In this week’s Week in Review: TikTok’s US ban looms, The Trade Desk acquires metadata business Sincera, and UK publishers’ ad revenue struggles continue.
Top Stories
America Braces for TikTok Shutdown on Sunday
Short-form video giant TikTok is preparing to shut down its US business this Sunday, as it approaches a legal deadline by which it was required to have separated from Chinese parent company ByteDance, or else face a US ban. But with just hours remaining until the ban comes into force, it’s still unclear whether there might be a last minute reprieve for TikTok, and what the actual consequences of a ban would be.
US legislators passed a law last year mandating that TikTok’s US arm be separated from ByteDance, citing national security risks. No sale has transpired (despite rumours this week that X owner Elon Musk could acquire the business), and while the Supreme Court could strike down the legislation behind the ban, it looks unlikely to do so. So as things stand, the ban is due to come into force on Sunday. While the law wouldn’t make it illegal to own the TikTok app, it would prevent its distribution on app stores, and prevent updates to the app.
But the political will to block TikTok has waned from America’s highest powers. Incoming president Donald Trump, who pushed to ban the app during his first term, has softened on TikTok, which he used as part of his presidential campaign. The Washington Post has reported that Trump is considering an executive order to suspend the ban when he enters office next week. And current president Joe Biden has decided not enforce the ban in his final day in office, leaving the decision on TikTok’s future in Trump’s hands, according to Sky.
Amid this uncertainty, creators and users alike have flocked to alternatives in preparation for the ban, with Chinese app RedNote emerging as one popular alternative.
The Trade Desk Acquires Metadata Startup Sincera
Ad tech giant The Trade Desk has announced the acquisition of Sincera, a US startup that provides metadata for advertisers and publishers, for an undisclosed amount. The agreement will see Sincera tools integrated into The Trade Desk’s demand-side platform (DSP), according to the companies, giving advertisers insights into the inventory they buy. The Trade Desk added that the integration will help publishers provide data signals to maximise demand and fill rates, using its platform to show publishers which data signals are most highly valued by advertisers.
“In recent years, the digital advertising landscape has expanded rapidly with the emergence of new channels such as streaming TV, digital audio and retail media,” said The Trade Desk CEO Jeff Green. “Sincera has done an amazing job of serving this expanding ecosystem with the right data that can improve performance for all participants in the ad tech supply chain. With this acquisition, we will scale the impact of Sincera in a way that will upgrade programmatic performance for everyone, and especially the quality of data signals that advertisers get from publishers.”
The deal will see Sincera CEO Mike O’Sullivan report directly to Green upon completion of the acquisition, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2025, subject to customary closing conditions.
Publishers Lean On Data Sales as Ad Revenues Struggle
UK digital publisher revenues were flat in Q3 last year, according to the latest Digital Publisher Revenue Index from the Association of Online Publisher and Deloitte with display advertising and digital video revenues both down significantly year-on-year.
Online video revenues across the publishers surveyed were down by 7.4 percent year-on-year in Q3, while display ad revenues were down by 11.4 percent. These declines were balanced out by growth in subscription revenue (up 4.9 percent), and sponsorships (up 18.3 percent). The ‘miscellaneous’ category meanwhile was up by 66.3 percent, which the report’s authors said was likely down to growth in data sales – for example through licensing agreements with AI businesses.
“While overall publishing revenues appear stable, the reality for most publishers is a decline masked by the success of a select few,” said Andy Cowen, lead partner for telecoms, media and entertainment at Deloitte. “The reliance on data sales and sponsorships, while welcome, underlines the need for publishers to find sustainable revenue models beyond traditional advertising.”
The Week in Tech
T-Mobile US Makes DOOH Move with $600 Vistar Media Acquisition
Deutsche Telekom-owned telco T-Mobile US has announced the acquisition of Vistar Media, a digital Out of Home (DOOH) company, in an all-cash deal worth around $600 million. The agreement is expected to boost T-Mobile’s ads business by giving it a foothold in the DOOH market. “Combining T-Mobile’s customer-centric approach and its expertise as one of the nation’s most scaled marketers, with Vistar’s leading out-of-home technology means advertisers can easily place their ads where they know their audience will be,” said JP Colaco, SVP and Chief T-Ads Officer at T-Mobile.
