Village Soapbox: FreeWheel, YouTube, Sinclair, Ampersand, Hallmark, Up Entertainment, Cadent

This Week In MediaVillage:

Don’t miss the Jack Myers 3-Minute ThinkTank: Belief and Disbelief. This week, Jack tackles the wealth gap in America and how we can look to the lessons of the past to help us avoid a major crisis in the future.

The Village Soapboxwill be taking a quick holiday break next week. We wish everyone, who celebrates, a Merry Christmas. In keeping with a long standing MediaVillage tradition, we would like to kick off your holiday celebrations with a poem from longtime MediaVillage contributor, Steve Fajen. Please enjoy A Visit from Uncle Joe.

Have you had a moment to check out our new MeetingPrep.com AI-driven search tool focused on media, marketing, advertising and entertainment?  Launch of MeetingPrep.com Search Disrupts B2B Marketing for Media, Advertising & Entertainment Industry.

Before there were officially memes there was Budweiser’s famous and very viral ad campaign, “True” that changed the way Americans greeted each other for months. Relive those days and get the inside scoop in the latest in our  HISTORY’s Moments in Media series:  HISTORY's Moments in Media: Whassuuuuuuuup? Turns 21.

If you are just getting around to your Christmas shopping now, let’s assume that you need some help. That's where Peter Hubbell comes in, especially if you are buying for a Boomer. Get Peter’s shopping tips in What’s on the Boomers’ Holiday Wish List in 2020?.

I took my car in for a regular service the other day, and I have to admit that I had serious questions on how the waiting room process would work. Auto expert and Auto Marketing InSites columnist, Jim Motavalli shares his thoughts and survey data on the impact that COVID has had on the consumer mindset from buying to maintenance in the auto industry.  Make sure to read COVID and Car Buying: Safety is First.

And while we are speaking of cars, Ampersand announced the addition of 500+ auto segments to their ANDaudience platform via a partnership with Polk Automotive Solutions. You can learn all about it in Ampersand Announcing new Polk Automotive Solutions Partnership.

UP Entertainment has created an anthem spot that reminds us that even in this year of tragedy and weirdness, the Christmas spirit can be found. Alli Romano spoke with Charley Humbard, the CEO and founder of UP Entertainment to get the scoop on why they created this spot and how “being uplifting” is in their DNA. Check out UP Entertainment Invites Fans to “Christmas Together”.

YouTube creators churn out some incredibly compelling content each day. A great way to learn more about the hottest YouTube creators is to check out the annual Streamy Awards. Actress and MediaVillage contributor Kelly Kozakevich takes you inside this year’s award show in 2020 YouTube Streamy Awards Celebrate Ten Memorable Yearsand finds that it was a bit of a drag, but in a good way.

Diane Yu. CTO for FreeWheel, a Comcast Company, gives a detailed and very actionable primer on how she built a diverse organization in a field traditionally dominated by men. She shares her knowledge in  What it Takes to Build a Diverse Team: FreeWheel’s Case Study.

FreeWheel has also released their latest report, The Evolution of Streaming. You can download an infographic detailing the timeline of The Evolution of Streaming here.

Simon Applebaum speaks with Nielsen’s Stacie de Armas about the research arm’s groundbreaking diversity study, Nielsen Diverse Intelligence Series Report:Being Seen on Screen.(download the report from the preceding link). This report, which is the first in a series, will break down various aspects of diverse representation in each type of medium.

Simon also shares his thoughts on the barrage of information that we learned at last week’s Disney Investor Conference. Welcome to TV's Tomorrowland, Walt Disney.

Our resident TV critic and #AndradeSays columnist, Ainsley Andrade takes a look at the newest Chuck Lorre show in CBS’ “B Positive” Gets a B-Minus So Far.

For decades, the advertising world assumed that sight, sound, and motion had a degree of effectiveness superior to just one of those elements. The digital media world seems to have taken a different view. In Terms of ROI columnist Bill Harvey digs deep and issues a challenge to the industry in Sensory Media Allocation = Video Deprivation.

In a separate column, Bill Harvey writes about a cohesive attempt to manipulate the media through semantic technology. Mind Manipulation in the Age of Disinformation.

Cadent announced the their latest platform powered by the Cadent viewer graph. Empower Selects Cadent Platform to Power Advanced TV Execution for Customer-Journey Focused EMerge Platform.

Ten years ago, Ed Keller was curious to see if online and offline word of mouth aligned. His answers then were surprising, and in refreshing the data now, might even be more so. Word of Mouth and Social Media: A Ten Year Update.

Alli Romano connected with Steve Rosenberg, president of local sports at Sinclair. You can bet when you read Sinclair's Regional Sports Focus on Reinventing Fan Experience with Gamification and More.

Over the past week of Chanukkah, I have eaten a ridiculous amount of friend foods from potato latkes to homemade beignets (shout out to my wife!). I was lucky. I didn’t get heartburn. But the stress of 2020 has given heartburn to more Americans causing a shortage. Tamara Alesi unpacks the data around antacid brands in 2020 in  COVID Gives the Antacid Category Heartburn.

There is nothing that can get you into the Xmas spirit like a good Hallmark holiday movie. Steve Gidlow gets an exclusive interview with actor Neal Bledsoe who returns for his second Hallmark movie. Get your holiday cheer on and read, Neal Bledsoe Plays a Charming Prince in Hallmark's "A Christmas Carousel".

Ed Martin begins the end of year reflections and gives us the first of his list of favorite video/tv shows. I took a sneak peak and now have some great new options to watch! See how your top list aligns with Ed’s in 20 for 2020: The Top TV/Video Content of the Year (Part 1).

This Week In Media:

MediaVillage and AdvancingDiversity.org congratulate Emily K. Graham on her appointment as Omnicom’s chief equity and impact officer and senior vice president, diDiversity and inclusion communications.

Just in time for the release of Wonder Woman:1984, HBO Max finally concluded a carriage deal with Roku. Roku now carries all the top tier SVOD OTT services (Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, Disney+, Peacock, CBS All Access, Hulu, HBO Max).

Here’s a safe prediction: corporate lawyers at large tech companies will have a great year in 2021. Ten states have filed a lawsuit against Google claiming they colluded with Facebook (who is named as a co-conspirator) to rig the online advertising market and fix prices. This is in addition to a complaint filed by 38 State’s Attorneys General arguing that Google has engaged in monopolistic practices in stifling competition on Search. Google has responded that this lawsuit attempts to redesign Search in a way that would “deprive Americans of helpful information and hurt businesses ability to connect directly with customers."

Looks like the reality of Apple’s privacy policy changes in the upcoming iOS 14 has hit as Facebook took out print ads in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and the Washington Post to complain about the changes and warn customers that, perhaps, the company’s motives were not altogether altruistic. (You can see the ad here).

Have a wonderful weekend!

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The opinions expressed here are the author's views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillage.com/MyersBizNet.