The potential 2017 stock market listing in the U.S. or Hong Kong could raise $1 billion and value iQiyi at up to $5 billion.
Chinese internet giant Baidu is planning an IPO for its online video powerhouse iQiyi, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
Baidu, whose shares are trading on Nasdaq, could list the stock in the U.S. or Hong Kong in 2017, it said, quoting sources. It is believed the IPO could raise $1 billion and value iQiyi at up to $5 billion.
Baidu and iQiyi declined to comment.
This summer, Baidu founder Robin Li Yanhong and iQiyi founder Gong Yu proposed to take the online video company private in a deal worth $2.8 billion, but they withdrew the proposal amid shareholder opposition. Critics of the deal said iQiyi was worth much more.
iQiyi, which in June reported that it had 20 million paid subscribers, said in October that it would spend up to $1.4 billion (10 billion yuan) on acquiring and producing content in the coming year.
Online video has been in focus in China all year. Earlier in 2016, Alibaba paid $4.8 billion for the 80 percent of Youku Tudou, another giant online video player in China, that it did not already own.
Cinq individus devraient comparaître jeudi au palais de justice de Laval à la suite d’une opération policière, survenue mercredi vers 6h sur la rue Eadie, dans le quartier Côte-Saint-Paul, ainsi qu’à Laval, visant à neutraliser les activités criminelles d’un réseau de trafiquants de cocaïne.
Les quatre personnes âgées dans la trentaine et une autre âgée dans la cinquantaine devraient notamment faire face à des accusations de trafic de stupéfiants.
Jusqu’à maintenant, huit onces de cocaïne, soit l’équivalent d’environ 25 000$, ont été saisies, de même qu’environ 600 comprimés de stupéfiants, de l’argent et des outils ayant servi à fabriquer de la drogue.
Au moment d’écrire ces lignes, les trois hommes et les deux femmes, connus des services de police, n’avaient toujours pas été interrogés par les enquêteurs.
Une résidence de la rue Des Cormiers, dans le quartier Duvernay, à Laval, a également été ciblée lors des perquisitions. Au total, une trentaine de policiers ont été appelés sur les lieux.
À Montréal, les policiers du Service de police de Laval ont été assistés par le Groupe tactique d’intervention (GTI) du Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM)
Cette opération policière survient dans le cadre du projet dentaire, qui a débuté en octobre à la suite d’informations transmises par le public.
Amri a été officiellement identifié par la justice antiterroriste qui, dans un avis de recherche européen, propose jusqu’à 100 000 euros (environ 140 000 $CAN) de récompense.
«Anis Amri mesure 1,78 m [5’8 »], pèse environ 75 kg [165 lb]. Il a les cheveux noirs et les yeux bruns. Il peut être violent et armé!» met en garde le parquet fédéral à l’attention de la population.
En parallèle, la police tunisienne a interrogé des membres de la famille du suspect en Tunisie, selon une source sécuritaire.
«Quand j’ai vu la photo de mon frère dans les médias, je n’en ai pas cru mes yeux. Je suis sous le choc et je ne peux croire que c’est lui qui a commis ce crime», a réagi auprès de l’AFP Abdelkader Amri, frère du suspect. Mais «s’il s’avère qu’il est coupable, il mérite alors toutes les condamnations. Nous rejetons le terrorisme et les terroristes et nous n’avons aucune relation avec les terroristes».
«Classé dangereux»
Dès mardi soir, les autorités allemandes se sont lancées à la recherche du Tunisien, après avoir relâché un premier suspect pakistanais mis finalement hors de cause dans l’attaque au camion-bélier sur un marché de Noël.
Mercredi soir, les enquêteurs, qui pensaient avoir localisé Amri à Berlin, ont perquisitionné deux appartements, sans résultat, rapporte le journal Die Welt.
Ayant retrouvé des documents d’identité dans la cabine du camion qui a servi à l’attentat, la police a d’abord tenté de le retrouver sans alerter l’opinion.
Environ 150 policiers ont notamment perquisitionné un foyer de réfugiés dans l’ouest du pays, à Emmerich, où l’homme a séjourné il y a quelques mois, selon des médias allemands. Faute de résultat, les autorités se sont résolues à publier l’avis de recherche.
