The Weekly Briefing

REVOLVING DOOR:

Glenn Brandt has been appointed Chief Financial Officer of Rogers Communications. Brandt brings 35 years of financial management experience to the role, including 30 years of career progression within Rogers across Treasury, Investor Relations and Corporate Development. He most recently served as Senior Vice President, Corporate Finance. Paulina Molnar, who has been serving as interim CFO, will work with Brandt to ensure an effective transition. Molnar will continue in her position as SVP Controller and Risk Management.

Rob Basile, National Content & Affiliate Relations for Orbyt Media, is resigning his position. Bell Media says Basile, who had been in the position the last five years, is going to enjoy some downtime before pursuing other interests. He’s previously held programming roles with Bell in Halifax, Evanov Radio Group in Toronto, and Rogers in Kitchener, in addition to a prior stint with Orbyt under Astral Media as programmer of “The 20” countdown and its online properties. 

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Took me a few days to process the outpouring of kindness on my last day @newstalk1010. Now that I have, just want to again say thank you. To everyone. Much love!

It’s all here if you missed it.

And now for what’s next.
👊😎#LetsGO

Full segment 👇😎https://t.co/dz6KGvsrmX pic.twitter.com/vR2ww9CHNt

— Jay Maddog Michaels👊😷 Sir-Talks-Alot (@JayOnTheRushTO) January 31, 2022

Jay Michaels has announced he’s leaving Newstalk 1010 (CFRB-AM) Toronto for another opportunity within Bell Media. Michaels had been with the station the last five years, marking his first turn in talk radio following a run in mornings on 99.9 Virgin Radio (CKFM-FM) Toronto, 98.1 CHFI Toronto, and Q104 (CFRQ-FM) Halifax, among other stations. Jim Richards, who has been filling in as co-host on The Rush, is now being heard in afternoon drive with Bell promising to release details of a more permanent lineup shortly.   

Ryan Doyle, Michaels’ former co-host on The Rush, has surfaced as host of The Guaranteed Money Podcast, a sports wagering podcast for The Dales Report. Doyle was with Newstalk 1010 for nearly eight years and with Bell Media for 25, up until parting ways with the company in December.

Jamil Jivani, who disappeared from the Newstalk 1010 (CFRB-AM) airwaves late last year without explanation, is breaking his silence on what led up to his departure from Bell Media. Since Sept. 2020, Jivani – a Yale Law graduate, community advocate, and special adviser to the Ontario Premier – had been hosting an evening talk show for Newstalk 1010 that was also carried on 580 CFRA Ottawa, Newstalk 610 CKTB St. Catherine’s, and AM800 CKLW Windsor. In a post on his new substack site on Tuesday, entitled “Even black men can be fired for not being ‘woke’ enough,” Jivani writes while Bell Media hired him for his perspective “What my experience made clear is that the company failed to consider what it would mean to sincerely engage someone from a black community, without expectations that we conform to the pressures of tokenism.” Jivani says he was taken off the air “with a promise that we would discuss all of my concerns in the new year,” however in January he was informed he was being restructured. Read more here.

Kevin Tibbles has retired from NBC. Stateside since 1995, Tibbles had a 15-year career with CBC as a correspondent in Toronto, Edmonton, Calgary and Montreal, before joining NBC. The 1980 Ryerson Journalism grad initially served as a foreign correspondent in the network’s UK bureau, before becoming a network correspondent, based in Chicago.

Wei Chen has retired from CBC’s Ontario Morning, serving listeners in Kingston, Peterborough, Barrie and surrounding communities. Host of the show since 2007, Chen started her career at CFPL London and CHCH Hamilton before moving over to CTV for a decade where she hosted Canada AM Weekend and was a correspondent for W5. She’s also worked for CBC in Calgary, Ottawa and Toronto, in addition to a brief stint with the short-lived Toronto 1.  

Leslie Horton has announced she’s stepping back from her duties with Global Calgary following a cancer diagnosis. Horton, who has been with the station since 1995, delivers traffic coverage weekdays on the Morning News and Noon News Hour. Prior to Calgary, Horton worked in Red Deer, Regina and Terrace, BC. 

Sergio Vargas has joined Global National as a producer. Vargas was previously a senior writer and lineup producer for CBC’s The National, based in Vancouver. He’s also worked as a chase producer for CBC News Network. 

