Amazon has invested heavily in Super Bowl advertising for Sunday’s game, according to Ad Age, which reported Tuesday the tech giant took a 60-second spot just after halftime to promote its original series Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan due to debut Labor Day weekend. The ad industry publication also teased a Q4 commercial with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos centered on Alexa losing her voice. The 30-second teaser -- from the 90-second commercial -- has Alexa going quiet, after a brief cough, while giving a weather forecast, which is followed by a TV news report covering Alexa’s voice loss as breaking news. The teaser cuts off with the promise of a fix for Alexa with undisclosed “replacements in the works.” Hulu, meanwhile, is running an ad for the second consecutive year, it said. As announced at CES, Monster is appearing in its first Super Bowl ad, which features rapper Iggy Azalea pushing the company’s new AirLinks Elements wireless headphones. NBC sought $5 million for a 30-second commercial during the Super Bowl, according to reports.
A TCL Super Bowl promotion slashed pricing of its S-Series 4K TV models sold through Amazon and Best Buy, the company said Thursday. Pricing of the 55-inch model 55S405 was cut by $80 to $369.99 and the 49-inch model 49S405 is now $30 cheaper at $329. The S-Series models have HDR10 high-dynamic-range technology. TCL’s new 5-Series, introduced at CES, will bring Dolby Vision HDR functionality into screen sizes as small as 43 inches (see 1801080064). The company hasn't announced pricing.
The proliferation of embedded autoplay video is a bubble set to pop, said marketing consultant Simon Owens in an email newsletter Wednesday. He said embedding such videos in their content shows publishers implicitly acknowledge there's no demand and viewership numbers get artificially inflated. He said news outlets have shed text-based staff to ramp up video production, but the media industry acknowledges its pivot increasingly toward video is driven by advertiser -- not reader -- demand. Duration of that advertiser demand is questionable since the growth of streaming service original programming means a coming glut of high-quality video content. He also said browsers rolling out updates that block autoplay video "might finally force a reckoning within the industry."
Staples put the iPad on sale, taking $70 off -- $30 instantly plus a $40 coupon -- bringing the price of a 32-GB 9.7-inch version to $299. Price of the 128-GB iPad drops to $399 in the promotion. The deal runs through Saturday while supplies last.
Northeast supermarket chain ShopRite hawked a 55-inch Samsung 4K TV as a “big game TV spectacular” in an NFL playoffs-themed email blast to customers Thursday. Customers in Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania could get the Samsung UN55MU6290F “just in time for the big football games” said the grocery chain, which had 23 in stock Friday, according to the website. The $499 offer, down from $599, ends Jan. 31. TVs can’t be shipped to all locations, ShopRite said. The 2017 model was selling for $597 at Amazon Friday, notching an average 4.5 stars out of 5 from 53 reviews.
“This will change your mind,” reads a Thursday email blast offering a one-month free trial subscription to DirecTV Now’s $35 monthly bottom-tier, 60-channel “Live a Little” content package. Consumers who act on the offer through Jan. 1 by entering a “unique” promo code will have their accounts auto-billed for $35 a month after the free trial lapses, unless canceled, said the email.
A trio of Florida, California and Swiss businesses using spam emails made unsubstantiated earnings claims, misrepresented the nature of their products and falsely promised an easy money-back guarantee when marketing different software products and services to people wanting to work from home, the FTC said Thursday in a lawsuit to be filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. The suit alleges violations of the FTC Act and Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act and seeks an injunction to prevent future violations and unspecified amounts for restitution, refunds and "the disgorgement of ill-gotten monies." Defendants Montano Enterprises, JK Marketing and GSD Master and their owners couldn't be reached for comment.
New tools to help people manage their facial identification on Facebook are included in a single "on/off" settings control, it announced Tuesday. The added features let users detect when others might be attempting to use their profile picture, and will enable visually impaired users to learn identities of people displayed in Facebook photos they access. Deputy Chief Privacy Officer Rob Sherman said the company's research found people want a way to turn off face recognition technology in one master setting. The company has "no plans to introduce features that tell strangers who you are," Sherman blogged. Monday, the company reported IP takedown requests (see 1712190023).
Using "commensense" disclosure practices for paid search and native ads made to resemble news can help consumers distinguish paid content from editorial, said an FTC study released Friday. The report, based on 2014-2015 research, provides insights into how consumers interpret search and native ads, both through desktop and mobile devices. Commissioners OK'd the study 2-0.
Altice USA, Charter Communications and Comcast reached preliminary agreement for an interconnect in the New York City market that will launch in Q2 and give advertisers one-stop access to households served by the three, as well as other MVPDs in the New York designated market area, they said Wednesday. The interconnect will manage all DMA-wide non-local advertising sales for local news channels News 12 Networks and Spectrum News NY1.