Surtout, les autorités allemandes disposaient d’une multitude d’indications sur la radicalisation et la dangerosité de ce demandeur d’asile, utilisant plusieurs identités, sans avoir réussi à l’expulser ou à l’interpeller. Ce qui risque de nourrir dans les jours à venir la polémique en Allemagne.
L’homme était «classé dangereux», connu des services de sécurité, et appartenait «au milieu islamiste-salafiste», a dit un député, Stephan Mayer.
Avant d’arriver en Allemagne, Amri avait aussi purgé quatre ans de prison en Italie pour un incendie dans une école, affirment des médias italiens.
Selon ces médias, il serait arrivé en Italie en 2011 et se serait lui-même déclaré comme mineur non accompagné.
Un autre responsable allemand, Ralf Jäger, a révélé que le suspect avait été débouté en juin de sa demande d’asile et surtout qu’il faisait déjà l’objet d’une enquête pour soupçon de préparation d’attentat avant l’attaque de lundi.
Il était soupçonné de vouloir commettre un braquage pour acheter des «armes automatiques et probablement ensuite, avec l’aide de complices qu’il voulait trouver, de commettre un attentat», a révélé la justice berlinoise dans la soirée.
500 indices
Le parquet de Berlin, qui a récupéré l’enquête à son sujet en mars, s’est défendu face à la controverse naissante sur l’inefficacité de la justice en expliquant avoir surveillé de près le Tunisien. Mais en dehors d’une activité de «petit trafiquant de drogue» et une bagarre dans un bar, aucun élément justifiant son arrestation n’a été trouvé. Le dossier a été classé sans suite en septembre.
La police a indiqué examiner plus de 500 indices : traces d’ADN recueillies dans le camion, vidéosurveillance et témoignages.
Le chauffeur routier polonais, retrouvé tué par balle dans la cabine et à qui l’assaillant a apparemment volé le camioin, a probablement cherché à empêcher l’attentat, selon des médias allemands. Il aurait tenté de s’emparer du volant et aurait forcé l’auteur de l’attentat à s’arrêter plus tôt que prévu.
Berlin n’a pas encore authentifié la revendication de l’EI, mais le parquet antiterroriste a jugé que la cible et le mode opératoire signaient l’acte djihadiste, les circonstances étant similaires à l’attaque au camion du 14 juillet, qui a fait 86 morts à Nice, revendiquée par l’EI.
Mesures de sécurité renforcées
Les mesures de sécurité ont été renforcées à Berlin et un débat s’est engagé en Allemagne à la fois sur la nécessité de protéger davantage les lieux publics et autour de la politique d’immigration de la chancelière Angela Merkel.
Mercredi soir, deux manifestations distinctes, à l’appel notamment du parti néonazi NPD et de la formation de droite populiste Alternative pour l’Allemagne, ont rassemblé un peu plus de 300 personnes qui ont réclamé la «fermeture des frontières» et le départ de Mme Merkel.
Un commerce de Gatineau est soupçonné à son tour d’avoir procédé à la vente de marijuana, après l’épisode des boutiques montréalaises de Cannabis Culture perquisitionnées par la police, la semaine dernière.
«Ça semble similaire à ceux qui opéraient dans la région de Montréal», a dit le lieutenant Jean-François Beauchamp, du Service de police de la Ville de Gatineau (SPVG). «Il y a beaucoup de publicité par rapport au fait que ce sera éventuellement légalisé, mais présentement, les lois actuelles sont appliquées et les gens doivent s’y conformer», a-t-il rappelé.
Le SPVG a procédé à l’arrestation de quatre personnes qui pourraient faire face à des accusations de trafic de cannabis, mercredi, vers 14h30, à la Clinique Canna-Plus de Gatineau. Une perquisition est toujours en cours au commerce du 341 boulevard Saint-Joseph.
La semaine dernière, six boutiques Cannabis-Culture ont ouvert leur porte à Montréal pour faire la vente de cannabis récréatif, bien que la loi ne le permette toujours pas. Des centaines de personnes y ont fait la file pour se procurer du pot. Les boutiques franchises des activistes de la Colombie-Britannique, Marc et Jodie Emery ont été perquisitionnées par le Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) environ 24h après leur ouverture. Les autorités y ont notamment saisi une quarantaine de livres de marijuana.
