The 10 things in advertising you need to know today
1. Business Insider has been acquired by German publishing powerhouse Axel Springer for around $450 million. Axel Springer already owned a portion of Business Insider from previous funding rounds. It is purchasing an additional 88% for $343 million, bringing its total ownership to 97%. Jeff Bezos' investment arm will own the remaining 3%.
2. Here's why people who call ad blockers "extortionists" have got it wrong. A defense of Adblock Plus' business model from the company itself, a customer, and a publisher.
3. Measurement company comScore, which specializes in online analytics, has acquired Rentrak, which measures TV viewing, in an all-stock deal valued at $732 million. The acquisition creates a company with the scale to challenge Nielsen, which dominates the TV ratings business.
4. YouTube is rolling out a new ad product that will allow any video to become "shoppable." That means that companies will be able to buy visual ads with links to buy products on their own sites on any video on YouTube, not just their own videos.
5. Facebook banned a charity ad about blindness, saying it could "degrade" people. The social network said the ad for the Royal National Institute of Blind People breached its language guidelines.
6. Comcast has confirmed plans to launch "Watchable." It's a new video service designed to rival YouTube and Facebook.
7. The music industry has made more money in 2015 from vinyl than it has from ad-supported streaming. In the first half of 2015, vinyl sales grew in value by 52.1% to $221.8 million year-on-year, while ad-supported streaming grew by only 27.1% to $162.7 million.
8. Oracle has angered some of its employees by closing for a week and docking everyone's vacation. Oracle is closing for the week between Christmas and New Year and it is mandating that all employees pay for this furlough with four days of their paid time off/vacation time.
9. How "It Works!" dominated Facebook and drove more than $1 billion in sales. The cosmetics upstart is powered by a global network of 100,000 distributors who do most of their sales through social media - a 21st-century version of the direct-sales business model popularized by Avon.
10. This health-conscious fast-food chain is challenging McDonald's to be healthier. Freshii is giving momentum to the revolution in healthy fast-food.