As consumers continue to shift from linear to streaming, understanding what ad experiences they find worthwhile has become more crucial and transparency will be the major issue the industry will need to solve says a research post from leading industry analyst Alan Wolk.

The study by the TVREV co-founder noted that the emergence of the streaming era and a flourishing connected TV (CTV) industry has led to a transformative shift in media and entertainment and gaining insight on understanding has been made more important as ad-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) viewership in the US surges, with brands needing to establish how to reach these audiences more effectively.

In November, CM Group acquired Cheetah Digital — one of the longest standing email marketing firms for an undisclosed amount. CM Group has also acquired Selligent, Sailthru, and CM Commerce.

With Cheetah Digital, CM Group's services have broadened to include tools for marketers to use first-party data. Using a brand's loyalty program data, Cheetah Digital runs email and messaging campaigns. Cheetah Digital also helps brands like Vans set up loyalty programs with campaigns that capture information like a person's email address.

An even more affordable option comes by way of this feature-rich 2021 model VIZIO 50-Inch HDMI 2.1 VRR AirPlay 2 M-Series 4K Smart TV at $298.

Kids2 and Hello Einstein Studios’ Baby Einstein app, complete with six educational series, has been released on VIZIO.

Users now have access to Baby Einstein Classics, Manners Manor, Cal’s Sound Yard, Patch’s Number Forest and The Sandbox, all of which encourage children to explore the world around them, learn about new cultures, experience different genres of music and more.

Since the beginning of the year, Dior has spent an estimated $3.4 million on traditional television ads in the U.S., third in spend overall in the fragrance category compared to Chanel ($9.5 million) and Giorgio Armani Fragrances ($4.5 million), according to iSpot.tv, a firm that measures and analyses the value of advertisements.

The commercial has racked up 6.3 billion impressions since debuting in 2020, making it the third most-viewed ad in the home cleaning supplies and fresheners industry, according to measurement company iSpot.

Every weekday we bring you the Ad Age/iSpot Hot Spots, new commercials tracked by iSpot.tv, the always-on TV ad measurement and attribution company. (Scroll down to watch them all.)

A few highlights: Kids talk about their sense of belonging in a Gap Kids spot titled “Everyone belongs.” Subaru serves up another new spot starring members of the canine Barkley family. (Yesterday’s edition of Hot Spots had one too.) And Olympic swimming champion Ryan Murphy talks about the high-tech Fastskin LZR Pure Intent Backstroke Edition swimsuit he teamed up with Speedo to develop.

Though Meta has made strides in monetizing and improving engagement on Reels, short form video competition remains strong. TikTok, which touts about 1.39 billion global users, recently integrated its app into Vizio smart TVs

“They have a tremendous amount of players under contract (around 20% of MLB) and they want to get closer to the game and tell their story,” said MLB CRO Noah Garden, adding that he expects New Balance to start utilizing its new rights at or just before the postseason.

My colleague David Broughton cites iSpot.tv data as showing that $2.51 million of the $11.1 million that New Balance spent across all TV advertising over the last year was dedicated to national MLB programming (compared to 45% for the NBA). The brand spent just $44,000 during baseball telecasts in the 12 months before that (July 2020-July 2021).

Less than a million impressions separate the top two ads on iSpot.tv’s latest list of the most-viewed automotive commercials, but Hyundai squeaks ahead to lead the pack thanks to a strategy that focused on the MLB All-Star Game.

“In situations like these, you might find that employees asked to self-assess in terms of their conduct or behavior … feel the need to justify their behaviors or make excuses based on others' shortcomings," said Bethany Ellis, chief people officer of CreatorIQ in Los Angeles. "That's where you have an opportunity to step in and help them raise their self-awareness.”

If you don't mind filling your room with boxes, the M-Elevate does offer a compelling alternative to the similarly priced Sonos Arc, and it sounds better with movies, too.

Thanks to our report sponsors Amagi, LG Ads Solutions, Magnite, Pluto TV and VIZIO, we are able to offer this report to you for free.

Now, platforms like Roku, Amazon Fire TV and Vizio, are focusing on bulking up their content offerings as well as updating their interfaces to keep customers coming back. In the second quarter, Vizio SmartCast accounts jumped 43% year over year to hit 14 million, and streaming hours climbed 22% to reach 3.5 billion.

Overall, CTV is expected to see nearly $6 billion in 2022 upfront dollars, up from $4.5 billion in 2021, eMarketer predicts.

​​Similarly, Vizio has unveiled an updated experience for its free streaming video service WatchFree+ including a new programming guide. It is putting the emphasize on data to improve its customer experience.

Driving the news: Comcast has approached Irvine, Calif.-based Vizio as the company eyes acquiring a TV maker, Protocol reports. It's also looked at TP Vision. State of play: Comcast is in the smart TV business already, through its Sky subsidiary and a partnership with Hisense. But it apparently wants more.

Media consolidation in the streaming and the connected TV space seems to be coming -- even if you don’t believe one eye-opening report that Comcast Corp. may be eyeing a deal to acquire Vizio, the TV set manufacturer and growing streaming/connected TV (CTV) platform, according to Protocol.

Specific deal options didn’t come up on the call. Earlier this week, a news report suggested that Comcast has talked to TV set makers, including Vizio, about a potential acquisition. Comcast has been pushing into the smart TV set space under the brand XClass as it looks for new ways to reach consumers in their living rooms.

“Hosting VIZIO’s inaugural Developer Conference this year is especially exciting, as we are able to showcase the way we’ve revolutionized the marketplace over the past two decades,” said Katherine Pond, Group Vice President, Platform Content and Partnerships at VIZIO. “We’re looking forward to the continued innovation we will deliver to consumers coming out of this event.”

My colleague David Broughton cites iSpot.tv data as showing that $2.51 million of the $11.1 million that New Balance spent across all TV advertising over the last year was dedicated to national MLB programming (compared to 45% for the NBA). The brand spent just $44,000 during baseball telecasts in the 12 months before that (July 2020-July 2021).