À Gatineau, ce sont des informations du public reçues mercredi qui auraient mené les policiers à s’intéresser à l’affaire. Trois femmes et un homme arrêtés sur place sont toujours rencontrés par des enquêteurs au Quartier général du SPVG.
Innovative, technology-based and packed with « jobs of the future », Australia’s video game industry has the potential to drive our next big « clean » export. Global revenue for games is expected to reach $US98 billion in the next two years. In the last financial year, 81 per cent of Australia’s game development industry income came from overseas markets.
Video marketing is becoming one of the top ways to engage your audience. Why? It’s what the people want. Part of why we create content is to inform our prospects about our products and services. And four times as many people prefer watching product videos to reading about them, according to Animoto. Not only that, but Aberdeen reported using video increases revenue by 49 percent.
Developing a marketing strategy for this medium involves a lot of moving pieces. Will you choose animation or live action? Studio or on-location production? Testimonials with customers or scripted acting? Who will your actors be? What music will you use? What tone are you trying to convey?
With so many options to choose from, it can seem impossible to know what’s right for your brand. But you can start by scoping out what other brands are doing right. So let’s take a look at three of the best examples 2016 has to offer.
UberConference embraces the problem
If you’ve worked in an office setting, odds are you’ve experienced more than your fair share of conference call glitches – late dial-ins, technical snafus, ear-splitting feedback, you know the drill. UberConference captured all those pain points and more in this video, which shows they understand what their audience is going through.
“A brand that understands what its audience despises about an experience is the one that can reduce those pain points.”
The video strategy leans heavily on humor to show the viewers UberConference understands their frustrations. A brand that understands what its audience despises about their experience is likely to be the one that reduces those pain points, right? It certainly made an impression on Brafton Video Producer Hannah Perlmutter.
“Simply put, this video is hilarious,” Hannah said. “In addition, anyone who works in an office and has conference calls can relate. it’s a breath of fresh air to see a conference call service actually poke fun at the mundane reality that are conference calls.”
HubSpot takes personalization to a new level
What makes for a memorable video? In a word: personality. Consumers want to know who they’re buying from, whether it’s a B2B or B2C relationship. HubSpot took this challenge literally and gave a handful of its employees each a handheld camera, most likely a GoPro, to film a day in their lives. Couple raw footage with clever editing, hints of that HubSpot orange and an upbeat soundtrack, and you’ve got an immersive experience that leaves a lasting impression.
“HubSpot’s Day in the Life videos are exciting. The upbeat music and fast-paced sequencing keep my eyes glued to the screen,” explained Kyle Gaw, Brafton’s Marketing Manager. “And the first-person perspective lets me imagine myself in that person’s shoes and get a sense of what life could be like if I worked for HubSpot.”
These videos are great from a recruitment standpoint, as potential employees can get a real sense of the HubSpot culture, the array of office amenities, the people they could one day work with, and even the surrounding communities of their different locations around the world. The personalized stories also humanize the brand and make them stand out from competitors, which can be the linchpin that turns a prospect into a client.
Hashtag’d mixes media to make impressions
One of the major video marketing trends we’ve seen arise in 2016 is the use of mixed media – that is to say, combining video and animation to really drive a message. A.J. Muffett, one of our videographers, pegged this demo video from Hashtag’d as a stellar example of blending concepts and video types.
“It’s hip, it’s quick, and the story is totally driven by the music,” A.J. said of the video. “Most brands will lean heavily on animation to explain how their products and services work, but Hashtag’d’s use of real people makes the product more tangible than an animated demo alone.”
The live scenes and still-frames sell viewers on the personal experience, but when it comes to explaining what the provider actually does, animations overlaid and spliced into the video help you understand the concept in seconds. All of that, coupled with perfectly orchestrated music, makes the experience feel seamless and simple, which is exactly what Hashtag’d is trying to impress upon the viewer about their service.
