5 things you need to know | |  | Meet the four-legged friends that are Instagram stars in their own right. Tanya Dua reports on the rise of the petfluencer and why it's happening. | |  | On this week's Digiday Podcast, Jon Steinberg talks about his new venture, Cheddar, and why it won't rely on ads. Instead, Cheddar is banking on licensing fees from over-the-top platforms hungry for content. | |  | Why is digital advertising so bad? In our latest Confession, this top media buyer lays the blame at the feet of complacent agencies and tradition-bound clients. | |  | Publishers of all stripes are trying out Facebook live video. The Denver Broncos got 1 million to watch Peyton Manning's retirement this way, Sahil Patel reports. | |  | Pinterest is rolling out video ads, Garett Sloane has learned. But it it too little too late? | |
 Tanya Dua With the power of photos on platforms like Facebook and Instagram, pets have emerged as recognizable stars in their own right. A suite of four-legged influencers such as Chloe the Frenchie and Nala the Cat spend their days strutting around with their entourages, hopping from one photo shoot and branded endorsement deal to another, earning anywhere between $2000 to $3500 per deal. And more and more brands, from Mercedes to Swiffer are actively seeking them out. “With the pressure to create a constant stream of new and interesting content, brands are searching for influence and reach in all forms,” said Jill Sherman, svp of social strategy at DigitasLBi. |
| | | Brian Morrissey Jon Steinberg is no stranger to advertising, having built BuzzFeed’s ad business and operating as the CEO of Daily Mail in North America. But for his new venture, video streaming service Cheddar, Steinberg is not relying on advertising for the business model. Instead, he’s betting on licensing fees from over-the-top platforms. |
| | | Shareen Pathak In this week’s Confession, a media buyer at a top agency says clients are to blame for holding back digital advertising. “For every plan, we basically take the what we did last time and then update it,” said this buyer, who said that often, there is no incentive to throw out the old playbook and try something new. Why? Because clients don’t trust agencies to build new models; agencies don’t want to do real work; and often, clients don’t have faith in digital ads that they never see. | | | | Sahil Patel When Peyton Manning announced his retirement, nearly a million people watched at least some part of his speech on a Denver Broncos Facebook live video. The team will continue to do live Facebook broadcasts throughout the off-season and into the regular season. Content could include more behind-the-scenes access to the NFL draft and the team’s various off-season training sessions, as well as more player interviews. |
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| | | Garett Sloane Pinterest is testing video ads in the wild, according to advertising sources. It wants a more traditional video ad to compete more directly with Facebook and Twitter. Pinterest had been considering how it could implement video ads for months, after launching its GIF-style Cinematic Pins last year. It now wants a more traditional video ad to compete more directly with Facebook and Twitter. Promoted video pins are being tested among a select group of users and internally at Pinterest, according to one source briefed on the tests. |
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