The 10 things in advertising you need to know today
1. WPP has formed a new unit that wants to create a rival to Google, Facebook, and Apple ID. The new data and technology unit "mPlatform" is being formed by GroupM, WPP's media investment group.
2. Accenture spoke to Business Insider why it bought UK ad agency Karmarama. Brian Whipple, who heads the Accenture Interactive unit, said Karmarama will help set it apart from competitors like IBM, Deloitte, and the services offered by advertising holding companies.
3. Israeli software firm SintecMedia acquired ad tech company Operative Media for almost $200 million, The Wall Street Journal reported. Operative works with publishers including BuzzFeed and Vice Media.
4. Spotify launched its largest ever global ad campaign this week in which it says: "Thanks 2016, it's been weird." Different versions of the ads contain localized messages from Spotify, driven by data from listeners and pop-culture topics relevant to events from 2016.
5. Disappointed gamers have failed to get advertising for the game "No Man's Sky" banned after the UK advertising regulator failed to find evidence it was "misleading." The universe exploration game has not been well-received by many people in the gaming community since it launched in August.
6. Stephen Hawking has delivered a speech addressing the seriousness of obesity in an ad campaign. The campaign promotes the work of the Swedish nonprofit company GEN-PEP.
7. Facebook announced its most aggressive push into the world of gaming since "FarmVille." Games developers can now make HTML5 versions of their titles to be played within Messenger and News Feed.
8. Mark Zuckerberg's posts about fake news were deleted from Facebook "by mistake." A Facebook spokesperson told Business Insider that "around 10" of Zuckerberg's posts were deleted by mistake and that he still "stands by the words in his posts."
9. AT&T is playing favorites on the internet with its own TV service, which could hurt competition. AT&T can leverage its infrastructure to help promote its other ventures.
10. The Amazon Video Direct program is a growing revenue provider for publishers and independent filmmakers, Digiday reports. The self-serve video distribution program helps publishers of varying sizes and types join the Amazon Prime video ecosystem.