Criteo has secured its first media Rating Council (MRC) accreditation for impression and clicks metrics across desktop, mobile web, and mobile in-app channels. 

It marks a significant step forward in the maturation of retail media, providing greater assurance that marketers can trust commerce outcomes driven on Criteo’s platform. 

Michael Greene, senior vice president of platform strategy at Criteo, says the team now has time to take a breather.

“MRC accreditation is not a fast process, and anyone who has been through this knows it generally takes years to accomplish,” he says. “It requires a maturity of technology and ability to communicate with clients.”

The process is rigorous and thorough, he said, and the results show the industry that Criteo meets those standards.

Criteo is attempting to change how it manages ad buys.

The goal is to break down the silos between formats and present a combined option --  a strategy that will make it a lot less fragmented.

Retail media is one of the fastest-growing sectors in advertising and is expected to represent over $150 billion in global ad spend by 2026, according to GroupM.  

“Accreditation is one way to invest in greater standardization and defragmentation that lets retail media operate more like standard media,” Greene says. “It’s not on us alone." He adds that cooperation is needed across the ecosystem with retailers, with a need "to understand the importance of accreditation, and brands to have reasonable expectations for the rapidly changing industry.”

Criteo has spent years building a commerce media strategy for advertisers to connect with consumers throughout their shopping journey. In a fortuitous move, the company acquired HookLogic, which supported customers like Walmart and Target, in November 10, 2016, for $250 million and hasn’t looked back since.

To earn MRC accreditation, an independent CPA firm completed the audit of Criteo’s systems and processes. It is then reviewed by an audit committee of MRC member representatives to ensure Criteo’s platform meets the MRC the standards.

YouTube TV is trending to be the largest pay TV provider in the U.S. by 2026, according to projections from MoffettNathanson Research -- and to reach profitability by the end of this year.

A report estimates that in two years, YouTube TV will total 12.4 million subscribers -- outpacing legacy cable TV-focused companies Comcast Corp. and Charter Communications. 

Due to overall industry-wide cord-cutting of traditional pay TV programming bundles -- around 7% per year -- those two companies will drop to 9.2 million and 11.2 million subscribers, respectively.

“At the current levels of decline, YouTube TV is on a clear path to becoming the largest pay TV provider in the United States,” writes Michael Nathanson, co-founder and senior research analyst.

At the end of 2023, YouTube TV landed at 8.0 million subscribers -- slightly higher than DirecTV's 7.8 million. Comcast and Charter are each estimated to have had 14.1 million subscribers at year's end.

YouTube TV raised its base programming bundle price to $72.99 a month last year.

“With traditional MVPD packages now fetching prices in excess of $100, we would argue the ease of YouTube TV (mobile viewing, no cable boxes or satellites, etc.) still presents a great value to those still watching linear television and a great entry point for younger consumers not conditioned for the traditional distribution models,” Nathanson said.

YouTube TV's revenues are forecast to rise 32% this year to $7.9 billion -- including $7.5 billion from “core” revenue and $400 million from “NFL Sunday Ticket.”

After years of posting overall net losses, Nathanson forecasts YouTube TV to see “slight profitability in 2024," adding: "Note that we estimate YouTube TV was profitable on a 'core' basis in 2023, with overall profits dragged down by losses from Sunday Ticket.”

When it comes to wireless plans, it’s easy to feel like the grass is always greener with a different carrier. Wireless companies routinely offer enticing deals solely available to new customers, often with short expiration dates, while providing little incentive for customer loyalty.

UScellular saw an opportunity to flip the script with its “US Days” campaign offering existing customers a series of deals and in-store giveaways during the event. It’s celebrating loyal customers by placing them center stage in its accompanying campaign, created in partnership with The Martin Agency.

