Viaplay Ousts CEO as Revenue Plunges; ITV & Publicis Media Launch Addressable Audience Partnership

by Hannah Dillon on 5th Jun 2023 in News

In today's ExchangeWire news digest: Viaplay drops its CEO as it reports a disappointing quarter; ITV and Publicis Media collaborate to launch an addressable audience partnership; and Twitter hires a former NBCUniversal exec as its head of brand safety departs.

Viaplay ousts CEO after disappointing quarter

Netflix-rival Viaplay has ousted its CEO following a dismal quarter for the company. Anders Jensen’s resignation was announced by the platform on Monday (5th June), with Viaplay also posting second-quarter results showing an operating loss of 200m - 300m kr. Advertising sales also dropped significantly, with ad revenues predicted to fall between 12% and 16% due to a “sharp and rapid deterioration in the TV and radio advertising markets”.

ITV and Publicis Media partner for addressable audience campaign

British broadcaster ITV is collaborating with Publicis Media and InfoSum to launch an addressable audience partnership. Within the campaign, brands will be better able to target their desired audiences in ITV’s free streaming service, ITVX. Michael Curtis, trading controller at ITV, said, “By unlocking even more insights from data we’re creating unique audience segmentation for Publicis Media and we look forward to seeing the positive results for clients coming on-board to use this solution.”

Twitter loses second content executive

A second senior executive for content and safety issues has left Twitter. A.J. Brown, formerly head of brand safety and ad quality, stepped down on Friday (2nd June) as the platform continues to struggle with controversies over boss Elon Musk’s approach to content moderation. Brown’s departure preceded the appointment of top executive Joe Benarroch to direct Twitter’s business operations. Benarroch, who previously headed NBCUniversal’s communications, advertising and partnerships, said he was “looking forward to bringing my experience to Twitter, and to working with the entire team to build Twitter 2.0 together".