In this week’s Week in Review: ITV makes layoffs in entertainment division, Sky creates a new role to head up advertising, and WPP signs another major AI deal.<\/p>\n
ITV Plans to Cut 200 Jobs in Wake of Studios Slowdown<\/b><\/p>\n
ITV is planning to cut 200 jobs, CEO Carolyn McCall told staff in an email this morning, as the UK broadcaster continues to feel the effects of a TV advertising downturn and a slowdown at its studio division. The redundancies – a combination of compulsory and voluntary – form part of a wider cost-savings programme, aimed at saving \u00a350 million per year.<\/span><\/p>\n The job cuts are expected to focus on ITV\u2019s media and entertainment unit, home of its streaming and broadcasting operations. The company is also looking to automate commercial and technology functions, potentially replacing back-office roles. But the broadcaster is seeking to protect its content output, reportedly sparing ITV Studios, news, daytime TV and soap operas from cuts.<\/span><\/p>\n The news comes weeks after the commercial broadcaster’s Q1 results, which saw its external revenues slide due to a slowdown at its production arm ITV Studios. ITV said production was hit by the Hollywood strikes, but expects the studios business to return to growth next year.<\/span><\/p>\n UK Passes Key Bills to Regulate Tech and Protect Broadcasters<\/strong><\/p>\n The UK Parliament has quickly passed two key pieces of legislation, the Media Bill and the Digital Markets, Competition, and Consumers Bill which seek to rein in big tech companies, offer stronger protections for tech companies, and bring streaming services under Ofcom regulation.<\/p>\n The two bills were passed in a ‘wash up’ period following Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s announcement of a July 4th general election. The Media Bill, which was backed by all of the UK’s major broadcasters, will require that public service broadcasters are given prominence on smart TVs and connected devices. It will also place new obligations on streaming services like Netflix, levelling the playing field between the UK’s broadcasters and the streaming giants.<\/p>\n The Digital Markets Bill meanwhile will designate some of the biggest tech companies as having ‘strategic market status’. These companies will be regulated by a new unit within the Competition and Markets Authority, the Digital Markets Unit. The DMU will, among other things, be able to fine these big tech companies up to ten percent of their annual turnover if they’re found to be abusing their market positions. It will also be able to require tech companies to pay publishers in order to be allowed to host any of their content.<\/p>\n WPP Agrees AI Deal with Anthropic<\/strong><\/p>\n WPP has agreed a deal which will see AI business Anthropic integrate its ‘Claude’ AI model family into WPP’s marketing OS WPP Open, including its tools Opus, Sonnet and Haiku. WPP says Claude Opus, Sonnet and Haiku can understand and interpret complex briefs and produce high-quality content, as well as process a range of formats including photos, charts, graphs and technical diagrams. WPP staff will be able to use them for tasks from ideation and content generation to copywriting and design.<\/p>\n The partnership comes as part of WPP’s pledge to invest \u00a3200 million in AI, data, and technology annually. Claude 3 joins other models within WPP Open including OpenAI\u2019S GPT-4 and DALL-E 3, Google\u2019s Gemini family and Imagen 2, and Stability AI\u2019s SDXL 1.0.<\/p>\n Barb Joins MRC for Collaboration on Measurement Standards\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n Barb, the UK TV measurement body, has joined the Media Rating Council (MRC), the US auditor of audience measurement services. Barb will take a seat on the MRC board of directors, and will work with the organisation in evolving measurement standards for the media and advertising industry. \u201cThere\u2019s something in the genes of our two organisations that makes this a very easy step for Barb to take,\u201d said Justin Sampson, Chief Executive at Barb. \u201cWe\u2019re both committed to best practice, the advocacy of a shared language across the industry and transparency on data-collection and compilation techniques.