The 10 things in advertising you need to know today
1. Disney is looking at reducing the number of ads shown on ABC and ESPN. Disney CEO Bob Iger thought the channels had too much commercial interruption, especially when it is competing with digital upstarts like Netflix, which don't show any ads.
2. The Super Bowl drove $500 million in revenue for Fox. The game had one of the smallest audiences in four years - only 111 million viewers - but the $5 million price for 30 seconds of ad space drove the channel's massive revenue windfall.
3. Smart TV company Vizio was fined for tracking users' viewing habits. The American TV company was fined $2.2 million for collecting owners' watching habits without first informing them.
4. Hootsuite acquired ads optimization startup AdEspresso. The social media management service wants to grow its paid advertising operations.
5. Cannes Lions organizer Ascential acquired MediaLink. The business consultancy, which sat in on "something like 60% of the most important advertising reviews" last year, was acquired for an initial consideration of $69 million, but the total consideration, including earn-outs, could total $207 million.
6. Tiffany is facing one of the most uncertain times in its history. The research firm Mizuho Securities recently downgraded Tiffany stock following its CEO stepping down last week in the midst of disappointing financial results.
7. 23% of the Super Bowl show was commercials. A total of 51 minutes and 40 seconds of the broadcast were ads, according to Kantar Media, the second highest amount of ad time in the game's history.
8. Creative agency AKQA is partnering with another WPP agency, DT, to break into Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore, The Drum reports. The DT brand will be dropped and staff will become part of the global AKQA network.
9. Publicis has won the MillerCoors media account, AdAge reports. The beverage brand concluded a review that began in September and is moving its media buying budget, which was $456 million in the US in 2015 according to Kantar Media, from IPG to Publicis Groupe.
10. Lee Clow, TBWA Worldwide chairman, said 2017 was a weak year for Super Bowl ads. The man behind Apple's most famous ads said in an interview with Fast Co. that "there wasn't as much charm, humor, creativity as usual."