“We leaned into the insight that customers have come to expect loyalty and perks but in the wireless category, deals and promotions are often only offered to new customers. Once you’ve joined a carrier, you stop getting access to those same deals,” The Martin Agency senior strategist Allie Ballard told Marketing Daily. “Our goal was to ensure UScellular’s long-standing commitment to customers came through, not only with special deals and unique offers for existing customers, but by featuring some of the brand’s real, loyal customers in the campaign to highlight their authentic, personal stories about what connection means to them.”

The campaign kicked off earlier this month with anad starring a 64-year-old graduate student named Bobbie, who has been a UScellular customer for six years. “US Days’ will run across broadcast, digital, OOH, radio and streaming audio, YouTube, paid and organic social, as well as local and retail initiatives, as it puts everyday customers in the role of providing the brand’s pitch across a series of ads.

“We selected customers we felt best represented UScellular’s current customer base -- and those who had great personal stories to share and were genuinely excited about our US Days campaign, which we saw come through when shooting,” UScellular CMO Eric Jagher said.

The campaign’s turn to customer testimonials marks a major departure in the brand’s marketing approach, which has typically relied on humor in its past advertising.

Siding with Apple, a federal judge has dismissed an antitrust complaint alleging that the company conspired with Venmo, Cash App, and Google Pay to block decentralized cryptocurrency apps from the app store.

In an order issued Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Vince Chhabria in the Northern District of California ruled that the allegations in the complaint, even if true, wouldn't prove an antitrust violation.

The dismissal order allows the plaintiffs to amend their allegations and bring the complaint again, but Chhabria expressed skepticism that a new effort would be successful.

“It is difficult to see how amendment could salvage this case,” he wrote.

The decision comes in a lawsuit brought last year by users of Venmo and Cash App who claimed that they paid higher fees to use those apps due to Apple's rules regarding cryptocurrency apps.

The plaintiffs specifically pointed to App Store Guideline 3.1.5, which says: “Apps may facilitate transactions or transmissions of cryptocurrency on an approved exchange, provided they are offered only in countries or regions where the app has appropriate licensing and permissions to provide a cryptocurrency exchange.”

Apple urged Chhabria to throw out the lawsuit at an early stage, arguing that the claims were too speculative.

“The complaint rests on an implausible theory that an alleged agreement restricting decentralized cryptocurrency technology results in higher Venmo and Cash App transaction and service fees,” the company argued in a motion filed last month.

Apple also said the central allegation against it was false.

“There are apps in the App Store that facilitate decentralized cryptocurrency transactions,” the company wrote.

The company added that its guideline regarding crypto apps “does not prohibit apps that facilitate decentralized cryptocurrency transactions,” but merely requires “proof-of-licensing criteria for apps that facilitate cryptocurrency transactions on an exchange.”

The Financial Times has debuted a generative AI feature that will allow subscribers to ask questions and get answers based on FT content. 

The tool, now in beta, is available to a select number of FT professional subscribers. As part of the FT professional offering, it combines the FT’s internal search capabilities with a third-party large language model, the FT says. 

The solution “will help our subscribers make confident strategic and commercial decisions quickly by getting answers rather than search results,” says Nick Fallon, managing director of FT Professional. “It’s a perfect complement to the broader, in-depth offering our readers expect from FT news products.”

“The FT has a strong track record of embracing the disruption of technology, from the arrival of the internet to the mobile revolution, and now AI,” adds Lindsey Jayne, chief product officer for FT.

The FT professional capability equips nearly 8,000 business, government and educational entities with features that make FT journalism more personalized and actionable, the FT adds.  

Major League Baseball has a full slate of games scheduled for opening day March 28, most of them in the afternoon.

If you want to watch in your office, wouldn’t it be great to be able to disguise that fact when the boss comes around?

Perhaps with a “Secret Baseball Button,” which, when pushed, switches from MLB.TV to a screen that looks like you’re actually working.

Well, T-Mobile has come up with such a device, although you can’t get one in time for opening day.

The mobile carrier is, instead, giving away 1,200 Secret Baseball Buttons -- to both customers and non-customers-- via a sweepstakes underway through March 31 at SecretBaseballButton.com.

