TikTok Seeks To Block Trump Administration's Ban On Downloads https://ift.tt/2HuYmWF TikTok is asking a federal judge to block the Trump administration's attempt to ban new downloads of the social video app. “If the prohibitions are not enjoined, the harm to plaintiffs will be irreparable,” TikTok writes in papers filed Wednesday with U.S. District Court Judge Carl Nichols in Washington, D.C. On Thursday, Nichols ordered the Trump administration to either delay the ban, or file a written response by 2:30 p.m. Friday. The company's filing comes in response to a Commerce Department order prohibiting app platforms from offering downloads of TikTok, owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. The Commerce Department issued its directive in response to an executive order issued in August by President Trump, who said TikTok posed a security risk and mandated a ban on all U.S. transactions with the company as of September 20. That deadline was later extended until September 27. Oracle and Walmart have agreed to purchase stakes in TikTok, but the exact structure of the tentative deal remains unclear. advertisement advertisement TikTok argues in its new papers that the attempted ban is unlawful for several reasons, including that it's “arbitrary” and “capricious.” “The Commerce Department ignored the evidence before it and failed to consider reasonable alternatives to the prohibitions that would have addressed its purported national security concerns,” the company writes. TikTok adds that a ban on new downloads and updates, including security updates, “will contribute to a data privacy risk instead of ameliorating it.” The company also argues that allowing the administration to move forward with a ban would violate the First Amendment. “Hundreds of millions of Americans who have not yet downloaded TikTok will be shut out of this large and diverse online community,” the company writes. “The prohibitions also will have a profoundly negative impact on the public interest, unlawfully restricting core protected speech by millions of Americans in violation of their First Amendment rights at one of the most critical times -- during the run-up to a national election,” TikTok adds. The company notes that a judge in San Francisco recently blocked the administration from enforcing a similar ban on the messaging app WeChat. In that case, U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler in San Francisco said the government hadn't shown how banning WeChat would address national security concerns, especially given that there were “obvious alternatives” to a ban.
Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH September 24, 2020 at 04:40PM
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Text-Messaging Firm Attentive Raises $230 Million in Funding https://ift.tt/3j7sMMI Attentive, a text-messaging SaaS platform, has raised $230 million in Series D funding in what it says is a $2.2 billion valuation. The round was led by Coatue, with participation by new investors Tiger Global, Wellington Management Company, D1 Capital Partners, Atomico, and Sozo Ventures. They join existing investors Bain Capital Ventures, Sequoia, Sequoia Capital Global Equities, Coatue, IVP, Eniac Ventures, NextView Ventures, High Alpha, and Sapphire Ventures. Attentive will use the funds to develop products and hire and develop talent. The firm has over 400 full-time employees, a 310% increase year-over-year. In April, Attentive raised $110 million in a Series C round. advertisement advertisement Attentive facilitates purchasing via mobile for such brands as Sephora, Tapestry Urban Outfitters, Michaels, Steve Madden, and Jack in the Box. "Mobile and e-commerce growth have been accelerated over a matter of months this year, creating a lasting impact on consumer behavior,” says Attentive CEO and co-founder Brian Long. Earlier this year, a survey by Yotpo showed that 51% of consumers would welcome getting texts from their favorite brands, and that 54% would like to receive coupons and promotional offers via SMS. The same poll placed text messaging as a close second to email as a preferred channel. Long argues that, in a few years, “consumers will expect all of their favorite brands and businesses to support real-time conversations via text messaging.” Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH September 24, 2020 at 04:18PM Airship Acquires ReplyBuy, Extending Engagement Support To SMS https://ift.tt/33Y8gHW Customer engagement firm Airship has acquired SMS payment firm ReplyBuy. Terms were not disclosed. The move extends Airship’s reach into SMS, providing an additional way for clients to conduct one-to-one conversations, says Airship CEO Brett Caine. In addition, the firm plans to use ReplyBuy’s payments solution in additional marketing channels. ReplyBuy CEO Brandon O’Halloran will become GM of commerce at Airship’s GM. In addition, ReplyBuy CTO and co-founder Anthony Saia will lead Airship’s commerce engineering team. Airship supports customer interactions throughout the customer journey via mobile apps, email and websites, with a heavy emphasis on mobile, the company says. ReplyBuy facilitates sports and entertainment ticket sales, non-profit fundraising, membership renewals and other transactions, it adds. advertisement advertisement Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH September 24, 2020 at 04:03PM NBCU: CTV Viewership Up 95% Last Year; Half To Three-Quarters Of All TV Viewing Now Time-Shifted9/24/2020