TikTok Set to Pause Ad Campaigns on 19th January
TikTok will pause US ad campaigns on 19th January, according to Adweek, when the social video company is expected to shutter US operations (see headline story). Historical data, campaign performance reports and creative assets will remain accessible, according to Shuree Jones, Group Director of Paid Social and Influencer Media at Rain the Growth Agency. She added that advertisers will be able to manually restart campaigns if the ban is postponed.
InfoSum Adds ‘Contractless Collaboration’ to Remove Contract Delays
Clean room provider InfoSum has announced a “Contractless Collaboration” feature, eliminating the need for specific Data Sharing Agreements (DSA) between parties when activating campaigns. Available to both new and existing clients, the feature enables businesses to combine their data at speed, according to the company. “In today’s fast-paced business environment, companies can’t afford to let contracting delays slow down collaboration opportunities,” said InfoSum CEO Lauren Wetzel. “At the same time, protecting customer privacy remains non-negotiable. By removing these barriers, InfoSum empowers businesses to collaborate instantly and seamlessly, delivering high-performing advertising at unprecedented speed while upholding the privacy and security our partners trust us for.”
Meta Terminates DEI Programmes in Latest Shift Towards Alignment with Trump Policies
Meta is terminating its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes, according to an internal memo seen by Axios, citing “a shift in how courts will approach DEI … in part because it is understood by some as a practice that suggests preferential treatment of some groups over others.” The update follows last week’s announcement that Meta will replace third-party fact-checking across Facebook and Instagram with the “community notes” approach favoured by Elon Musk’s X. The moves have been interpreted as attempts to align with the politics and cultural views of President-elect Donald Trump. Axios notes that similar moves have been made by Walmart and McDonald’s in the past few months.
DAIVID and MASS Analytics Announce MMM Tools for Creative Optimisation
DAIVID, a creative effectiveness platform, and MASS Analytics, a provider of marketing mix modelling (MMM) solutions, have announced a partnership enabling marketers to measure and optimise the effectiveness of their creative at scale using MMM. The deal allows brands and agencies to integrate AI-driven creative performance insights into their marketing models, according to the companies, including emotional impact, attention and various brand metrics. “In today’s content-saturated world, the creative power of an ad can make or break a campaign,” said Ian Forrester, CEO and founder of DAIVID. “Partnering with MASS Analytics allows us to embed our creative insights into a broader marketing performance narrative. Together, we’re equipping brands with the tools to unlock their creative potential and achieve unmatched campaign effectiveness.”
HAWK Expands CTV Access with smartclip Integration
HAWK DSP by Azerion this week announced its integration with smartx, the SSP of smartclip, RTL Group’s adtech development unit, which will provide HAWK’s advertiser partners with expanded access to CTV and audio inventory. Through a direct connection between HAWK’s demand-side platform (DSP) and smartclip’s supply-side-platform (SSP), brands using HAWK can now tap into biddable premium inventory including RTL AdAlliance’s Total Video portfolio for programmatic buying.
IAB UK Updates Gold Standard Certification for Retail Media, CTV and Sustainability
Digital advertising trade body IAB UK has updated its Gold Standard certification with a new “sustainability pillar”, formalising steps to limit carbon ad load within the supply chain. Certified companies will be required to use tools that prevent inconsistent and inefficient ad refresh rates, according to IAB UK. The certification has also been expanded to include specifications for CTV and retail media networks, which will need to implement shared IAB definitions for what constitutes an ad impression, a click-through, viewability, video completion rates and invalid traffic.
CMA Investigates Google Search and Advertising Business Under Digital Markets Act
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has launched an initial investigation into Google’s search and search advertising business, to ascertain whether to designate the tech giant as having Strategic Market Status (SMS) under the new Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (DMCC). The CMA said the new digital markets competition regime aims to ensure that businesses that rely on SMS companies do not face exploitation by those firms, and have a fair chance to compete with them, while consumers are also protected from exploitation or misleading practices by SMS firms.
