News in brief: Eight in Ten Ad Buyers Exploring Gen AI; BBC Under Fire over ‘Aggressive’ Promotion Tactics; Bluesky and X Launch Video Feeds

Eight in Ten Ad Buyers Exploring Gen AI

Almost eight in ten ad buyers are using or exploring generative AI in media planning and activation, according to the IAB’s latest report looking at the digital ad landscape. As the implementation of AI increases rapidly, half of users are insisting on mandatory human oversight and clear brand safety protocols to prevent misuse, inaccuracies, and other risks. Elsewhere, the report highlights that customer acquisition remains buyers’ top priority, increasing 12% year-over-year as they seek revenue growth to offset shrinking margins from growing inflation. 

BBC Under Fire over ‘Aggressive’ Promotion Tactics

The BBC is under fire over its news app promotions, reports the FT. UK news organisations have criticised the broadcaster for using public money to promote its services above their media apps on smartphones on Apple and Android. Owen Meredith, chief executive of the News Media Association (NMA) – which represents newspapers including The Guardian and The Times – said that the broadcaster’s “apparent willingness to compete very aggressively with commercial providers in app stores and other areas, such as local news provision, online risks causing irreparable damage to that ecosystem”. According to the NMA, the BBC’s app store strategy was just one example of it “aggressively competing against commercial players”. The NMA makes the case that the Royal Charter – which governs the broadcaster – should prevent a publicly funded organisation from harming the commercial market. 

Bluesky and X Launch Video Feeds 

Social platforms Bluesky and X have both launched dedicated video feeds for vertical videos. With Bluesky’s new feature, users can flip through a customisable video feed with content from specific hashtags. X has rolled out its video feed for just US users, in an attempt to capitalise off the US TikTok ban which had been scheduled for 19th January. This is just the latest push from X to get its platform more closely associated with video content. Also almost definitely linked to the supposed TikTok ban, Instagram announced the launch of Edits – a video editing app – to rival TikTok parent company ByteDance’s CapCut app.