Nowadays, consumer attention is very important to the media landscape. The most successful companies get their creative, media, technology and data teams to work together to create a seamless user experience with no inconsistencies. This increases the likelihood consumers that something will catch and keep a consumer’s attention.

The article basically explains what influences consumers’ buying decisions. The writer brings up several important points. No one has ever bought as sweater because the ad they saw it in enticed them to do so. An ad isn’t directly going to make a human want to purchase something, there’s a lot more behind it. The way a brand makes the potential buyer/consumer feel is the main factor that drives people to purchase. This is an important fact for marketers and businesses. Companies should be focusing on how their brand makes potential and current feel. For this reason, figuring out your target market as a business is important so you can provide a tailored experience for consumer’s.

The author of the articles says that individuals in the industry often forget how important adding creative aspects is in guaranteeing the effectiveness of media. He says that brands should be looking for ways to create personal, meaningful connections with their current and potential customers. Delta Airlines, for example, used to have a customer service phone line that would frequently have long wait times. Delta turned this experience into a positive one by integrating a chatbot that texts you when an agent becomes available. The alerts also let travelers on their journey know where the nearest airport lounge is and notifies them if there are any changes to their flight. experience uses technology to understand who and where the customer is and then seamlessly serve the right message at the right time. This made customers feel like they were being heard and it resonated with how they feel.

https://www.adweek.com/partner-articles/win-the-attention-wars-with-a-partnership-between-media-and-creative/?mvt=o&mvn=6d912c2488e24fa0aa4e6e8746da3bd3&mvp=NA-ADWEEKRESPSITE-11238673&mvl=homepage-grid-placement-large

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/12/04/more-than-additional-women-sue-lyft-alleging-rape-sexual-assault-ride-hailing-app/?arc404=true

Human trafficking or sex trafficking, is becoming a major issue and sadly a popular issue. This article discusses the problems customers of Lyft are facing with Lyft drivers.

Lyft and Uber are both very popular apps in our modern society, overtaking taxis. The real question is… are these apps actually a safer alternative?

Most recently, about 20 women have sued Lyft on behave of sexual assault and rape. Lyft obviously didn’t do a good job on ensuring safety of their customers. It is interesting to know that Lyft no only didn’t ensure safety of their customers but also aware that there were complaints of sexual misconduct for the past four years…

Lyft responded by updating features on the app such as adding a “panic button” and an immediate request to dial 911. These features did little to nothing to really focus at the overlying issue. Lyft has to do more than just add more features to their app that might not even prevent sexual assault and rape to occur.

There was a viral video that was about a mother who needed to be transported to work, as soon as she mentioned that the driver was going another way he locked the doors and attempted to take her to an eerie area. There are many videos like this one where the customer will literally record themselves and let everyone know which area they were in, what kind of car the Lyft driver was driving and more information in order to keep other customers safe. Wouldn’t that be Lyft’s job…?

Personally, I am a user of Uber and Lyft and its quite sad to realize that it can be ANYONE. There are so many places that were once safe, now super dangerous and require you to be super cautious. You would think that these drivers are double-checked in regards to their background records but Lyft’s lack of care and responsibility makes us think otherwise.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiU-O7U_prmAhViQt8KHZi6Cz0QjRx6BAgBEAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fcelebrityaccess.com%2F2019%2F11%2F22%2Fspotify-announces-its-own-music-awards%2F&psig=AOvVaw25l_tYa03neCTkSb_8IC0U&ust=1575514403518017

 

In recent news, Spotify has announced that it will be launching their own music awards. The first Spotify Awards will be held in March 2020 in Mexico City. Spotify has teamed up with Warner Media to broadcast the award show live in all Spanish-language countries. Spotify states that Mexico City is their largest market with more listeners than other major markets including New York City, Los Angeles, London, and Paris.

The award show will be entirely based on user-generated data, like the majority of their other features. According to Spotify, “Your plays, patterns, and habits will help determine the award categories, finalists, and winners for the Spotify Awards by providing a true reflection of what fans are listening to. You can get excited for an awards ceremony that actually speaks to what the people are streaming”. Spotify hopes that by making the awards show based on data, users will be encouraged to stream as much music as possible from their favorite artists.

