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Indian space agency develops small rockets for satellite launches
 With the size of earth observation satellites reducing and the future trend moving towards a constellation of small satellites rather than a large one, India’s space agency is developing a smaller rocket that can carry satellites weighing up to 500 kg, a senior official said. The preliminary design for the proposed four-stage rocket that would weigh around 100 tonnes is ready and its feasibility study has also been conducted.(PTI file for representation)

India currently gets contracts to launch small satellites largely weighing less than 500 kg and a smaller rocket would be sufficient, he added. He also said 2018 will be an eventful year for the Indian space agency with several notable launches being lined up.

“Owing to advancement in technology, the mass of satellites is coming down -- including that of communication satellites. A lot of start-ups are building small satellites and they would like to put one in orbit at a lower cost,” K. Sivan, Director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), a part of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), told IANS.

According to Sivan, the preliminary design for the proposed four-stage rocket that would weigh around 100 tonnes is ready and its feasibility study has also been conducted. Sivan said the first rocket would be ready in two years once the project gets the necessary approvals.

At present, ISRO gets contracts from foreign organisations to carry small satellites. These are largely carried piggy-back whenever India launches a bigger satellite for its own use with the rocket Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).

The PSLV rocket has three variants weighing between 230 tonnes and 320 tonnes, with a carrying capacity ranging between 1,100 kg and 1,900 kg.

Sivan said a smaller rocket will be sufficient to tap the small satellite segment.

Looking forward to 2018, Sivan said it is going to be an eventful year with several launches, including the country’s second Chandrayaan moon mission.

Sivan said ISRO will be launching a Cartosat satellite and several foreign satellites as piggy-back with the PSLV rocket some time in January 2018.

He said the country’s heaviest communication satellite -- the GSAT 11, weighing over five tonnes -- would be launched next year by Arianespace’s Ariane rocket.

Output: India is planning to launch small rockets to shuttle satellites of up to 500kg into space. India’s space agency, the Indian Space Research Organisation, aims to take advantage of the smaller communication satellites being developed by start-ups that can be launched at a lower cost. The prototype design is for a four-stage rocket weighing approximately 100 tonnes, which has already undergone a feasibility study. The first rocket is likely to be ready within two years, following necessary approvals.


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Neste Singapore refinery to boost biofuels production by 1m tons
 Neste picks Singapore for new biofuel refinery

Neste's Board of Directors has decided that Neste's additional production capacity for renewable diesel, renewable aviation fuel and raw materials for various biochemical uses will be located in Singapore. The decision initiates technical design of the new production line, with the aim of a final investment decision by the end of 2018. If the project proceeds as planned, production at the new production line will begin by 2022.

The new production line will extend Neste's current capacity in the Singapore refinery by one million tons. The growth project includes an enhanced pre-treatment unit in preparation for the use of increasingly poor-quality waste materials.

Neste currently has a renewable diesel production capacity of 2.6 MMt. Of this total, more than 1 MMt is produced in Singapore, the same amount in Rotterdam and the rest in Porvoo, Finland. By eliminating bottlenecks, this total capacity will be increased to 3 MMt by 2020. In addition to producing renewable diesel, the refineries are able to produce renewable aviation fuel and raw materials for various biochemical uses.

Related News

From the Archive

Output: Neste will increase its production capacity for renewable diesel, renewable aviation fuel and raw materials for various biochemical uses at a refinery in Singapore with the aim of getting the new production line up and running by 2022. The facility will increase capacity by one million tons and will include an enhanced pre-treatment unit in preparation for the use of increasingly poor-quality waste materials. Neste currently has biodiesel production capacity of 2.6 million tons.


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Daimler, JP Morgan, Samsung get access to IBM's 20-qubit computer
 IBM is ready to open the doors to the first customers for its commercial quantum-computing services.

JPMorgan Chase, Daimler, and Samsung will be among the first group of businesses to gain access to IBM's new 20 quantum bit (qubit) IBM Q quantum system to help uncover commercial, industrial and scientific quantum computing applications.

While IBM is playing catchup with artificial-intelligence breakthroughs made by Google, Microsoft, and Amazon, it has taken a lead in the race to build a practical quantum computer thanks to its recently demonstrated prototype 50-qubit processor.

The companies joining the IBM Q Network gain access to the 20-qubit system, which is capable of producing qubits with a record 90 microsecond 'coherence', the time a single qubit -- representing both 1 and 0 simultaneously -- survives in this state before dissolving into a conventional bit's single state of either 1 or 0. That means 50 qubits can represent more than one thousand trillion values.

IBM wants to make quantum computing practical for business by offering members of the network access to the 20-qubit system from the cloud. Previously it's offered online access to its five- and 16-qubit systems.

IBM also hopes the collaboration will lead to more quantum software and developer tools, the other key to making the technology useful.