So, whether you’re promoting a product or your brand, you can learn a lot from UberConference, HubSpot and Hashtag’d. To connect with your audience, you should make it personal, make it real, and make it fun. These approaches are what viewers will remember in the long run.
Regardless of which type of video strategy you pursue in content marketing, stat after stat points to the medium’s ability to engage consumers and increase conversions.
Even die-hard wordsmiths must come to terms with the fact that a majority of individuals will opt for a video before reading text.
However, beyond tried-and-true studio productions and animated clips, a new frontier has opened up: live video.
Whether through Facebook Live or Twitter’s Periscope app, data shows audiences are paying attention. In fact, Social Media Today reported individuals spend three times longer watching live video on Facebook when compared to pre-recorded presentations. Facebook even went so far as to update its platform to help live videos rank higher in people’s News Feeds.
Part of the draw for consumers may be live video’s inherent excitement, as anything could happen. Instead of reading off scripts, individuals are mixing it up in the moment and reacting in real time. Another component is live video’s intrinsic authenticity. It allows people to engage directly with businesses without the well-manicured airbrushing of pre-recorded video.
Live video shouldn’t be overly choreographed, but don’t skimp on basics like good lighting.
“Live video is becoming an increasingly popular and fun way for companies to show off what they are up to,” said Erin Hancock, Associate Manager of Brafton’s Promotions and Engagement team. “Whether they’re broadcasting live from a conference, sharing industry tips, or showing off fun things happening around the office, live video is the perfect way to display the human side of a company.”
While far from the only games in town, Facebook and Twitter’s live-streaming capabilities make the most sense for content marketers hoping to engage a wide audience.
Facebook Live may win out over Periscope due to their larger user base, but the Periscope app comes with its own unique features, such as the ability to broadcast via GoPro.
For marketing professionals unsure how best to leverage live video, it may be handy to imagine companies as television networks. Your brand is its own CNN, only instead of 24/7 news programming, your live video can be devoted to outreach and influence via:
Audience QAs.
Company announcements.
Product and service introductions.
Interviews with internal and external thought leaders.
Special events.
Live video blogs.
“Live streaming on social platforms is blurring the line between television broadcast and internet video content, and live reporting of events is now within reach for businesses of any size, on any budget,” said Perry Leenhouts, Brafton Senior Creative Director.
Also, as pointed out by Brafton Director of Video Product Jim Davis, live video is an excellent way to connect with narrower market segments around the world.
“We’re in a peak era of specialization and globalization,” Jim said. “Niche remote communities now exist where there was no venue to organize before (there are multiple blogs dedicated to different knitting patterns for kitten mittens). Gatherings, conferences and industry powwows can now be attended by people across the globe, in real time. When a group gets together to share ideas, magic can occur – and live streaming video is the ideal way to capture this lightning in a bottle.”
Ultimately, the primary focus of live video should be interacting with viewers. Consumers can react in real time to broadcasts by commenting and asking questions. Regardless of how you leverage this technology, ensure you’re accounting for audience feedback and responding accordingly in your broadcast.
“Live streaming on social platforms is blurring the line between television broadcast and internet video content.”
Live video pitfalls
As with any content marketing strategy, there are certain mistakes to avoid, including:
Launching prematurely
Successful live streaming requires the proper equipment and a sturdy internet connection. Play around with lighting and test video setup before broadcasting. Ensure you have the connection functionality to transmit smoothly.
Failing to plan ahead
You definitely don’t want your live videos to be too studied (an overly orchestrated event takes away from the fun of broadcasting live). At the same time, streaming live without a game plan is a recipe for disaster. Create an outline for your video but leave room for spontaneous changes and audience interaction.
Relying on sales pitches
Do not use live video as a sales platform. You may be running your own TV network, but that doesn’t mean you need to program infomercials. Effective content demonstrates value and builds trust with consumers, regardless of the medium. Apply the same good judgement you would use when crafting a blog post to creating a live video. Some are bound to be more promotional than others, but you should be able to show, not tell.
Moving too fast
When on camera, many people’s nerves lead them to revert to speed-talking. Take your time and try to present at a natural, leisurely pace. Also keep in mind that not everyone will be joining a live broadcast at the same time. This makes it important to regularly recap what’s already occurred for viewers just joining in.
