1. Pornhub to Buy Tumblr?
Tumblr has been all over the place recently. In 2013, Yahoo purchased Tumblr for $1.1B, and Verizon decided to take ownership in 2017 after the value plummeted to $230M. After banning pornographic content from the platform last year, the move resulted in backlash and a steep decline in web traffic. Now, Verizon is playing hot potato, seeking to find a buyer after struggling to meet revenue targets. Pornhub VP Corey Price has expressed his ‘extreme interest’ in buying the platform and is “very much looking forward to one day restoring it to its former glory with NSFW [not safe for work] content.” “Tumblr was a safe haven for those who wanted to explore and express their sexuality, adult entertainment aficionados included,” Price told BuzzFeed News. “We’ve long been dismayed that such measures were taken to eradicate erotic communities on the platform, leaving many individuals without an asylum through which they could comfortably peruse adult content.” Before the ban, Tumblr was often regarded as one of the best places for independently created and curated pornography as these users took up almost a quarter of Tumblr’s user base.
2. NBC’s New Point, Click, Buy TV Ads
In the next move towards combining the offline and online world, NBCUniversal is rolling out shoppable ads. These ads will allow consumers to open product pages through their mobile devices to learn more and/or make a purchase. “ShoppableTV will be available for both in-show integrations and through ‘custom pod takeovers’ where a single brand takes over a 60 or 90-second ad pod to promote shoppable products,” Josh Feldman, NBCU’s executive vice president said.
The shoppable ad unit, ShoppableTV, works when a customer points their mobile phone cameras towards a QR code that will appear on-screen during programming or commercials. Once scanned, a pop-up will appear on the mobile device with additional details regarding the product. NBCU will be able to track the number of redirects from the QR code and drop cookies into users’ browsers to track any purchases, which NBCU, in turn, will receive a percentage of sales revenue. This interactive ad will hopefully attract traditional retailers and direct-to-consumer brands to shed new light on how commercials are perceived and used.
(Source: Adweek)
3. Sinclair Dominates Local Market
If you remember, Disney was forced to sell off their regional networks to complete their $71B acquisition of 21st Century Fox, after the Justice Department expressed anti-competitive concerns with the ESPN owner. Who is the lucky buyer? TV broadcasting giant, Sinclair Broadcast Group, is buying off 21 of these regional sports networks from Disney for $10.6B. Already the largest owner of local stations, Sinclair may become a significant player in cable now that they have the opportunity to bundle sports networks packages with local news broadcasts. Sports content is considered extremely valuable because it continues to draw the largest audiences on television and is mostly viewed live, putting a premium on game-time advertising.
(Source: NY Times)
