The Frenemy Report: YouTube's Rated R, Snap Has Staying Power

Like clockwork. Now that Facebook's had its time on the guillotine, YouTube's taking some punches. The brand safety scandal is back for round two, as a CNN investigation revealed that ads from over 300 companies ran on YouTube channels promoting Nazis, pedophiles, and other NSFW topics. Now YouTube is dropping thousands of creators, causing MCNs like Ritual, BBTV and Fullscreen to slim down their businesses. Furthermore, YouTube Kids introduces new Parental Controls.Alas, disappearable is surprisingly dependable. Instagram Stories have become traffic drivers for publishers and influencers. And Snapchat is toying with a new 'tabs' layout while increasing Snap Lenses monetization options for brands. Viacom just renewed and expanded their Snapchat Deal, planning new shows from MTV, BET and Comedy Central. What's one way to monetize $nap? The app's debuting a new, unskippable 6-second ad format, dubbed ... "Commercials."Exclusive: YouTube ran ads from hundreds of brands on extremist channels [CNN]Ads from over 300 companies and organizations -- including tech giants, major retailers, newspapers and government agencies -- ran on YouTube channels promoting white nationalists, Nazis, pedophilia, conspiracy theories and North Korean propaganda, a CNN investigation has found.To identify unsafe content, YouTube tries asking creators to rate their own videos [Digiday]During the initial test, YouTube found that creator-provided classifications typically corresponded to YouTube’s own classifications. “The majority of those self-certifications were very consistent with the determinations we would have made internally with our human reviewers.”Procter & Gamble Ends YouTube Advertising Boycott [THR]The company has created a "whitelist" of videos and channels that it will advertise on exclusively; the list reduces the number of channels advertised on from 3 million prior to the brand's YouTube boycott in 2017 to 10,000.YouTube networks drop thousands of creators as YouTube policy shifts [Polygon]The future of multi-channel networks like Fullscreen, Ritual, BBTV and more are in question as thousands of creators are purged.YouTube Again Delays Application Process For Revamped Partner Program To End Of June [Tubefilter]YouTube initially said that all new Partner Program applications would be reviewed in a few weeks after the announcement, and later pushed the estimated date to the end of April. Now, the company says, it plans to have all applications processed by June’s end, according to Polygon. Prior to the overhaul, creators could monetize if they had 10,000 lifetime views; now, in a bid to address brand safety concerns after the Adpocalypse, channels need to have surpassed 4,000 hours of watch time and have at least 1,000 subscribers. The changes officially went into effect on Feb. 20. Twitter Ads Help Drive Viewers To TV [MediaPost]A new study says people exposed only to a Twitter ad campaign were 23% more likely to tune-in to TV, in this example for football games. That's versus people in the control group who weren't exposed to ads at all. A Nielsen Watch study shows audiences are more likely to tune-in to linear TV after being exposed to Twitter media.Facebook gives creators new ways to monetize videos, while pushing more users to Watch [Marketing Land]In its latest announcement around video, Facebook is launching new “preview” trailers for Watch programming that will run within the News Feed. The previews will give the viewer a “quick ad” of the show, before sending them to Watch, where they can view the full episode. Facebook says its content partners will be able to boost the Preview Trailers, targeting specific audiences and “driving more predictable tune-in” for shows.‘No feedback and zero movement’: Facebook Watch’s international expansion is off to a rocky start [Digiday]The platform is being more selective about whom it commissions content from and which videos can be monetized through mid-roll ads, clamping down on Watch pages full of subpar content and looped or prank videos that are a far cry from Facebook’s ambitions to be a premium content destination.Instagram Stories have become traffic drivers for publishers and influencers [Digiday]On average, only 2 to 5 percent of impressions on linked Story posts lead to swipe-ups, per Wescott. But often, those swipe-ups lead to sign-ups, which is leading more publishers and influencers to use Instagram Stories as an audience acquisition tool.Cheddar’s digital news network is coming to Hulu, too [TechCrunch]Only yesterday, news came out that Cheddar was the first digital-only network to launch a channel on YouTube’s streaming TV service, YouTube TV. Today, the company is announcing a similar deal with Hulu, which will bring its programming to Hulu’s more than 17 million subscribers.It's Groundhog Day For the NewFronts [Ad Age]Viacom is hosting its first NewFront following several major digital initiatives over the past year, including the launch of its content studio and the acquisitions of influencer marketer WhoSay and online video event VidCon. It will surely talk up how its content studio is developing programming specifically for platforms like Snapchat, which it renewed its deal with last week.TED finds a new broadcast channel in Facebook Watch [Digiday]Although TED has been experimenting with creating short-form videos on Facebook and using Facebook Live to interview speakers from its conferences for some time, it took a new approach this year, using Facebook Watch to capture the April conference in a series of eight episodes where TED speakers are interviewed in a behind-the-scenes style format. “TED: Backstage Pass” is the third Watch show TED has produced with TED’s internal team of four people.Creator Profile: How ‘Saturday Night Live’ Uses Social Video to Help Dominate the Pop-Cultural Conversation [Broadcasting & Cable]B&C has teamed up with social video analytics company Tubular Labs for a recurring look at how various content creators are deploying video to reach audiences online. In this edition, a look at how NBC comedy juggernaut Saturday Night Live continues to powerfully engage audiences beyond its weekly TV broadcast. According to Tubular, the No. 1 SNL video uploaded in the last 90 days has 9 million views and features Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman playing “Black Jeopardy” alongside Leslie Jones, Chris Redd and other SNL cast members. NewFronts Adds Vice, Subtracts Fusion And Jukin Media Ahead Of Annual Conference [Tubefilter]FiveThirtyEight Joins ABC News in Lead Up to the 2018 Midterms [Adweek]Netflix’s New 30-Second Mobile Previews Look Like Snapchat and Instagram Stories [Variety]Snapchat is testing a new 'tabs' layout to make navigation easier [Mashable]Snapchat is turning its Lenses platform into a shopping mall for brands [The Verge]Viacom Renews and Expands Snapchat Deal, Plans New Shows From MTV, BET, Comedy Central [Variety]With Go90 flatlining, Verizon sees Tumblr as home to original digital video programs [Digiday]