Live video is a relatively new content marketing channel, but its potential is clear. If you keep audience engagement top of mind and do your best to avoid common pitfalls, live video can be an excellent addition to your content marketing arsenal.
They say a picture’s worth a thousand words, but what about a video? That’s not a rhetorical question. According to Forrester Research, a minute of video is now worth an estimated 1.8 million words—a finding that confirms what marketers and viral stars already know: Video is eating the world.
A third of online activity is now spent watching video, and some analysts predict that could increase to more than two-thirds by the end of 2017. Even Facebook, a platform built on written status updates, may be mostly video five years from now, according to Mark Zuckerberg himself. Last month, no less an authority than Brian Halligan, CEO of internet marketing giant Hubspot, called video the number-one content marketing tool available. Still, many companies remain laser-focused on text and still images—trying to reach customers through the standard mix of blog posts, social media updates and, of course, endless email newsletters.
I get it. Producing video can seem time-consuming, expensive, and complicated. And getting noticed presents its own set of challenges — especially in a world where more video is uploaded in 30 days than the top three U.S. TV networks have created in the past 30 years.
But not having a video strategy for 2017 is like not having a digital strategy in 2000. You might be able to survive for the time being, but holdouts will find themselves seriously left behind and racing desperately to catch up in just a few short years ahead. More and more, digital means video. Like it or not, other media formats are moving to the margins—making it pretty much essential to start putting together your company’s video strategy right about now.
The good news is that it isn’t as hard or resource-intensive as you might think. Reaching a target audience isn’t about having the most sophisticated equipment or the latest high-tech toys, and you don’t have to produce Super Bowl–quality ads in order to make an impact. In fact, many of the biggest trends in video heading into 2017 make it easier for companies to produce video in-house, rather than having to outsource production to an agency.
One of the easiest ways to make effective videos is to tap the talent that’s already on your payroll. Allowing staff to speak honestly and directly to customers creates an intimacy that can instantly cut through the sterile, corporate veneer. In fact, quick and dirty videos made with simple, free tools (like this is one we hacked together for recording screenshots) can often be more effective than slick, commercial-quality ones.
Take a look at this video from Zappos, designed to showcase its work culture. It’s a little messy, but that’s part of the charm—real people talking to real people:
Lots of approaches can work. Whether you live-stream town halls or have leaders speak directly to their teams like Holmes does, videos create a visceral, human connection that’s hard to replicate with newsletters or email memos.
Yes, live broadcast presents challenges, but for this format it’s okay—and even expected—to be spontaneous; viewers will forgive less-than-perfect production. Just make sure you’ve planned a loose structure that revolves around some sort of action, like T-Mobile’s John Legere does with his super-short, informal « Slow-Cooker Sunday » cooking shows.
Most peoples’ short (and possibly shrinking) attention spans mean the average viewer needs something to happen about every nine seconds. But it’s important that you don’t assume your audience is limited to those tuning in in the moment. It’s often under-appreciated how much live video is actually viewed later, as on-demand content. Done well, a live video can live on for months and years. A prime example is the content featured on Whale, the QA app from Justin Kan, which lets users engage in a real-time conversation with business experts and then adds those videos to a searchable content library.
Personalized video might sound like a daunting concept, but in practice, it’s pretty straightforward—often just a matter of adding small, personal touches to recordings that speak to individual clients. This can be as simple as using post-production tools to insert their names into the opening frames or into the video itself—say on a ticket or a seat « reserved » especially for them.
The University of Waterloo (which, in full disclosure, has partnered with my company, Vidyard) did this recently with a recruitment campaign that showed individual students’ names on dorm-room doors during a POV video of life on campus. We already know that including video in email marketing can increase click-through rates. But when Waterloo used this personalized tactic, 70% of prospective students opened their emails.
Remember that nine-second attention span? One hack to ensure that action is sustained and varied is the « stories » format. Snapchat was the pioneer here, automatically splicing together users’ short clips and photos into a longer video stream. In 2016, Instagram released its copy, and rumor has it that WhatsApp is next.
