What you need to know in advertising today
And the TV advertising business is set to have a killer year.
Counterintuitive it may be, but the just-kicked-off TV upfront selling period, that annual spring ritual during which TV networks sell the majority of their ad space, is expected to be robust. That's in spite of a growing number of Americans ditching scheduled TV watching.
To read more about why advertisers are still in love with TV advertising, click here.
In other news:
Comcast says it's considering an all-cash offer for 21st Century Fox that outbids Disney. Comcast signaled a new bidding war on Wednesday as it announced it was considering an all-cash offer for the 21st Century Fox assets that Disney already agreed to buy.
Mark Zuckerberg just testified before the European Parliament - but politicians are grousing that a flawed format let him dodge every big question. On Tuesday, the Facebook CEO appeared before European lawmakers following months of scandals that have beset the social network - from the spread of fake news to Cambridge Analytica's misappropriate use of up to 87 million users' data.
Instagram's new "mute" option will give you more control over your feed - here's how it works. In the coming weeks, you'll be able to remove specific accounts' posts and stories from your Instagram feed without unfollowing them or even alerting them to what you did.
Accenture Interactive opens digital ad-buying division, further encroaching on agencies' turf. The marketing services arm of the management consulting company has launched a programmatic services unit, reports the Wall Street Journal.
Amazon, Best Buy, and Home Depot are tracking your returns through a simple process that could get you blacklisted. Most of these companies are using an algorithm to mine their sales data, build a database of customers' returns, and flag potentially problematic shoppers.