P&G Bought A Bad Batch Of Data; Jobs Open At Twitter For Machine Learning Expertise

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here.

Not-So-Close Shave

Looks like Procter & Gamble bought a bad batch of data. The CPG giant sent multiple Gillette razors to women and middle-aged men as part of a longstanding promotion providing free first razors to boys on their 18th birthday. “Clearly, they have some bad algorithms or data set where they’ve misidentified someone in my household as a teenage boy,” said Jennifer Greer, an Alabama professor and mother of three girls, after receiving a razor kit. P&G declined to share the data it uses to identify prospects, but said it may use sign-ups on its website, opt-ins from retailers and other “commercially available sources,” like segments from third-party data providers, reports The New York Times. “When dealing with such a large volume over a period of time, there are apt to be some mishaps,” says Gillette spokeswoman Barbara Diecker. More.

Now Hiring

Twitter’s actively recruiting, which is no surprise for a tech company. But it’s clearly hopping on the machine learning train, including with regard to ad targeting. Based on the job descriptions, which can be read here, it looks as if Twitter wants talent that can help develop algos around image and video classification; identify context around text, video and images; and predict consumer engagement and conversion propensity. As CEO Jack Dorsey mentioned at Cannes [AdExchanger coverage], Twitter wants to be more strategic about its ad tech bets.

The Meter’s Running

Amazon’s Video Direct, launched last year [AdExchanger coverage], pays content creators in return for attention time (15 cents per hour watched among US audiences and 6 cents for international viewers). Digiday reports that very little ad revenue has flowed through Video Direct, but it’s been a powerful subscription driver for companies like HBO and Starz, as well as digital-first and social video companies. The content also tends to be longer and more professional than other video platforms since it rewards engagement rather than the hit-and-run delivery of a pre-roll ad. “We want to play with companies that have the opportunity to be in it for the long haul,” says Mark Garner, SVP of distribution and digital content at A+E Networks. “Amazon is one of the companies that has that potential.” More.

Sunny Skies For Mobile Video

Digital video viewing will increase by 20% this year to an average of 47.4 minutes per day per global internet user, according to Zenith’s Online Video Forecast. The key driver is mobile, which will grow its share of view time by 35% (to 29 minutes) and its share of video ad spend by 23% (to $27 billion). Meanwhile, video viewing on fixed devices like PCs and smart TVs will increase just 2% to 18.6 minutes per day. Smart TV consumption continues to rise, but not enough to cancel out the decline on desktops and laptops. By 2019 video consumption on fixed devices will shrink by 2%. The Drum has more.

Summer Bonus

Essence, the new jewel in GroupM’s crown, will pick up Target and NBCU accounts as a result of last month’s merger between media agencies Maxus and MEC [AdExchanger coverage]. The two clients alone will more than double Essence’s billings to $3 billion, Megan Graham reports for Ad Age. Essence will absorb Target’s dedicated cross-agency WPP shop, Team Arrow, and run it out of offices in New York and Minneapolis, where the retailer is headquartered. NBCU will move its account over to Essence from Maxus. “We’re doubling down on Essence as a growth engine for GroupM and WPP,” said GroupM CEO Kelly Clark. “Essence is currently a smaller agency, and therefore … nimble, adaptive and really able to act on changes and opportunities.” More.

But Wait, There’s More!