What you need to know in advertising today

A media company announcing an original series project with a digital outlet these days doesn't necessarily raise eyebrows - except maybe when the names involved are Viacom, Nickelodeon and YouTube.

Last week, during its annual upfront sales presentation to advertisers, the kids network Nickelodeon announced that it was planning a series this spring featuring Nick Cannon on YouTube, after fighting with YouTube parent company Alphabet for years.

It's the first of many original projects planned by the recently formed Viacom Digital Studios.

To read more about how the cable TV giant is playing catch-up in digital media, click here.

In other news:

Google is banning all bitcoin, ICO, and cryptocurrency ads from June. The search giant is also cracking down on ads for other financial products such as CFDs, spread bets, and foreign exchange products.

YouTube will include information from Wikipedia next to videos that promote conspiracy theories. These "information cues" will appear beneath the video with a full link to the Wikipedia page.

Tesla founder Elon Musk is reportedly working on a 'comedy project' and has poached writers from satirical news site The Onion. Musk won't oversee the editorial side of the new venture, however.

Campbell Soup has awarded its global creative and media accounts to Publicis Groupe, Ad Age reports. Campbell sought an integrated holding company model to handle a broad range of duties, in what has become an emerging trend among several other brands, as Business Insider had reported last month.

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