YouTube bans staged animal rescue videos

Hi and welcome to Insider Advertising for March 29. I'm senior advertising reporter Lauren Johnson, and here's what's going on:

• YouTube bans staged animal rescue videos.
• Vice Media layoffs.
• NBCU mulls a subscription-based video service.

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Tips, comments, suggestions? Drop me a line at [email protected] or on Twitter at @LaurenJohnson.

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YouTube plans to ban videos showing staged animal rescues. The policy shift comes after the platform was found running ads from major brands on videos depicting animal cruelty.

• YouTube has been running ads from major brands on videos depicting animal cruelty, Lara O'Reilly reports.
• YouTube says it removed videos or stopped running ads on some of these videos.
• It also plans to ban staged animal rescue videos from the platform.

Read the story.

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Vice Media just laid off a handful of digital staffers

• Vice Media laid off a handful of top digital staffers on Thursday, Steven Perlberg reports.
• A spokesperson attributed the layoffs to a recent shift in the digital leadership team's makeup.
• The layoffs did not include anyone in editorial, a source said.

Read the story.

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NBCUniversal has discussed a new subscription video-streaming service separate from Peacock

• NBCUniversal has discussed a subscription streaming service under the name "Universal Stream," Claire Atkinson reports.
• NBCU has its Peacock streaming service, but the brand isn't well known around the world.
• Such a new service could cost billions to launch, though.

Read the story.

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More stories we're reading:

• Loud commercials are infuriating Americans, and streaming TV is making them even worse (Insider)
• We identified the 194 most powerful people at Google under CEO Sundar Pichai. Explore our exclusive org chart. (Insider)
• Volv bills itself as 'TikTok for news.' The Snap-backed app makes news stories you can read in 9 seconds. (Insider)
• 98% of the New Yorker Union voted in favor of authorizing a strike against Condé Nast (Insider)
• Media startup Axios is reportedly in merger talks with sports-media outlet The Athletic, and the combined company could go public (Insider)
• Ad agencies step away from oil and gas in echo of cigarette exodus (The New York Times)
• ABC seeks $2 million for Oscar ads, despite worries of audience decline (Variety)

Thanks for reading and see you tomorrow! You can reach me in the meantime at [email protected] and subscribe to this daily email here.