Social Media Daily News Roundup 13.08.19
Today’s social media news, rounded up in one place so you don’t have to go anywhere else.
👻 WordPress parent company Automattic Inc. to buy Tumblr from Verizon
👻 Nintendo pipes up with 60% share of July videogame ad market
👻 ‘The status quo is not good enough’: UK tightens regulation around video sharing
WordPress parent company Automattic Inc. to buy Tumblr from Verizon - Marketing Land
Verizon Communications has found a buyer for Tumblr, the blogging platform it acquired in 2017 as part of its deal to buy Yahoo. Automattic Inc., the company behind the popular web development platform WordPress, has agreed to purchase Tumblr for an undisclosed amount, according to The Wall Street Journal, and will add Tumblr’s approximate 200 employees to the Automattic staff.
Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg told The Wall Street Journal the acquisition was the largest ever for his company — both in price and head count. As a longtime user of Tumblr, Mullenweg said he sees it as complementary to WordPress.com.
“It’s just fun,” Mullenweg told the Wall Street Journal, “We’re not going to change any of that.”
According to the Wall Street Journal, Automattic executives plan to find ways WordPress.com and Tumblr can share services and functionality. As the world’s leading CMS platform (a 2018 Kinsta report showed WordPress owns 60% market share among content management systems), adding more functionality and features to WordPress’ offerings should benefit marketers charged with managing WordPress websites.
Nintendo pipes up with 60% share of July videogame ad market - The Drum
Nintendo has dominated videogame advertising spend through July with an impressive 60% share of expenditure, according to data provided by iSpot.tv.
The Japanese entertainment giant loosened its purse strings to the tune of $3.7m for the month, comfortably outspending all other gaming brands who spent just $2.5m between them over the same period.
The budget-busting figure has largely been attributed to a splurge in spending associated with a Super Mario Maker 2 commercial titled ‘Level of Your Dreams’ which has been promoted across Nick, Nicktoons and Teen Nick during hit shows such as SpongeBob SquarePants.
In all this one commercial alone appeared over 2,200 times across the three channels, at a cost to Nintendo of $900k.
‘The status quo is not good enough’: UK tightens regulation around video sharing - Digi Day
European politicians have been tightening the screws on U.S. tech platforms on multiple fronts. Now, a European-wide directive is reportedly extending the same regulatory responsibilities that broadcasters face to video-sharing platforms, imposing fines or service restrictions if they fail to comply.
Under the new Audio Visual Media Services directive, video-sharing and livestreaming platforms including Instagram, Facebook and YouTube will be fined either £250,000 ($301,000) or 5% of the company’s revenue, whichever is more — although the amount is still being decided — if they show harmful videos, including violence, child abuse and pornography.
