MediaBizBuzz: Facebook, MediaCom, SheKnows, National Cinemedia, More Ad Blocking

Tom Wheeler Fires Back at Cable Lobby, Says Cable Box Fees are Too High

As cable industry lobbyists criticize a Federal Communications Commission plan to inject competition into the set-top box market, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler today said company complaints are off-base (via Ars Technica).

+ It’s Time to Unlock the Set-Top Box Market (via Re/code)

Broadcast TV Spectrum Auction: Comcast Seen In, Disney Out

The deadline for broadcasters to file as participants in March auction was Jan. 12; the FCC has not said how many local TV stations, out of roughly 2,000 eligible nationwide, filed (via Investor’s Business Daily).

Adblocking Almost as Popular On Mobile Devices as Desktops

More than 40% of those surveyed by GlobalWebIndex said they were interested in blocking ads on their mobiles in the future (via The Guardian).

+ Internet advertising industry chief: Adblock Plus is an “unethical, immoral, mendacious coven of techie wannabes” (via Business Insider)

+This Startup Wants to End Adblock's "Raping and Pillaging" of Online Publishers (via Fast Company)

Facebook Q4 Ad Spend More Than Doubled Year-Over-Year

Total ad spend was up 128 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015 compared with the year-ago period, and up 46.9 percent versus the third quarter of 2015 (via AdWeek).

+ Facebook: New $136 Price Target -- Brian Wieser, Pivotal Research

+ Facebook Says Video Is Huge -- 100-Million-Hours-Per-Day Huge (via Re/code)

+ Facebook Takes On Periscope by Giving Live Streaming to All U.S. iPhoners (via TechCrunch)

+ The World's Biggest Advertising Company Spent a Whopping $4 Billion with Google Last Year — and $1 Billion with Facebook (via Business Insider)

Gawker's Nick Denton: Facebook Dominance is Better Than “Convoluted” Ad Tech

“I see this being a battle between Facebook and ad tech … Who can supply the most relevant ads in a way that doesn’t degrade the user experience?” (via Digiday).

+ BMO Capital Markets’ Dan Salmon on Ad Technology and 2016 Trends

+ Surprisingly, the Online Advertising Industry's Future May Lie in Offering More Privacy, Not Less (via Phys.org)

+ Attention Advertisers: Sometimes Technology Isn't the Answer

Facebook, Alphabet Shine as “Programmatic” Eats Ad Biz, Says Morgan Stanley

“In all we see programmatic display growing to 69% of the global display market by 2020, driving 94% of incremental online display ad spend from 2015-2020” (via Barrons).

+ Triad Retail Media on Programmatic, Ad Automation – Impacts for 2016

Spotify Ready to Introduce Video Product

Lineup of traditional and digital content providers that included ESPN, Comedy Central, the BBC, Vice Media and Maker Studios will soon be added to popular music app (via WSJ).

+ Spotify Is Said to Be Seeking $500 Million in New Funds (via New York Times)

How Vice Is Trying To Reinvent the TV Ad Model

With the debut of Viceland, its joint-venture with A+E Networks, next month, Vice is offering advertisers less commercial clutter along with custom content and pod takeovers (via AdAge).

MediaComWins Big in Sony Global Media Review

Adweek reports the agency has won all Sony’s PlayStation business from Carat and OMD, has retained Sony Mobile globally, and won the company's electronics account (via AdWeek).

Sinclair Broadcast Group Strikes $350 Million Deal for Tennis Channel

Deal helps fulfill Sinclair’s stated goal of expanding beyond its core broadcast TV station business into cable channels with the potential for larger national distribution and appeal to advertisers (via Variety).

SheKnows Media Taps $22 Million in Credit to Spend on Tech, Acquisitions

Funds to be invested in technology platform Momentum and used for acquisitions of companies focused on empowering women (via AdExchanger).

National Cinemedia Hopes to Crack Spot Ad Sales Market in Alliance with Strata

Comcast-owned ad software firm Strata will now offer national advertisers theater inventory as well as opportunities in cable, broadcast, newspaper, radio and outdoor media (via Deadline).

AOL Expands its “One” Platform to Include Tools That Help Publishers Sell to Advertisers

Called “One by AOL: Publishers,” it consolidates the company’s portfolio of services into a single package that provides audience engagement, analytics, content distribution and revenue management (via VentureBeat).

Rubicon Project Launches Programmatic TV Partnership with AdMore

Rubicon Project’s Orders Platform will enable marketers to reach linear-TV audiences in more than 100 million Nielsen-monitored homes nationwide (via Rubicon Project).

Nielsen Makes Digital Ad Ratings Available in Google DoubleClick

After successfully completing a beta run, Digital Ad Ratings have now become available in the U.S., Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the U.K., Australia and Brazil, and DoubleClick for Publishers in the U.S. (via MediaPost).

Mobiquity Networks and Screenvision to Bring Beacons to 300 Theater Complexes

The movie theater-based advertising, data and consumer-engagement beacon networks will work both independently and in conjunction with Mobiquity Networks’ retail mall-based beacon network (via Film Journal).

iHeartRadio Now Has 80 Million Registered Users

Figure doesn’t account for the listeners who tune in to iHeartRadio’s live radio stations without the need to register (via Business Wire).

+ iHeartResearch: Radha Subramanyam on Media, Metrics and Mentoring

Bill Gates sells Corbis to Getty via Chinese Consortium

Corbis sells image division to Chinese consortium Visual China Group (VCG) and Getty strikes an exclusive deal with VCG to license all of Corbis’ images anywhere in the world except China (via British Journal of Photography).

People on the Move

USA Today, part of Gannett Co., Inc., announced that Michael Kuntz will be joining as Senior Vice President of Digital Revenue reporting to Chief Revenue Officer Kevin Gentzel. Kuntz will focus on digital sales, operations and programmatic to grow the network’s multi-platform advertising solutions (via Business Wire).

Nielsen appointed Matt O'Grady as Chief Executive Officer of ROI measurement company Nielsen Catalina Solutions (NCS) reporting to the NCS board of directors.  Nielsen assumed majority ownership of NCS, a joint venture with Catalina, in 2015 (via PR Newswire).

Univision has appointed Alejandro Nieto Molina as Senior Vice President and General Manager for its radio division, a new post that will see him overseeing strategy and content efforts for the company’s radio operations (via Billboard).

Video Picks

The Instagram Effect: Facebook Cashes In on Mobile Ads

David Fischer, Facebook's Vice President of Business and Marketing, discusses the company's fourth-quarter growth (via Bloomberg).

Scott Cunningham, IAB, and Scott Meyer, Ghostery, on Advertising Experiences

Scott Cunningham, Senior Vice President Technology and Ad Operations, IAB, and General Manager of the IAB Technology Lab, and Scott Meyer, CEO and Co-Founder, Ghostery, discuss advertising experiences and putting users first at the 2016 IAB Annual Leadership Meeting (via YouTube/IAB).

Image at top courtesy of Corbis. The opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillage/MyersBizNet management or associated bloggers.