Business of Media
TikTok starts recruiting in Australia for its Instagram clone
TikTok has begun recruiting Australian talent to work for Lemon8, its competitor to Instagram, suggesting the new social media platform owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance plans to launch locally, reports Australian Financial Review’s Sam Buckingham-Jones.
See also: Mediaweek reveals Australia’s top 10 TikTok creators, according to Meltwater
Lemon8, which features a more photo-heavy feed of fashion, food and wellness posts in contrast to TikTok’s short videos, has launched in the US, UK, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia and Korea – but has so far not made enormous inroads.
It was first launched in March 2020, and was promoted in the US and UK last year in a bid to lure influencers and creators onto the platform. Lemon8 is developed by a Singapore-based company, Heliophilia, which shares an address with ByteDance and TikTok. It is not available yet on the Australian Apple or Google app stores
Accenture acquires marketing and tech agency Work & Co.
Accenture Song, the creative services division of consulting giant Accenture, has struck a deal to acquire Work & Co., a digital design and technology agency whose clients have included Apple, Google, Pfizer and the PGA Tour, reports The Wall Street Journal’s Patrick Coffee.
Publicis was top-performing agency stock in 2023 with 41% share price leap
Publicis Groupe’s share price jumped 41% last year, outperforming all of its main rivals and cementing its position as the world’s most valuable agency group. Investors backed Arthur Sadoun, the chief executive, after the French agency group raised its annual revenue forecast three times and took market share during 2023 – even as some of its peers, including Dentsu, IPG and WPP, cut guidance, which they blamed on a slowdown in spend by tech clients, reports Campaign Asia’s Gideon Spanier.
Instacart lets brands target ads off-platform through Google Shopping Campaigns
Instacart is letting advertisers use its vast trove of shopper data to target ads on Google Shopping campaigns, the grocery delivery firm announced at technology conference CES today, reports Adweek’s Catherine Perloff.
The Google partnership continues its strategy to let brands target Instacart ads off-platform, said CEO Fidji Simo. Last year, the company announced partnerships with Roku and The Trade Desk.
Social Media
Meta to restrict more content for teens as regulatory pressure mounts
Meta Platforms said on Tuesday it would hide more content from teens on Instagram and Facebook, after regulators around the globe pressed the social media giant to protect children from harmful content on its apps, according to Reuters.
All teens will now be placed into the most restrictive content control settings on the apps and additional search terms will be limited on Instagram, Meta said in a blogpost.
News Brands
Opinion: TV’s nightly news is ruled by habit. So why is Nine shaking it up?
Alicia Loxley, Nine’s Melbourne news presenter, regularly walks from her desk down the stairs to the TV studio past a pictorial tribute to the organisation’s heroes.
There are three large portraits: Sir Eric Pearce, the revered, paternal anchorman who fronted the flagship weeknight bulletin from the late 1950s to 1978; smoothly authoritative Brian Naylor, the chief presenter from Pearce’s retirement to 1998; and Peter Hitchener, known with admiration and affection as “Hitch”, who moved from the weekend bulletins to weeknights following Naylor’s retirement. After 25 years, the 77-year-old is now shifting back to weekends, reports The Sydney Morning Herald’s Debi Enker.
Entertainment
Jo Koy says he’s a comic, not a host as he reflects on tough Golden Globes gig
Comedian Jo Koy was a defeated man when he appeared on Good Morning America after being widely panned for a disastrous turn at hosting the 81st Golden Globe Awards, reports ABC’s Mawunyno Ggogbo.
See also: Golden Globes 2024: The Winners Announced
“It was a tough room,” he said.
“It was a hard job. I’m not going to lie.”
Parts of his opening monologue didn’t land well with the audience online, or apparently in the A-lister-packed ballroom in Beverly Hills, California.