In this Week in Review: competitors team up to target ad fraud, Facebook enables video ad targeting and Brits prefer ads to BBC license fee. For a weekly summary of industry news and other VAN interviews and videos, sign up to the weekly Video Round-Up.

Google, Facebook and Yahoo Unite to Tackle Invalid Data-Center Traffic
The Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG) has initiated a program to block illegitimate and non-human ad traffic originating from data centers. The organisation’s new program will tap into Google’s internal data-center blacklist to filter bots. Google, Facebook and Yahoo are among a group of digital players sharing information on bot fraud with each other through the joint initiative.

Facebook Introduces Viewer Restrictions to Enable Video Targeting 
Facebook has introduced new targeting tools that enable brands and advertisers to select who sees their videos. Content creators will now be able to target viewers by age, location, language and gender, helping them to control how their videos are shared. The WSJ also reports that in the coming weeks Facebook will allow advertisers to start paying only when an ad is 100 percent in-view.

Majority of Brits Want Advertising Over BBC License Fee 
Almost 60 percent of Brits want the BBC license feed scrapped, according to research by TubeMogul. Private advertising is seen as the best solution to fund the BBC by 60 percent of respondents, whilst less than a quarter want to continue paying the license fee.

Nikkei Outbids Axel Springer to buy Financial Times Group
Nikkei, Japan’s largest media company, outbid Germany’s Axel Springer to buy the Financial Times Group for £844m with what the FT reports was an ‘eleventh hour’ bid. Pearson bought the London-based Financial Times in 1957, which started out as a four page newspaper in 1888. Read full story on the FT.

BARB’s TV Player Report Goes into Beta

YouTube to Show 360 Degree Video Ads
YouTube now supports 360-degree video advertisements on Chrome, Android and iOS. The new feature runs on Google’s TrueView ad platform and allows users to pan around the field of view.

AOL Introduces Skippable Video Ad, Makes Pre-Roll Interactive
AOL has introduced measures to discourage advertisers from relying on standard pre-rolls. The company is introducing “premium” video ad formats, which give advertisers multiple ways to add interactive features to their existing creative including adding polls to skippable pre-roll.

Monthly Views for Branded YouTube Content Rises 60 Percent
YouTube’s top 100 advertisers are uploading a video every 18.5 minutes to exploit a 60 per cent jump in viewing time according to a study by YouTube and Pixability. The study also found that longer videos are being posted, meaning brands are now creating made-for-YouTube content and that four of the top 10 trending videos on all of YouTube in 2014 created by brands.

Hulu Plus Plus
Hulu will try out an ad-free service this fall, reports Ad Age. Subscriptions will like be charged at $12 or $14 per month.

Ad Viewability Declining in the UK
In the UK, online ad viewability fell to 49 percent in Q2 2015, a 7 percent decline from 2014, according to research by Meetrics. Viewability in the UK is lower than in Germany (64 percent) and France (62 percent) where programmatic is less dominant.

US TV Ad Spend Fell Five Percent in Q2
Television ad revenue fell 5 percent during the second quarter as marketers continue to shift more of their money into digital media according to Standard Media Index.

‘Mavens’ Responsible for 15 Percent Yahoo Revenue Growth
A year after Yahoo’s disappointing Q2, the company reported year over year revenue growth of 15 percent, its best in nearly nine years. So-called ‘Mavens’ revenue (mobile, video, native and social) grew 60 percent, whereas video, following full integration of BrightRoll, grew 60 percent year over year. Non-Mavens revenue, including desktop display and search, declined about 2 percent to $725 million.

Mobile Addicts Could Create Country More Populated than Russia
Research from mobile analytics firm Flurry found that in the last 12 months, the number of individuals across the globe consulting their smartphones over 60 times a day increased by 59 percent from 176 million to 280 million. So called ‘Mobile Addicts’ were most likely to be using social or messaging apps.

