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Canada’s World Cup matches deliver big ratings for Bell Media
Getting eliminated in the group stages may not have been the outcome the Canadian men’s national team was looking for in Qatar, but the team’s first World Cup appearance since 1986 was a ratings success for broadcast partner Bell Media.
Canada’s group stage match against Belgium had an average audience of 3.7 million viewers across TSN, CTV and RDS, with 8.9 million unique viewers tuning in for at least part of the game. Its second match against Croatia brought an AMA of 4.4 million, with 9.8 million unique viewers.
That makes the games the most-watched group stage World Cup matches ever in Canada, as well as the second- and third-highest rated sports broadcasts of the year. They are behind only the Super Bowl, which had an average audience of 8.1 million and 16.9 million unique Canadian viewers across the same three networks.
Digitally, Bell Media said the match against Belgium was the most live-streamed broadcast ever for TSN, though it did not provide exact numbers. On social, TSN’s accounts have earned 76 million views on TikTok and 15.9 million views on YouTube for World Cup-related content.
The Trade Desk hires Google Canada’s agency lead
The Trade Desk hired Christos Nikitopoulos as its new general manager of business development last month. He has been tasked with building and maintaining relationships with advertisers and agencies to build the company’s footprint across the Canadian media marketplace. He will also work with corporate and product marketing on the go-to-market strategies.
Nikitopoulos is coming off of eight years of leadership positions at Google Canada, most recently leading the company’s various agency teams.
In addition to rapidly signing partners on to cookie alternative UID 2.0, The Trade Desk has also been focused on bringing its programmatic capabilities to the connected TV realm, an area where Nikitopoulos said the company had been growing relationships with advertisers and agencies.
Jennifer Bidwell joins Horizon Media as VP of business solutions
Horizon Media brought Jennifer Bidwell back to the agency world as its new VP of business solutions.
Bidwell was most recently been EVP of sales and marketing for digital out-of-home company Allvision, but also has stints at Bell Media, Media Experts, Corus Entertainment and Canwest among her 17 years of experience.
“Jen’s experience across all channels and on both the vendor and media agency side of the business brings a unique and valuable perspective as we look to develop more strategic integrated partnerships. We’re excited to welcome Jen to the Horizon team,” said Sheri Rogers, SVP of business solutions at Horizon Media.
Havas launches a marketplace for responsible ads
Havas Media Group’s Social Impact Marketplace aims to enable clients to make significant investments in ethical and responsible advertising and reach audiences engaged with improving their social and carbon footprint.
Clients and brands signing up to the marketplace are able to access publishers, networks and platforms focused on building a sustainable media ecosystem. Keurig Dr Pepper Canada and Holt Renfrew are two of the clients supporting this initiative.
All media accessible within the SI Marketplace is vetted and reported on based on carbon footprint in addition to prescribed performance KPIs. Teams at Havas Media can not only measure carbon impact but also activate campaigns with specific ESG (environmental, social, corporate governance) goals in mind without compromising media performance.
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Massive layoffs hit tech sector, leading some media agencies to worry
After the likes of Shopify and Snap proved to be the canary in the coal mine this summer, November was the month when a downturn in the digital ad market led major tech companies to scale back their workforces in major ways.
Meta laid off more than 11,000 employees last month, with rumours beginning shortly afterward that Amazon planned to make its own five-figure staffing cut very soon (while those have yet to materialize, internal reports are now saying the figure could be as much as 20,000).
While not as dramatic, Microsoft laid off under 1,000 staff in October. Even though it hasn’t had layoffs yet, Google has publicly “slowed down” hiring activities and even nixed some teams.
And then there is Twitter, which laid off nearly half of its staff and thousands of contractors globally after Elon Musk acquired the company, though that may be as much to do with costs associated with taking the company private as it is a downturn in ad revenue, though many advertisers have been vocal about pausing their activities on the platform.
All of this has led some anxiety from media buyers and planners, who expressed concerns about tech platforms being able to maintain quality of service for agencies, content moderation capabilities and innovation with new ad products.
Curling Canada seeks new title sponsor for Brier after Tim Hortons steps away
The Tim Hortons Brier will soon be known by a new name, as Curling Canada prepares to find a new title sponsor for the annual men’s championship tournament.
The final tournament under the Tim Hortons name will be in 2023, set to take place in London, Ontario this coming March. Tim Hortons has also stepped aside from its sponsorship of the Canadian Curling Trials, held every four years to determine which teams will represent the country at the Winter Olympics. Curling Canada, the sport’s national governing body, said in its announcement that it would continue to work with Tim Hortons at the youth and community level through regional commitments.
Curling Canada is now “seeking expressions of interest” for a sponsor to take over naming rights for the Brier in 2024, beginning with the tournament’s playdowns, as well as for the Trials.
Tim Hortons has been the title sponsor since 2005, when it took over duties from Nokia and built on sponsorship activities it began in 1996.
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Arbitrator awards Jordan Bitove ownership of Torstar
Jordan Bitove is set to take control of Torstar after a business dispute with partner Paul Rivett was sent to meditation-arbitration.
Bitove will take ownership of Torstar, the company that owns Toronto Star, Hamilton Spectator, iPolitics, The Kit, ScoreGolf and community news publisher Metroland Media, among other properties. Rivett will be departing Torstar.
The pair were partners in NordStar Capital, an investment firm that acquired Toronto Star parent company Torstar in 2020. In September, Rivett filed an application to Ontario Superior Court seeking a court order to dissolve the company. He citied a “deadlock” between the partners as to the best way forward and being “sidelined” from decisions Bitove made that deviated from their previous plans. In a statement, Bitove responded by saying those who “believe in the vital role of the media” build sustainable businesses around trusted journalism, rather than “shrink newsrooms to extract short-term benefit for shareholders.”
Bitove emphasized the role of the Toronto Star as a civic institution and adhering to the Atkinson Principles, the social values that have guided the path of the newspaper throughout its history. He also pushed for measures like the Online News Act, which would prevent major tech companies from “stealing ad money” from Canadian news outlets.
Rivett, on the other hand, said he was opposed to long-term news subsidies, saying instead that the best path forward would be to experiment with new revenue streams, like online gambling, as well as greater co-operation between the sales and news side of the company.
Dentsu Canada expands its media leadership
Dentsu Media Canada added three industry veterans to its media leadership team last month, working with president Sarah Thompson to drive growth through innovation.
Sophie Labarre has been appointed chief client officer to lead Dentsu X across Canada while based in Montreal. Charlie Farrell had been appointed VP search to accelerate the transformation of Dentsu Media’s offerings in that area. Boris Cho has signed on with Dentsu as director of growth to oversee organic and new business development.
Featured image by master1305.