But this format isn’t just for preteens looking to keep their friends in the loop. Buzzfeed’s Tasty channel has scored big on Facebook with its mastery of the truncated timeline, in step-by-step videos for easy-to-make recipes. This application is almost tailor-made for product guides or even customer support videos.
The real virtue of the « story » format for companies just getting into the video game is that it’s so flexible and forgiving. It’s not hard to shoot six seconds of action here, then three seconds there—all on a smartphone—and this fast-cut technique is better suited to mobile attention spans anyway.
While augmented reality and virtual reality still require cumbersome equipment to record and watch, 360-degree video has quietly come into its own. For the uninitiated, 360-degree video allows viewers to either physically move their phones around in front of them or to click and drag their screens in order to change their perspective on a scene—an immersive experience that requires no special headgear.
The special 360-degree cameras for filming this kind of content now cost just a few hundred dollars, meaning pretty much any company can produce its own ready-made immersive video. Red Bull was one of the first out of the gate in applying this technology to its action sports videos, and fashion line Barbour used 360-degree video to offer a VIP view to those who tuned into its 2017 spring and summer men’s collection debut.
But the technology can also liven up more down-to-earth experiences, like speeches, conferences, and parties. You could even set one up in your office so clients can « click in » to your headquarters for an office tour.
The world is already moving toward video—and fast. What’s driving this trend isn’t the desire for slick production-values and Oscar-worthy editing, though, although there’s a place for that; it’s the desire for a connection that feels human and personal. Keeping that at the core of your video strategy won’t just stretch your dollar, it’ll serve you better than any technological bells and whistles in 2017.
Michael Litt is cofounder and CEO of the video marketing platform Vidyard. Follow him on Twitter at @michaellitt.
Chinese authorities are clamping down on streaming video over social media amid a proliferation of online-only television content and live-streaming.
The State Administration for Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television is requiring social media platforms like WeChat and Weibo to obtain licenses to broadcast video or audio, while also demanding that content distributed over social media hold traditional broadcast licenses. The new guideline is the latest effort by the media regulator to consolidate control over an explosion of new digital media content that has operated beyond the confines of China’s traditional media.
In recent years, a vast cottage industry of high- and low-budget filmmakers, TV producers and even live-streaming individuals have made content for web portals, set-top boxes and social media platforms beyond the purview of China’s media censors. The national media regulator took a major step in cracking down on unlicensed programming in 2014, requiring that set-top boxes and streaming websites carry content from only a handful of licensed distributors.
Under the new rules, films and TV series circulated on social media will also fall under the same level of scrutiny and must have the same licenses as for public airing. User-generated political news programs are also forbidden.
The regulations followed new Ministry of Culture rules issued this month requiring live-streaming operators to submit identity papers for their stars and prove that they can censor inappropriate content.
Mobile video consumption has exploded in China, and advertisers in 2016 spent more on digital media than traditional television, according to consultancy eMarketer, raising new challenges for a government that has long been careful about policing online content and discourse.
One of the fastest-growing areas has been live-streaming. Official researchers say that more than 300 million people, or nearly half of China’s internet users, used streaming apps in 2016 to watch people singing, pulling stunts or simply going about their everyday lives — and sometimes more.
This year, several high-profile cases of live-streamed sex have caused uproar, while a Beijing couple became a sensation this month when they streamed themselves hiding overnight in an IKEA store. The most popular streamers on services like YY, Yingke and Yizhibo, the mobile app made by the Internet portal Sina, can make tens of thousands of dollars a year, if not more, by collecting spontaneous online donations.
The Cyberspace Administration of China also warned in November that live videos could destabilize national security and social stability by spreading rumors and fraud. The agency has similarly characterized other popular social media platforms to justify greater internet censorship.
Chinese internet games and social networking giant Tencent, which operates WeChat, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Weibo’s public relations staff could not immediately be reached.
BOT CAUGHT: An ad-fraud operation has been scamming advertisers in the U.S. out of more than $3 million a day, according to ad-fraud-detection firm White Ops, CMO Today reports. The Russian-based operation, called “Methbot,” created non-human “bot” traffic and directed that to webpages with video ads from big U.S. advertisers. The system also spawned fake web pages that tricked brands into thinking their ads were on mainstream sites such as the Economist, ESPN and The Wall Street Journal. While fabricated traffic is a familiar problem across the web, White Ops said Methbot’s focus on full-sized video ads made it a more lucrative scam than most. The report offers a window into how rampant ad fraudsters, who can often quickly set up other ad scams upon detection, can be. A study earlier this year from the Association of National Advertisers and White Ops said bot fraud would cost the ad industry $7.2 billion in 2016.
