• Dozens of major brands have stopped running ads on Twitter in recent weeks, including 14 of the platform’s top 50 advertisers, according to an analysis of marketing data by The Washington Post. Altogether, ads from more than a third of Twitter Inc.’s top 100 clients have not appeared on the site since Nov. 7, further indicating brands’ weariness toward the platform since Elon Musk’s Oct. 27 takeover. (The Washington Post)
• Live Nation Entertainment Inc.’s Ticketmaster will be the focus of an upcoming U.S. Senate antitrust panel hearing following the ticketing giant’s botched pre- and public sale of tickets for Taylor Swift’s 2023 “Eras” tour. A date for the hearing is not yet available, but Senator Amy Klobuchar, the senior leader on the committee, said panel members and witnesses will discuss how “consolidation in the live entertainment and ticketing industry harms customers and artists alike.” (Reuters)
• Alphabet Inc.’s Google is facing renewed pressure from U.S. lawmakers to ensure that ads on abortion-related searches clearly indicate whether or not the advertising organization actually provides the service. In a letter sent Nov. 22, Senator Mark Warner and Representative Elissa Slotkin expressed concerns that the technology giant does not consistently apply its abortion advertising policies, which were first introduced in 2019 and require those that advertise alongside such search queries to be certified providers of the procedure. (Bloomberg)
• Amazon.com Inc.’s Twitch introduced mandatory phone verification requirements and additional technology updates to detect and deactivate accounts belonging to users under the age of 13. The changes follow a wave of criticism that the livestreaming platform allows young children to create accounts, making them vulnerable to predation. (Bloomberg)

For shopping, phones are common and influencers have become a factor – especially for young adults

Pew Research Center

Ads Often Run on Websites That Come With High Carbon Emissions but Low Returns, Study Finds

Meghan Graham, The Wall Street Journal

A study from Scope3 and Ebiquity spotlights sites that consume more energy but yield a lower return on investment for marketers.

Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa and Music Publishing Drive Warner Music Revenue Growth

Georg Szalai and Etan Vlessing, The Hollywood Reporter

Fiscal fourth-quarter revenue rose 8.8 percent, or 16 percent in constant currency terms, to $1.50 billion, driven by the music publishing gain and digital revenue growth.

Cristiano Ronaldo Hits 500 Million Instagram Followers After Louis Vuitton Ad

Benoit Berthelot and Angelina Rascouet, Bloomberg

Cristiano Ronaldo became the first person to pass 500 million followers on Instagram after posting a Louis Vuitton ad featuring himself and fellow football player, Lionel Messi. 

A group of Taylor Swift fans who are also lawyers is organizing to take on Ticketmaster 

Nicole Tabak, Insider

Swifties are now crafting ways to allow more fans to enjoy the Eras Tour, like creating fan-to-fan resale ticket Twitter threads to evade lucrative scalper websites. Some, who are lawyers themselves, are even looking to advocate on behalf of those who say they’ve had uniquely troubling Ticketmaster experiences.

‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Sets Streaming Date On Paramount+

Greg Evans, Deadline

Paramount+ announced today that Top Gun: Maverick, the top grossing film of 2022, will be available to stream globally on the service beginning Thursday, Dec. 22 in the U.S. as well as in Canada, Australia, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy and previously announced markets – the UK and Latin America. It will be available in South Korea and France in 2023. 

The Athletic to double women’s sports coverage

Sara Fischer, Axios

The Athletic plans to double its coverage of professional women’s sports through a multiyear partnership with Google, its chief commercial officer Seb Tomich told Axios. 

Disney Hit With Antitrust Suit Over Live Streaming TV Prices

Winston Cho, The Hollywood Reporter

YouTube TV subscribers take issue with Disney’s ownership of Hulu and ESPN, which they say has allowed the company to drive up prices across the market. 

Manchester United: Glazer Family Consider Selling Global Football Giant

Jesse Whittock, Deadline

The Glazer family’s ownership of football giant Manchester United could be set to end. A note to the New York Stock Exchange yesterday confirmed they are expiring “strategic alternatives” for the English football club, including the possibility of selling up.

Lyft is recycling its e-bike and scooter batteries with Redwood Materials

Andrew J. Hawkins, The Verge

The companies will work together to collect, process, and recycle the batteries from Lyft’s shared micromobility operations, which includes popular systems like Citi Bike in New York City. 