Joey Alfieri is leaving the afternoon drive show on TSN 690 (CKGM-AM) Montreal. Alfieri will join the Montreal Alouettes as a reporter, content creator and social media manager. His first day is Feb. 7. Alfieri has been a reporter with TSN 690 for a decade and has also done play-by-play announcing for CF Montreal.

Eilish Bonang has left CTV Atlantic to return home to Halifax and a new opportunity. Bonang has been a New Brunswick-based video journalist for CTV for the last three and a half years.

Ria Renouf has announced her last day with CityNews Vancouver will be Feb. 11. In a post to Twitter, Renouf says she’ll be taking a break before pursuing new writing projects. Renouf has been with Rogers Sports & Media since 2019 when she joined News 1130 (CKWX-AM) as an afternoon anchor. She moved over to the television side of the operation in May 2021 as a video journalist and host.

H.G. Watson is departing Indiegraf after two years with the independent publishing solutions startup, which has so far supported 58 independent publishers across North America. Watson, who is also a journalism instructor at Ryerson University, is moving on to focus on writing and teaching. She first joined Indiegraf as a Senior Editor in 2020 and for the last 11 months has served as its Marketing Manager.

Marla Boltman has been appointed Executive Director and Spokesperson of public broadcaster watchdog FRIENDS (formerly Friends of Canadian Broadcasting). Boltman was most recently Senior Vice President, Business Affairs & Operations at Halfire Entertainment (where she co-produced Margaret Atwood’s Alias Grace). Previously, she served as Vice President, Business & Legal Affairs and General Counsel at the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA). She succeeds Daniel Bernhard, who departed FRIENDS in September to join the Institute for Canadian Citizenship (ICC) as CEO. Read more here.

Ellis Jacob, President and CEO of Cineplex Inc., has been appointed an independent director of Boat Rocker Media. Jacob has been at the helm of Cineplex for nearly 20 years. Prior to that, he was co-founder and CEO of Galaxy and Head of Integration at Alliance Atlantis Communications. In addition to serving on the Cineplex Board, Jacob is a director of the board of ASM Global and was previously a director and member of the Audit and Risk Committee of Rogers Communications and a director and member of the Audit Committee of the Toronto International Film Festival, on which he served for 17 years. 

Jordan B. Peterson has joined “free speech” social media platform Parler. Peterson says he’ll be experimenting with the video platform “to see what opportunities for truthful and uncensored exchange it offers.” Peterson recently resigned as a fully tenured professor at the University of Toronto. Parler recently raised $20 million in funding and claims to have 16 million-plus registered users.

 

 

RADIO & PODCAST:

SiriusXM has resurrected Neil Young Radio, its channel featuring music and exclusive stories from Neil Young, as the singer demanded removal of his music from Spotify last week over the platform’s failure to eject episodes of The Joe Rogan Experience, criticized for spreading misinformation about COVID-19. The limited engagement channel will be available to stream for a month on the SXM App, including rarities and exclusives, new songs from Young’s latest album Barn, and collaborations with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby Stills Nash & Young. While Joe Rogan has promised to be more balanced about COVID-19 and Spotify has introduced new vaccine content rules, the streamer lost nearly $4 billion in value last week. Joni Mitchell, Graham Nash, Nils Lofgren and India Arie are standing with Young in withdrawing their music from the platform.

Moose FM (CKFU-FM) Fort St. John, BC was the target of a bomb threat Saturday evening, one of many media outlets that have had to contend with threats around news coverage over the last few weeks. Adam Reaburn, President and General Manager of Moose FM and Energeticcity.ca, says the latest threat won’t impact which stories the station decides to cover. “With the increase in recent threats, we still covered the local truck convoy, but our staff used their own vehicles and stayed back from the major part of the rally for their safety,” wrote Reaburn in a post on Monday. “These threats will not change what stories we cover, but we will be taking extra precautions to protect the security of our staff. We will not tolerate any verbal or physical attacks. We understand there will be stories that you disagree with and we happily leave our inboxes open to constructive dialogue.” Several incidents involving aggressive behaviour toward media leading up to the ongoing “Freedom Rally” in Ottawa prompted the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ) to issue an appeal for preemptive action by newsrooms to ensure the safety of those covering the protest.

