Facebook cancels this year’s F8 developer conference
Media and tech giant Facebook announced this week that it would not host the in-person component of its F8 developer conference this year, explicitly citing growing concerns around the COVID-19 outbreak. The company says it plans to replace the in-person event with locally hosted events, videos and live-streamed content. Facebook has often used the event to introduce new features and make announcements; however it doesn’t host F8 every year (for example, in 2012 and 2013, there were no major announcements to be made).
There are currently more than 80,000 global confirmed cases of COVID-19, and although mortality rate for the virus remains low, the spread of the illness has prompted some global industry concerns. Earlier this month, the Mobile Congress Show was cancelled, while Microsoft and Epic Games pulled out of San Francisco’s Game Developers Conference. Some have questioned the fate of this year’s SXSW, as well as the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, however organizers for both events say they’re still scheduled to go ahead.
Corus takes a podcast hit to TV
Corus Entertainment has adapted an audio hit for the (small) screen. Crime Beat, the podcast series launched by Corus’ podcast arm, Curiouscast, in 2019 and hosted by veteran crime journalist Nancy Hixt, will debut as a television show on Global March 7. Airing Saturdays at 7 p.m., the series will focus on different crimes throughout Canada with stories from a number of Global’s long-serving crime reporters. As an audio series Crime Beat has been downloaded more than 3.5 million times.
OMD named AdWeek’s Global Agency of the Year
AdWeek has released its Agency of the Year winners. For media, Omnicom Media Group shop OMD took home the top global honours, with AdWeek citing its 2018 business turnaround as one of the main factors in its win, going from the bottom of the ComVergence new business rankings to the top in one year. It also recognized U.S.-specific winners, giving Mediabrands agency UM the top prize for U.S. agencies.
