role.
3. Yahoo has inked a deal to globally livesteam an NFL Game, claims NBC. Marissa Mayer's firm has won the rights to broadcast the matchup, between the Buffalo Bills and Jacksonville Jaguars, in what will be first global livestream of an NFL match ever.
4. In other Yahoo news, the tech giant is to allow brands to fact-check its viewability and fraud numbers. AdAge reports that third-party ad-tech firms will now track whether spots bought through Yahoo have been seen by an actual human being. Brands will be able to use these outside vendors to check the viewability and fraud rates for display and video ads too.
5. Google co-founder Larry Page revealed his stance on ad-blocking tech during the firm's shareholder meeting yesterday, writes MediaPost. He said the company has been dealing with the issue for a long time, and that the industry has become a lot better at providing relevant ads that people want to see.
6. AOL has overhauled its site in an attempt to woo millennials, according to Wired. The old news feeds, which were last updated in 2009, have been replaced by a cleaned-up, responsive site with plenty of white space.
7. Snapchat has hired Sean Mills, the former president of satirical website The Onion, to be its new chief of original content, asserts CNET. The startup confirmed that Mills, who has also served as president of video firm NowThis, will be tasked with growing the app's original video content division.
8. Jon Stewart has criticized the coverage of Caitlyn Jenner's Vanity Fair front cover, notes USA Today. The Daily Show host said he was impressed with Jenner's "brave" transition, but was disappointed that news outlets "wasted no time in treating her like a woman,” before launching a montage of news anchors analyzing Jenner’s "hotness".
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