News in brief: WHSmith to Launch Retail Media Ad Network; Netflix Exceeds Ad Revenue Targets; Users Boycott Meta Platforms 

WHSmith to Launch Retail Media Ad Network

WHSmith is launching a retail media business: it will combine both in-store and digital out–of-home media inventory with audience data for use in off-site campaigns, reports Digiday. The ad network will allow advertisers to connect with consumers across WHSmith’s 347 locations across the US and Canada, including airports, railway stations and resorts. Airports are to be the main focus of the new venture, with the aim of tapping into the large number of people who pass through airports – usually with time to spare – making them ideal targets for advertisers. 

Netflix Exceeds Ad Revenue Targets

Netflix gained 18.91 million subscribers in the final quarter of 2024, Netflix announced with its latest earnings on Tuesday. The figure is a year-over-year increase of 15.9%, and brings its number of total subscribers to over 301 million. Looking into region specifics, 5 million subscribers were added across EMEA, 4.82 million in the US and Canada, 4.94 in the APAC region, and 4.15 million in Latin America. As previously announced by Netflix: following this announcement, it will no longer be providing quarterly subscriber numbers. Instead, it will only announce the meeting of major milestones. 

Speaking on the company’s advertising efforts, Co-CEO Greg Peters revealed that its ad revenue targets were exceeded in the quarter. He also said: “We doubled our ads revenue year-over-year last year. We expect to double it again this year.” In other news, the streaming giant will also be raising prices again, including a first hike on its ad-supported tier. 

Users Boycott Meta Platforms 

As a result of recent events, some users have taken to boycotting Meta’s platforms. With Zuckerberg’s hopes that the TikTok ban will make consumers spend more time on Meta’s platforms instead – many have decided to do the opposite. To build on this, Instagram users found that searching "Democrat" on the platform – following Trump’s inauguration – was not bringing up any results, while the “Republican” hashtag was bringing up millions. This sparked some outcry, with users accusing the platform of censorship. Meta has tried to assure users that this was simply a technical problem which had also affected other hashtags. The boycott is also being supported by many users who are against Meta’s decision to remove fact-checking on its platforms.