Google Stadia gives up on game development: Original games were supposed to help the cloud gaming service get off the ground. But Stadia still has a chance to draw in gamers via its YouTube integration.
eMarketer principal analyst at Insider Intelligence Nicole Perrin discusses whether major marketers will pull spending on social platforms because of brand safety and ethical concerns, what to make of Facebook's new advertiser “topic exclusion controls” test, and the types of content consumers prefer brands avoid the most. She then talks about tech companies introducing rules that favor their own business models, Facebook's relationship with political content, and whether Google is waving goodbye to Australia.
Big tech reports in: Amazon and Google will report their earnings today—we'll be watching for what the holidays looked like for Amazon and whether search advertising growth continued into Q4 for Google.
Instagram limits sharing posts to Stories: The platform says that users complained about the practice, betraying a growing discontent with the amount of influencer marketing and business cross-promotion on the app.
YouTube to expand TikTok clone Shorts: It saw massive success in India last year, and though we don't think it will replicate that success worldwide, YouTube still needs to tap into short-form video to remain competitive.
Netflix slashed ad spending by nearly a quarter last year: That's partially because it size and reputation helped it amass subscribers when lockdowns hit, even without ads. But it's also because the company's shifting toward content-based marketing.
Can social media ban all the bullies?
In a letter to Amazon employees published Tuesday afternoon, Jeff Bezos announced that he would step down as CEO and transition to executive chairman, where he'll focus on "new products and early initiatives." Andy Jassy, who is currently CEO of Amazon Web Services, will replace him.