February 7, 2020

Targeted advertising has become the economic engine of the Internet for big companies like Facebook and Google that collect all sorts of data about their users. This video details how tech giants track people online in order to gather information for advertisers, a widespread practice that is nevertheless hugely controversial. 

Questions:

  1. How has the use of cookies changed from the early days of the Internet to today?
  2. Do you think legislators should regulate how companies track people online for Continue reading
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December 17, 2019

During December, the Hallmark Channel’s schedule is chock full of Christmas movies to keep the holiday spirit strong throughout the month. But last week the usually jolly TV network behaved more like Ebenezer Scrooge in the eyes of many fans and users on social media. The controversy began when Hallmark received a complaint from an advocacy group whose stated mission is to “fight against indecency.” The organization complained about four ads that featured same-sex couples from a wedding planning company Continue reading

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September 26, 2019

In the lucrative world of data analytics, few companies are more prominent than Comscore. The Virginia-based tech firm analyzes much of the country’s web traffic which then serves as a key reference for pricing online ads. Similar to the television ratings tracker Nielsen, Comscore measures how many people visit a website, the amount of time they spend on it, and other important metrics that can determine its popularity. As a result, the company’s data is vital for media companies and Continue reading

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September 20, 2019

This week Netflix announced that it spent $500 million to acquire the streaming rights to Seinfeld, which broadcast its last episode way back in 1998. While it may seem strange to spend so much money on a decades-old show, Netflix is far from the only streaming service to splash cash on a classic sitcom. Along with paying $425 million for Friends, HBO Max also acquired the streaming rights to The Big Bang Theory for $1 billion. Meanwhile, NBC-Universal Continue reading

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September 12, 2019

On Monday, attorneys general for 50 U.S. states and territories announced that Google would face a broad and bipartisan antitrust investigation. Lawmakers said the search giant’s domination of “all aspects of advertising on the Internet and searching on the Internet” could be harmful to consumers as well as the web at large. Google currently captures 75 percent of all spending on search ads in the U.S., leading to more than $48 billion in revenue from ads alone.

According to lawmakers, Continue reading

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August 22, 2019

With more than 1 billion photo-obsessed users, Instagram has become a trusted destination for marketers looking to get their products noticed. According to a recent study, though, people on the picture-sharing platform don’t trust ads that look like “ads.” Instead, they prefer promotional spots that seem like something that their friends would post. For instance, a brand like L’Oreal would likely get more attention with a selfie of an influencer applying makeup rather than a  glamorous, magazine-like ad.

In Continue reading

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February 5, 2019

This past Sunday, the New England Patriots defeated the Los Angeles Rams in one of the most boring Super Bowl matchups of all time. The winning team only managed to score a single touchdown, and even that exciting moment didn’t arrive until the fourth quarter. As a result, ratings for the big game dropped to their lowest point in a decade. While CBS managed to bring in 111.3 million Super Bowl viewers in 2017, two years later that amount fell Continue reading

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January 25, 2019

Since launching in 2016, the group video chat app Houseparty has attracted a dedicated userbase of young people looking to talk with their friends wherever they please. “Houseparty is basically the third place for Generation Z and young millennials,” said co-founder Sima Sistani. “What they’re doing there is hanging out in the way we used to in the backyard, the basement, or in my case — the Waffle House.” And unlike many other Silicon Valley startups, Houseparty doesn’t plan to Continue reading

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September 28, 2018

Every day, Americans are bombarded with tons of advertisements coming out of their TVs, radios, and all sorts of other sources. While companies design many of these spots to be easily noticed by consumers, this video takes a look at one type of marketing that deliberately remains in the background. Known as “scent marketing,” companies use it to target the attention of a consumer’s nose rather than their eyes and ears.

Questions:

  1. How does scent marketing differ from other forms Continue reading
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February 8, 2018

Earlier this week we looked at how audiences responded both positively and negatively to this year’s lineup of Super Bowl ads. While a number of funny spots seemed to go over well with the public, a Dodge Ram ad prominently featuring a speech by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. decidedly did not. After the commercial aired, thousands took to social media to condemn the company for stealing the words of such an admired humanitarian. Of course, these critics soon Continue reading

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