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NBCU: CTV Viewership Up 95% Last Year; Half To Three-Quarters Of All TV Viewing Now Time-Shifted https://ift.tt/2FWre9O NBCUniversal’s first “One Audience Trends Report” offers stats and examples from its own portfolio that underscore how much cross-platform consumption is, or should be, transforming media buying strategies. One attention-getter: CTV saw the largest percentage growth in digital viewership last year: up 95%, versus 37% growth for desktop and mobile/tablet. (No actual shares for CTV vs personal devices are provided.) “As CTV grows increasingly popular, advertisers will see new opportunities for versatility, flexibility and targeting,” the report notes. Overall, each year during the past five, digital content consumption has grown by a minimum of 30% year-over-year across NBCU’s portfolio. NBC leads in digital share and volume across demographics, but NBCU’s cable networks are “close behind,” and all types of content have seen digital viewership growth. Last year, it was up up 143% in news, 37% in sports, 30% in entertainment, and 47% in Hispanic programming. advertisement advertisement Another stat of note: Even among those 50 and older, fully 50% of entertainment viewing is now time-shifted via streaming, on-demand or digital. Today, older viewers are literally splitting their viewing time between live linear TV and streaming/on-demand. Not surprisingly, the time-shifted percentages are even higher among younger demographics: 69% among those 35 to 49, and 76% among the 18-to-34 segment. The data also confirm that the large screen is still by far the dominant viewing device. In fact, 74% of NBCU digital content is watched on a TV screen, and fully 97% of consumption in a typical NBCU ad campaign occurs on a TV screen, either via linear, CTV or set-top-box video-on-demand Dispelling Myths, Outdated Practices “Dated ideas about the importance of daily ratings have held the industry back, preventing us from transforming and adopting a modern, cross-platform approach to planning,” says the report, using cross-platform consumption trends or “viewing rhythms” for some NBC shows to illustrate the importance of looking at linear, on-demand and digital holistically. (And to highlight the shows’ popularity in the process…) For instance, after airing live on Monday, “The Voice” sees its on-demand peak on Tuesday and Wednesday, due to its FOMO or “watercooler” dynamic. Similarly, “Saturday Night Live” sees digital and on-demand peak on Sunday and Monday. “This Is Us” is the #1 show by linear ratings, but is also #1 on-demand three days a week, and within the top three on-demand every day of the week, according to NBCU. “Chicago,” on the other hand, generally sees its on-demand ratings peak within 24 hours of its original airtime. Takeaway: An accurate picture of viewership requires inclusion of digital and VOD consumption, not just traditional daily/overnight ratings. NBCU aggregated results from several ad campaigns to come up with these statistics on how results improved when the same budget is used for true cross-platform buys versus binary, linear-vs.-digital ad buys: Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH September 24, 2020 at 03:34PM Holiday Nerves: Ecommerce Brands Are Less Optimistic Than Last Year https://ift.tt/35ZY9oC Ecommerce brands seem shaky as they approach the 2020 holiday season. A fourth expect lower revenue this year, and a third are opting out of peak-season marketing activities. Last year, those percentages were negligible. Ecommerce firms are also taking their time planning their campaigns. By September 2019, 70% had started their peak-season planning. That has fallen to 40% this year. And 30% are doing no planning. Yieldify conducted this two-part survey in August with 400 ecommerce leaders and 2000 consumers in the United States and the United Kingdom. For those still active, email will be the top channel being used — by 28% during the peak season. Here are the other tactics being employed SMS is at the bottom of the list, and 26% are utilizing none of these:
advertisement advertisement Email marketing also ranks highly as a peak-season conversion tactic, second only to highlighting free delivery. But both activities are falling below 2019 levels. Also being used are personalized recommendations highlighting customer reviews and optimizing the mobile site. However, the only response that is higher this year than last is “There are no top tactics that my company has to increase conversion during the holiday shopping season.” In another depressing finding, only 45% of brands expected to exceed last year’s results. In 2019, 90% were optimistic they would. Their biggest challenges this year? The top five are:
