Beetween

No More YouTube Masthead Takeovers; How Brands Promoted Voting

AdExchanger's roundup highlights a major policy shift by Google that ends YouTube masthead reservations and moves to per-impression pricing starting next year, with masthead slots historically costing about $2 million per day when reserved for a single advertiser. Biden reportedly spent more on Google ads overall than Trump. Facebook's Ad Library now publicly displays political ads, including content, targeting, reach, and cost, with Biden's page totaling $6.1 million across 19,336 ads from Oct 25–31 and Trump's at $2.9 million across 53,817 ads. Nike's voting campaign You Can't Stop Our Voice features LeBron James and other stars to encourage participation. The piece also notes pandemic-driven startup activity, citing six high-profile agency launches in October, such as Friendly Giants (co-founded by Sam d'Amato) and Platform (founded by Justin Tindall and Kate Bosomworth).

Viacom To Acquire Pluto TV; Netflix Flexes Promotional Muscle

Viacom announced it will acquire Pluto TV for $340 million, adding a free ad-supported streaming service with about 12 million monthly users, primarily on connected TVs, to Viacom's distribution and ad sales. Netflix is highlighted for its promotional impact: since adding the Lifetime drama You to its catalog in late December, the show has attracted over 40 million accounts, with production on a second season set to begin next month. Mastercard introduced a service to oversee free-trial subscriptions, requiring brands to re-engage cardholders or face subscription cancellation after the trial; this policy applies to physical goods and should not impede media subscriptions like Netflix or Hulu. The roundup also notes Vox Entertainment tripling its production this spring and BuzzFeed Studios seeking streaming and broadcast distributors, underscoring ongoing activity in streaming content creation and distribution.

The Third Coming Of Open RTB; Unilad Faces Insolvency

AdExchanger's Tuesday news roundup covers several industry pivots: OpenRTB 3.0 will be a wholly new protocol requiring exchanges to support both 2.0 and 3.0 during an extended beta; Unilad faces insolvency due to cash constraints and Facebook's algorithm changes, with comparisons to LittleThings; Facebook expands its bug bounty program to third-party apps/sites focusing on improper exposure of user access tokens. The piece also notes high-profile media moves, including Marc Benioff and Lynne Benioff's $190 million purchase of Time Magazine from Meredith, with Meredith aiming to reduce debt and Benioff not taking operational control. Additional items include Adara naming Curtis Nishijima as EMEA MD. The roundup links to stories on programmatic, brand safety, and publisher dynamics from multiple outlets.