Social Media Story of the Week
Elon Musk has announced his social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter will launch two new tiers of premium subscriptions. According to the billionaire, both subscriptions will contain the same features, the only difference will be the inclusion of advertisements within the lower tier. It comes as the firm started charging new users $1 in New Zealand and the Philippines for accessing the platform. New users who opt out of subscribing will only be able to take ‘read only’ actions, such as reading posts, watching videos and following accounts.
VOD Story of the Week
Sky Media has joined ITV’s Planet V for a trial period. Agencies and advertisers will now be able to plan and buy campaigns on Sky’s portfolio of on-demand channels via ITV’s advertising buying platform. Kelly Williams, managing director of ITV commercial said ‘As the media landscape becomes increasingly fragmented and complicated, working together will become more and more important, and this new collaboration is the next step in deepening our partnership as we build on C-Flight’s success.’ C-Flight is a cross-media measurement service launched by Sky, ITV and Channel 4 in 2020.
OOH Story of the Week
Transport for London is searching for new media partners to manage and develop its advertising space across bus and rail, including London Underground. It is the first time both bus and rail contracts have been put up simultaneously for review by the transport body as it looks to achieve the best competitive outcome for its advertising outdoor estate, which is considered to be one of the most valuable in the world. The tender for each space is for an eight-year ad contract, with the option to extend by a further two years. TFL documents show the two contracts are valued collectively at £2.5bn (31.7bn for rail and £800m for bus shelters.)
Audio Story of the Week
Audio, as a media form for advertising, was the success story of the night at the Media Week Awards 2023, held last week. Global and PHD’s campaign for the British Heart Foundation demonstrated the shocking nature of hear disease and showcased the BHF’s largest ever research into inherited heart muscle diseases by stopping Heart FM, effectively flat-lining the radio station when listeners were least expecting it. The campaign heard ads for famous brands including Sainsbury’s, Dunelm and Admiral suffer a sudden ‘cardiac arrest’ mid-flow. In just one day, this happened 198 times, to an audience of 3.5m listeners.
