New salvos in the bidding war for Warner Bros Discovery
Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) this week rejected a renewed bid from Paramount Skydance to take ownership of the entertainment and media conglomerate, which was the latest salvo in a prolonged bidding war with Netflix.
Paramount reportedly offered $30 per share for the entire company against Netflix’s $27.75 per share solely for WBD’s studio and streaming businesses.
Warner Bros’ board is said to be moving ahead with a 20th March vote on Netflix’s deal, with Warner Bros Chairman Samuel DiPiazza Jr. and CEO David Zaslav writing in a letter that, “Our Board has not determined that your proposal is reasonably likely to result in a transaction that is superior to the Netflix merger … We continue to recommend and remain fully committed to our transaction with Netflix.” However, Warner Bros has given Paramount a seven-day window (ending on 23rd February) to make a new offer, which Netflix can match under the terms of the merger agreement.
eBay’s Depop purchase could give it a vital foothold with younger generations
eBay has purchased British fashion resale app Depop from former owner Etsy for a price of £890 million, or roughly $1.2 billion.
The acquisition is expected to complete in the second quarter of this year, and eBay’s chief executive Jamie Iannone stated that this would enable the company to “reach a younger demographic across the expanding recommerce landscape”.
Depop has around 7 million active buyers of whom 90% are reportedly aged under 34. It is enjoying rapid growth in the USA, where rivals such as Vinted have less of a foothold compared with Europe. As the original giant of second-hand ecommerce, eBay’s acquisition of Depop could revive its relevance and brand while giving it a strong currence with younger shoppers who may not have grown up shopping on the website.
Audio ad platform Audion launches AI solution to deliver “outcome-driven audio campaigns”
Global digital audio specialist Audion has launched ‘Audion AI’, which has been billed as the “first artificial intelligence solution designed to deliver outcome-driven audio advertising campaigns that maximise brand performance”. By means of a single prompt, Audion AI can reportedly translate campaign objectives such as reach, brand uplift, and conversion metrics into structured, ready-to-be-actioned strategies.
Audion AI conducts analysis of audio and video platforms such as Spotify, Deezer, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music to identify relevant and high-performing content, underpinned by an analysis of the equivalent of 100 years of audio and video content every month, according to the company. Accompanying the launch of this new tool, Audion has recently debuted a new brand identity designed to place the company at the intersection of marketing performance, technology, and digital audio.
NewsUK’s Octave joins commercial radio trading platform J-ET
NewsUK’s Octave has become the latest digital platform to sell its audio inventory through J-ET, UK radio’s trading and accountability system.
The development means that the digital equivalents of radio brands like talkSPORT and Virgin Radio will become available for trading on the platform alongside an extensive podcast offering that collectively reaches 14.5 million listeners per month, underpinned by first-party data comprising more than 39 million consumers.
Octave came under the full ownership of News UK last summer after News UK bought out the stake owned by Bauer Media; Bauer then went on to launch audioXi, its own digital audio marketplace. audioXi made its inventory available on J-ET last November when digital trading launched, along with Global’s DAX. Russell Pedrick, Managing Director at Octave, has called the move to join J-ET “a pivotal step in Octave’s mission to shape the audio landscape.”
Aperiam Ventures joins FirstPartyCapital-led seed extension funding round for Bedrock Platform
Media buying platform Bedrock Platform this week closed a seed extension funding round led by London-based FirstPartyCapital with New York-based Aperiam Ventures joining as co-investor.
The new funding will enable Bedrock Platform to accelerate product innovation, expand its go-to-market team in the United States, and deepen its partnerships across the ecosystem. The backing from leading adtech investors also accelerates Bedrock’s goal of bringing independent control to a new generation of media buyers seeking efficiency as well as effectiveness.
Shane Shevlin, CEO of Bedrock Platform, welcomed Aperiam Ventures to the table, stating that, “Having an American investor as prolific as Aperiam join us on our journey is a significant milestone for us. … [W]e couldn’t be more excited about the value they’ll bring as we scale.”
THC Beauty Media and The Trade Desk partnership opens up self-serve access to beauty data
THC Beauty Media has announced a strategic partnership with global omnichannel adtech platform The Trade Desk to democratise access to retail data, offering advertisers self-serve access to THG’s Cult Beauty and Lookfantastic data.
The partnership forms part of THG Beauty Media’s mission to build on its retail offering and evolve its technology and data capabilities underpinned by deep customer insights.
The new offering will reportedly meet a growing market demand for increasingly personalised, effective and transparent campaigns based on high-quality data from real-world commerce. Furthermore, it will give advertisers direct access to a variety of quality audience segments across the full funnel spanning nutrition, skincare, makeup, fragrance, haircare, and more.
