The regulatory insider

Amazon is planning to launch an advertising-supported tier of its Prime Video streaming service as it looks to further build its ad business and generate more revenue from entertainment, according to people familiar with the situation. Advertising has been an area of continued growth for Amazon despite macroeconomic challenges. The company’s ad revenue was $9.5 billion in the first quarter, up 21% year over year. The company is the third-biggest player in terms of digital ad revenue in the U.S. after Google and Meta, according to Insider Intelligence.  Advertisers say they are eager to have Amazon offer an ad tier for Prime Video service, which would follow similar moves by other streaming platforms including Netflix and Disney. Specifically, ad buyers say they want more access to premium movies and programs that have remained largely ad free, content that often garners more buzz. 

The Swiss Fairness Commission, the self-regulatory body of the advertising and communications industry, made its determination after investigating five claims that Zurich-based FIFA marketed the tournament as being carbon neutral. In its decision, the commission said it should not be claimed that sustainability goals have been achieved if there are no definitive and generally accepted methods for measuring them, or ensuring measures have been implemented.

The Swedish EU Council presidency circulated the semi-final text on Wednesday (7 June), ahead of a meeting next Monday of the Audiovisual and Media Working Party, a technical body of the Council, when an approach on the file is expected to be reached.

The file is set to be then adopted at the ambassador level on 21 June without requiring ministerial approval. The latest document contains some moderate changes on its previous versions but also upholds some prior alterations that have divided member states.

The new media law is meant to increase transparency in media ownership and strengthen the sector’s pluralism. The compromise text, dated 24 May and seen by EURACTIV, is set to be discussed at the Audiovisual and Media Working Party on 30 May.

The document highlighted that the data about audience measurement should be made available to “help achieve a level playing field and foster the clarity and contestability of the relevant information.” In addition, it stressed the need for transparency, impartiality, inclusiveness, proportionality, non-discrimination and verifiability for drawing up audience measurement systems and methodologies.

NBCUniversal global advertising chief Linda Yaccarino has resigned to join Twitter as its next chief executive. The longtime ad executive brings a wealth of relationships with top chief marketing officers and other advertising executives to Twitter at a time when the platform has seen advertisers flee – therefore losing billions of dollars – after Musk’s takeover last year.

The Authority argues that, because of Apple's privacy policy,  third-party developers and advertisers appear to be disadvantaged in terms of quality and detail of the data made available by Apple regarding the effectiveness of advertising campaigns on their applications. The availability of data relating to both user profiling and measuring the effectiveness of advertising campaigns - while complying with privacy protection regulations - are essential elements for the attractiveness of the advertising spaces sold by app developers and purchased by advertisers. For this reason, according to the Authority, Apple's alleged discriminatory conduct could cause a drop in advertising revenue from third-party advertisers, to the benefit of its commercial division; restrict entry and/or prevent competitors from remaining in the app development and distribution market; benefit their own apps and, consequently, mobile devices and the Apple iOS operating system.

The CULT Committee finalised its own initiative report, led by rapporteur MEP Kammerevert, on the implementation of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD). It calls for the potential of co- and self-regulation to be fully used and mentions the fact that online platforms do not provide access to audience data for works distributed by media service providers. The text will voted on in Plenary in the coming weeks.

On the 5th of May, the European Commission will host its fourth technical workshop on the effective implementation of the DMA. It will aim to discuss how to ensure effective compliance with the data-related provisions set out in the Digital Markets Act. This workshop will address issues such as the processing for the purpose of providing online advertising services, combination, and cross-use of personal data by gatekeepers, the use of non-publicly available data of business users and data portability. Registration (in person or online) is possible here.

The new draft law, introduced in Parliament on March 29th,  'marks the next step in the government’s plan to modernise decades-old broadcasting legislation outlined in a white paper last year. In addition, new reforms have been added to protect the position of UK radio on smart speakers as listeners increasingly move away from AM and FM stations in favour of internet-based services. Smart speaker platforms - such as Google and Amazon - will be required by law to ensure access to all licenced UK radio stations, from major national stations to the smallest community stations. Platforms will be banned from charging stations for being hosted on their services or overlaying their own adverts over the top of those stations’ programmes.'

As of April 5th, Meta will be changing legal basis it relies on under the GDPR when processing personal data for the purpose of serving advertising to use 'legitimate interests'. This follows a Decision from the Irish Data Protection Commission which found that Facebook and Instagram cannot use 'contractual necessity' as an appropriate legal basis in this context. 

