1. TheDigital Voice, a specialist B2B adtech PR agency, has seen strong growth in recent years. In response to the needs of a rapidly expanding client roster, the agency has built out its marketing, events and multimedia teams. These eight new appointments come from a variety of backgrounds, including fashion, media and technology. With a
wealth of experience between them, they will be an invaluable addition to The Digital Voice team. The agency has also appointed a leading marketing operations specialist to help drive its continued growth. This latest wave of appointments comes as The Digital Voice celebrates its ten year anniversary. In that time, it has become one of the most respected names in the adtech PR industry. With a proven track record in delivering results for clients, The Digital Voice is well-positioned for
continued success in the years ahead.
2. Microsoft is certainly making a splash this summer with their latest slew of updates. First up are their new ad types, which are specifically tailored for the automotive and vertical industries. These ads will make it easy to advertise cars and other vehicles, displaying price, fuel type, mileage, and more. Additionally, Microsoft has announced that they're pulling content from Bing Ads
into Microsoft Advertising, giving advertisers more options and flexibility when it comes to targeting their ads. With all of these new updates, it's clear that Microsoft is serious about staying competitive in the ever-evolving world of online advertising.
3. Up until recently, Buy now, pay later (BNPL) companies have mainly been focused on the consumer market. However, amidst tightening economies and regulations, they are struggling to
stay afloat in this area. As a result, they are increasingly turning their attention to the business market. There are a number of reasons why BNPL startups are rising in popularity in the business world. Firstly, the global business payments market is worth a staggering $125 trillion – more than double the size of the global consumer payments market. This represents a huge opportunity for BNPL companies to tap into. Secondly, businesses are generally more financially stable than
consumers, meaning they are less likely to default on their payments. This makes businesses a far safer bet for BNPL companies. Finally, businesses often have greater need for credit than consumers – they may need to make large one-off purchases or cover gaps in cash flow. This means that there is a real demand for BNPL products and services amongst businesses. So far, BNPL startups have had great success in the business world. They have managed to secure major contracts with some of the world’s
largest companies, and their growth shows no signs of slowing down. It will be interesting to see how these companies evolve over the next few years as they continue to make inroads into the business world.
4. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has filed a lawsuit seeking to block Meta Company from acquiring Within, a virtual reality (VR) fitness studio. The FTC alleges that the acquisition would lead to a ‘highly concentrated’
VR fitness market in which Meta would control over 80% of the VR fitness content. The FTC also claims that Meta would use its market dominance to increase prices and reduce innovation. This is not the first time that the FTC has taken action to block a merger or acquisition in the VR industry. In 2018, the FTC blocked Facebook’s acquisition of Oculus VR on the grounds that it would reduce competition in the VR market. The current lawsuit is pending before the U.S. District Court for the District
of Columbia.
5. It's been interesting to see the reaction to Bing's announcement of a new user agent for its crawler, BingBot. Some people were quick to point out that this change might lead to some problems with old websites that are not optimized for the new BingBot. However, Fabrice Canel from Microsoft said on Twitter last night that 5% of all URLs downloaded are already over the new BingBot user agent. This suggests that
most websites are already compatible with the new BingBot, and that the change will not cause any major problems. In fact, it seems that the majority of websites are already prepared for the new BingBot, and that the change will only have a positive effect on Bing's crawling abilities.
6. The international market for OTT video services will continue expanding over the next five years, and more than double the revenue totals recorded in
2018. According to new data from Digital TV Research, global revenues from streaming video services will reach $159 billion in 2024, or more than double the $68 billion recorded in 2018. In 2019, the global revenue total is projected to reach about $95 billion, a 40% increase from 2018. The U.S. will remain the largest single market, with revenues of $57.4 billion in 2024 (about 36% of the global total), but China will generate the most growth over the next five years. China's OTT video
revenues will grow from $5.6 billion in 2018 to $22.6 billion in 2024, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 28%. Other countries with high rates of market expansion include India (27%), Japan (23%), and Canada (20%). Brazil, Russia, and Mexico will also see significant increases in streaming video revenues over the next five years. As broadband penetration rates continue to rise and consumers become more accustomed to paying for online content, it is likely that the global OTT video market
will exceed $200 billion by 2030.
7. Customer platform Klaviyo will serve as the recommended email partner for Shopify Plus, the firms announced this week. In addition, Shopify will make a strategic investment in Klaviyo. Klaviyo confirms the reported investment as $100 million. This is significant news for both companies, and cements their position as leaders in the ecommerce space. For Shopify Plus, this partnership will
provide access to Klaviyo's powerful email marketing tools and expertise. For Klaviyo, the partnership will offer a new channel for growth and scale. This is a win-win for both companies, and represents a major shift in the ecommerce landscape.
8. In a victory for Amazon, a judge has upheld his earlier decision to dismiss an antitrust lawsuit brought by the District of Columbia's Attorney General. The suit had challenged Amazon's
restrictions on vendors that use the marketplace, alleging that they violated antitrust laws. However, the judge ruled that Amazon's actions were simply part of its efforts to compete in the marketplace and did not constitute illegal activity. This ruling is a positive development for Amazon, which has been facing increased scrutiny from regulators in recent years. It also underscores the importance of competition in the tech sector, which has been dominated by a few large companies in recent
years.
9. The New York Times Company saw an 18% decline in Q2 operating profit to $76 million, mostly due to losses at The Athletic, the sports site the Times purchased for $550 million in February, a story reports. In addition, the Times reported a 2.4% decline in digital ad revenue YoY to $69.3 million. However, the Times added 180,000 digital-only subscribers in the quarter, a 70% hike from the gain of 105,000 digital-only
subscribers in Q1 2020 and trouncing analyst expectations of 150,000 t0 160,000 new digital subscribers. The strong subscriber growth was enough to overlook concerns about lower advertising spending by companies during the pandemic as well as temporary barriers to selling ads linked to certain issues such as racial injustice and voting. For now, it seems that theTimes' move to double down on its subscription business is paying off handsomely.
10. As anyone in the
online video industry knows, over-the-top (OTT) platforms have been growing in popularity in recent years. A new report from Comscore sheds some light on who is driving this growth. According to the research, male audiences make up almost 60% of OTT users. This is true for all of the top 10 platforms except for Zee5, where the split is almost even between genders. The report also found that OTT users are highly engaged, with an average of 2.5 hours
spent on these platforms each day. This is driven primarily by younger users, with those aged 18-34 spending 3 hours per day on OTT platforms. These findings provide valuable insights into the demographics of OTT users and suggest that there is still significant growth potential for these platforms.