Other new members of IBM's Q Network include JSR Corporation, Barclays, Hitachi Metals, Honda, Nagase, Keio University, Oak Ridge National Lab, Oxford University, and University of Melbourne.

IBM hopes the collaboration will lead to more quantum software and developer tools. Image: IBM

JP Morgan Chase will be looking to exploit quantum computing for the financial services, while Samsung will explore it for semiconductor and electronics. Daimler's research will explore new automotive materials and optimization problems such as manufacturing processes and vehicle routing for fleet logistics or self-driving cars.

These organizations will also have access to the 50-qubit system once it's up and running. IBM isn't being specific about when its next-generation IBM Q system will be available. It will be looking to improve hardware and coherence times in the next generation.

"The prototype 50 qubit processor will be available in the near future, and the IBM Q Network will have access to it in the next-gen system," an IBM spokesman told ZDNet.

IBM's 50-qubit breakthrough involved simulating 49- and 56-qubit circuits on Lawrence Livermore Laboratory's IBM BlueGene/Q Vulcan, currently the 25th fastest supercomputer in the world with total memory of 400TB.

As IBM researcher Edwin Pednault recently explained, 49-qubit circuits were previously thought impossible to simulate as they needed eight petabytes of memory, which is beyond today's supercomputers.

Using clever mathematics, he and other researchers devised a method that enabled simulation of this circuit with about 4.5TB of memory.

Previous and related coverage

IBM outlines 50 qubit quantum computing prototype

IBM continues to make strides in its effort to commercialize quantum computing.

Microsoft releases free preview of its Quantum Development Kit

Microsoft is rolling out a preview of its promised Q# language, compiler, and simulator to help developers get an early look at how quantum computing works.

Intel, QuTech work on 17-qubit quantum computing chip, packaging

Intel, along with IBM, Google, Microsoft, and a host of others, are working to develop quantum computing breakthroughs and ultimately lead to a commercial system.

Read more on IBM

Output: IBM has opened up its new 20 quantum bit (qubit) IBM Q quantum system to JPMorgan Chase, Samsung and Daimler as part of its IBM Q Network. The system will be used for industrial, commercial and scientific quantum computing initiatives. IBM has overtaken its tech giant rivals in quantum development thanks to its prototype 50-qubit processor, although at present only its 20-qubit system is on offer for commercial use.


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Microsoft's Seeing AI app now reads handwriting for the blind
 Artificial intelligence took center stage at Microsoft's AI Summit in San Francisco on Wednesday. Aside from announcing AI smarts for a range of software -- from Bing to Office 365 -- the tech titan is also ramping up its Seeing AI app for iOS, which uses computer vision to audibly help blind and visually impaired people to see the world around them. According to Microsoft, it's nabbed 100,000 downloads since its launch in the US earlier this year, which convinced the tech titan to bring it to 35 countries in total, including the EU.

It's also getting a bunch of new features. The app now boasts more currency recognition, adding British pounds, US dollars, Canadian dollars, and Euros to its tally. Going beyond the color in a scene, it can also spot the color of specific objects, like clothes. Plus, it's no longer restricted to just short printed text, with handwriting recognition now part of its skill set. You can also customize the voice that it uses to speak its observations out loud, and set how fast it talks.

Playing with the new toy - I know it's technically not new but #SeeingAI feels new with all the cool sassy features today :) And before you ask, yes, it gets the new British notes as well as the old ones (and US, Euro & Canadian). Download and enjoy! #accessibility pic.twitter.com/XYr8VBO7Io — Jenny Lay-Flurrie (@jennylayfluffy) December 14, 2017

Finally, a musical light detector alerts you to the light in an environment with an audible tone -- Microsoft claims the tool will save users from having to touch a hot bulb or LED battery to check if it's on. Despite the big update, there's still no word on an Android launch.

Output: Microsoft has expanded the features on its Seeing AI app, aimed at helping the blind make sense of the world around them. Handwriting recognition is part of the app's updated skill set, alongside other features such as wider currency detection and voice customisation. The app has been downloaded about 100,000 times since its US launch earlier this year, which convinced Microsoft to expand its market to 35 countries in total.


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Toyota, Panasonic explore 'prismatic' batteries for EVs
 Toyota and Panasonic are teaming up on batteries that Toyota itself and other automakers could use in future electric cars. Rather than building cylindrical batteries like the type that Tesla and other EV makers use, the two companies are exploring the development of "prismatic" cells. Those are square, flat batteries with aluminum housings and are typically used in cell phones. They can be made smaller and lighter than battery packs that use cylindrical cells, but tend to cost more and are vulnerable to overheating and swelling.

The agreement is just a first step, but shows the increasing need for automakers and battery companies to work together. Toyota recently unveiled plans, working with Mazda and Suzuki, to launch a new lineup of EVs starting in around 2020. Until recently, the company had been focused on building hybrid, plug-in hybrid and hydrogen cars exclusively.

