Mozilla Looks at YouTube’s Recommendation Algorithm Through 6 Personas

Mozilla turned its attention to the YouTube recommendation algorithm yet again with TheirTube, in which it created recommendation bubbles for six different personas, based on interviews with actual YouTube users. Last October, the nonprofit created the YouTube Regrets website to share 28 instances where the Google-owned video site's recommendations...

37m

Facebook, World Bank, OECD Examine Covid-19’s Impact on SMBs Worldwide

Facebook teamed up with the Small Business Roundtable in May on a U.S. version of the State of Small Business Report, and the Global State of Small Business Report, released Wednesday, contained many of the same conclusions. The social network teamed up with the World Bank and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to...

37m

Microsoft Creates AI That Can Generate a Realistic Singing Voice

Microsoft is proving that artificial intelligence can realistically carry a tune in a new experiment published this week called DeepSinger. The company's researchers trained the system on data from music websites, using machine learning to isolate the vocal tracks from the instrumentals, then had it sing sets of lyrics in both Chinese and English acapella....

11h

The Most Lovely and Surprising Ad You’ll See Today Is for Viagra

Erectile dysfunction is rarely spoken about openly, and as a result most Viagra ads are creatively awkward, reaching for humor, metaphor or clich?--if not all of the above. This can have the unintentional effect of making the issue seem too taboo or embarrassing to discuss-which VMLY&R London has recognized in its latest, surprisingly lovely campaign...

11h

Red Bull Fires North American Executives Following Racism Controversy

Red Bull has laid off North American executives CEO Stefan Kozak and CMO and president Amy Taylor and its global head of culture marketing Florian Klaass, the energy drink brand confirmed to Adweek today. The news follows weeks of internal controversy surrounding Red Bull's response to the May 25 police killing of George Floyd in...

11h

Amazon Wants to Save Summer for Kids Stuck at Home With Its Camp Prime

Amazon is trying to make summer during a global pandemic a little less boring by teaming up with Boys & Girls Clubs of America to simulate a summer camp experience for kids across the country. Amazon hopes its Camp Prime will facilitate a sense of normalcy among families by keeping kids entertained and making the...

11h

UK Government Urges Brits to Embrace ‘New Start’ With Major Brexit Campaign

LONDON--The U.K has been part of the European Union since 1973, but the country voted to leave in 2016 in favor of, as the government slogan said, "taking back control" of its trading relationships and borders. After what felt like a very long two years of arguments and political wrangling, the country finally did leave...

12h

Zimmerman Advertising CEO Is Stepping Down After Nearly 6 Years

Michael Goldberg is stepping down as CEO of Fort Lauderdale-based Omnicom agency Zimmerman Advertising after almost six years in the role. In a statement, Goldberg said he is leaving the role upon return from a family vacation and will transition into a senior advisor role. No immediate long-term successor has been named in the CEO...

12h

Spotify Rolls Out in 13 New Markets in Europe, Including Russia

Spotify debuted in 13 new markets in Europe Tuesday, highlighted by Russia, bringing its global total to 92 markets. The streaming platform's 13 new markets--for both its free and Premium service--are: Albania, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia and Ukraine. Spotify...

13h

Would You Trust Something Called IdentityLocker With Your Personal Data?

The media sector is bracing for a reckoning over how the ad industry uses personal data, which has prompted a wave of privacy regulations that are severely testing all but the industry's biggest names. Developments in the first half of 2020 appear to validate this thesis, with the California Consumer Privacy Act taking effect in...

13h