Saskatoon Media Group radio stations – 98 Cool (CJMK-FM), 92.9 The Bull (CKBL-FM) and CJWW – held a Radiothon, Jan 27-28, for Royal University Hospital Foundation as part of a $20 million dollar campaign to update the hospital’s operating rooms. Over the two-day event, they raised $1,008,960. Since the radio stations were unable to broadcast from the hospital due to COVID restrictions, lifesize cutouts of the announcers were produced to create some “radio” atmosphere in the hospital lobby.

Les Lazaruk called his 2,000th game as the voice of the Western Hockey League’s Saskatoon Blades on Wednesday, Feb. 2 as the Blades took on the Pats in Regina. Heard on CJWW Saskatoon, Lazaruk has been the Blades’ play-by-play broadcaster for Saskatoon Media Group since 1994.

LISTEN: Dave Trafford and daughter Erin Trafford are among the growing number of broadcast journalists who’ve moved into podcasting. Last May, the father-daughter duo co-founded the Story Studio Network, a podcast production and branded content studio. Dave and Erin join Broadcast Dialogue – The Podcast to talk about making the leap from news to digital entrepreneurship, how the pandemic and industry layoffs propelled their journey, and why Erin believes journalists make the best entrepreneurs. Listen on your favourite podcast app or here:

LISTEN: Sam East is the afternoon host on 99.9 Virgin Radio (CKFM-FM) Toronto and host of weeknights on Virgin Radio across Canada. She’s also recently launched Lessons to My Younger Self, a podcast where she chats with notables like Jully Black, The Social’s Jess Allen, and sexologist Dr. Jess O’Reilly, among others. In this episode, you’ll hear how she got her radio start in Chatham, ON, growing up as a Filipino-Canadian, the value of mindfulness, and more. Listen on your favourite podcast app or here:

SIGN OFFS:

Harry Steele, 92, on Jan. 28. Born in Musgrave Harbour, NL in 1929, Steele served in the Royal Canadian Navy for 24 years before becoming Vice-President of Newfoundland-based airline, Eastern Provincial Airways. Steele eventually acquired the company, which was later sold to Canadian Pacific Airways. In 1981, he founded Newfoundland Capital which in addition to transportation and hotel interests, owned the Newcap Radio group and newspapers across the country. Steele served as company president, assuming the role of CEO and Chairman in 1993. He stepped down as CEO in 2002, continuing on as Chairman until 2018 when he retired at age 88. When Newfoundland Capital was acquired by Stingray Digital Group for $523 million that same year, the company’s broadcast assets had grown to 101 licences, encompassing 72 radio stations and 29 repeater signals. Steele subsequently bought $25 million in Stingray stock. Steele is a past governor of the Atlantic Provinces Economic Council. He was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1992.

Greg Blackmore, 62 on Jan. 26. Born in Toronto and raised in Port Credit, ON, Blackmore started his working career in sales, before deciding to go back to school and build a career around his love of music. Enrolling as a mature student at Trebas Music School, an internship with Intrepid Records followed, which turned into a full-time position with EMI Music Canada. After relocating to Winnipeg in the late ‘90s and then Calgary, Blackmore joined Zomba Records in 2000 and two years later found a home with Universal Music Canada as a Promotions Manager and later Western Promotions Manager for two decades. “A staple of our radio promotion department for close to 20 years, Greg’s passion, commitment, and keen understanding of this country’s radio landscape, made him a vital member of our team,” said Jeffrey Remedios, Chairman & CEO, Universal Music Canada. “From his home base in Langdon, Alberta, where he managed radio promotion for Canada’s Western region, Greg was beloved by artists, managers, program directors, and colleagues around the world.” Among the artists and bands extending tributes to Blackmore are Arkells, The Beaches, Johnny Reid, and Chad Brownlee. Read more here. 

Karl Sepkowski, 81 on Jan. 24 after a two-year battle with cancer. Sepkowski had a long career as a broadcast journalist serving his home community of Sault Ste. Marie. His career started in 1957 as a disc jockey on CKCY Radio while still in high school. He went on to become a staff announcer and news reader at the station, making the switch to television news in 1965. Three years later, he was named news director for CJIC-TV, following in the footsteps of veteran newsman Lionel McAuley. He retired from MCTV in 1992. Over the years, Sepkowski also taught journalism at Sault College in the 1970s and served as president of the Radio-Television News Directors Association (RTNDA) Canada.

