Both Sides Invite Experts To Explore Options For Commercials Spanning Traditional And New Media
The advertising industry’s Joint Policy Committee (JPC) on Broadcast Talent Union Relations, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) have invited nine consultants from industry and academia to jointly explore alternate compensation models for performers in commercials that appear on traditional (TV, radio) and/or new media outlets.
Approaches resulting from the study will be offered for consideration in the negotiating process surrounding the ad industry’s collective bargaining agreement with SAG/AFTRA, which is scheduled to expire on Oct. 29.
In guiding consultants, the Request for Proposal (RFP) for the joint study states: “SAG, AFTRA and the JPC realize that any study must be comprehensive and take into consideration the myriad of interests of all the parties–performers and their unions on one hand and advertisers and their partners [advertising agencies–production companies, talent payroll services, casting directors and cost consultants]–on the other hand.”
The call for the development of new compensation models for consideration is generally regarded as a positive step towards hopefully attaining a new agreement without a strike or work stoppage. The actors’ unions went on strike against the ad industry in 2000. That six-month strike exacerbated the runaway production problem, and had a profoundly negative impact on the U.S. economy.
The RFP also reflects the fact that both labor and management consider the longstanding compensation model to not be viable in today’s complex media landscape in which ads are gaining exposure on a variety of traditional and emerging (i.e., mobile hone, VOD, iPods) platforms.
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads — essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More