Mark Zuckerberg to “Move Out Low-Performers Faster” in 5 Percent Workforce Cut
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg plans to “move out low-performers faster”, according to a note to staff seen by Bloomberg, with plans to cut around 5 percent of the company’s workforce. The social media giant housed 72,000 employees as of September 2024, meaning 3,600 staff could be cut. “We typically manage out people who aren’t meeting expectations over the course of a year, but now we’re going to do more extensive performance-based cuts during this cycle,” said Zuckerberg.
The Week in TV
Disney Pulls Plug on Venu Sports After Year of Buy-Outs and Blackouts
Venu Sports, the sports streaming joint venture (JV) between Fox, Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), has been shelved, the JV has announced, bringing a surprise end to a year-long sports streaming saga. The trio of companies unveiled Venu Sports in February 2024, and was immediately hit by an antitrust lawsuit from FuboTV, a rival sport streaming service, throwing Venu’s future into question. The issue appeared to have been resolved last week, when Disney announced plans to acquire 70 percent ownership of Fubo, effectively clearing the runway for Venu’s launch. But last Friday afternoon, the JV revealed it was discontinuing the project entirely, and Venu Sports would not be launched after all. Read more on VideoWeek.
FIFA+ Ramps Up Programmatic Sales for Streaming Inventory
Football streaming service FIFA+ has selected Magnite as its supply-side platform (SSP), the companies announced on Tuesday. FIFA will sell video and display inventory via the SSP in North America, EMEA, LATAM and APAC, across mobile, desktop and CTV. “FIFA+ is meeting the consumer demand for more accessible live sports content and we’re proud that they’ve chosen us to help unlock more opportunities for advertisers to reach highly engaged sports fans,” said Sam Wilson, VP, Streaming Platform, EMEA at Magnite. “We look forward to working closely with their teams across the globe and supporting their efforts to bring a superior digital experience to dedicated football fans.”
NBCU to Close Universal Kids Channel Ahead of TV Networks Spin-Off
NBCUniversal is closing children’s network Universal Kids, the US broadcaster announced on Tuesday, making the kids channel one of the first casualties of Comcast’s plans to spin-off its cable business. The channel is expected to cease broadcasting on 6th March, but NBCU said it “remains committed” to children’s programming. “NBCUniversal remains committed to family entertainment, including award-winning brands Illumination and DreamWorks Animation, as well as kids-focused programming on Peacock,” the company said in a statement.
DAZN Reverses Price Hikes in France Following Backlash
Sports streaming service DAZN has committed to lower subscription fees in France, the company’s French CEO said in an interview with newspaper Le Parisien on Sunday. DAZN doubled its monthly price to €39.99 after acquiring Ligue 1 rights for €400 million last year, prompting backlash from French football fans. But DAZN’s Brice Daumin said the streaming service would revert to €19.99 per month, while offering a €69 mid-season pass to cover the rest of the 2024/2025 season.
TF1 and ARMIS Team Up for Local Targeting
TF1 PUB, the French broadcaster’s sales house, has announced a new partnership with local digital marketing platform ARMIS, enabling geotargeting for ads on the TF1+ streaming service. The companies said ARMIS’s AI-based platform enables large-scale distribution brands and retailers to create video spots and target locations in CTV environments. “This unprecedented partnership allows brands to accelerate the adoption of Connected TV as a new channel for broadcasting promotional offers for their stores,” said David Baranes, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of ARMIS. “It’s a real revolution in the way they communicate. They will be able to benefit from the power of the TV medium with the finesse of local targeting.”
UKTV Grows Streaming Views Under New Unified Business
UKTV’s BVOD service, U, saw a 34 percent YoY increase in views last year, according to the UK broadcaster. The BBC Studios-owned company combined its linear and streaming divisions in 2024, while uniting its brands under the new name, U. “UKTV continued to accelerate streaming growth throughout last year despite the continued backdrop of market pressures impacting broadcasters, streamers and content makers,” said UKTV CEO Marcus Arthur. “While we haven’t been immune to the challenges facing the industry and the decline in linear TV viewing, we’ve driven VOD growth by unifying our VOD and linear businesses and by making smart investments in content, product and branding.”
