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Yahoo restructure reaches Dubai office

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As part of Yahoo’s global efforts to ‘streamline operations’, a number of workforce reductions were implemented within its Dubai office last week, although the exact number is yet to be confirmed.

With the closure of operations in Cairo approximately one year ago, Yahoo continues to downsize it presence in the region. This latest report of restructure follows on from Yahoo’s announcement earlier this month of its plans to close its office in Amman, Jordan, by the end of 2014. While Yahoo Maktoob’s operations will now be supported from regional offices in Dubai and other locations, Yahoo’s Dubai office – which first opened in 2010 – appears to be the last remaining outpost for Yahoo in the Middle East.

Instagram launches video advertising

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Instagram has become the latest social network to introduce video advertising. Having launched static image advertising in 2013 and following six month of testing, Instagram now offers ad deals which showcase 15-second auto-play spots. With Disney, Activision, Lancome and Banana Republic being the first brands to test the new platform, Disney has been quick to make full use of the new ad offering, using the platform to promote its Big Hero 6 film, while Lancome advertises its newly released fragrance and mascara.

Following criticism of its early Instagram advertising, the social network has been notably cautious since it began selling space a year ago, aiming to ensure that it doesn’t appear too intrusive, and alienating a significant number of its 200 million active users.

Twitter redesigns Twitter for Business website

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Twitter has relaunched its Twitter for Business website – business.twitter.com – which includes a redesigned look and reorganisation of the platform’s content. In an official blog post, Russ Laraway, Head of Small and Medium Businesses at Twitter, offered a break-down of the redesigned website, which includes content now being split into four sections for easier navigation –

1. Basics: everything you might need to know to get started on Twitter, from terminology to creating an effective content strategy.

2. Solutions: step-by-step guidance on how Twitter Ads can accomplish five business objectives – growing followers, finding leads on Twitter, driving website clicks and conversions, boosting Tweet engagements and driving app installs or engagements.

3. Success stories: read about how businesses are using Twitter Ads to achieve a variety of marketing objectives.

4. Resources: access guides, research, videos and event programming to build your Twitter expertise, all in one place.

“Whether your business is just starting to use Twitter or you’re a seasoned pro, you can find educational resources, research, advertising solutions and real-life examples that are relevant for your business needs,” says Russ Laraway.

Over the coming weeks and months, Twitter aims to continue adding new content and features to the website.

Snapchat introduces advertisements in the US

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In a bid to increase its revenue, Snapchat has announced that it is introducing ads for users in the United States as of this weekend. According to a blog post by the social media app, an advertisement will be placed in the ‘Recent Updates’ section of the app, but will not use data to target users individually and will not appear in either Snaps or Chats.

“The best advertisements tell you more about stuff that actually interests you. Some companies spend a lot of time and collect a lot of data about you to figure that out. The product we’re releasing is a lot simpler.”

This is the first time that Snapchat has integrated paid content into the app, with users given the choice of watching the ad, which will disappear after being viewed or within 24 hours – similar to the way that individual Snapchats are currently used.

Australian tabloid names UAE in editorial blunder

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The Daily Telegraph, published in Sydney by News Corp Australia, has made an embarrassing editorial blunder, by running a headline stating that Australian bombing raids killed dozens of terrorists in the UAE, according to the newspaper’s online platform.

While the story referred to bombings in Iraq – in which Australia’s super hornets conducted a total of 43 flights over the country since becoming operational almost two weeks ago – the prominent headline told a different story.

The headline has since been amended to citing the Middle East instead of the UAE, though the original URL remains.

CNN named #1 international news brand

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The latest IPSOS Affluent Global survey has confirmed CNN International as the leading international news brand, reaching an unrivalled four out of 10 upscale consumers and decision-makers across the Middle East, Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America.

CNN’s reach of affluent international audience is larger than all news competitors in every metric across TV and digital platforms. According to the IPSOS Affluent Global survey, every month CNN is currently reaching 40% of the international upscale population via TV and digital platforms – well ahead of BBC (29%), CNBC (14%), Bloomberg (11%) and Al Jazeera (11%).

On TV, CNN is the most watched international news channel for monthly (34%), weekly (19%) and daily (5%) reach. This is significantly ahead of the reach of other news channels’ TV reach – BBC (23% monthly, 13% weekly, 4% daily), Sky (21%, 13%, 5%), CNBC (10%, 5%, 1%), Al Jazeera (9%, 5%, 2%) and Bloomberg (8%, 4%, 1%).

CNN International is also excelling digitally, ranking in the number one position ahead of all news and entertainment brands with a 14% monthly reach. This compares to National Geographic (11%), BBC (11%), Discovery (9%), Bloomberg (5%), CNBC (5%) and Al Jazeera (3%). The IPSOS Affluent Global findings confirm CNN registering a global digital audience of 99 million unique visitors in comScore’s August data – over 25 million ahead of BBC (73 million).

