The 10 things in advertising you need to know today
1. A former Topsy employee has an interesting theory on why Apple shut down this $200 million acquisition. He thinks Apple wanted to take on Google's search ad dominance.
2. The FTC has issued specific guidelines on what native ads are meant to look like. The FTC says simply saying a native ad is "promoted" is not enough.
3. Nike has a big plan to boost its ecommerce sales from $1 billion today to $7 billion in 2020. Sales on Nike.com already rose 50% in the three months to November.
4. NBA stars Stephen Curry and Chris Paul are calling for an end to gun violence in a Christmas Day ad. The basketball players are supporting the Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, the non-profit arm of the organization founded by Michael Bloomberg.
5. The CEOs of Hulu and Roku talked at Business Insider's IGNITION conference about challenging the TV industry. Here's the transcript.
6. It turns out Facebook does actually want MBAs, despite what Sheryl Sandberg recently said in a Quora thread. A study from job discovery startup Tapwage found that 9% of Facebook's job openings had a preference for an MBA or required one.
7. McDonald's is testing macaroni and cheese. The dish can be ordered as a side for $1.75 in select restaurants in Ohio.
8. T-Mobile is apparently throttling YouTube videos without permission. The Wall Street Journal reports that the carrier is intentionally downgrading YouTube's video quality for customers on its network, without getting permission first.
9. AT&T is pulling its retail ads this holiday to run a message to families instead, Adweek reports. The TV spot encourages families to put their phones down this Christmas.
10. Apple News is nudging people to use the app with push notifications, Digiday reports. Twitter users are calling it "spam."