Panasonic is the leading EV battery manufacturer, most famously supplying batteries for Tesla's Model S, 3 and X. It also makes the batteries for Toyota's current plug-in hybrid Prius cars and has a 29 percent total share of the market, Reuters notes. Other leaders are LG Chem, which builds the batteries for two best-selling EVs, the Renault Zoe and Chevy Bolt, Samsung, and China's BYD Co.

Toyota and Panasonic won't have to deal with thorny issues like battery chemistry to make better prismatic cells, which are already used on the Bolt and other vehicles. Rather, they'll just have to use their engineering and research chops to refine them so that they're cheaper, safer and more reliable. The payoff could be longer-range, faster-charging and lighter or smaller EVs.

Right now, Toyota and Panasonic are just studying the feasibility of developing these types of batteries together, but there's a decent chance this will turn into a concrete plan. Batteries are the big sticking point for EV development, so the more development, the better.

Output: Toyota and Panasonic are testing "prismatic" cells for use in electric cars rather than the standard cylindrical batteries. The cells are square, flat batteries that are usually found in mobile phones, but could be used in cars once issues of overheating and swelling are resolved. Toyota plans to release hybrid, hydrogen-based and plug-in hybrid cars by 2020 in a partnership with Mazda and Suzuki, and is exploring alternative battery options that would enable it to compete with companies such as Tesla by creating longer-range, lighter EVs.


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Amazon self-service ad platform is a hit with brands
 Consumers aren’t the only ones getting caught up in the Christmas rush on Amazon. Brands are also spending more on the site during the holidays.

Agencies Possible and Crealytics alongside technology platform Kenshoo have all seen a rise in media spend going to Amazon Marketing Services, the self-serve pay-per-click performance marketing arm of the retailer, in December. As Stéphane Bérubé, L’Oréal’s CMO for Western Europe, explained: “Amazon was a retailer but is now also a platform.”

Amazon has stoked that interest over the last 12 months by making it as easy to buy ads on the site as a book. The online behemoth has encouraged brands to buy its sponsored product, headline search and product display ads without going through a salesperson, according to Tod Harrick, vp of product at Marketplace Ignition, the Amazon-focused division at Possible.

Brands have been able to buy self-serve ads on Amazon since 2014, but it was never a core part of its pitch until this year, when the retailer expanded the scope of what brands could do themselves. Features such as live support for Amazon’s Lightning Deals and Deal of the Day ads — both staples of many successful Cyber Week campaigns in 2016, according to Harrick — were moved to self-serve ahead of this year’s holiday season. “This year, Amazon has really pushed advertising to self-service platforms as much as possible, and control of Black Friday advertising really aligned with that,” said Harrick.

Compared to Google, there is less competition for paid ads on Amazon. Still, advertisers such as sports nutrition business The Winning Combination already see the cost per click on Amazon rising as competition gets fiercer and, therefore, cost of traffic is cheaper. Around Christmas, when millions of shoppers are rushing to buy products on a site that already dominates product searches online, Amazon is increasingly where advertisers want to see how much incremental uplift they can generate.

Consequently, bidding on keywords during the holidays has become “far more competitive,” said Drew Eidsvig, key account manager at The Winning Combination. During peak holiday seasons like Christmas, it is not uncommon for advertisers to raise budget caps by 150 to 350 percent, according to Amazon’s newsletter that is sent regularly to sellers, Eidsvig said. Increased spending on self-serve has been the “most noticeable difference” for The Winning Combination on Amazon during 2017’s holiday season compared to last year’s, added Eidsvig.

In September, Kenshoo let advertisers use its own platform to manage their campaigns on Amazon. Since the move, the search marketing specialist has seen an upturn in spend on the site, spurred by advertisers trying to drive awareness during the holidays as well as exploit the spike in sales on Amazon, said Oren Stern, gm at Kenshoo. The return on ad spend on Amazon’s ads has been “very good,” said Stern. “We are seeing a growing interest across the board to advertise significantly on Amazon Marketing Services. Drivers for that include the need for improved brand visibility, competitive positioning and, last but not least, solid return on ad-spend results in the channel,” he added.

The biggest change to advertising on Amazon this holiday period compared to last year’s stems from the design of the site rather than its services, according to performance marketing specialist Crealytics. Amazon discontinued product ads on its right rail in October and started weaving sponsored product ads more seamlessly into its organic product listings. This way, Amazon has almost unlimited space to further extend the exposure of sponsored product ads, said Andreas Reiffen, CEO at Crealytics. “We expect the new ad format to get much more volume over the course of 2018,” he added.

