We have today published a review of how public service broadcasting (PSB) has delivered for UK audiences over a five-year period between 2014 and 2018.

As part of our responsibility as a regulator, Ofcom reviews the performance of the PSB channels – BBC, ITV and STV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and S4C.

Separately, we have also published a five-year review of Channel 4’s performance.

But move beyond the hacks, and the digital agencies with a mouse to grind, and smell the air. It’s a new decade. There is an unmistakable whiff of smoke. An occasional crackle of static electricity. Change approaches.

Linear TV advertising will rumble on for a good few more years in its iconoclastic, vaunted position as the medium around which most big brands are built and reinforced. But ultimately, finally, there is major media disruption ahead.

The best place to look for evidence of its proximity is in the work of Ebiquity. Sandwiched between the overstated futurology of digital mavens and the smooth empirical defensiveness of traditional TV companies, Ebiquity repeatedly and correctly suggested that TV remained the superior advertising medium.

Recognising that top 10 lists are a frequent way to find out what’s popular, Netflix is rolling out a new Top 10 feature.

In addition to the overall top 10 list, users will also be able to see the top 10 most popular series and top 10 films when they click on the movies and TV shows tabs.

Adspend could remain the largest revenue driver for AR through 2024, driven by messaging based mobile AR’s active installed base. This is great for Facebook. If Apple launches smartphone tethered smartglasses in late 2022, it could drive hardware sales to become AR’s second largest revenue stream through 2024. This could be followed by mobile AR focused eCommerce, which saves a discussion of Amazon and Alibaba for another day. AR enterprise software/services (ex hardware) revenue also looks set to grow over the next 5 years, playing to Microsoft’s strengths. Lastly at a lower level, appstore IAP/premium revenues (games, non-games) and location based entertainment round out the mix.

In terms of active installed bases, messaging based mobile AR is forecast to grow from over 600 million in 2019 to over 1.3 billion by 2024, OS based mobile AR from over 200 million in 2019 to over 1 billion by 2024, followed by web-based mobile AR (at a much higher growth rate). This could see all mobile AR platforms combined active installed base grow from less than 900 million in 2019 to over 2.5 billion in 5 years time. (Note: total figures for active installed base types inherently involve double counting, exaggerating total figures due to users active on more than one platform. However, this enables direct comparison between different platform types and platforms.

Burberry partnered with Google on an augmented reality (AR) shopping experience that is activated from mobile web search results, per an announcement.
Shoppers who use Google Search on their smartphones to search for the Burberry Black TB bag or Arthur Check Sneaker can click on an image in the results to see a 3D image of the product overlaid on a real background.
The AR tool is currently available in the U.S. and U.K., and the company plans a global rollout for other products in the coming months, per its announcement.

“There will be markets and use cases in which payment card technology may not necessarily be in the best position to optimize a particular payment flow or solve a particular customer need,” he said. “So Mastercard is focused on identifying and pursuing those segments where there are opportunities beyond the card.” Vocalink and its ACH capability, he noted, were a “starting point” but from there the opportunities only open further.

Which, he noted in 2019, means the future isn’t in holding off FinTech or other payments paths, but in embracing and incorporating them. It’s why they rolled out Accelerate last year to give FinTechs easy onboarding tools to access and integrate Mastercard’s specialized and proprietary payments technology.

“FinTechs are contributing to the rapid digital transformation that makes lives more convenient, simpler and rewarding. We want to be the partner of choice for the top FinTech brands worldwide, and with Accelerate, we invite the next generation of global entrepreneurs to join us.”

So, what constitutes experiential marketing for retailers? Wine and cheese for the shoppers? Golf games at the mall? Pop-up stores? All of the above, actually, but it’s not as easy as it sounds. The version that works the best shows the two-way, strategic nature of the discipline. Says a recent report from George Johnson, an agency specializing in experiential marketing, its purpose is to “give audiences easy and inviting access to the level of content that interests them, information is tiered and presented in hybrid formats. Dimensional, human-scaled assets attract attention, grabbing eyes and inviting exploration through physical interaction. The physical actions activate digital experiences, which draw participants deeper into individualized levels of content satisfying to them.”

This definition takes experiential marketing beyond the wine-and-cheese concept. A good example of the “human-scaled” experience can be seen at Yankee Candle. It banked its past retail strategy on the product itself, which appealed to the aroma of the candles and the homey quality of its stores. Now, in the era of experiential marketing, a consumer can go to Yankee Candle, pick a scent (say, Balsam Fir) and then use an app right in the store to send a photo to a store associate. Minutes later, that photo is applied as a label. The consumer now has a candle with a personal brand. Yankee Candle gets data, engagement and a satisfied customer. The consumer doesn’t just buy a candle – she has an experience that extends well beyond the purchase. And so does the recipient.

Ride-hailing company Lyft has acquired Halo Cars, an advertising startup that displays ads on top of vehicles, according to a report from Axios.
The move illustrates the ride-hailing industry’s attempts to pull revenue from sources besides its core business, especially since both Lyft and Uber IPOs have underperformed.
Uber has been testing a similar tie-up with Cargo, an advertising startup in New York that shares ad revenue with the ride-hailing company. Cargo stopped doing its signature snack box endeavor to focus on cartop display advertising.

