Epic Games is asking a federal judge to prohibit Google from removing Bandcamp, an online music marketplace app, from the Google Play platform.

Bandcamp, acquired by Epic Games in March, currently uses its own payment platform, instead of Google's. Google previously allowed Bandcamp -- and other companies that sold digital content -- to use non-Google payment systems.

But in September of 2020, Google said all Google Play apps that sold digital goods or services would have to use Google's payment platform. Google, like Apple, gleans commissions on in-app purchases processed by their payment platforms. 

Google intends to enforce that policy against Bandcamp as of June 1, Epic Games alleged in papers filed Thursday with U.S. District Court Judge James Donato in the Northern District of California.

Epic -- which is currently suing Google over its app marketplace policies -- argues that Bandcamp will face irreparable harm if forced use Google's payment platform.

“Integrating [Google Pay Billing] may require Bandcamp to switch from paying out artists within 24 to 48 hours of a sale (an essential feature of Bandcamp's offering) to paying out artists 15 to 45 days after a sale -- a significant blow to the artists who rely on Bandcamp to make a living and continue making music,” Epic writes in its request for an injunction against Google.

The company adds that Google's payment platform “is not equipped to accommodate” Bandcamp's business.

“Bandcamp is a large marketplace where artists and labels add and edit thousands of digital and physical items each day and have full control over pricing,” Epic asserts.

A Google spokesperson says Epic's claim is “meritless,” adding that Bandcamp is eligible for a service fee of only 10% -- which is less than the 30% commission some other app developers pay Google for in-app digital purchases.

“Android’s openness means that Bandcamp has multiple ways of distributing their app to Android users, including through other app stores, directly to users via their website or as a consumption-only app,” the spokesperson adds.

Epic's request for an injunction against Google comes nearly two years after Epic sued Google and Apple for allegedly violating antitrust law with their app store policies.

Epic brought the cases soon after the companies removed the Fortnite game from their mobile app marketplaces for allegedly violating Google and Apple policies regarding in-app purchases.

Apple requires game developers to use its payment platform for in-app purchases, and charges a 30% commission to developers that take in more than $1 million in revenue.

Google's developer agreement also provides that apps distributed through Google Play use Google's payment platform, which charges a commission on in-app purchases.

But Google, unlike Apple, allows consumers with Androids to sideload apps -- that is, to download them from sources other than Play Store. Google also doesn't charge commissions on in-app purchases when those apps have been sideloaded.

Epic's case against Apple, which went to trial last year, resulted in a ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers that Apple's anti-steering policies -- which prohibited app developers from offering in-app links to outside payment platforms -- violated California's unfair competition law.

But she also said Epic failed to prove that Apple violated antitrust laws.

Epic and Apple have both appealed the ruling to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Allison Kent-Smith, CEO and co-founder of Giide, describes the company as an interactive audio unit -- one that does not remain still. As the audio plays, the visual continues to scroll through slides, keeping the attention of the person viewing it.

Think audio mixes with a content feed like a storytelling application. It turns the technology into a performance marketing unit -- “the best of a podcast and an Instagram feed,” as Kent-Smith said.

Built by former executives at Crispin, Porter and Bogusky and Goodby Silverstein & Partners, the platform supports applications across entertainment, education, internal communications, and more at companies such as Ameritrade, Cannes Lions, CBS News, and Vayner Media, according to the company.

In a 20-minute interactive guide, for example, Jim Stengel, CEO at The Jim Stengel Company, used Giide to walk through events at the Cannes Lions CMO Accelerator in partnership with ViacomCBS.

Jeremiah Owyang, founding partner at Kaleido Insights, at the time, used Giide to explain how major brands use non-fungible tokens (NFTs). It offers customers collectible virtual goods that generate brand engagement through links, and adds a revenue stream for brands.

The company’s developers started building the mobile app in 2018. Then raised a couple of rounds of financial to build the content creator platform. It allows people to quickly make the content themselves.

The user records the audio and attaches interactive feed cards. The most popular audio units link to content.

Kent-Smith spoke about an author linking a book they wrote to Giide to tell the story, which would allow people listening to click on a link and view an interactive visual. “People have been asking for longer Giides,” she said, something the company just launched.

Publishing, workplace content, and distribution are a few areas in which the company puts its focus.

Giide comes in a mobile app to consume the content and listen, but the core product is the content creator platform where an individual business can sign on and make audio guides.

Substituting a Giide for a podcast or newsletter lets marketers match the unit with a clickable link or screen to analyze use. The platform lets marketers analyze interactions, track every click.

Fox's Tubi, the free ad-supported streaming service, is expanding its association with Nielsen -- now adding Nielsen's Digital Ad Ratings.

Tubi says this will allow expanded coverage of measurement across more than 25 devices -- including computer, mobile and connected TV (CTV) inventory served on specific devices.

The company says it will give advertisers a more comprehensive view of ad performance on Tubi, inclusive of co-viewing. This also includes contextual insights so advertising messaging can align with Tubi’s movies and television titles.

