The 10 Things You Need To Know In Advertising Today

1. Google is going to let users pay to get rid of ads on certain sites. Google Contributor will allow users to pay between $1 and $3 per month to stop seeing Google AdSense banners. The money will be distributed between Google and participating sites, which so far include Urban Dictionary, The Onion and Mashable, among others.

2. Take a look at the new football field-long mega billboard taking over Times Square in action in this video. Google will become the first advertiser appearing on the screen from November 24.

3. The John Lewis penguin Christmas ad is boosting sales of a completely unrelated chocolate bar. McVitie's Penguin Biscuits have seen sales soar 75% since the ad launched, according to figures from supermarket Waitrose.

4. The hugely popular UK tabloid website MailOnline has revealed why it is changing its name to DailyMail.com in the US. Its publisher has admitted US advertising executives were confused and that there is more brand recognition around the Daily Mail, the name of the print newspaper.

5. In a last minute change to the schedule, Facebook is turning away from the annual New Fronts event organized by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) in the US due to a lack of original digital programming, according to Adweek. The weeklong event of parties and presentations, which has been running for seven years, is a chance for digital media companies to show off their upcoming content and advertising opportunities in a similar way to TV, to lock in upfront commitments from advertisers. However, the focus of the event has shifted from just showing off ad formats, to originally programming.

6. AdAge explores why the Washington Post built its own ad server for its Amazon tablet app. The Post looked at several third-party ad servers, but ended up building its own because it wanted to avoid the "spinning wheels" you often see as ads load on other apps and websites.

7. Digiday has spoken to the CMO of wearables company Fitbit, which has just launched its first TV and print ad campaign. Tim Rosa discusses the threat of the Apple Watch, looking after customer data and why the wearable market is such a tough nut to crack.

8. Uber has hired a law firm to review the company's privacy policy, after a BuzzFeed report alleged an exec at the company had accessed a reporter's Uber location data without their permission. Hogan Lovells will be conducting an "in-depth review" of the company's existing data privacy program and recommend enhancements.

9. Marketing Week has a useful repository of all the latest Christmas advertising news. The "Christmas Collection" features brands including Burberry, John Lewis and Coca-Cola.

10. Exchangewire has called 2014 the year of "consolidation" in the adtech industry. Martech firms buying their way into the 'traditional' ad tech space spells major competition, on the horizon for both pure-play ad tech firms, as well as agencies, according to Exchangewire's sources.