The ‘TikTok Brand Safety Solution’, previously only available in the US, applies OpenSlate ratings pre-campaign and then video-level reporting to ensure ads are delivered in a brand-safe environment on TikTok.

“What appeals most to advertisers about TikTok is that it is a creative, authentic, and joyful platform with a highly engaged community where brands are an important part of the experience. We want our partners to be their authentic selves on the platform and that means they need to trust where their videos are seen,” said Kris Boger, Head of Product Marketing, Europe at TikTok. “We are deeply committed to growing the ecosystem so that our partners have the tools and resources they need to understand and feel fully confident in our platforms protections. Through this partnership, advertisers can feel confident that their ads are served alongside brand-safe content.”

OpenSlate has developed its brand safety and content ratings across hundreds of millions of videos since it was founded in 2012. As of October last year, it was measuring and scoring more than 750m videos across Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok.

“OpenSlate is delighted to expand our TikTok coverage to Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom,” said Mike Henry, CEO of OpenSlate. “Our independent ratings are built to provide local and global marketers with confidence in the brand safety of the TikTok environment.”

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The Digital Markets Unit, which will be housed within the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), will work with the likes of Ofcom and the Information Commissioner’s Office to create a code that will govern the behaviour of dominant online players, such as Google and Facebook.

“Digital platforms like Google and Facebook make a significant contribution to our economy and play a massive role in our day-to-day lives – whether it’s helping us stay in touch with our loved ones, share creative content or access the latest news,” said UK Business Secretary Alok Sharma. “But the dominance of just a few big tech companies is leading to less innovation, higher advertising prices and less choice and control for consumers.

“Our new, pro-competition regime for digital markets will ensure consumers have choice, and mean smaller firms aren’t pushed out.”

The code has yet to be unveiled but can be expected ahead of the unit getting to work in April 2021. However, the government has provided a preview of what’s to come.

The code will set expectations for the ‘acceptable behaviour’ of major platforms and seek more transparency from these platforms about the services they provide and how they use consumer data. The code will also take charge of the relationships between publishers and platforms in order to help preserve the quality of journalism and news publishing and may look to help small businesses by ensuring tech giants aren’t applying unfair policies.

“I’m unashamedly pro-tech and the services of digital platforms are positively transforming the economy – bringing huge benefits to businesses, consumers and society,” said UK Digital Secretary Oliver Dowden.

“But there is growing consensus in the UK and abroad that the concentration of power among a small number of tech companies is curtailing growth of the sector, reducing innovation and having negative impacts on the people and businesses that rely on them. It’s time to address that and unleash a new age of tech growth.”

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The 5G mobile private network within Cambridge University’s Science Park – which will go live in January 2021 – will enable businesses to undertake research and application in areas such as autonomous vehicles, clean energy, and remote surgery.

“Huawei’s success is built on a relentless drive for innovation and we are able to keep pushing the boundaries of technology when we partner with those who share this ambition,” said Victor Zhang, Huawei Vice President. “The Cambridge ecosystem is recognised as a global leader in technology and we are excited to work with the talent and vision in this eco-system. We hope to enable Cambridge Wireless members to reach new heights by allowing them access to our state-of-the-art equipment and markets including China and beyond. Our commitment to the UK and industry remains as strong as ever and we will continue to offer our expertise and technology to our partners to promote connections and innovation.”

The three-year partnership between Huawei and CW will also involve digital training, business support, and joint events.

“We are constantly working to provide value to CW members,” said Simon Mead, CEO of CW. “As home to one of the world’s most advanced R&D ecosystems, Cambridge is perfectly positioned for the rollout of next-generation wireless technology and we’re delighted to be driving this initiative with our partners. We hope to bring something unique to the Science Park to accelerate use cases and development of this technology. We invite ambitious businesses to get involved and through this exciting 3-year partnership with Huawei, we will support their 5G innovation journey.”

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The JICWEB’s board – which is made up of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA), Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (ISBA), Association of Online Publishers (AOP), and the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) UK – made the decision to pass the Standards to ABC.

ABC has worked closely with JICWEBS in the development of the viewability principles and, most recently, had an input in the development of mobile web and in-app viewability testing.

“We’re pleased to be managing these important Standards on behalf of the industry,” said Simon Redlich, Chief Executive at ABC. “They stand as clear benchmarks of good practice and have been the basis of our viewability and AV audit tests over many years. We look forward to facilitating discussions on future developments to best meet the industry’s needs.”