Tubi says the deal is a step toward increased streaming abd digital industry coverage as Nielsen looks to launch Nielsen One, a single source, cross-media measurement solution later this year.

Tubi says it had 51 million monthly active users in February of this year. The company reported 3.6 billion hours streamed in the first quarter -- up 40% from a year ago.

Fox Corp expects Tubi to reach $1 billion in revenues. 

MoffettNathanson Research has also projected Tubi will get to the $1 billion mark by 2023. A UBS analysis of Tubi estimates the ad-supported streaming service could reach $700 million in revenue for full-year 2022.

At press time, Fox representatives did not disclose to Television News daily what existing Nielsen products or services they currently are using.

In an important vote of confidence, Fox ad-supported streaming service Tubi this morning announced a deal to expand its relationship with Nielsen.

Tubi said the expansion will include "enhanced and comprehensive" measurement via Nielsen's digital ad ratings, as well as plans to adopt Nielsen's new "cross-media" measurement service Nielsen One, when it is rolled out later this year.

As part of the enhancement of Nielsen's digital ad ratings, Tubi said it will "expand coverage of streaming devices, including computer, mobile and connected TV (CTV) inventory served on specific CTV devices."

The announcement comes as many of Fox's biggest competitors -- companies such as NBCUniversal, Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery -- have been pushing advertisers and agencies to shift from Nielsen's legacy ratings services and adopt new "alternate currencies" as the basis of their 2022-23 upfront advertising deals.

And while many on the demand-side acknowledge that most of those alternates will be used for "secondary" audience guarantees, using Nielsen's ratings as their primary currency, at least one big media-buying agency -- Horizon Media -- announced it will guarantee upwards of 15% of its upfront ad deals on alternates.

The announcement also comes as Nielsen is in the throes of going private vis a vis a sale to a private-equity consortium, although it says it remains committed to the rollout of Nielsen One -- a new platform using Big Data that will ostensibly replace its legacy ratings services.

Tubi, meanwhile, says its expanded relationship with Nielsen will include "co-viewing measurement and allow for buying target audiences across its library of over 40,000 movies and television series.

“As a movie and television streaming service with 80% of our viewers watching on TV screens, we’re excited about the proposed integration of Nielsen Digital Ad Ratings measurement across our device partners,” Tubi Chief Revenue Officer Mark Rotblat said in a statement announcing the deal. “This upcoming device coverage replaces slim proxies with comprehensive and stable currency-grade measurement, allowing our advertisers to transact on audiences in a way that is apples-to-apples with traditional TV.” 

I’m sorry, but it’s time again to burst your safety bubble and tell you that, no, your digital dollars are still not safe.

On the one hand, I feel like I’m on repeat on this topic, as I have been highlighting it since I started writing here in my little MediaPost corner in 2013 (yes, next year on Dec. 13 I will celebrate 10 years of rants, opinion and criticism!). But because digital advertising is pretty measurable, and because I get access to a lot of that data, I feel it’s my duty to report on the dark side of digital advertising every now and again to remind you it takes a lot of hard work to lower (not eliminate!) the risk of wasted digital ad dollars.

Truth No. 1 (which has remained No.1 for as long as I can remember): Accept that a percentage of your digital ad dollars will go to waste. They either reach no one, pretend to reach someone, reach the wrong people or go to waste some other way. The percentages can be debated, depending on which digital ad tracking company you subscribe to, and where you spend the majority of your digital ad dollars (Desktop Video, Mobile Web Display, Mobile Web Video, etc.).

But none of the trackers puts the risk at zero. It’s a sad fact that you have to accept buying crap (a technical term) in digital advertising, while in most other media forms the “crap” is usually transparently labeled and priced.

Truth No. 2 is that some important numbers are trending south. I am using IAS data from its Media Quality Report 16th Edition, published March 2022, which compares the second half of 2021 to the second half of 2020. This global report shows the U.S. trending backwards on ad completion and time-in-view, while growing in ad fraud. The only thing we seemed to have gotten a handle on is brand risk, which is decreasing. This means we are at least getting better at ensuring our ads don’t appear as much next to or within unwanted environments.

I don’t know if the reason for decreases in ad completion and time-in-view are due to the ever-increasing ad load or ever- ragmenting platforms and outlets. It is probably some of both. But it means your dollars will carry you a little less far now versus a year ago.

And those increasing ad fraud numbers? As we have said many times before, ad fraud remains a game of whack-a-mole, and the incentives for the bad guys are simply too high to give up.

Maybe the only good news is that, according to IAS, viewability of ads has increased in 2021 vs 2020. But let’s be brutally honest and remind ourselves what “completed” means. Here is the definition from the Media Ratings Council: “a display ad impression is considered viewable if at least 50% of pixels are on screen for at least one second after the ad has rendered. A video ad impression is viewable if the ad is playing while at least 50% of the pixels are on screen for at least two continuous seconds.”

That is a very, very low bar. But I suppose we have to celebrate even the smallest wins. Although they are, in the grand scheme of 2020 digital advertising spending worldwide to the tune of $378.16 billion, small (very, very small!) victories indeed.