TV & FILM:

Corus Entertainment has purchased a majority stake in Aircraft Pictures, a Toronto-based kids and family-focused prodco, which also has an office in Los Angeles. Founded in 2005 by Canadian producing team Anthony Leo and Andrew Rosen, Corus says the deal marks an important investment in supporting the growth ambitions of both companies in the family entertainment global marketplace. Recent Aircraft Pictures productions include Oscar-nominated animated feature film The Breadwinner in 2017; Emmy Award-nominated live-action series Holly Hobbie; the trilogy of family-friendly television movies based on the Gordon Korman Bruno & Boots novels, which first aired on YTV in 2017; and recently-announced animated series Summer Memories. Corus’ investment is aimed at helping Aircraft expand its capacity for developing, financing and producing premium content, with a focus on international co-productions. Read more here.

CBC marks the official start of the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 with live coverage of the Opening Ceremony, beginning Friday at 6:30 a.m. ET (3:30 a.m. PT) on CBC, CBC News Network, TSN and Sportsnet. Live streams will also be available via CBC Gem, dedicated Beijing 2022 website and the CBC Sports app. The pre-Ceremony show will be hosted by Olympic Winter Games Morning’s Andi Petrilllo. Then, at 7 a.m. ET (4 a.m. PT), Scott Russell, Adrienne Arsenault and Andrew Chang guide Canadians through the Opening Ceremony. Russell and Chang will be joined in-studio by two-time Olympian Carol Huynh, while Arsenault will be inside the Olympic Stadium with world champion curler Colleen Jones and CBC Sports’ Anastasia Bucsis. CBC Sports’ Devin Heroux and Craig McMorris will also provide live audio commentary on Twitter Spaces @CBCOlympics throughout the Opening Ceremony. A primetime broadcast will air on CBC at 7 p.m. ET (4 p.m. PT). The public broadcaster has acknowledged that unlike previous games, its crews aren’t able to move as freely in China.

ACTRA Toronto has unveiled the nominees for its annual Outstanding Performance on-camera and voice awards. Among the productions garnering multiple nominees are feature films Cinema of Sleep and Sugar Daddy, as well as animated kids’ series Go, Dog. Go! The awards will be broadcast on ACTRA Toronto’s YouTube channel on Sunday, March 6, at 8 p.m. EST.

Global has greenlit new original scripted series, Robyn Hood (8×60). Created by director and filmmaker Director X, and written by Chris Roberts (Orphan Black, Frontier), the new near-future action drama is a contemporary re-imagining of Robin Hood. The eight-episode scripted series, produced by Boat Rocker, is slated to begin production this summer in the Toronto and Hamilton area and will premiere on Global in 2023. In the modern take on the legend, Robyn is a fearless young woman who is not just another superhero, but a Gen Zer driven by the injustices of today who embraces the heroic, hopeful and playful elements of the folk hero.

Global has announced the network’s upcoming midseason lineup featuring the return of two of fall 2021’s Top 3 shows, Survivor Season 42 (premiering Wednesday, March 9 at 8 p.m. ET/PT) and 9-1-1 Season 5 (returning March 21 at 8 p.m. ET/PT). New series joining Global’s schedule include true crime limited series The Thing About Pam (premiering Tuesday, March 8) and new comedy How We Roll (Thursday, March 31). Big Brother Canada also returns with a new season in March.

Food Network Canada introduces ultimate baking competition, Wall of Bakers (10×60), a spin-off of Wall of Chefs which was ranked a Top 10 program on the network in spring and fall 2020. The series tests the skills of home bakers as they battle in three rounds of competition, in front of a dozen of the country’s most accomplished pastry chefs. As the hopeful home bakers rise to the challenge, they’ll set their sights on a $10,000 grand prize and the title of Wall of Bakers champion. The Corus Studios original makes its debut March 28 at 10 p.m. ET/PT with host Noah Cappe (Wall of Chefs, Carnival Eats) leading the face off.

Vasili Prangikos, a 13-year-old singer, dancer and actor from Toronto, is among the Canadians cast in upcoming Family Channel/NBC Peacock series Take Note. Set around a fictional singing competition, Take Note is Prangikos’ first role in a major television series. He’s previously appeared in various Corus Entertainment projects and toured with Mini Pop Kids. The series also stars fellow Canadians Nadine Roden (Designated Survivor), Sebastian Spencer (Overlord and the Underwoods), musical theatre veteran Aadin Church (Broadway’s Dreamgirls), and Braelyn Rankins (Doom Patrol). The 10-part series is being produced by Lambur Productions, with Joan Lambur serving as executive producer.