‘Inspiring’ Videos Most Likely to be Shared 
‘Inspiration’ is the emotion most likely to encourage viewers to share a video according to research by StreamSafe. Happiness and excitement were runners up.

App Fraud Causes New Headaches for Advertisers
Programmatic in-app ad fraud was responsible for roughly $776 million worth of wasted budget in 2014 and is projected to increase to over $1 billion mark this year, according to research from Forensiq.

Comcast Video Subscribers Down 69,000 in Q2 2015
Comcast Corporation has reported a rise in customers who hold double or triple products with them, however, video net losses numbered 69,000, though the rate of loss was seen to slow.

Political Video Bought Via Programmatic Picks Up In Early Primary States
Video advertising slots in key states in the 2016 US presidential elections are already being programmatically bought, according to TubeMogul.

Only Two Percent of Marketers Have ‘Very Effective’ Content Strategy
Content marketing is on the rise – but less than half of B2B marketers think their strategies are at least somewhat effective and only 2 percent believe their strategies are highly-effective, according to a new study by the CMO Council.

Youngsters Choose Netflix Over Live TV
Findings from Hub Entertainment Research show that while cord cutting remains low, online TV is becoming the default for key TV segments and scenarios including Millennials and ‘Generation Y’.

Rightster Launches ‘Canvas’, An Online Destination Dedicated to the Arts
Rightster, a multi-platform video network, has unveiled Canvas, a new online destination which it says will ‘unlock the true potential of digital video content for the arts’. Canvas brings together artists and arts organisations to showcase their work to ‘Millennials’, in a format and tone that engages with younger audiences. Canvas is partnering with Southbank Centre and Sadler’s Wells, with many more scheduled to come on board over the coming months. 

OTT Viewing Higher in Households with Gen X Age Person and Kids
Households with at least one member of Generation X and those where children (ages 17 and under) are present, are much more likely to stream video and view other content using OTT devices according to new research from GfK.

OTT Taking-Off in Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa
OTT TV and video revenues in Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EEMEA) will reach $2,635 million in 2020; up from the $616 million expected in 2015, according to a report from Digital TV Research.

Simulmedia Releases INSIGHTS For Post-Campaign Reporting
Simulmedia has released the INSIGHTS application, an online reporting portal and addition to its VAMOS reporting system.

Ireland’s TV3 Chooses Ooyala 
Irish commercial television broadcaster, TV3, has chosen Ooyala to power its live and VOD content across all digital devices.

Vungle Launches Vungle Korea
This week saw the launch of Vungle Korea. The mobile advertising company hopes to help advertisers reach the country’s high proportion of gamers.

BIMA Awards Nominations Announced for 2015
The British Interactive Media Association (BIMA) has revealed the BIMA Awards 2015 shortlist, with nominations including R/GA London, We Are Social and Leo Burnett.

This Week’s New Hires:
Videology Recruits ITV’s Jon Block 
Jon Block has been appointed VP of Product and Platform at Videology to manage EMEA wide initiatives. He joins them from ITV.

Susanne Daniels Departs MTV to Join YouTube
Susanne Daniels, MTV’s head of programming, will take on the new role of vp, YouTube originals, Adweek has confirmed.

This Week on VAN

• Q&A: Exponential’s Laura Stevens Discusses Instream vs Outream and Exponential’s New CPME Metric, read more on VAN
• This ISIS Video Was Brought to You By… How Yesterday’s Tools are Failing to Meet Today’s Brand Safety Challenges, read more on VAN
• Reserve Your Dmexco Tickets by August 17th, or Pay After August 18th, read more on VAN

Ad of the Week: AT&T, Close to Home, BBDO New York

The latest installment of AT&T’s ‘It Can Wait’ series profiles the devastating consequences of using social media whilst driving.

https://youtu.be/OVnRcIXEqaU

And Finally…..
Last week, we brought you AirBnB’s inspiring ‘Is Man-Kind?’ advert. This week, the internet is awash with parodies. Here’s one of the better ones.