Elon Musk says Twitter is ‘holding off’ restarting paid verification over impersonation concerns

John Passantino, CNN

Elon Musk said that Twitter is “holding off” the restart of his paid account verification plan over continued concerns of impersonation on the social media platform. “Holding off relaunch of Blue Verified until there is high confidence of stopping impersonation,” Musk wrote in a tweet. “Will probably use different color check for organizations than individuals.”

How TikTok changed the role of social and education teams

Emma Sandler, Glossy

TikTok’s importance to advertising is unquestionable. Even talking about how important it is feels blasé. What I find more interesting is our relationship with the social media platform — as individuals, as brands — and as the parasocial relationships it facilitates between individuals and brands.

Twitter is making DMs encrypted and adding video, voice chat, per Elon Musk

Alex Heath, The Verge

Musk says the creator of Signal is interested in helping make it so that “I can’t look at anyone’s DMs if somebody has put a gun to my head.” 

Meta told to overhaul content removal policy after Instagram drill music case

Cristina Criddle, Financial Times

Meta has been told to overhaul how it deals with removal requests from state entities such as the police, after the company’s oversight board ruled it was wrong to ban a music video that UK law enforcement argued would “contribute a risk to offline harm”.

Spotify launches audiobooks to more English-speaking markets outside the U.S.

Sarah Perez, TechCrunch

Spotify is expanding its newly launched audiobooks service outside the U.S., the company announced today. The service will now become available in other English-speaking markets, including the U.K., Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, allowing users to access Spotify’s catalog of audiobook titles from the streaming app. 

Don’t like Musk? Work for us! Tech firms woo ex-Twitter staff

Martin Coulter, Reuters

Put off by Elon Musk’s muscular management style? Move to us! That’s the pitch being used by talent-starved technology firms trying to lure thousands of former Twitter Inc employees laid off by the social media company under its new owner. 

Venmo Adds In-App Charitable Donations, Redesigned Send Money Screen

Sarah Perez, TechCrunch

PayPal-owned Venmo is today rolling out two changes to its peer-to-peer payments app, including the ability to donate to charities through Venmo as well as a redesigned money-sending experience. The latter aims to make it easier to see how much you’re sending and who you’re sending to, while also improving the ability to either pay or request multiple payments at once. 

HP says it will lay off up to 6,000 workers over the next couple years

Catherine Thorbecke, CNN

HP Inc. announced on Tuesday that it will lay off thousands of workers over the next three years, becoming the latest tech company to significantly downsize staffing amid a souring economic climate.

U.S. House Republicans press TikTok on Chinese data sharing

Reuters

Republican members of Congress, who will set the agenda for the House next year, pressed short video app TikTok on Tuesday over concerns the company may have misled Congress about how much user data it shares with China, where owner ByteDance is headquartered.

Frito-Lay & PepsiCo Beverages invite snow friends plus Hall & Oates to ‘Share more joy’

Webb Wright, The Drum

The new TV spot, debuting nationally on Thanksgiving Day, is part of the brands’ collaborative ‘Share more joy’ campaign. 

‘We’re mandating its use’: Estée Lauder turns to TikTok marketing after reach on Instagram stalls

Seb Joseph and Krystal Scanlon, Digiday

When Estée Lauder’s reach on Instagram started to slow across EMEA, its marketers turned to TikTok.  Obviously, there’s more to it. The early success of the brand’s global TikTok account, for one. But the crux of the brand’s decision to be on TikTok came down to Instagram.

Ice Cream Binge Prompts Chocolatier Barry Callebaut to Boost Americas Output

Isis Almeida and Geoffery Morgan, Bloomberg

The world’s largest maker of bulk chocolate is boosting production capacity in the Americas to meet rising demand from the ice cream industry.

Balenciaga under fire over ‘creepy’ ads of kids with ‘bondage outfits’

Brooke Kato, The New York Post

They’re tied up in a scandal. Balenciaga is under fire online after showing two young girls holding stuffed animals dressed in what appears to be bondage gear in an advertisement.

Kia’s rebrand has left many people wondering who ‘KN’ is

Mitchell Clark, The Verge

A tale of rebrands, search engine optimization, and the difficulty of trying to figure out what car you’re looking at. 

Best Buy, Dick’s Ease Fears About Holiday Spending

Sarah Nassauer and Dean Seal, The Wall Street Journal

Retailers post mixed quarterly results but say their sales won’t drop as much as expected.