The 10 things in advertising you need to know today
1. Ad tech company Rubicon Project has lost two more of its key executives. SVP of marketplace development Jay Sears and SVP of global technology partnerships Adam Chandler have left at a challenging time for the company.
2. Russian hackers stole millions from video advertisers, according to ad fraud detection company White Ops, The Wall Street Journal reports. Hackers created fake users and sites to scam online advertisers out of more than $3 million a day, the company says.
3. This video shows what seven of the most popular brand names really mean and where they came from. The list includes GAP, Starbucks, Nike, and Gatorade.
4. This is how brands and publishers used Facebook Messenger this holiday period, Glossy reports. So far Facebook Messenger has emerged as a facilitator for live chat or an AI-powered chatbot.
5. Digiday has mapped out five automated fact-checking projects taking on fake news. The projects include news feed demotions and new tools for roaming journalists.
6. It also mapped out the biggest platform features and tweaks from the past 12 months. From Facebook live to Snapchat discover.
7. Google is being sued by an unnamed San Francisco employee who works as a product manager for the company. The employee claims he has been falsely blamed for leaking information to the press.
8. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has flip-flopped on his fake news stance since the election. Zuckerberg recently said: "... we also know that we do a lot more than just distribute the news, and we're an important part of the public discourse."
9. Facebook forced users to call Berlin truck crash an "attack" - before the facts came in. Facebook consults with multiple sources to verify incidents before triggering its Safety Check feature.
10. Publishers now have to develop on two voice platforms with Amazon's Alexa and Google Home, Digiday reports. Industry observers expect premium publishers and brands will treat them distinctly.