Digital Content NewFronts 2018, presented by the IAB

When it comes to social causes and movements, brands can’t stand on the sidelines anymore as traditional calls to action are being upstaged by emotional connections. “You cannot not stand for nothing. By doing that, you’re standing for something and something that won’t resonate with your consumers,” says Michael Kahn, Global Brand President at Digitas. […]

Group Nine Media made one of centerpieces of its second Digital Content NewFronts an artificial intelligence offering called GIA, for front-end optimization of advertisers’ campaign creative and distribution. It stands for Group Nine Insights Analyst, which takes “machine learning and artificial intelligence and applies it to how we are able to work with our brands […]

Amid discussions about brand safety, high-quality premium video, channel specific content, data and insights and technology and innovation at the Digital Content NewFronts, it was the cause-marketing theme that resonated with Cotton, Inc.’s Emily Cooper. “For me, the thing that’s really standing out the most is it feels like this year’s really the tipping point […]

Starcom’s Kristina Lutz is leaving the Digital Content NewFronts 2018 impressed by the quality of content in the marketplace and excited by the potential of the merged Meredith Corporation and Time Inc. “I’ve been really impressed with the content that I’ve seen. I think over the last number of years we’ve seen the quality of […]

While it’s valuable to to use data to maximize media buys around key audiences, it’s essential that content is effectively matched to the audience segment with the right creative version.    The concept of “dynamic” or “creative optimization” is something that Saatchi & Saatchi is doing.  In solving this, it has found the elusive “Holy […]

The re-grouping of content on YouTube continues apace, upending the playing field for some content creators and raising concerns about content discovery amid the platform’s “tunneling effect,” says iCrossing’s Jeff Ratner. “I think YouTube is creating their own stratification of their content. Obviously, they took to heart a lot of the brand safety challenges of […]

Three years ago, Kellogg’s didn’t spend a cent on YouTube.Last year, it tripled its spend. In fact, once a digital laggard, Kellogg’s now spends up to 70% of its marketing budget on digital, a company president told this week’s NewFronts event, at which content publishers touted their upcoming roster to advertisers. What did Kellogg’s like […]

Many people in advertising and media think they’re swimming in too much consumer data. John Hancock’s Lindsay Sutton disagrees, particularly with regard to statistics that can be used to divine people’s emotions when serving them the most appropriate content and advertising messaging. “I don’t think we’re yet in a place where we think it’s too […]

There seems to be no shortage of publishing partners for Twitter, which unveiled 16 of them at its first Digital Content NewFronts last year. This year, led by new content deals with NBCUniversal, Disney/ESPN and others, “We doubled it,” says Stephanie Prager, Head of Global Agency Development at Twitter. The content partnerships represent a pool […]

Cell phones, tablets and other portable devices will continue to be the best way to reach the under-35 content consumer, says Studio71 President & Co-Founder Dan Weinstein. An early pioneer in working with social media talent, Studio71 just signed content creator Hannah Hart along with a host of other multichannel-network partners. In this interview with […]

Always known for its male reach, ESPN’s audience is now 30% female. This diversity, combined with programming that’s nearly 100% live, is helping the sports juggernaut broaden its advertiser mix while making it a big player in real-time marketing. Meanwhile, its audience targeting capabilities can be based on outcomes of sporting events and their impact […]

In a world of data, where is the emotion? Over the last few years at Beet.TV, we have reported on several new approaches to ad targeting that ask that same question. In one of the most notable, Unruly Media’s system indexes web video by emotion – like “exhilarating”, “sexy” and “cool” – so that advertisers can […]

At this week’s NewFronts event in New York, where publishers tempted ad buyers to spend ahead on their upcoming content line-up, one of the world’s leading news publishers sought to convince brands that news, in 2018, is not such a bad channel after all. There is a lot of bad news to go around, with […]

Since 2010, WHOSAY has been pairing brands with influencers to help brands engage with audiences. When the company was ready to permanently link itself to a major media industry influencer, it engaged with Viacom. “We always wanted to be able to participate with our services alongside the power of a television Upfront and the distribution […]

Twitter has crafted new content deals with NBCUniversal and ESPN that the social platform says will extend the reach of those partners’ original shows. The company is also expanding its existing relationship with Viacom with offerings like Comedy Central’s Creator’s Room, BET Breaks and MTV News. Video views on Twitter have nearly doubled in the […]

Ever since Verizon formed Oath from AOL’s and Yahoo’s digital assets, it’s touted a “mobile-first” approach to engaging with consumers. The latest and perhaps most significant manifestation of that vision is a deal with Samsung that will pre-load Galaxy S9 phones with four apps populated by Oath content. In addition to the Samsung pact, Oath […]

The IAB says that the consumer economy is in the middle of a revolution that’s as significant as the Industrial Revolution was 150 years ago. The organization calls this phenomenon the Direct Brand Revolution and at its core are consumers being able to trust companies with their data. “Companies can not afford to breach the […]

In what the Hulu calls an industry first, the company will allow subscribers to download content with advertising to devices for offline viewing. the Hulu announced this another other news today at its NewFront presentation. In this video interview with Beet.TV, Peter Naylor, SVP of Sales, explains the value of reaching “elusive”consumers “untethered” will provide […]

Viacom Digital Studios was unveiled this week at its first Digital Content NewFronts. It’s the latest in a series of “really big investments” by Viacom that include WhoSay in the influencer marketing space and the VidCon talent and fan event. “What we really want people to walk away with is that Viacom has amazing capabilities,” […]

There’s a saying, “no news is good news”. But, for a growing number of advertisers these days, it seems “bad news is bad news”. And there is a lot of bad news to go around, with troubled political climates around the world. That bothers the executive who runs what is often considered to be one […]