The eighth most-read automotive story, Automakers' National TV Spending Drops 41%, features data from iSpot.tv showing how, with a massive uptick in TV spend in 2021 after being curtailed by the pandemic, automotive spending was settling back to normal levels.

Nora and Amelia Gray contribute to research into polar bear diets and how they may be affected by climate change, conducted by the zoo in partnership with Polar Bears International, the US Geological Survey and others.

David Cancel, the co-founder and conversation marketing leader behind Drift Inc., announced he was stepping down from his role leading the company this year. Into his place came Scott Ernst, a leader with more than three decades of experience in marketing technology and consumer data. He is the former CEO of Tubular Labs and of Macromill, a Tokyo-based global marketing research business.

In this WTF article, he breaks down what that means for the TV viewership data that is accumulated by listening and what companies like LG, Roku, Samsung and Vizio are doing with it. Read (and watch) WTF is automatic content recognition here.

Vizio, meanwhile, refreshed its FAST user experience with a more intuitive programming guide and also nabbed $200 million in Upfront commitments from advertisers in 2022, inclusive of its WatchFree+ service – which Adam Bergman, group VP of Advertising and Data Sales at Vizio indicated was a big draw for buyers.

"In some ways, it's totally shocking," said John Whiteman, chief research scientist at conservation non-profit Polar Bears International. "What's really sobering is that these kinds of declines are the kind that unless sea ice loss is halted, are predicted to eventually cause ... extinction."

You can watch the 2022 Lume commercial with Mrs. Smith and her CAS Syndrome here on iSpot.tv

iSpot.tv raised $325 million from Goldman Sachs Asset Management in April, part of the company’s broader effort to loosen industry stalwart Nielsen’s longtime hold on the market for measuring TV ads across broadcast and streaming platforms. The deal gave Goldman Sachs a “significant minority stake” in the Seattle-area company, which was believed to be valued at more than $1 billion at the time.

Every manner of deal went down in March:iSpot/Tunity

Nielsen’s 2022 woes have given room for other measurement companies to carve out space. Comscore, VideoAmp, iSpot and Samba TV have all partnered with publishers for test-and-learns, and it’s a race to the finish line when it comes to measurement and alternative currencies.

NBCU, a longtime naysayer of Nielsen panels as a justifiable form of cross-channel measurement, started its measurement framework in 2021, when it sent requests for proposals to over 100 measurement companies. And, in January, it crowned iSpot.tv as its first official alt currency partner.

NBCU also released a measurement vendor comparison to score iSpot, VideoAmp and Comscore, including where they fall short.

For example, NBCU ranked VideoAmp higher than iSpot for its planning tools, data clean room environment, advanced audiences and advanced audience guarantees. On the flip side, iSpot scored points for demo audiences, demo-based guarantees and cross-screen attribution.

Other companies that are offering CTV measurement solutions include iSpot and Adjust.

The Network's official YouTube channels have taken over ABS-CBN's in total monthly views in October and November 2022. GMA's YouTube channels tallied a total of 784,340,818 views in October and 666,927,697 in November. ABS-CBN's, on the other hand, had 708,777,743 and 633,172,250 views for the same period, according to data from Tubular Labs.

On Facebook, the GMA Network page has logged 1,768,491,355 views in November alone, taking over ABS-CBN's page which only got 1,519,629,307 views in the same period according to Tubular Labs.

'It's really cool to see that he's already playing,' Amy Cutting, vice president for conservation at Polar Bears International, a nonprofit organization said to the Anchorage Daily News. 'That's sending a great signal that he's thriving.'

Although the first choice is for polar bears to stay wild, 'we believe that modern zoos do provide a high quality of life for bears,' Cutting explained.

This is the idea behind Polar Bears International’s ‘Detect and Protect’ research, which uses radar systems and artificial intelligence (AI) to help facilitate this.

Known as ‘bear-dar’, these systems are being tested and developed by director of field operations BJ Kirschoffer in Churchill, Canada - the polar bear capital of the world.

That is not surprising behavior for a polar bear on land, said Amy Cutting, vice president for conservation at Polar Bears International, a nonprofit organization.

“They’ll eat just about anything,” she said.

But it is far from ideal for the young bear. “That sort of behavior, we know, isn’t enough for polar bears to survive because they need that high-fat diet,” Cutting said.

Needham cut VIZIO Holding Corp. (NYSE: VZIO) price target from $16 to $11. Needham analyst Laura Martin maintained a Buy rating on the stock. VIZIO Holding shares rose 4.2% to $8.28 in pre-market trading.

SVOD service Hallmark Movies Now is now available on Vizio Smart TVs. Vizio Smart TV owners can find Hallmark Movies Now in the Vizio Content Store and subscribe to Hallmark Movies Now for $5.99/month.

Vizio is integrating interactive advertising capabilities in its WatchFree+ FAST service using Brightline’s Accelerator program. It’s the first smart TV integration for Accelerator, with Vizio the first smart-TV manufacturer to offer advertisers interactive and shoppable ads. Advertisers can use the interactive tech to enhance existing 30-second ads within WatchFree+.

Hallmark Media has confirmed that its SVoD service, Hallmark Movies Now, is now available on VIZIO Smart TVs. The launch comes as the service closes out its annual holiday programming stunt Movies & Mistletoe, which features beloved Hallmark holiday programming, and gears up for a strong January line-up of offerings, including hit films such as The Wedding Veil, The Wedding Veil Unveiled, and The Wedding Veil Legacy, as well as The Perfect Pairing, Girlfriendship, and more.