The Frenemy Report: Publishers Are Over Facebook (and Snap)

CES presents the latest and greatest gadgets for the next generation -- but every digital native knows that hardware is just something to house their favorite software. The FANGS loomed over Vegas-- and dropped some bombs. Facebook's innocent prods for publishers to embrace groups came just a couple of days before Facebook essentially said, "F publishers." Zuck-- and Kerry Washington-- are promoting community-based discussions around Watch, local news and more. Wolk throws scrutiny on the brand-less News Feed (is it really necessary?), and notes how the Trending section could make the #FakeNews problem way worse. Considering the platform's changes go live as early as next week, publishers are losing hope in a friendship with Facebook.So will publishers migrate to Snap? Data leaked by the Daily Beast would suggest this is a bad move. Snappers use the app primarily for messaging-- not posting (users are 64% more likely to send a Snap to a friend than post to Stories), not reading, not consuming E! News-- it's more of a competitor with iMessage than Instagram at this point. Just 11% of users open Snap Map and 20% use the Snapchat Discover Edition daily. And ICYMI, no one likes Snapchat's redesign.Will these giants rejigger the glory days of influencer marketing? Humans like humans, and our very own Jason Damata has three reasons why Viacom's WHOSAY acquisition is smart. ‘They’re saying, F publishers’: Media winners and losers of Facebook’s feed purge [Digiday]Upstart digital publishers and local news publishers will be disproportionately hurt because they have a higher chance of getting a lot of their referral traffic from Facebook, said Andrew Montalenti, co-founder and CTO of web analytics firm Parsely.Facebook is testing a new section of the app specifically for local news and events [Recode]Facebook is using a mix of humans and machine learning software to surface content in this new section. Local news publishers who appear there will all be approved and vetted by the company’s News Partnerships team.Week In Review: Facebook Needlessly Changes Interface: Trending Stories Is The Real Source Of Fake News; AI Confirms Its Place As Year’s Most Overused Tech Term [TVREV]If anything, I find there’s less content from publishers I want to hear from, publishers whose Facebook pages I have actually gone and Liked.Where I do find #FakeNews however, is when I click on the “Trending” stories section in the right hand column of the desktop app. Facebook sheds light on top video ad formats [Business Insider]Only half of TV viewers watch TV ads for more than two continuous seconds. This means that roughly half of TV ads would be deemed viewable if evaluated against the Media Ratings Council’s (MRC) standard for mobile video viewability — 50% in view for two continuous seconds. This doesn’t mean TV ads are ineffective, but implies that TV marketers need to be able to quickly communicate their messages. TV networks are reacting accordingly — Fox and AMC have started airing 6-second ads, for example.‘We’re marching in the same direction’: Facebook is emphasizing Groups, and publishers are following suit [Digiday]Publishers’ and Facebook’s goals have often been at odds, but the groups seem to align with publishers’ focus on communities and subject-specific content — sort of a vertical strategy around community. The groups also are a way for publishers to promote their own journalists, who lead or join the discussions.Snapchat’s Big Redesign, Ahead Of US Launch, Has Received Overwhelmingly Negative Response Abroad [Tubefilter]According to TechCrunch, which cited data from Sensor Tower, 83% of people who have reviewed the new layout on the App Store have give it either one or two stars.This Is the Data Snapchat Doesn’t Want You to See [The Daily Beast]In the month of September, an average of only 19 million users checked Snap Maps daily, just 11 percent of the app’s total daily user base. The data shows that users sent personal snaps to friends more frequently than they posted to Stories. In August, users were 64 percent more likely to send a snap to a friend than post to Stories and sent an average of 34 chat messages per day. But according to the data reviewed by The Daily Beast, only an average of 20 percent of Snapchat users consumed content from a Discover Edition daily.Thanks to Shows Like The Handmaid’s Tale, Hulu’s 2017 Ad Revenue Topped $1 Billion [Adweek]That $1 billion in ad revenue came as the company launched its live TV streaming service in May, though Hulu will not be selling ads on that platform until this year. The median age of a Hulu viewer is 31, which the company said is almost 25 years younger than the average broadcast network viewer, 55.Viacom Acquires Whosay to Help Advertisers Create More Branded Content [WSJ]Viacom plans to utilize Whosay to help brands create campaigns that are consistent across digital platforms as well as TV, and those services will help the company generate incremental revenue, said Viacom’s ad sales chief, Sean Moran. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.USA Today's Branded Content Studio Is Thriving Thanks to a Focus on Data [Adweek]This development is leading Andresen to see a 40 percent year-over-year increase in revenue from 2016 to 2017 for all national sales. With a mix of articles, videos and strategically placed banner ads, GET Creative aims for impactful ads and smart growth.The TV ad model is 'under attack' thanks to Netflix and Spotify [Business Insider]You are going to go from eight minutes of ads in prime time per half hour, to zero for Netflix. You're going to need a happy medium, where tolerance could be there. If advertisers start to pay a premium for better more targeted ads, you may need fewer of them.Twitter To Air Live-Streamed World Cup Show Produced By Fox Sports [MediaPost]Twitter continues to ramp up its live video content developed by premium publishers and media companies. The latest addition to the fold? Fox Sports, which will produce a 30-minute live daily show for Twitter of its coverage of the World Cup. The show, hosted by Rachel Bonnetta, will run each day during the World Cup, which starts in June, and will take place in Russia. In total, Fox will produce 27 live episodes for Twitter.Tom Brady Scores a Docuseries on Facebook’s Watch [VideoInk]Tom Brady is getting a documentary-series on Facebook’s Watch. From Religious Sports, “Tom vs Time” follows Brady both on and off the field, revealing the mental and physical preparation he relies on to continue to play at an MVP level and compete for championships.Kerry Washington on Her New Facebook Show and How Technology Is Diminishing Hollywood’s Gatekeepers [Variety]Washington said Facebook’s Watch ability to combine distribution with community-based group discussions — as well as providing live interactions with the show’s cast — made “Five Points” ideally suited for the social service.