Vertical Thinking: Teads’s Todd Tran on finding a “via media” with video advertising February 22, 2016 The case for vertical mobile ads has been won. Last year, Snapchat urged marketers and media companies to ditch wide-angle shots and go vertical, and Audi reported a completion rate which was 80 per cent higher when its mobile video ads were designed to be watched in portrait. Teads, which leads the field in native [...]
Creating disruption: Advertising financial services and Nutmeg’s new campaign February 22, 2016 When it comes to selling financial services, advertisers have their work cut out. Consumer scepticism is rife and the jargon is labyrinthine. “There’s a perfect storm,” says Laurence Green, co-founder of 101, which handles the creative for Scottish Widows. “Too often, financial services firms’ brief to advertisers is: ‘We’re basically the same as everyone else; can [...]
Amazon Studios acquires North American rights to Woody Allen’s upcoming film starring Blake Lively and Kristen Stewart and his new TV show with Miley Cyrus February 18, 2016 Amazon Studios has today acquired the North American rights to Woody Allen's latest feature film. Amazon Studios has obtained all the rights for the region, including theatrical and streaming. The film, which does not yet have a title, is a romantic comedy set in the 1930s starring Blake Lively and Kristen Stewart and is due to be released in cinemas [...]
Trinity Mirror’s launching a new daily tabloid called New Day within the next fortnight February 17, 2016 Trinity Mirror is preparing to launch a new daily newspaper slated to be called New Day just days after the Independent's run in print came to an end after three decades. New Day could launch in less than a fortnight, with plans due to be unveiled at the same time as its annual results on 29 [...]
Johnston Press boss Ashley Highfield on the i, Lebedev and the future of print media February 17, 2016 It wasn't easy to second guess his opposite number during negotiations for the purchase of the i newspaper, Johnston Press chief executive Ashley Highfield has told City A.M. Speaking about the regional publishing group’s £24.4m acquisition from ESI Media last week, Highfield described it as a “unique” experience with its own particular challenges. “You’re dealing with [...]
Glastonbury Festival by numbers: How many times Coldplay has been a headliner, when the first festival was held and how much tickets cost February 16, 2016 The canny organisers of Glastonbury Festival are notorious for keeping music fans guessing about which bands they'll be treated to but they have let slip today that Coldplay will be among the headliners at the 2016 show. In honour of this information reveal, we've tracked the facts and figures you need to know about the festival: [...]
Google for gifs startup Giphy raises $55m valuing search platform and gif creator tool at $300m February 16, 2016 Time to start investing in gifs? The popularity of the animated pictures used everywhere online has helped the gif search engine and gif creator tool Giphy raise $55m (£38m) from venture capital investors. The cash follows a $17m round of funding just over a year ago which valued the firm at $80m, as well as crowdfunding some investment in the [...]
Agenda-setting and amusing: Why Buzzfeed is a real innovator February 16, 2016 I don't even have to tell people anymore that Buzzfeed are no longer just about kittens. This is a company that has recently hired some of the brightest and best journalist talent in the UK, including hard-nosed investigative reporters, clever data visualisers and hot political correspondents. Buzzfeed in the UK is built on the hugely [...]
Fast Company’s most innovative companies 2016:OMG! Buzzfeed tops list ahead of Facebook, Amazon, Apple and Uber February 16, 2016 Move over Zuckerberg and step aside Bezos – there's a new innovator in town, and it might just surprise you to find out who. Beating both Facebook and Amazon, as well as Uber, Apple and Alphabet, it's media darling and animal listicle inventor Buzzfeed which has been named the most innovative company in the world. Putting a nail in [...]
Yahoo will live stream Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting February 16, 2016 Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway will for the first time ever live stream its annual shareholder meeting. The meeting, due to take place 30 April with around 40,000 shareholders in Omaha, will be broadcast as a live stream online on Yahoo. “Over the past 50 years, we’ve seen a tremendous increase in the interest around our [...]