RBC and the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television have announced 11 grant recipients for the seventh round of the MVP Project, which provides support to emerging Canadian musicians and filmmakers for music video creation and production. Since its inception in 2018, the joint initiative between RBCxMusic and the Prism Prize, has awarded 75 grants to emerging artists to support the creation of 52 music videos. The MVP Project has also introduced MVP Labs, a mentorship program offering guidance to young filmmakers and artists around the development of music video treatments, budgets and production plans that will begin later this year. The new series builds on the foundation of virtual mentorship opportunities offered throughout the pandemic.

Quebecor Content is set to air the Quebec adaptation of the reality series I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! starting this fall. Produced by Productions Déferlantes in collaboration with Quebecor Content, the wilderness adventure show is inspired by the British ITV Studios format that has already been sold to 15 countries, including France, the UK and Australia. This marks Quebecor’s third collaboration with ITV after previously acquiring The Voice and Love Island formats. 

TELUS is marking Black History Month by donating the full cost of rentals from its Celebrating Black History collection, up to $10,000, to The Black Health Alliance – a community-led charity working to improve the health and wellbeing of Black communities in Canada. The collection is available to all Optik and Pik TV customers through the TELUS Video on Demand library from Feb. 1 to March 1, and features a curated selection of films featuring Black artists and honouring Black history including award-winning titles such as Just Mercy, Harriet, I Am Not Your Negro, and Selma. Rentals cost $5 – $7. Optik and Pik TV customers can also access a curated selection of free titles from TELUS originals, STORYHIVE, and YouTube playlists available on Community Connections, channel 345.

ONLINE & DIGITAL MEDIA:

Vevo is bringing the Vevo app to Google TV and other Android TV OS devices. The app will be available across the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, UK, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Mexico, and Brazil. The partnership greatly expands free, on-demand access to Vevo’s vast catalog of premium music videos, including official releases, live performances, and original Vevo-produced content. Vevo recently updated its TV app to combine linear programming with search and discovery functions to reflect a live TV experience. Videos auto-play upon entering the app, and the more viewers visit, the more personalized the auto-play content recommendations become over time. 

YouTube ad sales fueled solid fourth-quarter earnings for Alphabet Inc. Q4 revenues of $75 billion were up 32% year-over-year reflecting strength in advertiser spend and strong consumer online activity as well as revenue growth from Google Cloud. YouTube advertising revenue surged 25% to $8.6 billion, while sales from Google Search grew to $43 billion, compared to $31.9 billion year-over-year.

REGULATORY, TELECOM & MEDIA:

The Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA) and the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) are among the groups welcoming the federal government’s introduction of the Online Streaming Act or Bill C-11 which would compel web giants like Netflix, Amazon, and Google to adhere to Canadian content guidelines and invest in Canadian culture, similar to traditional broadcasters. A reboot of the controversial Bill C-10, which died before clearing the Senate when a fall election was called, the Online Streaming Act makes good on a Liberal promise to reintroduce a bill to modernize the Broadcasting Act in the first 100 days of the government’s renewed mandate. CAB President Kevin Desjardins calls the reintroduction of the legislation “a critical step towards recognizing and addressing the massive impact of unregulated foreign players in our broadcasting system.” Bill C-11 clarifies some of the questions raised by the original legislation, by exempting non-commercial digital users and creators. A separate bill is anticipated that would require digital platforms generating revenue from news content to compensate Canadian media outlets. Read more here.

Rogers Communications saw Q4 revenue increase by six per cent to $3.92 billion, but was less profitable compared to a year ago. The company reported $405 million in net income for the three months ended Dec. 31, down from $449 million a year ago. Media revenue was up 26%, reflecting the return of advertising from live sports broadcasting. Wireless service revenue growth of six per cent was recorded with postpaid net subscriber additions including phone additions of 141,000. Internet net subscriber additions included 21,000 net new retail broadband subscribers. Earnings for the quarter amounted to 80 cents per share, down from 89 cents per share during the same period last year. 

