Here is Google’s strategy to score app install ads (Recode)
When app creators want to promote their app, they mostly turn to Facebook. The social network owns the most prime attention real estate, the News Feed, and it charges accordingly. This has worked out handsomely for Facebook. Google wants in on more of the action.
Is There a Seat for Google at Old TV’s Table? (Ad Age)
FreeWheel Chief Revenue Officer James Rooke said Google’s interest in the $70 billion-plus TV market is understandable, but at odds with the company’s aggressive efforts to lure ad budgets from TV to YouTube. “On one hand, Google is pushing its ambitions to support the TV ecosystem,” Mr. Rooke said.
Powell Says FCC Has Launched Unprovoked Regulatory Attack (Broadcasting & Cable)
NCTA president Michael Powell told an INTX 2016 crowd that their industry is under “relentless regulatory assault” by the FCC of chair Tom Wheeler. Citing set-top box and broadband CPNI, Powell said the mantra of “competition, competition, competition” are instead the unprovoked hammer blows of “regulation, regulation, regulation.”
Wheeler Responds to Cable Bill Queries, Plugs Set-Top Item (Broadcasting & Cable)
In responses to letters from Capitol Hill Democrats—and one high-profile independent—raising concerns about unauthorized charges on cable and broadband bills, FCC chairman Tom Wheeler put in a plug for his set-top box proposal.
Most sports fans are ready to pay for streaming (CNBC)
Sports viewing habits have already shifted, but new findings show just how much more they could evolve in the coming years. Most fans say they would subscribe to a streaming or over-the-top sports channel and would pay more for online streaming than cable and satellite channels, according to a survey.
Supreme Court rules Spokeo not done with privacy lawsuit (CNET)
The Supreme Court kicked a contentious privacy lawsuit back to a lower court, essentially telling the 9th US District Court of Appeals it hadn’t answered all the necessary questions when ruling that people search engine Spokeo had harmed a user by displaying inaccurate information.
A Policymaker’s Guide to Digital Infrastructure (ITIF)
Infrastructure has always been important to nations’ economic growth and success, but the infrastructure needed for today’s economy is rapidly changing with advances in information and communications technology. This new infrastructure is critical to delivering the next wave of innovation and economic growth.
Municipal Broadband and Predatory Pricing (Phoenix Center)
The purpose of this study is neither to encourage nor disparage municipal broadband as a policy option, but rather to provide an economic framework that aids in understanding what municipal broadband is and what it is not; and how one might reasonably support it or how one might reasonably reject it.
A BOLD NEW SCHEME TO REGULATE FACEBOOK (The Atlantic- Commentary)
At the end of the day, Facebook makes an editorial product, and like any editorial product it is protected under the First Amendment. But federal regulators or entrepreneurial legislators would still have several options. “It’s all tricky, because it’s all speech,” says Jonathan Zittrain, a law and computer-science professor at Harvard.
Content May Be Key For Google’s VR Strategy (Variety)
Google is poised to give us a closer look at its plans for virtual reality. A number of early leaks, as well as carefully chosen remarks from executives, suggest that these go far beyond its cheap Cardboard VR viewer. But the frenzy about possible new VR hardware often overlooks another key component of Google’s master plan for VR: content.
Smart doorbell owners saw video from other houses thanks to a weird bug (The Verge)
Sometimes the wheels can just come off this whole internet of things… thing. When cameras are talking to the cloud, there’s room for them to make mistakes, and these devices are filming pieces of your private life so that can be a little worrisome.
Twitter to Stop Counting Photos and Links in 140-Character Limit (Bloomberg)
Twitter is making a major shift in how it counts characters in Tweets, giving users more freedom to compose longer messages. The social media company will soon stop counting photos and links as part of its 140-character limit for messages. The change could happen in the next two weeks, said the person who asked not to be named.
85 percent of Facebook video is watched without sound (DigiDay)
Facebook might be hosting upwards of 8 billion views per day on its platform, but a wide majority of that viewership is happening in silence. As much as 85 percent of video views happen with the sound off, according to multiple publishers.