Google, Meta Platforms and Tik Tok are challenging before the Austrian courts the purely declaratory statement of the Austrian Communications Regulatory Authority (KommAustria) according to which the Austrian Federal Law of 2020 on measures for the protection of users on communication platforms (KoPl-G 1) is applicable to them, even though they are established in another Member State, namely Ireland. In the view of the Advocate General, a Member State other than the Member State of origin can derogate from the free movement of information society services only by measures taken on a ‘case-by-case’ basis, following prior notification to the Commission and after asking the Member State of origin to take measures in respect of information society services, which did not occur in this case.

The Advocate General’s Opinion is not binding on the Court of Justice. Read full Opinion here.

No matter the situation, there will always be some publishers that flat out reject any touted alternatives to third-party cookies that they can’t control (sorry, ad tech). Even the mention of these alternatives seems to draw their ire. Can’t blame them, though. The owners of those technologies often profit more from a publisher’s audience than the publishers themselves.

With brands empowered to build out their own equally sophisticated teams of engineers and scientists to handle, model and segment data, they can fall prey to the same tactics they once decried from the tech companies. With low consent rates and a need to be seen to comply with regulations like GDPR, organizations are turning to unethical means to differentiate the efficacy of their ‘owned’ first-party data from the seemingly endless (and lower-grade) data that can be acquired through other means.

On May 23rd, Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) has this morning announced its final ruling on a years long investigation into Meta’s data practices in Europe, handing the social giant a €1.2 billion fine for unlawful practices which aren’t compliant with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The ruling covers Meta’s transfers of personal data between the EU and the US. Given the importance of personal data for Meta’s overall business, including for the creation and maintaining of user profiles on its social media sites and for its advertising business, an inability to send data between the US and EU could be catastrophic. The company has previously indicated that an inability to make these data transfers would threaten its ability to operate in Europe.

When it launched in 2018 the GDPR was hailed as a privacy superhero of sorts. It set the rules for how companies handle personal data, making sure they couldn’t just grab it without someone’s permission. But those rules were written in a way that left a lot open to interpretation. And that should’ve been fine. Regulators said they would educate the market and only enforce where they believe the most harm was being caused. This happened, but not always in ways that have changed the ad market for the better. Efforts to educate were often reduced to guidance notes that some ad execs deemed indecipherable — see the thriving cottage industry of so-called GDPR consultants” as proof — while enforcement has been patchy at best.

'In an attempt to reduce alcohol consumption in Latvia, new rules are in the making regarding alcohol distribution and advertising. The government, after long debates, supported the new amendments on Tuesday, March 21, but the Saeima will still have to view them before they come into force. The new amendments to the Law on the Circulation of Alcoholic Beverages and the Law on Electronic Media indicate that all alcoholic drinks will have to include nutritional information on their labels; there would be a ban on free alcohol at gambling halls; advertising would be restricted, and small (0.2 l) PET packages of strong alcoholic drinks (over 22% alcohol) would be banned.'

Progress in trilogue negotiations on the political advertising regulation has been slow but the European Commission's new proposal on targeting based on sensitive data is set to further complicate the picture. The slow progress is also due to a lack of political will from both institutions when it comes to compromise.  Tensions came to a head at the last political meeting on Friday (5 May), which focused on the critical issue of targeting and amplification.

Advertisers and ad-funded platforms like Facebook have been vocal in their objections to Apple’s app tracking policies, and the Cupertino company now faces antitrust investigations into the issue in two European countries. A new report says that the French Competition Authority has found evidence of anticompetitive behavior by Apple in regard to app tracking, closely following a similar finding in Germany

On April 11th, Google announced an update to Google TV, the CTV platform which powers its newest Chromecast devices and comes embedded into some Sony and TLC smart TVs (as well as being available as a mobile app). Google describes the updates as “a new live TV experience that lets you browse more than 800 free TV channels across multiple providers, organised in one easy-to-use guide right in the Live tab”. The company says that over 800 FAST channels will be available within the live tab in the US.

Rapporteur MEP Verheyen shared her draft report on the EMFA as the first step towards a position from the European Parliament. Amendments drafted on the audience measurement provisions include a proposed definition that would refer to 'users of online platforms that provide media services'. It is unclear whether it only encompasses part of the online platforms' content and services, in which case the scope may be more limited than the position proposed by egta. The deadline for amendments is set on the 5th of May.

This week's media analysis from renown commentator Evan Shapiro looking at TV viewers consumption habits and what drives ad sales.