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Two contentious extensions to the EU Copyright Directive presented to EuroParl would could allow publishers to collect a rights fee from search engines that describe and link back to published material (Article 11) and require major platforms to screen and block audiovisual material accessed or shared by users (Article 13). In July MEPs rejected the Directive draft as a might too severe. An overhaul of the Copyright Directive has been rattling around the European Commission - not to forget various legislatures in Member States and elsewhere - since the turn of the century.
Special raporteur German MEP Axel Voss made slight but significant adjustments. Search engines would be allowed to display certain words, rather than snippets of published text, to describe what might appear behind the link. The scope of the Article 13 revision was scaled back to only platforms that host and “promote” “significant” content. The European Commission’s proposal to EuroParl passed (September 12) 438 in favor, 226 against and 39 abstaining. (See more about copyright laws here)
“This is a good sign for the creative industries in Europe,” announced Herr Voss. Big publishers and their support groups as well as the music industry cheered at the thought of a new revenue (read: free money) from Google. Parliaments in Spain and Germany passed confiscatory internet laws in recent years. Google responded by effectively de-listing the websites of Spanish publishers; Spain disappeared. Facing the same result, German publishers raced for waivers from Google as website traffic tumbled. Publishers hope a Europe-wide law will escape the same fate.
“Consumers nowadays express themselves by sampling, creating and mixing music, videos and pictures, then sharing their creations online,” said European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) director general Monique Goyens, quoted by Reuters (September 12). “It is beyond comprehension that time and again EU policy makers refuse to bring copyright law into the 21st century.”
Albert Einstein has been credited observing that doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is the mark of insanity.
Advertising is meant to influence, typically to affect buying behavior. For more than a hundred years advertisers have groused about reach, effectiveness and cost. Gazillions have been spent studying this. Online and mobile ad platforms changed the equation, largely punishing traditional media for lacking the real-time datasets to target buyers and those who influence their behavior.
Identifying and reaching these influencers is really important to advertisers and media buyers, rising in parallel with the reach of digital media platforms. And reaching them is really expensive, says a report by the German Economic Institute (Instituts der deutschen Wirtschaft - IW), recently published (September 10). A 30 second TV ad in Germany reaching 730,000 viewers can cost €38,000, cited the report, while reaching the same number of influencers can cost as much as €240,000.
The price difference, realistically, can be ascribed to opportunity cost. Those influencers could be more valuable to marketers through the beloved network effect. The IW defines influencer marketing as digital marketing aimed at opinion makers who have strong communities. Influencer marketing works best, unsurprisingly, with young people. (See more about digital/online advertising here)
Since advertising people invest fortunes - sometimes not so small - learning everything possible about what moves products from breakfast cereal to automobiles off the shelves, literally and figuratively, the rise of influencer marketing and identifying those influencers is a big deal. All the big social media networks sell a list of influencers who, in turn, see a return on that influence. Micro-influencers, not limited to celebrity endorsements, who influence specific product categories can also be identified. Indeed, being a social media influencer is now considered a career path or, through newly popped-up influencer networks, a way to get rich quick.
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