“What is commonly referred to as the ‘CNN effect’ is our ability to deliver non-partisan, objective reporting from all corners of the world quicker and in more detail than anyone else,” says Rani R. Raad, Chief Commercial Officer, CNN International. “It’s this effect that connects with our consumers on TV, mobile, digital and social platforms, making CNN the worldwide news leader it is today.”

eBay to launch its first global brand campaign

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eBay is launching its first ever global brand campaign entitled ‘Shop the World’, in preparation for the run-up to the Christmas shopping season. The brand advertising campaign officially debuts in the United States tomorrow and in the UK on October 20, with plans to roll out across Australian and German markets in the coming weeks and more countries expected to be added in 2015.

The campaign has been developed in partnership with Goodby Silverstein & Partners and seeks to show how anything – be it a marathon, music festival or film screening – can act as inspiration for consumers, highlighted by the purchasable items within white boxes that appear throughout the advertisement. Running across digital, television, mobile and social channels, the 60-second campaign will aim to showcase the vast range of over 800 million listings on offer at eBay.

“The strength of the eBay brand represents the strength of our business and our entire community,” says Richelle Parham, Chief Marketing Officer, eBay North America. “Whether you’re seeking street style from Berlin or the perfect guitar to unleash your inner Jimi Hendrix, you will find an unmatched assortment of authentic new and vintage inventory from experienced eBay sellers to help fulfil your passion.”

 

TINT to launch in the Middle East

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TINT – a social media aggregator used by 40,000 companies worldwide – is launching in the Middle East, marking its first expansion effort outside of North America. TINT will be the first social media hub in the Middle East to allow brands to collect and curate all social feeds and social hashtags from multiple networks, and is set to work with the region’s top brands and marketing agencies to create campaigns for brands including du, Ferrari World and Dubai Mall. The technology also affords customers the creative autonomy to brand their display, which can be enhanced with Chromecast access, customised posts and calls to action.

For brand owners in the Middle East, TINT also has the back-end functionality to moderate content and with analytical tools advertisers can measure ROI that allows companies to tailor their entire social media strategy with new insight and data.

“Our growth from Silicon Valley has been exponential; in the space of one year we are now working with over 40,000 brands and 60 percent of that business is generated from international markets,” says Tim Sae Koo, CEO and Founder, TINT. “Dubai is the ideal gateway to help us establish a more customer-facing relationship with clients in the East. It’s ambition to develop as a smart city makes Dubai the perfect environment to foster entrepreneurial and technology inspired companies – like TINT – to grow alongside its own unprecedented progress.”

Launching at GITEX Technology Week 2014, TINT will showcase its platform, which allows anyone to connect a page, handle or hashtag from any social network and then display it on websites, mobile apps, retail TV displays, event walls or huge jumbotrons.

Google launches new tool for display ad targeting

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Google has released custom affinity audiences – which aims to give advertisers more flexibility in targeting users based on their interests across the Google display network. This builds on from the affinity audience segments which Google launched in 2013, allowing advertisers to target users across 80 set interests and demographics reflected by the individual’s search and site behaviour. While the new Custom Affinity Audiences will still utilise Google’s interest data, advertisers will now be able to take control of their target advertising by creating their own segments, as opposed to selecting from a pre–defined set of audiences.

Additionally, until now advertisers have had to work directly with a Google rep to create a custom segment. With the release of this new tool, advertisers will be able to build custom affinity audiences themselves in AdWords. When setting up custom affinity audiences in AdWords, advertisers can mix interest segments with sites related to those interests, and Google will provide reach estimates broken down by demographics and top interests.

Alarab news channel to launch by end of year

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Alarab, a Bahrain-based 24-hour news channel, is set to launch by the end of this year, with the news channel set to target Arabic speaking viewers across the Arab region and extending globally. First announced by Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud in 2011, Alarab is an independent venture from Kingdom Holding Company and Rotana Group, and is expected to compete with Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya and Sky News Arabia.

The channel’s launch has been announced by Prince Alwaleed after visiting the headquarters of the news channel at Bahrain World Trade Centre to oversee progression of the channel, with Systems integrator Qvest Media having designed and built the complete production and broadcasting infrastructure for the Alarab News Channel.

Earlier this year, Alarab News Channel announced a deal with Riyadh-based media company, DurAlpha Group, and has also signed a partnership agreement with Bloomberg to include Bloomberg-branded business reports in its daily coverage, as well as supporting five hours of financial and economic news programming throughout the day. Alarab has also recently appointed a number of well-known broadcast journalists from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and neighbouring countries to join its news programming team.