Global internet trends: Virus lockdown creates a world of night owls
A study of global online traffic shows the whole world is staying logged on later at night and enjoying a lie in before starting work in the morning.
Tictrac closes £6m funding round, to boost workplace wellbeing
Health engagement firm Tictrac has secured £6m in its latest funding round, bringing its total investment raised to £13.5m.
Snapchat removes Donald Trump’s account from Discover page due to ‘racial violence’
Snapchat has announced it will stop “promoting” the account of US president Donald Trump on the image messaging platform, as tensions between White House and social media platforms escalates.
Three boosts customer experience with Yext Answers
Three UK and Yext has revealed the results of their partnership in helping them deliver answers to consumers on Three’s website – something which has been vital during the pandemic.
Vodafone and Barnardos team up to offer tech donations for families in need
Vodafone and Barnardos have launched ‘The Great British Tech Appeal’, with an aim to distribute 10,000 phones and tablets to those most in need during the Covid-19 crisis.
Fortnite premieres trailer of latest Christopher Nolan film ‘Tenet’
Warner Bros. has premiered an ad for the upcoming Christopher Nolan movie ‘Tenet’ on Fortnite, as online gaming becomes a more lucrative market for advertisers.
In-game ad platform AdInMo gets $500K funding boost from Techstart Ventures
AdInMo, a programmatic ad platform for video games, has secured a $500K investment round led by Techstart Ventures, an investor in start-ups across Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Case study: Adidas uses WhatsApp to engage amateur football teams through ‘rent a player’ helpline as part of launch
Adidas found a smart way to get WhatsApp working in its marketing, by creating a hotline to help amateur football teams replace missing players at the last minute. And to build excitement, they added the chance of some global superstar talent. A brilliant social media stunt that hacked the model of WhatsApp.
‘More human’: Facebook creates chatbot from 1.5bn Reddit posts
Facebook has launched the largest ever open-domain chatbot, called Blender, which it claims is able to demonstrate empathy, knowledge and personality and is better than ones created by rival Google.
12 jobs for the future: From virtual teachers to machine personality designers
As technology and automation continues to advance at a staggering rate, the job sector will too, quickly adapting to support breakthroughs across industries. New research looks at 12 types of jobs that don’t exist yet, but could be crucial roles in the coming decades.
Global media trends: Ad price deflation hits all channels (except digital)
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to global ad prices falling across all media channels except digital video and display, according to new research.
UK adspend to plummet 16.7% in 2020 as pandemic crisis hits marketing industry
The UK ad market is forecast to contract by £4.2bn (16.7%) this year) to £21.1bn this year due to the coronavirus lockdown and economic slump.
Alphabet hit by ‘significant slowdown’ in ad sales, but ad revenue surges
Google’s parent company Alphabet has revealed a 13% surge in first quarter revenue despite a “significant” hit to advertising sales as the COVID-19 crisis continues.
Ogury launches ‘Video Chooser’ interactive ad format for mobile
Ogury has launched its new Video Chooser format, which delivers full-screen, user-chosen video ads to the advertising market for the first time, with Mastercard, Bayer and ConAgra the first big names to sign up.
UK Govt to launch contact tracing app to fight Coronavirus spread
The UK government is launching a contact-tracing app to track the spread of coronavirus, letting users self-report if they develop symptom and alert anyone who’s been in their vicinity before the symptoms manifested, in a bid to halt the spread.
Consumer app spend spikes globally as Covid-19 shows no signs of slowing down
Education, fitness, shopping and music apps are among those which has seen the biggest spikes in downloads and consumer spend, as the virus lockdown drives more people to their mobiles, according to new research.
Nuance launches AI that ‘eliminates putting customers on-hold’
Nuance Communications has launched a voice-to-agent messaging tool, an AI solution that eliminates the need to put customers on hold.
UK mobile ad performance ‘exceeds global benchmarks’
Mobile video ads in the UK are ahead of the global average for viewability and time spent, but display ads lag slightly behind, according to new research.
Gaming apps projected to spend £37bn on user acquisition by 2022
App install spend in the gaming sector is set to more than double by 2022, reaching £37bn globally, up from £17bn in 2019, according to new research.
Rise of remote workforce creates new protection and compliance risks
Consumer messaging apps have overtaken email for work communication via mobile, which in turn is creating new privacy and security risks faced by employers and employees, according to a new report.
