YouTube Will End Targeted Ads On Videos Watched By Kids; BuzzFeed and Walmart Partner On Recipes

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Children Of YouTube

YouTube will remove targeted ads from videos that are watched primarily by children, Bloomberg’s Mark Bergen reports. The move could impact a large fraction of YouTube’s overall traffic and dent monetization as the platform implements contextual targeting in place of personalized advertising. As Bergen notes, the FTC reached a settlement with YouTube relating to a possible violation of COPPA but has not released the terms of that settlement, and it’s unclear whether the ad targeting changes are related. More. Thought bubble: There are legions of YouTubers who make videos for tweens and teens, and much will depend on how scrupulous Google is about tagging and suppressing that content.

Grocery Growth

Tasty, BuzzFeed’s food and recipe outlet, now has shoppable recipes in its app so users can order ingredients from Walmart. There’s no other retailer or delivery option (like Instacart or Peapod), and Walmart owns the transaction data, Adweek reports. The new deal strengthens the ties between Walmart and BuzzFeed, which has become an important partner because it can bolster Walmart’s ecommerce grocery business. Online grocery orders, including home delivery and store pickup, is the one corner of the ecommerce market where Walmart is outpacing Amazon, despite the latter’s Whole Foods acquisition. BuzzFeed brings brand relationships and younger shoppers to stores as well. More. BuzzFeed and McCormick, a spices and seasoning manufacturer, previously co-developed a line of seasonings earlier this year that were carried by Walmart.

Co-dependent

“Break up big tech” is a popular refrain among US politicians, but it may be harder in practice than in theory to break up a company like Facebook. Federal Trade Commission Chairman Joseph Simons said Facebook’s decision to integrate WhatsApp and Instagram more closely with its core platform could preempt attempts to divest its subsidiaries. “If they’re maintaining separate business structures and infrastructure, it’s much easier to have a divestiture in that circumstance than in where they’re completely enmeshed and all the eggs are scrambled,” Simons told The Financial Times. In the next year or so, he said the FTC will complete its antitrust investigation into Facebook, making a determination whether the platform’s past acquisitions were “part of a systematic effort to eliminate [their] competition.” More.

Plus Apple

And the streaming wars continue. Apple will throw its hat in the ring with the global launch of Apple TV+, its subscription bundle, at an expected price of $9.99 per month, sources tell Bloomberg. The service will launch with a small selection of TV shows and movies and will likely offer a free trial period as it expands that catalogue in the first few months. Apple is entering a crowded category, and is experimenting with different release strategies, like dropping the first three episodes of a show at once before shifting to a weekly release schedule. Apple TV+ will be the company’s fifth major subscription service, along with Apple Music, Apple News+ and iCloud, as it diversifies revenue to reach its goal of $50 billion in services revenue by 2020. More.

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