When pushed, the Bluetooth-connected device, from smart controller brand Flic, allows users to toggle between the baseball streamer and a “work” app. The latter opens a browser tab that gives the appearance a video call is underway.

The Secret Baseball Button is a tie-in with T-Mobile’s ninth annual offer of a free year of MLB.TV for its customers -- whether they use T-Mobile itself, Metro by T-Mobile, home internet or small business customers.

Customers can sign up for the perk by April 2 via the carrier’s T Life app.

The Secret Baseball Button is valued at $30, and a year of MLB.TV at $149.99.

T-Mobile is promoting the Secret Baseball Button via a one-minute video  that’s been posted on Instagram by both T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert and president of marketing Mike Katz.

The frequency of advertising messages for connected TV continues to increase -- rising 80% over the last two years per household over the life of a brand campaign, according to Innovid, in an analysis of its advertising platform.

The frequency now is an average 7.42 messages in 2023, up from 4.08 two years ago.

Campaigns that earned more than 200 million impressions had a higher ad frequency, with a total of 12.14. At the other end of the spectrum, campaigns with just 20 million to 39 million impressions have an average frequency of 5.18.

All this can be a double-edged sword, as Innovid and other analysts have long noted.

“Brands want their ads viewed by consumers multiple times — but they don’t want to annoy,” says the authors of the report. 

But the report also says new technology continues to provide brands with better frequency controls. “As the 100% digital era of TV approaches, the possibility of precisely scaling frequency is arriving.”

In its recent report Innovid says home and garden advertisers have on average the highest frequency, with 16.73 messages. Travel/Tourism is next at 12.90, followed by automotive (11.52) and financial services (8.73) .

The lowest frequency rates are seen with pharmaceuticals at 5.05, followed by services at 5.14 and consumer packaged goods with 6.63.

In terms of average reach, consumer packaged goods campaigns have the highest, at 25.2%. Technology is next with 20.3%, followed by services  at 17.5%.

In 2023, Innovid says its ad server delivered almost 380 billion video impressions and 53% of those impressions were from CTV, with 35% coming from mobile and 12% from desktop.

Spotify is expanding its focus beyond music streaming, podcasts and audiobooks to include educational resources for in-app learning.

The video offerings -- produced in partnership with brands like the BBC -- aim to bridge the gap between YouTube and Master Class while attracting a new wave of Spotify creators.

The e-learning feature is currently rolling out in the United Kingdom.

Spotify users in the U.K. will begin to see a library of video-based lessons from e-learning platforms like BBC Maestro, Skillshare, Thinkific and PlayVirtuoso on mobile and desktop. The courses will fall into four categories, including “make music,” “get creative,” “learn business,” and “healthy living.”

Course subjects range from artist-led music production to 3D animation to learning how to create and sell similar educational courses online -- a nod to a new kind of creator ecosystem that Spotify may want to grow.

Free and premium Spotify subscribers will gain access to at least two video lessons per course for free and then have the option to pay a fee to access the rest of the course. The cost of a total course ranges from £20 to £80 on average.

According to Mohit Jitani, Spotify's London-based product director for the education offerings, the company's podcast efforts are the main inspiration for e-learning courses, with about half of its 226 million Premium subscribers engaging in education or self-help themed podcasts.

“More and more people were starting to come to Spotify with some intent of learning,” Jitani told The Verge. “And we thought, how can we take this core insight and build something on top of it?”

In addition, Jitani told TechCrunch that Spotify is using this U.K. rollout as a means of understanding the demand for this type of content. “Then we optimize how we can make it more compelling and exciting,” he added.

To compete in the e-learning space, Spotify is telling course providers that its algorithm, which contains significant data on the listening habits of a massive user pool, will help their content reach a directly targeted customer base.

Users in the UK can access the courses on mobile via a new icon on the top of the home screen, as well as the search and browse options.