TWITTER TURNOVER: Another top executive is leaving Twitter. As the New York Times reports, Adam Messinger, the company’s chief technology officer, is departing the company after about five years. Mr. Messinger’s exit follows that of Adam Bain, Twitter’s chief operating officer, last month as well as a series of other top company leaders. There’s no doubt the company is at somewhat of a crossroads – with conversations about a sale to suitors such as Salesforce failing to materialize. Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s chief executive, said he’ll be “working even closer with our engineering and design teams” as a result of the move. Meanwhile, the CEO of TellApart, Josh McFarland, also is leaving Twitter, which acquired his company for more than $500 million in 2015, Recode reports. Mr. McFarland is heading to VC firm Greylock.
FTC’S TURN: Earlier this year, Verizon paid $1.35 million to settle an investigation into its use of “supercookies,” software that created unique identifiers that tracked consumers even if they thought they opted out. Now the two-year story seems to be at a close. As Ad Age reports, ad tech firm Turn, which used unique identifiers to track Verizon customers, has settled with the FTC for its role. As part of the settlement, Turn has to provide clear opt-out for consumers and prominently disclose how user data is collected and used. “What happened here is that there was a lack of transparency for consumers,” the FTC’s Jamie E. Hine said. Turn, which didn’t admit wrongdoing in the settlement, maintained it terminated the supercookie partnership with Verizon when the news came to light in early 2015.
PODCAST ON PODCASTING: There are a lot of podcasts out there – including ours. So we had NPR CEO Jarl Mohn on our podcast to talk about, well, podcasts. Mr. Mohn, a former cable executive at the E! Network and MTV, said on the latest episode of the WSJ Media Mix podcast that more podcasts will help make the medium more mainstream for big-brand advertisers. “I’d rather have a smaller percentage of a much, much bigger pie. Something that’s really healthy, where 90% of the population are listening to podcasts and we’ve got a great measurement tool,” he said. Given that public radio receives federal funding, NPR is often under political pressure, particularly from congressional Republicans. But Mr. Mohn said he isn’t more concerned given the election of Donald Trump. Federal funding, he said, is “always an issue, and it’s always something we’re concerned about.” Mr. Mohn said he sees NPR as an “antidote” to the glut of partisan news sources proliferating on social media. For more, check out the episode and subscribe to the WSJ Media Mix podcast on iTunes, Google Play Music, Spotify or Stitcher.
Elsewhere
The European Union’s competition-enforcement body has accused Facebook of giving misleading information to investigators looking into its 2014 purchase of WhatsApp. The commission could impose a fine. [WSJ]
Incoming Democratic leader Chuck Schumer let go nearly all the employees in the Senate Democrats’ internal video department. The party has plans to create a new operation focused on digital video geared for social media. [Politico]
NFL ad revenue fell 17% year over year in November, according to a new report from Standard Media Index, which tracks 70% of national ad spending. [Adweek]
Roger Ailes personally called the Daily News to seek an apology about a story comparing him with Viacom head Sumner Redstone using the headline “Gropey old men.” [New York Daily News]
Ad agency group Engine, whose units specialize in creating ads, has signed a deal with Dash Radio to produce video content and take a cut of any resulting advertising revenue. [CMO Today]
Maker Studios’ top executive is stepping down as Disney folds the company into its consumer products and interactive media unit. Courtney Holt will take a new role within the company [Variety]
Twitter has agreed to give over subscriber data in a civil suit filed by a journalist with epilepsy seeking information about a Twitter user who sent him a seizure-inducing animation. [The Verge]
Instagram is adding another Snapchat-like feature. Users can now put stickers on top of photos and videos in the Instagram Stories section of the app. [WSJ]
Wenner Media, which owns titles like Rolling Stone, reportedly is interested in selling Us Weekly magazine. [New York Post]
