1. Lawsuit Alleges Google/Facebook Secret Deal Hurt Smaller Publishers (NYTimes)

Facebook was going to launch an online ads platform to compete with Google but backed away from the plan after the companies cut a preferential deal, according to court documents. Details of the agreement, based on documents the Texas attorney general’s office said it had uncovered as part of the multistate suit, were redacted in the complaint filed in federal court in Texas last month. But they were not hidden in a draft version of the complaint reviewed by The New York Times.

2. YouTube Stops Accepting Third Party Pixel in Campaigns (AdExchanger)

YouTube will no longer allow third-party pixels. Campaigns on YouTube are now required to enable Ads Data Hub linking (ADH) to be eligible for third-party measurement. Campaigns that do not comply would experience disruptions to their third-party measurement in the future. In line with Google’s planned timeline for ADH and pixel deprecation on YouTube, Google helped a crop of new third-party measurement complete migration in their vendor services to ADH.

3. Facebook Will Ban Ads Promoting Weapon Accessories, Protective Gear in the US (Reuters)

Following the attack by President Donald Trump supporters against the US Capitol on January 6, the social media company said it would now prohibit ads for accessories such as gun safes, vests, and gun holsters in the United States. The ban will happen immediately until at least two days after US President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20.

4. Addressable Ads Delivered By ViacomCBS And Dish Media In Live National Broadcast TV ( AdExchanger)

Could addressable ads for live nationally broadcast linear TV be coming soon? Incremental progress in that direction happened Thursday when ViacomCBS and DISH Media each said that they have successfully tested the first addressable campaign within a live national broadcast through an MVPD set-top box. The companies partnered with TV ad tech company Adcuratio.

5. DTC Brand’s Best Digital Practices to Succeed in TV (Adweek)

DTC brands that had explored social media channels for the past two decades are now turning to TV as their next frontier for customer acquisition. They are leading the way in using data and measurement to drive TV performance against Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), Cost Per Visitor (CPV), and Return on Ad Spend (ROAS). They are breaking new ground in the discipline of agile, accountable TV advertising, and their example offers lessons for marketers of every scale.

6. What Will The Pandemic’s Impact on Digitization Mean for the Payments Landscape? ( eMarketer)

The pandemic accelerated payments industry digitization across the entire landscape, as merchants turned to eCommerce to keep doors open, consumers eschewed cash in favor of electronic and contactless payments, and payments technology providers rapidly developed and launched new solutions to keep up.

7. Wikipedia Celebrates 20th Anniversary (The Guardian)

A tech startup called Nupedia launched a side project twenty years ago where anyone would write and edit articles. That side project, Wikipedia, currently has more than 55 million articles in around 300 languages. It is the 13th most popular website with 1.7 billion new visitors every month.