The Week for Publishers
The Independent Continues Hot Streak on Both Sides of the Atlantic
UK newspaper The Independent reached a monthly audience of 19.6 million in the UK last November according to new data from Ipsos Iris, making it the UK’s largest digital news brand that month. This is the first time The Independent has topped the UK rankings, the newspaper reported. Meanwhile the news brand’s US growth continues, with Comscore data placing it as the most read British digital news brand in America in November, with 35.6 million unique viewers.
Dotdash Meredith Lays Off Four Percent of Staff
Dotdash Meredith, the US publishing group which owns titles including People, Entertainment Weekly, and allrecipes, is laying off four percent of its staff, Reuters reported this week. CEO Neil Vogel said the move will allow the company to invest more in direct connections with both audiences and advertisers, which he said are the two biggest opportunities for the business.
Tortoise Media’s Observer Deal Faces Government Scrutiny
The UK government has asked for information on Observer Media’s proposed deal to acquire Sunday newspaper The Observer, the Financial Times reported this week, to help it decide whether further scrutiny might be required. The government has reportedly asked for details about the structure of the deal and the source of funding. The government has the power to intervene in deals if it believes doing so might be in the public interest, though the FT’s sources said there wasn’t any immediate concern from government sources.
Associated Press Signs New AI Agreement with Google
Google this week announced it has signed a new agreement with Associated Press, which will see the news agency deliver a feed of real time information to power results on Google’s Gemini AI app. The integration will help Gemini give more accurate and up-to-date information in response to user queries, according to Google. Terms of the deal haven’t been disclosed.
Metro Passes One Million TikTok Followers
UK news brand Metro has passed one million followers on TikTok, the company announced this week, a mark of success in its push to grow its short-form social video offering. Metro is owned by the same company as Mail Online, the UK’s most followed news brand on TikTok. “This highlights just how powerful short-form video has become for news distribution,” said Metro’s editor-in-chief Deborah Arthurs. “Audiences still want to engage with news content, they just want to consume it in a different way. It is why at Metro we have invested in the growth of our social video team over the past 12 months and will continue to do so.”
Google Begins Paying Out to Canadian News Publishers
Google has made its first annual C$100 million payment to the Canadian Journalism Collective, Press Gazette reported this week, as part of an agreement which will see Google exempted from Canada’s Online News Act. The new law gives individual publishers more power to negotiate payments from tech platforms, and would have applied to Google. But platforms can apply for exemptions by providing funding to organisations which represent a broad body of Canadian news businesses, as Google has done.
The Week for Brands & Agencies
IPA Bellwether Shows Post-Autumn Optimism but Caution Around Media Spend
UK marketing budgets returned to growth in the final three months of last year, according to the latest IPA Bellwether report, following a freeze in budgets in Q3. The pause in spend was reportedly caused by uncertainty around the Autumn Budget, but the latest survey reflects renewed optimism at the tail end of 2024.
An average 1.9 percent of UK marketers (based on subtracting the proportion who reported a decrease in spend from those whose budgets increased) started releasing the valve on their marketing spend after the Autumn Budget. However, the 1.9 percent net balance marks the second-lowest figure recorded since the start of 2021, suggesting ongoing caution towards ad spend in the UK. There was particular caution around main media budgets, with video recording a rare fall of -10.7 percent. Read more on VideoWeek.
WPP Staff Revolt at Return to Office Orders
WPP staff have hit back at the agency groups orders for staff to return to the office for an average of four days a week, as a Change petition calling for a reversal of the new rules has picked up 17,000 signatures. A statement accompanying the petition says “in a post-COVID world where many businesses have embraced flexible working styles, WPP’s decision seems to be a step backwards in supporting employee wellbeing and work-life balance, citing anecdotal data that either does not exist or has been misrepresented. The mental and social effects on employees due to such rigid work regimes can be extensive.”
Trade Groups Bristle as ASA Warns Brand Campaigns May Be Hit by UK HFSS Ad Ban
The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority this week warned that new guidance from CAP suggests that an upcoming set of restrictions on ads for unhealthy food and drink could apply to brand campaigns, despite the industry being told otherwise by the government. The wording of the law itself makes no provisions for brand campaigns, and trade groups have complained that when they pushed for an exemption for brand advertising to be enshrined in law, they were told that doing so would be unnecessary. Read more on VideoWeek.