Bell Let’s Talk 2022 set a new record for Canadian mental health with 164,298,820 messages of support recorded, a 3.2% increase year-over-year. 47,819,868 social media interactions were noted, resulting in $8,214,941 in new mental health funding by Bell and a total commitment of $129,588,747. Among the leaders and influencers who joined this year’s conversation were Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Team Canada, Celine Dion, Chris Hadfield, Alessia Cara, and Miss Harvey. Leading up to Bell Let’s Talk Day, almost $8 million in funding for mental health projects was announced or awarded, including $4 million for research projects from the Bell Let’s Talk-Brain Canada Mental Health Research Program, to address gaps in mental health care due to COVID-19.

The CRTC has posted a Part 1 application by BCE asking the commission to order Videotron to remove its Vrai unscripted SVOD service for being in violation of the CRTC’s hybrid video-on-demand (HVOD) exemption order. Launched in August, Vrai was initially only offered to Videotron subscribers. While an Internet direct-to-consumer (DTC) offer was subsequently launched, BCE says there are significant discrepancies between that option and the one available only to Videotron BDU subscribers. “Vrai Internet DTC has been designed to ensure virtually no take-up from other Canadian consumers and to maintain a de facto exclusivity for Videotron subscribers,” writes BCE. “In our submission, the Vrai Internet DTC offer does not comply with the HVOD Exemption Order. Moreover, by designing the Internet DTC offer in this way, Videotron is offering Vrai’s television programming on a preferential basis that is dependent on the subscription to its own BDU service.” Vrai Internet DTC is significantly more expensive with a retail price of $15/month, more than double the price for Videotron BDU subscribers. Interventions are being accepted until Feb. 10.

The 2022-23 William Southam Journalism Fellowships are now open to applications from mid-career Canadian journalists. Successful candidates are invited to spend a year at Massey College, the graduate college within the University of Toronto. The objective of the fellowship program is to offer journalists an opportunity to broaden their horizons by studying in a university setting. Fellowships for Canadian journalists are awarded annually, tenable for one academic year, September to May. Applicants must be full-time news or editorial employees with Canadian newspapers, news services, radio, television, or magazines, with at least five years’ experience. Freelance journalists working consistently in the media over a five-year period are also eligible. Fellows are able to enroll in any graduate or undergraduate courses and have access to the full facilities of the university.

The Native American Journalists Association (NAJA) is inviting all members and supporters of Indigenous journalism to its 2023 National Native Media Conference and media awards banquet in Winnipeg. With a foundation of Indigenous journalism in the city as the headquarters of both APTN and the CBC Indigenous Unit, Winnipeg is also home to current NAJA President Francine Compton, an assignment producer with CBC Indigenous. NAJA will provide more information on the 2023 conference, including dates, during the 2022 National Native Media Conference set for Aug. 25-27 in Phoenix. Through April 8, NAJA is also accepting entries for the 2022 National Native Media Awards, which recognize excellence in reporting by Indigenous and non-Indigenous journalists across the U.S. and Canada.

BROADCAST TECH & ENGINEERING:

The Canadian Press (CP) is making Sony Electronics its exclusive provider of cameras. The deal equips CP photojournalists and videographers with Sony devices and lenses including the Alpha 1 and Alpha 9 II. Megan Leach, who manages CP’s visual journalists, said the deal will bring a unified look to CP’s coverage since all staff photographers and reporters will shoot with the same brand of cameras for the first time. Sony Europe announced a similar partnership in August with the news agency PA Media Group, based in the UK and Ireland. That followed a two-year deal with The Associated Press in July 2020 to supply its photojournalists with new video and still cameras.

The North American Broadcasters Association (NABA) has released the NABA Radio In-car User Experience (UX) Guidelines, produced by the NABA Radio Committee in collaboration with the WorldDAB Automotive Committee. This is a “North American version” of the latest edition of the WorldDAB UX Guidelines which have also been updated. The guidelines inform automotive manufacturers and broadcasters on how to deliver the best possible radio user experience and largely based on the results of consumer research. Consumer use cases in the UX Guidelines include users wanting to find radio stations easily, for the list of stations to be up to date, to be able to easily set a station as a pre-set, and to keep listening to a station if it is available. The guidelines also provide input on hybrid radio (which seamlessly combines broadcast radio and the internet with the ability to switch between broadcast platforms and IP, following the strongest signal), improved visuals, and the potential for interaction.

Integral Ad Science has expanded its IAS Signal reporting platform and launched a new CTV dashboard that delivers advanced, live insights on media quality. Advertisers can now measure media quality with CTV data based on device, app, channel, genre, content category, and rating for their campaigns, subject to publisher disclosure – a first for the industry – all within IAS Signal.