The latest data marketing news from Fox, Roku, Best Buy and Truthset: Datacenter Weekly
Also: ad industry employment data, macroeconomic news in a nutshell, and more.
Hollif
Fox brings on data exec to level up audience-based data offering
“Fox has hired data scientist Mainak Mazumdar as its first executive VP, chief advertising research and analytics officer to build out the company’s audience-based data offering,” Ad Age’s Parker Herren reports. “The move is designed to bolster Fox’s cross-portfolio sales capabilities, increasingly the norm in digital video buying.”
The details: “Prior to joining Fox, Mazumdar served as Nielsen’s chief data and research officer,” Herren writes, adding that in his new role he’ll “report directly to Marianne Gambelli, Fox’s president of ad sales, with the mission of merging Fox’s sales offering across its media assets, including Fox News, Fox Sports, Fox Entertainment and Tubi.”
Essential context: “The hire will bring Fox into step with other media companies, such as NBCUniversal and Disney, that currently offer ad buying that spans their entire portfolio of assets based on audience data,” Herren notes. “That practice is increasingly in demand as TV becomes more digital and marketers look to simplify and maximize buying due to economic headwinds.”
See also: VideoAmp hires former Nickelodeon CMO
U.S. ad industry employment slumps
“Employment in advertising, public relations and related services fell by 1,000 jobs in February,” Ad Age Datacenter’s Bradley Johnson reports. “U.S. employment in the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) classification of advertising, public relations and related services came in at 494,300 jobs in February based on seasonally adjusted figures.”
Essential context: “Advertising employment has seesawed over the past six months: It fell in September, November, December and February; it rose in October and January,” Johnson notes. “After strong gains in 2021 through summer 2022 as the ad market rebounded from pandemic losses, ad employment has plateaued.”
Keep reading for Johnson’s ad industry drill-downs by BLS classifications.
New requirements for cross-platform video currency measurement issued
“The U.S. Joint Industry Committee, led by media companies, has issued a new set of requirements for cross-platform video currency measurement aiming to certify providers in time for the 2024 upfronts,” Ad Age’s Jack Neff and Parker Herren report. “But while the standards have come fast, implementing them in little over a year will be difficult.”
The details: “The JIC is an outgrowth of work by TV-focused media companies and led by network-owned technology collaborative OpenAP,” Neff and Herren note. “The requirements sent to seven measurement providers, including industry heavyweight Nielsen on March 1, also got backing from major media agencies and holding companies, which issued a joint statement in support.”
Essential context: “The JIC requirements call for full transparency around data sets and methodology, and for all currency providers to seek Media Rating Council certification as well. Currently, Comscore has an application in process for its TV measurement and iSpot.tv for the ad recognition portion of its measurement. Nielsen, which is seeking to restore accreditation for its panel-based national TV ratings, has yet to file an application for Nielsen One Ads, which is based primarily on big data sets from set-top boxes and smart TVs.”