The company is modeling their awards show off of the Billboard Music Awards where most finalists and winners are based on three criteria; sales, streaming, and user-engagement data. In 2019, Spotify’s active monthly users grew by 30% and paid subscriber growth grew by 31%. With the amount of users and data that Spotify is able to collect on a yearly basis, it is no wonder that Spotify is creating an awards show that is entirely based off of their user’s listening habits and engagement.

https://variety.com/2019/digital/global/spotify-launching-music-awards-1203413060/

Article Credit: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/05/starz-comcast-contract-dispute-draws-department-of-justice-inquiry.html

The Department of Justice has contacted Comcast & Lions Gate, the owner of Starz, in the midst of what seems to be an informal inquiry into the two companies’ contract negotiations. The root of the issues seems to be that TV providers (ie, Comcast) may be abusing their market position in negotiations concerning content licenses.

Comcast accounts for a large portion of Starz’s 24 million subscribers. However, Lions Gate supposedly told Comcast Xfinity customers that they may no longer have access to Starz amid the contract dispute. In the case that the two companies do not come to terms over a new contract, Comcast has planned to replace Starzchannels with Epix channels in its Xfinity TV bundle.

According to the article on CNBC, Lions Gate shares have plummeted 49% this year, since Comcast customers were informed of the potential cutoff last month. As pressures build on each side of the equation, Comcast faces the growing competition from a la carte streaming apps and the rise of cord-cutters. Starz, on the other hand is fighting to stay afloat as carriers begin to rethink just how much they are willing to pay amid the hundreds of other content options.

Source: https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/343732/cable-news-networks-impeachment-hearings-fewer-t.html

Over the past week President Trump’s impeachment hearings have been the center conversation for all news outlets and late-night talk shows. Though many have deemed the hearings boring and not worth watching. Many people have been tuning into them. The hearings began last Tuesday,  and since then all of the stations airing the hearings have seen a spike in ratings.

The impeachment hearings are continuous, so all cable news networks have cut their advertising and commercials down almost 60%. The hearings air on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday . For all cable networks the weekday is the most important time for commercials and advertising. However, the increase in viewership has been able to make up for the drop in advertising.

Unlike regularly scheduled programming the hearings do not have a set run time. This means that networks aren’t certain about the amount of time they have to cut out in order to air the full hearing, nor are they aware of the time in which they can begin airing advertisements again. Viewership within news networks that have aired the impeachments hearings have risen from 40% to 45% versus daytime periods in the past few months.

Article Credit: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/nov/20/ok-boomer-the-insult-of-the-year-is-about-to-become-a-tv-show

If you’ve used any sort of social media app in the last month or so, you’re more than likely familiar with the new, go-to insult for anyone over the age of 55; “OK Boomer!”

That’s it. Thats the whole insult. Videos have surfaced of older men and women dumbing things down to millenials, gen x-ers, and pretty much anyone younger than them. This condescending clap-back is spreading just like any hilarious meme does, and major media companies are picking up on it. The executives at FOX television are working on trademarking the phrase for entertainment purposes.

The show would supposedly feature reality competitions, comedy, and game shows. The Guardian raises a good point however, that Fox hasn’t really given a clear idea as to what this show would be about, or what kind of television show it would even be. A game show and a comedy show? Another good point raised, “TV shows based on internet fads have a habit of not really enjoying all that much longevity.” And that makes sense, because of course it is a fad. People will get tired of the joke and move on to the next meme that they scroll past on their buzzing twitter feed.

Image source: https://www.cagle.com/news/dyingnewspapers/

According to a new report, the disintegration of local news in the United States is causing communities to fall apart and be severely uninformed.

As we all know, the digital age has forced newsrooms to cut costs, let go of staff, and adapt to the online world. If a newsroom can’t manage to keep itself afloat with these methods, then they simply go under, and we see this happening rapidly.

Though, if you’re reading this, you’re privileged enough to have access to any form information you’re looking to received. You can tailor your feed to reporting from sources you trust, set notifications on from news outlets so you’re always up to date, and overall have a unique information consumption experience of your own, on a device that fits in your pocket.

Sadly, this is not the case for every American. Underserved individuals are left in the dark. The New York Times cites a fascinating, and also unsettling statistic from a Pew survey earlier this year, which states that 71% of Americans believe that their local news outlets are doing well financially, with only 14% of Americans donating some amount of money to local newspapers.

People aren’t even aware that their source of information is suffering and is under serious threat. And this can spark a variety of problems.

One of which being the Flint, Michigan water crisis, as The New York Times also cites, where the community had voiced their concerns to their local paper long before national media reported on the issue.

I think it’s important for us to recognize how fortunate we are to have access to the world wide web without a second thought, and at the very least, use our resources wisely and support the communities who need it the most in any way we can.

Source material: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/20/us/local-news-disappear-pen-america.html