Omnicom Wins Kimberly-Clark Media Account Following Global Review
Multinational consumer goods and personal care brand Kimberly-Clark has wrapped up its global review of its media and creative accounts, Ad Age reported this week, with Omnicom coming out on top on the media side. Omnicom has taken all media duties outside of the US, Canada, and South Korea, according to AdAge. Publicis already held the US account, which wasn’t up for review, and has added Canada to its remit.
Buyers’ Enthusiasm for CTV Remains, but Measurement Must Step Up to Justify Investment
New data from IAB shows that buy-side enthusiasm for connected TV remains strong, as US CTV advertising is projected to see the highest growth in percentage terms of any media channel in 2025. But insights into buyers’ mindset suggest that this increase in spend must be met by improvements in CTV measurement, which is still sorely lacking for many advertisers.
The data, taken from IAB’s ‘2025 Outlook Study’, predicts that CTV spend will grow by 13.8 percent this year, following 18.4 percent in 2024. Only retail media has a higher growth rate predicted for this year – 15.6 percent – though retail media sits across multiple channels in IAB’s definitions, rather than being its own standalone channel. Read more on VideoWeek.
UK Indie Agency Groups Team Up
The Alliance of Independent Agencies (AIA) and Land of Independents have launched a new collaboration aimed at providing insights and support for UK independent media agencies. The new group, Alliance of Media Independents, will sit within the AIA, The Media Leader reported this week. Total Media, the7stars, Bountiful Cow and Republic of Media are among those signed up to the new group.
Stagwell Launches in Italy
Marketing group Stagwell, owner of agency brands including Assembly, Goodstuff, and 72andSunny, has announced an expansion into Italy. Diego Ricchiuti, previously CEO of MullenLowe Italia, has been taken on as CEO of Stagwell’s Italian business. Stagwell says European expansion has been a big focus over the past year — it opened its EMEA headquarters in Europe last April, and made three European acquisitions in 2024.
Hires of the Week
Independent Media Hires Hearst’s Chief Data Officer
Independent Media, parent company of UK newspaper The Independent, has named Stephanie Fabb as Chief Data Officer. Fabb will oversee data strategy to drive growth across Independent Media’s portfolio of brands: The Independent, Independent TV, Indy100, IndyBest, BuzzFeed UK, Tasty UK, Seasoned and HuffPost UK. She previously spent three years as Chief Data Officer at publishing group Hearst.
Dentsu Global COO Takes on Acting CEO Americas Role
Dentsu has appointed Giulio Malegori as Chairman and Acting CEO of Dentsu Americas, a position he will take on in addition to his existing role as Global EVP & Chief Operating Officer. Malegori joined the agency in 2010, and became Global COO in 2023.
Utiq Hires Thomas Bailly and Pagel Colin
Utiq this week announced two new hires as it continues to grow its telco-powered identifier. Thomas Bailly joins as director of global agencies, after leading roles at Microsoft, AOL/Verizon Media, Twitter, and Pinterest. He’ll develop global strategies, foster agency partnerships, and align Utiq’s solutions with agency needs. Meanwhile Pagel Colin steps in as director of global clients, bringing 14 years of experience at Criteo, Weborama, and LiveRamp. He’ll drive global commercialisation efforts, focusing on scalable strategies to meet evolving partner needs.
This Week on VideoWeek
Disney Pulls Plug on Venu Sports After Year of Buy-Outs and Blackouts
“Overwhelmed with Leads”: How MFE Advertising’s Self-Serve Platform is Bringing In New Business
Trade Groups Bristle as ASA Warns Brand Campaigns May Be Hit by UK HFSS Ad Ban
BBC Dominated Christmas Viewing (but Squid Was on the Menu)
IPA Bellwether Shows Post-Autumn Optimism but Caution Around Media Spend
Buyers’ Enthusiasm for CTV Remains, but Measurement Must Step Up to Justify Investment
Ad of the Week
EMR, Make Days Out by Train Epic
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