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In the Q3 2020 edition of the report, 52.6 per cent of marketers recorded a decrease in their budgets, with only 11.6 per cent seeing an increase. This represents a net balance of -41 per cent, an improvement on the -50.7 per cent seen in Q2 2020 but also the second-quickest decline after that period.

“While Q2 marked the nadir for UK marketing budgets, we had hoped for a slightly sharper rebound to UK marketing budgets this quarter than we see here. With a second wave of COVID-19, coupled with ongoing Brexit negotiations, including bracing for no-deal, I think green shoots in the immediate term are increasingly unrealistic. We are at the mercy of these macro trends and we can’t know for sure right now whether it will be a V-shaped, U-shaped or perhaps a W-shaped recovery,” said Paul Bainsfair, IPA Director General.

“What we do know, however, is that the evidence proves that those who can invest in marketing during the downturn will reap rewards in both the short and longer term. They will increase their brand recognition, strengthen their brand positioning and get ahead of the competition. In fact, because many advertisers do not heed this advice, just maintaining spend at normal levels leads to a greater share of voice and in turn greater brand share.”

Events budgets continued to be the hardest hit advertising area, as ongoing social restrictions cause damage. 67.9 per cent of respondents recorded a decline in events, while just 3.8 per cent saw an increase in available spend.

On the other hand, direct marketing and main media advertising witnessed the joint-softest budget cuts. However, both areas still recorded a net balance of -25.3 per cent of firms recording downward revisions. Within main media, ‘other online’ campaigns were the least affected sub-category (-6.5 per cent) and out-of-home was the most affected (-50 per cent).

In the other four broader categories, the ‘other’ category suffered a deficit of -40.2 per cent, making it the area hit with the second-steepest decline. This was followed by sales promotions (-36 per cent), market research (-32.6 per cent), and public relations (-31.4 per cent).

When looking toward the future, industry sentiment remains negative, but is heading in the right direction.

48 per cent of marketers are pessimistic about the financial prospects of the industry, versus only 16.8 per cent who are optimistic. However, this net balance of -31.3 per cent is a massive improvement on the -66 per cent seen in Q2 2020.

34.6 per cent of panellists felt negatively about the financial prospects of their own company, compared to 30.7 per cent feeling optimistic, which is the least downbeat the industry has been so far this year.

IHS Markit, authors of the report, predicts that there will be an 11.2 per cent contraction in GDP during 2020 – a slight improvement on the 11.9 per cent decline forecasted in Q2 2020. Meanwhile, the ad spend forecast has got worse, slipping to -23.3 per cent from -11.3 per cent in Q2. Looking into 2021, the prediction is that GDP will expand 4.6 per cent and ad spend will rise 11.3 per cent.

“With UK businesses continuing to adjust to a ‘new normal’ amid the coronavirus pandemic, marketing budgets remained under severe pressure in the third quarter of 2020. The broad-based decline across all types of marketing budgets highlights the negative impact that the public health crisis is continuing to have on business conditions. Unsurprisingly, events remained the hardest-hit category, with social distancing measures limiting the viability of such spending, although reductions in every other monitored area were also substantial,” said Eliot Kerr, Economist at HIS Markit and author of the Bellwether Report

“Looking forward, if the UK can avoid another large-scale coronavirus outbreak and achieve a smooth exit from the European Union, we should see an improvement in economic conditions as firms learn how to better operate in this new business environment.”

You can read the industrys reaction to the report here.

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The ‘Doing It Anyway’ campaign features women from a variety of backgrounds who have found careers in tech, all of whom were nominated by Tech Talent Charter signatories for their inspiring journeys into the world of tech.

The campaign is being run across outside sites from Global as well as social and digital media for one month.

“The message of this campaign is women already have the everyday skills that lend themselves to a successful career in tech and that we need women of all kinds to bring their skills to the UK tech sector in order for it to thrive,” said Sinead Bunting, Co-founder and author of the Tech Talent Charter. “We hope by seeing the campaign, it will inspire women to have the confidence to take the next step and explore how they can get started with a career in tech.”

Currently, only around 17 per cent of UK tech roles are held by women. However, research from HP and the Fawcett Society has shown that 45 per cent of women in other roles would be interested in retraining and taking up a tech position. At the same time, 32 per cent don’t believe they have the right qualifications.

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The CMA has been investigating what it calls ‘hidden advertising’ on the Facebook-owned platform and has been concerned about how much paid-for content there is that hasn’t been marked as such.

