X sues watchdog group Media Matters; Spotify skirts Android app store fees with secret Google deal; ITV launches new outcome measurement tool

by Aimee Newell Tarín on 22nd Nov 2023 in News

In today’s ExchangeWire digest: X sues watchdog group Media Matters; Spotify skirts Android app store fees with secret Google deal; ITV launches new outcome measurement tool…

X sues watchdog group Media Matters

Following accounts reporting brands' ads on X appearing alongside extremist content praising Nazism, the platform has been facing significant outrage. On Monday, Musk filed a lawsuit against Media Matters, claiming that the watchdog group defamed X by reporting the incidents. Musk said that Media Matters “manipulated” the platform by “endlessly scrolling and refreshing” the feed until it found ads next to extremist posts, among other claims. X maintains that the watchdog’s report misrepresented the typical experience on the platform, with an intention to harm the business.

Spotify skirts Android app store fees with secret Google deal

According to a new testimony in Google’s ongoing legal battle with Epic, it was revealed that streaming service Spotify struck a deal with Google to bypass Android app store fees. On the stand, Don Harrison, Google’s head of global partnerships, confirmed that Spotify paid a 0% commission when users purchased subscriptions through Spotify’s own system, and 4% if users bought them through Google’s payment processor. Google had fought to keep this information hidden during the trial, due to the potential for these figures to damage negotiations with other app developers who may be interested in seeking more generous rates.

ITV launches new outcome measurement tool

ITV has announced the launch of two new outcome measurement tools, Addressable Lift and Broadcast Auction Boost, marking an expansion in the broadcaster’s measurement capabilities. The former is a pilot-programme which builds on ITV’s existing capabilities, using data clean room technology to measure campaigns’ (on ITVX, its streaming service) impact in driving sales. Additionally, it will offer brand lift and site lift measurement for campaigns at a household level. The latter has been described by ITV as a scientific study examining how broadcast advertising influences paid search activity.