Of those polled, only 34% plan to increase their peak-season spending and 18% will decrease it. The remainder will retain their prior level. As for timing, 42% expect to shop online during the peak holiday season, versus 30% in 2019. In addition, 39% will shop on Cyber Monday (compared to 33% last year) and 36% on Black Friday (up from 29% in 2019). Electronics was the top vertical for both Black Friday and Cyber Monday. However, apparel and accessories took over for holiday. Here’s one takeaway for firms preparing to plunge ahead — that “personalizing on-site experiences and email marketing will be crucial to differentiate brand offerings and attract those all-important conversions from new and returning visitors alike.” Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH September 24, 2020 at 03:12PM Mobile Commerce To Hit New Highs This Holiday Season https://ift.tt/3hTDtAY U.S. mobile commerce, or mcommerce, sales are expected to reach $314 billion this year, and represent 44% of projected total ecommerce sales of about $710 billion, according to eMarketer projections. That partly reflects overall ecommerce growth expected for the year. While pandemic-necessitated social distancing, unemployment and financial stress will take a toll on bricks-and-mortar spending growth — projected to decline 14% this year (to $4.2 trillion) — overall ecommerce sales are benefitting, with projected growth of 18% (to $709.8 billion), versus 14.9% in 2019. Looking at the holidays, emarketer is projecting that retail mcommerce sales will reach $71.3 billion this holiday season — up nearly 12% from $59.6 billion in 2019. That will mean that retail mcommerce holiday sales will represent 23% of overall 2020 mcommerce sales. In 2018, the researcher estimated holiday retail mcommerce sales at $49.3 billion, accounting for 40% of estimated total holiday ecommerce sales of $123.4 billion. Mobile retail holiday sales totaled $30.6 billion in 2016, and $40 billion in 2017, representing about 33% and 39% of total retail ecommerce holiday sales, respectively. advertisement advertisement A recent survey by online installment payments company Sezzle found nearly 80% of shoppers reporting that they were shopping more on mobile since COVID hit — including 53% reporting doing “much more” mobile shopping, noted Forbes contributor Shelley E. Kohan. “With this new normal of retail, ecommerce and online purchasing options are going to skyrocket, especially on mobile devices, as shoppers prioritize their safety and health,” summed up Sezzle CRO Veronica Katz. Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH September 24, 2020 at 09:57AM Two Weeks Of NFL Games Sink 7% In Viewership; Geico, Progressive, AT&T Top Advertisers https://ift.tt/32WIfcw
Two weeks into the NFL season show a 7% decline in the average Nielsen-measured viewing per game across all networks to 15.0 million viewers versus the same period a year ago.
By comparison, two weeks into the 2019 season showed a slight 3% gain versus the same period in 2018. After a decent but not stellar first week this season (with Fox’s Sunday afternoon game getting to 25.8 million viewers and NBC's "NFL Kickoff" on Thursday at 20.5 million) -- there were no individual games in the second week pulling in more than 20 million viewers. The highest-rated game in Week Two was on CBS with 18.9 million viewers, featuring the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs against the Los Angeles Chargers. Helping keep the losses to a minimum, the second week of “Monday Night Football” (New Orleans Saints vs. the Las Vegas Raiders) ran not just on ESPN, but on ABC (the original home of “MNF”) as well as ESPN2. This pulled in a collective 15.6 million viewers. advertisement advertisement The week before, ESPN struggled with the first "MNF" of the season -- a doubleheader that pulled in 10.7 million and then 7.7 million viewers, respectively. This compares to the 2019 first week "MNF" double header, with 13.1 million and 10.6 million, respectively. NBC’s highly rated “Sunday Night Football” had an underwhelming 18.9 million in the first week and 17.7 million (New England Patriots vs. the Seattle Seahawks) in the second week. A year before, "SNF" came in at 22.1 million for the first week and 17.6 million for the second week. Top ten national TV advertisers across all NFL networks -- NBC, Fox, CBS, ESPN, NFL Network, ABC, and ESPN2 -- for the first two weeks, according to iSpot.tv: Geico, Progressive Insurance, AT&T Wireless, Verizon, Apple iPhone, DraftKings, Toyota Motors, State Farm, the NFL, and T-Mobile. Next came the “Biden for President” campaign -- with 35 airings over two weeks, and an estimated $9.4 million in national TV spend. Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH September 24, 2020 at 07:56AM |
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