As it aims to contend with tech companies around the world and capitalize on the velocity of TikTok, ByteDance Inc. is reportedly aiming to grow into eCommerce, games and other segments as well as rolling out new apps. The firm, which is based in China, is piloting music streaming in Indonesia and India, bought game developers and rolled out a financial services app, The Wall Street Journal reported.

It is not certain that the efforts of ByteDance will succeed per the report. A number of its products are aiming to go into sectors that have heavyweights already, with the inclusion of Spotify Technology SA and Ant Financial Services Group’s Alipay as well as Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s WeChat Pay. A video-based messaging app, Duoshan, that ByteDance made to go up against the WeChat messaging service was reportedly not successful following its launch.

If 2019 was the year that 5G’s impact on transportation spluttered into life, then 2020 will see it move through the gears and start to transform the way we travel, from 5G-enabled cars to autonomous trains.

With its low latency, reliability and powerful connections, 5G’s impact on transportation is starting to take shape, and it’s on our roads where there’s the greatest sense of anticipation. While the arrival of the much-vaunted, fully autonomous vehicle is still some way away, most of the world’s major car brands are set to release new 5G-enabled models which link into the internet of things (IoT) and offer drivers and their passengers a wealth of new opportunities.

According to analysts Gartner, the share of cars actively connected to a 5G service will grow from a current base of 15 per cent to 74 per cent by 2023 and 94 per cent five years later. Jonny Culkin, automotive designer at design agency Seymourpowell, explains: “Manufacturers are looking to leverage all nascent IoT and blockchain that 5G will enable to create service and brand unique selling points to incentivise people to keep buying their vehicles.”

Gap Inc. on Thursday announced a partnership with apparel resale site ThredUp, where customers can turn in used clothing in exchange for credit at the company's Gap, Banana Republic, Janie and Jack or Athleta brands.

Customers redeeming credits will receive "an additional 15% payout bonus," according to a Gap Inc. press release.

Starting in April, ThredUp bags or labels will be available at select Gap, Banana Republic, Janie and Jack or Athleta stores in the U.S.

Qu says the impetus for the startup ties to her mother, a doctor in China who focuses on meningitis and traveled to a conference in Chicago in late 2018 where she made a connection with a Dubai-based physician who was able to share with her some rare, valuable insight into his own work around meningitis.

That might not seem so exceptional to those who travel regularly, but it was enough of an ordeal for Qu’s mother — who had to secure a visa; take off two weeks around the event, including for travel days; and spent a fortune on airfare and accommodations — that it was the first major trip she’d taken in 35 years.

The Citroën Ami is a new take on urban mobility. It’s electric, cheap and doesn’t require a license. In short, it’s less of a car and more of an electric scooter with two seats, doors and a heater. Jokes aside, the Citroën Ami could be a glimpse at the future of mobility.

The innovation isn’t in the technical aspects of the Ami. Citroën is positioning the Ami as an urban mobility solution. The size is perfect for narrow streets and the price is right to be competitive against public transport. The Ami is not classified as a motor vehicle. As such, operators do not need a license and can be as young as 14 in France and 16 in other European countries.

"The documents exposed the companies bragging about how many cotton and soybean farmers would be forced to buy their patented GMO seeds, not because they needed weed control, but as a defensive measure against herbicide drift.“They knew they were going to hurt people, and they planned to make money off of it. It is that simple,” Randles said. “There were a lot of documents in which they privately acknowledged the harm they’re causing.”"

With Universal Music Group recently valued at $33 billion — as part of its agreement to sell 10% of itself to a consortium led by Chinese tech giant Tencent — it’s really no surprise that its competitors would test the waters. What is surprising is that Warner Music Group did it so soon, announcing its initial public offering on Feb. 6.

Underwritten by Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, Warner’s move came less than six weeks after UMG closed the Tencent deal, catching many observers, and even many of its senior executives, off guard.

The inspiration for this move is not hard to deduce: Universal, the world’s largest music company, was valued by Goldman Sachs at $23.5 billion in August of 2017 — $10 billion less than its current value, and nearly five times what it was worth in 2013. Although ink on the Universal deal didn’t dry until the end of December, Tencent’s intention to raise $3 billion for a 10% UMG stake had been known since early August, and that news apparently inspired Warner to explore its options.

Look around on the bus, in line at a coffee shop, or even at the doctor’s office. You’ll likely see people playing games on their phones—and they’re a few of the two billion people around the world who are doing it. Unfortunately, many games (especially web games) don’t load well on low memory devices and 2G or 3G networks that hundreds of millions of people rely on.

Today, we’re announcing GameSnacks to help address this problem. Part of Area 120, Google’s lab for experimental projects, our goal is to make HTML5 games more accessible for phones on any network in the world. GameSnacks games are fast, easy to play, and available on any device that lets you connect to the internet.