| | Media Buyer & Planner Today | | | | | | | | | #1 Major Brands' Ads Running on Russia Website | | In recent weeks ads for some major brands have run on the RT.com website, which most recently was accused of misleading coverage following last weekend's Las Vegas shooting and for trying to impact the 2016 presidential election, Ad Age reports. RT, formerly Russia Today, is funded by the Kremlin and RT stories often tilt in a pro-Kremlin direction. Over the past two weeks, ads from P&G's Gillette, Ford, Honda, Walmart, Warby Parker and Honeywell have appeared on the RT site. Those ads are served through automated ad networks Taboola, AdRoll and Google's Adsense. In one instance, a Ford video ad played against stories with anti-NATO sentiment, defending Russian military exercises against the U.S-led alliances. | | WHY THIS MATTERS: These ads have been placed and been appearing apparently without the knowledge of the brands. P&G, in particular, has been outspoken in its objection to have its ads appear near content it deems objectionable, and has pulled dollars from digital to prevent those occurrences. Clearly, the practice of ads being placed programmatically on objectionable sites and next to objectionable content is still going on without brands' knowledge. | A Take: Ad Age
| | | | #2 Some Brands Using Their Own Viewability Standards | | While most brands have been following guidelines established by the Media Ratings Council to ensure that they buy digital ads that are actually viewed on websites and mobile apps, a handful of big name marketers claim those requirements are not stringent enough, Adweek reports. So they are creating their own viewability standards that meet stricter criteria. The MRC's standard charges advertisers after 50% of a display ad is in view for one second, and two seconds for video. HP, working with Integral Ad Science, has instituted its own guidelines under which it will only pay for digital display ads that have 100% of pixels in view for five seconds. And for video ads, 100% of the promo must be in view for half of the video's length. Nestle, working with WPP's media network GroupM, has also established its own guidelines. | | WHY THIS MATTERS: The stricter guidelines make sense for advertisers but do present an obstacle. Daniel Ayers, associate director of media at DigitasLBi, says, "It's easier to transact on the MRC standard and agencies that want to pay on a different standard may have trouble finding media partners to accept the terms." | | A Take: Adweek | | | | #3 Conde Nast Launches Digital Platform for LGBTQ Brand | | The publisher on Oct. 26 will rollout a new digital platform called Them that will be aimed primarily at Gen Z millennials, covers categories from pop culture and style to politics and news, aand is seen through the lens of the LGBTQ community, MediaPost reports. The idea was created by Phillip Picardi, digital editorial director of Teen Vogue and Allure. He will serve as chief content officer of the site. Among launch advertisers are Burberry, Google, Lyft and GLAAD. | | WHY THIS MATTERS: As MediaPost reports, interest in magazine brands aimed at the gay community has slowly grown this year. Most recently, Oreva Capital, publisher of the marijuana-enthusiast magazine High Times, bought the LGBTQ-focused titles Out and The Advocate. And in August, gay hookup app Grindr launched Into, a digital magazine targeting millennial LGBTQ audiences. Davler Media also announced it was acquiring Metrosource, the second-largest LGBTQ publication in the U.S. At the same time it launched a spinoff of New York Spaces called Exuberance, a home-design magazine aimed at the LGBTQ audience. Those titles were subsequently bought by Mod Media. | | A Take: MediaPost | |
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| | 4 | | Percentage of U.S. agency and marketing professionals who say they have a "very good" understanding of header bidding. Another 21% say they have a "good" understanding, while 31% say they have a "moderate" understanding. Some 30% say they only have a "limited" understanding of the programmatic tool that allows publishers to offer ad inventory to programmatic buyers first, before consulting their ad server. And 15%, say they "don't understand it at all." | – Reported by eMarketer
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| | CBS Wins With 'Thursday Night Football' | by Michael Malone
Football drove CBS to the ratings title Thursday, as a tight Patriots-Buccaneers matchup led the network to a 3.0 in viewers 18-49, and an 11 share, same as CBS did last week. In second was ABC at 1.4/5. NFL Thursday Night Kickoff scored a 2.2 on CBS, down a tenth of a point from last week, and the game a 3.2, flat with last Thursday's game. Tom Brady's Patriots won 19-14. On ABC, Grey's Anatomy fell 13% to 2.0 and the premiere of Scandal scored a 1.4, 17% better than its season finale. How to Get Away With Murder slipped 18% to 0.9. NBC weighed in at 1.3/5. Superstore scored a flat 1.2 and The Good Place was down a tenth of a point at 1.2. Will & Grace lost 33% for a 2.0 and Great News slipped 23% to 1.0. Chicago Fire dropped 20% to 1.2. Fox did a 0.9/3, with Gotham and The Orville both at 0.9. Gotham was up 13% and The Orville was down 18%. Telemundo was at 0.7/3, with Sin Senos Si Hay Paraiso at 0.7 and El Senor de los Cielos at 0.9. Univision scored a 0.4/1, as Mi Marido Tiene Familia scored a 0.5. The CW was at 0.2/1, with repeats of Supernatural and Arrow. | |
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| • STEVE RIDLEY was named chief partnership officer at out-of-home agency Rouge Media. Ridley was most recently CEO of social gaming company FunWall, but prior to that was global CEO of WPP OOH agency Kinetic.
• RON TAPIA was promoted to creative director at M&C Saatchi Los Angeles, while MIKE WILTON and REBECCA McGOUGH were elevated to managing directors. Tapia was most recently associate creative director. Wilton and McGough were senior account directors.
• ALLISON HAYES was appointed creative director at Carmichael Lyndch. She was previously an associate creative director at Venables Bell & Partners San Francisco. Prior to that she held assorted creative roles at Arnold Worldwide. • MIKE CARNEY was promoted to chief operating officer of Outdoor Sportsman Publishing and Branded Media. He was elevated from executive VP and group publisher of Outdoor Sportsman Group. He will oversee operations of the Group's publishing and branded media properties which include 15 outdoor lifestyle magazines, among them, Guns & Ammo, Game & Fish and Bowhunter, along with their websites.
• KEVIN CROSS was elevated to the newly created position of VP of content at NBC Sports Chicago. He had previously been senior director of news and original content at the NBC regional sports network. At the same time, JESSICA FELTON was promoted to director of marketing. She had previously been marketing manager.
• DINA HILLIER was named VP, original series at Disney Channel. She joins Disney from Paramount Television where she was VP of comedy development and current programming. Prior to that she held assorted programming roles at Sony Pictures Television. | |
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