In response, Facebook Ireland, which operates Instagram in the UK, has committed to making it harder for people to post ads on the app without labelling them correctly. It’s agreed to prompt users to confirm if they have been incentivised to promote a product or service, extend its ‘paid partnership’ tool to all users, and use technology to identify when users might not have disclosed that their post is an ad clearly.

Instagram will also have to create a tool to help businesses to monitor how their products are being promoted and trust these businesses to take action, where appropriate.

“For too long, major platforms have shied away from taking responsibility for hidden advertising on their site. So, this commitment to tackle hidden adverts and overhaul the way people post on Instagram – making it difficult for users to ignore the law – is a welcome step forward,” said Andrea Coscelli, Chief Executive of the CMA.

“These changes mean there will be no excuse for businesses to overlook how their brands are being advertised either – making life a lot harder for those who are not upfront and honest with their followers.”

The changes apply to all users in the UK and anyone around the world who directs posts to Instagram users in the UK.

Last year, 16 celebrities, including Ellie Goulding, Rita Ora, Alexa Chung, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Michelle Keegan, and Megan McKenna, made a commitment to the CMA to clearly state if they have been incentivised to make a post on social media.

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In wider economic terms, a five per cent fall in spending isn’t too bad. In the second quarter of the year alone, UK GDP was down 20.4 per cent.

Over the first half of the year, video and display ad spend actually grew, with video up 5.7 per cent year-on-year to £1.35bn and display increasing 0.3 per cent to £2.84bn. Meanwhile, spend on mobile devices only suffered a one per cent hit, falling to £3.85bn.

Elsewhere, investment in search ads slid 3.7 per cent to £3.7bn, compared to the first half of 2019, and classified took a big 33 per cent hit in tumbling down to £485m.

The overall fall in the UK’s digital advertising spend can be attributed to uncertainty around the pandemic. However, advertisers may have missed out on many opportunities to reach people with the decision to reduce spend. Across the first half of 2020, time spent online in the UK was up 13 per cent compared to the same period of 2019, as you would expect given the number of people either working from home or on furlough.

“It’s not surprising that this year has seen the total digital advertising market contract as our industry deals with the upheaval and uncertainty of the pandemic. The data released today is hugely useful in understanding the health of the digital ad market as a whole and how different areas are faring – yet we know that this continues to be a hugely challenging time for many of our members and that the relatively small decline in digital ad spend at an industry-wide level won’t reflect the individual situations of all,” said Jon Mew, IAB UK’s CEO.

“Yet there is cause for hope. Following 22 years of consecutive growth, the digital ad market went into this crisis in a position of strength and it’s great to see some areas of growth, despite the circumstances. Most importantly, digital advertising continues to drive results, build brands and offer unique creative solutions for advertisers looking to reach huge and engaged audiences.”

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Select, which launched in the US earlier this year, has features including ‘Lineups’, which pre-packages the most-watched content on YouTube across key categories, genres, and audiences; sponsorship opportunities for brands around Sports and Music content, such as the Olympics, F1, Brit Awards, and Euro 2021; and ‘Custom’, giving advertisers the chance to build their own lineups and curate a tailored strategy.

“With YouTube Select, advertisers have an array of creatively diverse British channels and creators at their fingertips. Now with greater ease than ever before, YouTube Select helps advertisers place their brands alongside the voices and the content shaping the UK’s cultural conversations today,” said Ben McOwen Wilson, UK Managing Director at YouTube.

According to ComScore, YouTube is used by 96 per cent of online adults in the UK each month and, on average, these people watch 46 minutes of YouTube per day. More than 20m people now also watch YouTube on their TV.

“With YouTube Select, we are giving UK advertisers the best opportunity to connect with these audiences and capitalise on this unique combination of YouTube and TV,” said Philip Miles, UK Sales Director at YouTube.

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The Health Records feature creates a direct link between medical institutions and a patient’s device, meaning they can see all their allergies, conditions, immunisations, medications, and more in one place. In the UK, a similar feature already exists within the NHS app.

“We designed Health Records on iPhone to empower people to easily view their health records at any time, and we are thrilled to put this feature in the hands of customers in the UK and Canada,” said Kevin Lynch, Apple’s Vice President of Technology. “We believe people should have access to their health information in the most private and secure way, and we have worked hand in hand with healthcare institutions and organisations to put privacy at the centre of the patient experience.”

In the US, the Health Records feature is supported by more than 500 institutions, responsible for over 11,000 care locations.

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