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n TikTok Tests 60 Minute Uploads as Long-Form Push Continues<\/strong><\/p>\n Ultra short-form video app TikTok this week confirmed that it\u2019s testing letting some users upload videos up to one hour long. TikTok told TechCrunch that it has no immediate plans to make the feature widely available, but it seems the platform is taking these tests seriously. TikTok was also seen testing 30 minute uploads earlier this year. And the company says that extended upload times would allow users to create more varied types of content, and that some creators are already effectively trying to create long-form content by posting multiple videos covering one story or topic. Read more on VideoWeek<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n EX.CO Launches Unified Video Tool for Publisher Sales Houses<\/strong><\/p>\n EX.CO, an online video platform, today launched a new video solution specifically geared towards publisher sales houses which manage multiple websites, aimed at making it easier to optimise and manage video inventory across a range of sites. The tech company has signed up publisher collective 1XL, whose sites include City A.M, Newsquest, and The Irish News, as launch partner. Read more on VideoWeek<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n TiVo Brings In-Car Media into the Cross-Screen Mix<\/strong><\/p>\n TiVo, a tech company which runs an independent smart TV operating system alongside its own free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channels, this week announced the launch of TiVo One, a new cross-screen ad platform which will let advertisers buy inventory across the various endpoints which TiVo has access too. Somewhat uniquely, this will include ad inventory on in-car media platforms \u2013 a relatively new area for advertisers, but one which some analysts expect to grow in the coming years. Read more on VideoWeek<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n Snap Ramps Up AI Investment<\/b><\/p>\n Snap is upping its AI investments in order to drive ad personalisation for brands, CEO Evan Spiegel told <\/span>Bloomberg<\/span><\/a> this week. The Snapchat parent company is estimated to be investing around $1.6 billion in AI and machine learning for the rest of 2024. The move follows Meta\u2019s heavy investment in AI; the Facebook and Instagram owner is raising its 2024 capital expenditure to $35-40 billion in order to develop the technology.<\/span><\/p>\n Amazon Releases Ad Measurement Product for Publishers to Compare Alternative IDs<\/b><\/p>\n Amazon has unveiled a new ad measurement product to help publishers prepare for cookie deprecation, <\/span>Ad Age<\/span><\/a> reported on Monday. The Signal IQ tool measures the impact of alternative IDs on campaign performance within Amazon\u2019s marketplace. This allows publishers to directly compare different IDs, such as LiveRamp\u2019s RampID, The Trade Desk\u2019s UID 2.0, and Yahoo\u2019s ConnectID.<\/span><\/p>\n PubMatic to Offer Adsquare Location Data\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n Supply-side platform PubMatic has announced a data collaboration with Adsquare, a geolocation platform. PubMatic’s publisher partners will be able to package location data into their sales, while buyers will have access to demographics, interests, and purchase intent data sets. \u201cTogether, we are giving publishers and advertisers a reliable, scalable, cookie-free way to increase addressability across the open internet and, in turn, to maximise the positive impact that advertising has,\u201d said Tom Laband, CEO and Co-Founder at Adsquare.<\/span><\/p>\n TikTok Plans Further Layoffs<\/b><\/p>\n TikTok is planning a large number of layoffs, according to <\/span>The Information<\/span><\/a>, with cuts expected across its operations, content, and marketing departments. Anonymous employees said TikTok is scrapping its global user operations team, though precise numbers are undisclosed. The news follows a round of redundancies in January, when the social video company laid off over 60 staff, predominantly in the sales and advertising division.<\/span><\/p>\n X to Carry PGA Tour Video Content\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n X (formerly Twitter) has struck a deal with PGA Tour to bring golf highlights to the social media platform, CEO Linda Yaccarino announced on Wednesday. The announcement comes weeks after X renewed its content partnership with the NFL, which dates back to 2013. The partnerships continue the embattled company\u2019s push into video, with plans to launch a TV app.<\/span><\/p>\n Golf fans \u2014 you\u2019re getting MORE of the TOUR \u2014 on the best place for sports!! @X<\/a> is teaming up with @PGATOUR<\/a> to bring real-time highlights and more videos from every TOUR event. \u2014 Linda Yaccarino (@lindayaX) May 22, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\nThe Week in Tech<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\n
\nLet\u2019s do this!! pic.twitter.com\/sJIQDrTqWC<\/a><\/p>\n