Village Soapbox – Reflections from a Bloodshot Eye

It is increasingly difficult to see how we heal from the divisions and the polarization and the racism and the antisemitism; but we must. I truly believe that through this, we will come out stronger. There is a lot of work ahead, and our industry will be in the thick of it. The changes that are necessary may, in fact, rock assumptions, strategies, and foundations of the direction that marketing and advertising has taken since the start of the digital era. What this week has shown us though, is that there is something far more important that quarterly earnings and Wall Street profitability and giant CEO salaries: the health and continued success of the greatest democracy in the world. It has also shown us what can happen when we tolerate a world of alternative truth.

Two of our columnists, former CIA analyst Kent M. Harrington and media journalist Paul S. Maxwell have penned articles on Wednesday's events.

Read Harrington's The Banana Republicans and their Media Enablers: Have They No Shame?.

Read Maxwell's Thanks Rupert, Lachlan, Charles, Christopher, Steve, Rush, Zuck & Jack...

May we all find a path back to civility, kindness and pride in an American dream for all.

This Week in MediaVillage:

Jack Myers' mega-successful "Legends and Leaders" series returns with an all new slate of industry giants talking to Jack about how they've achieved greatness. This week Myers chatted with Chief U.S. Advertising Sales Officer of Discovery Inc., Jon Steinlauf, just as Discovery launched their standalone OTT play, discovery+. This is truly an entertaining and informative discussion that you won't want to miss. Watch it here.

In this week's episode of The Pool, Keep Rising: Comcast RISE and COVID-19, Phil McKenzie speaks with James Lavallee from Effectv about the launch of Comcast RISE, which provides complimentary marketing, creative, media and technology services to qualifying Black-Owned small businesses.

Did you catch my recap of the top Hot Media Messes of 2020? Some were head-scratchers. Others were just plain disasters. Read the article here on MediaVillage.

The annual Minsky Award for Tech Innovation was announced this week. Was it the Quest 2? Xbox Series X? PS5? iPhone 12? To find out, please read the story that has become a cherished annual tradition, at least by me! But Wait, That's Not All! The Minsky Award 2020 Goes To ….

Speaking of awards, the winners of the ANA's 20th annual Multicultural Excellence Awards were recently announced. Bill Duggan, group executive vice president of the ANA speaks with Andrew McKechnie from Verizon who picked up the "Best in Show" (in conjunction with its agency, McCann Worldgroup for the campaign "Love Calls Back". Read Bill's interview with Andrew in Verizon Campaign "Love Calls Back" in an ANA Award Winner.

For many, Reddit harkens back to the original purpose of the early web, an open forum for discussion on any topic, like The Well was, back in the day.  In some cases, that means high-level, thoughtful and useful discussions on industry, science, politics, and life. In far too many other cases, that means controversial, unverified, hateful and worse. Contributing writer, Althea M looks at Reddit and whether it is doing enough to meet brand safety thresholds. Uncovering Reddit's Underbelly and Why Advertisers Should Be Wary.

Ed Martin, our chief television and content critic and the president (TV Branch) of the Critics Choice Association, gives us an inside look at this Sunday's (January 10th) broadcast on The CW of the Critics Choice Super Awards. What makes these awards so super? They are the first awards show to honor tv shows and movies in the genres of horror, action, animation, sci-fi, comic-book, and fantasy; or as Hollywood likes to call it "the movies people actually go to see". Get a VIP scoop in Martin's story, The CW Presents the First Annual Critics Choice Super Awards.

The initial announcement of Tanya Roberts' death was premature, but unfortunately, only slightly as the former Charlie's Angels star and Bond girl passed away on January 4. Steve Gidlow looks back at her career in Tanya Roberts: The Passing of an Angel.

Phil McKenzie looks at the phenomenon that is the app, Clubhouse and their recent live cast reading of The Lion King which created a lot of positive buzz. Just say Hakuna Matata and read Clubhouse Breaks New Audio Ground With "The Lion King".

We are blessed to have a former Senior CIA analyst as a long-time contributor. Kent M. Harrington has unique insight into what the future may hold in a new America where a large percentage of the population appears to embrace news sources that embrace narratives without facts. This article was written prior to Wednesday's events, but those events make this an even more important read. Delegitimizing Democracy in 2021: Will Disinformation and Trump Views Be News?.

Erich J. Prince examines the inherent conflict of covering the political scene as a journalist when you've actually been part of the political machine in a prior life. How should you balance your personal biases with your professional responsibility? Can you? Get Erich's take in News Journalists and the Pretense of Partisan Neutrality.

Making New Year's resolutions likely goes back centuries, but in the digital era we can actually now quantify all the things we're never going to do. Tamara Alesi looks at the goals that we are setting for ourselves in New Year's Resolutions and Shedding the Weight of 2020.

In Terms of ROI columnist, Bill Harvey, provides his predictions for the year. They are fairly upbeat and I think we all need a bit of that now. See if you agree with Bill's predictions in Bill Harvey's 2021 Predictions for Business, Culture and Regulation.

This Week in Media…

So, what did you get for Christmas this year? Was it a PS5, an Xbox Series X, or an Oculus Quest 2? Many of you likely got a television and according to NPD, that TV was likely larger than the one that you had previously. Per NPD's latest TV Ownership Trends Report, the average size of a replacement TV jumped from 49" in November 2019 to 51" in 2020. With everyone staying home for the bulk of the year, the sales of televisions were significantly up by 19%.

Video site Vimeo is being spun off from parent company IAC.

LG has taken a majority stake in ACR data company Alphonso.

Twitter has purchased Podcast app, Breaker.

According to a just released report from MRC Data and Billboard audio on-demand streaming increased by 17% in 2020 in the U.S. and 22.6% globally, with over 2.2 trillion on-demand audio song streams.

CBS and the Recording Academy have postponed the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards from January 31 to March 14 due to the COVID-19 spike in Los Angeles.

For many of us, this week threw us we are usually Vegas bound for CES by now (or even returning at this point). While we won't be getting our usual midnight round at the Chandelier Bar or making the occasional run to In-N-Out (or in my case my favorite kosher shawarma joint), CES 2021 will be in full force, virtually next week. Please follow all the coverage on MediaVillage and on our social feeds on Twitter and Instagram. #MVCES2021.

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The opinions expressed here are the author's views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillage.com/MyersBizNet.