Increased interest in sponsored products is just the start for Amazon’s ad business next year. WPP, Omnicom and Publicis — three of the world’s largest ad firms — will collectively spend around $800 million on Amazon in 2018, according to agency executives, per The Wall Street Journal. Big brands are also planning to do more on the platform, as Bérubé can attest: “We could decide to advertise on Amazon without necessarily having an objective of sales conversions because the eyeballs are there, and if I can get the right ad at the right price to my consumer, then why would I not invest in Amazon?”

Yet Amazon must address problems before it can grow faster. Compared to Google AdWords, Amazon’s ad platform is still “quite immature” and “cumbersome to handle,” according to one executive who spoke to Digiday on condition of anonymity. “Optimization work still requires a fair amount of manual effort,” said this executive.

For more on Amazon, subscribe to Digiday’s new monthly Amazon e-mail newsletter.

Output: Spend has been rising on Amazon's self-serve, pay-per-click division, Amazon Marketing Services, as the retailer expands what brands can do on the platform, with live support for Deal of the Day ads and Lightning Deals going self-serve earlier this year. Amazon Marketing Services also began integrating sponsored product ads more closely with organic product listings. According to the CEO of Cealytics, Andreas Reiffen, the move has afforded Amazon much greater opportunities to extend sponsored content exposure. “We expect the new ad format to get much more volume over the course of 2018,” he said.


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Living close to fracking sites 'leads to underweight babies'
 Children born near fracking sites are 25 percent more likely to weigh less than what is healthy at birth, according to a new study. Why this is happening isn’t clear, but the researchers believe that it might have to do with environmental pollution, which may have negative health effects on mothers — and their babies.

Researchers analyzed data from more than 1 million births in Pennsylvania from 2004 to 2013, before and after fracking began. Babies born to mothers living up to 1.8 miles from a fracking site were found to have poorer health, and babies born within 0.6 miles saw the largest impacts, according to a study published today in Science Advances. The findings could have implications for where fracking is authorized, and how close to towns drilling takes place.

the shale gas boom comes with some serious side effects

Previous studies have shown that fracking causes air pollution that can harm babies, and that living nearby fracking sites is linked to premature births. Today’s study adds to the evidence that the shale gas boom comes with some serious side effects. “There’s growing evidence that living close to unconventional natural gas development might have implications for population health,” says Joan Casey, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, who was not involved in the research. “This is one of the largest studies to date showing that.”

Fracking, short for hydraulic fracturing, uses a high-pressure mixture of water, sand, and chemicals to crack sediment layers so that oil and natural gas can be tapped. The technique has revolutionized the energy landscape in the US, lowering energy prices and reducing dependance on coal. But it’s also alarmed scientists and activists alike for its potential to pollute groundwater, affect air quality, and cause earthquakes.

As several states like New York and Maryland have banned fracking, scientists are trying to figure out what impacts the controversial extraction technique has on health — especially when it comes to newborns. A 2014 study, for example, found that children born to mothers living nearby fracking sites may have a higher risk of heart defects. “Looking at the impacts of these chemicals on the most vulnerable population, which is unborn children, and finding these effects is really concerning,” says Carol Kwiatkowski, the executive director of the nonprofit research institute The Endocrine Disruption Exchange.

The challenge with these types of studies is that mothers who live near fracking areas, or other polluted sites, are usually poorer than mothers living in say, Philadelphia, says Casey. Poverty is known to affect pregnancy and birth, so trying to figure out whether fracking — or something else — affects newborns is tricky. To get around this problem, the authors of today’s study looked at a massive amount of data: nine years of records from 1.1 million births in Pennsylvania, which has seen a huge increase in fracking over the last decade. They also compared babies born to mothers living near drilling sites with mothers living farther away, both before and after fracking began. To be even more sure, they compared siblings born to the same mother before and after fracking wells were active.

Locations of births and fracking sites in Pennsylvania. Map: Currie, Greenstone, Meckel, Sci. Adv. 2017;3: e1603021

The findings: mothers living within 0.6 miles of a fracking site have a 25 percent higher risk of delivering a baby that has a low birth weight. The risk is lower but persists for kids born to mothers living up to 1.8 miles from a site, but it basically disappears moving farther away. A low birth weight is linked to serious health effects, like premature death, asthma, ADHD, and learning disabilities. Those long-lasting health impacts should be taken into account when considering the pros and cons of fracking, says study co-author Janet Currie, the director of the Center for Health and Wellbeing at Princeton University. “What I’m hoping is that combined with other studies showing that there are health effects of fracking, that we can move on to the next stage of the discussion,” Currie says. “How can we keep the benefits and reduce the costs?”

“How can we keep the benefits and reduce the costs?”

The study has some limitations: notably, it doesn’t say what exactly may be affecting the babies during pregnancy. Currie says it’s likely the air pollution tied to the fracking activity, but the researchers didn’t actually take biological samples from the mothers to check whether they were exposed to pollutants. Those kinds of studies take time and resources, and don’t allow for very large sample sizes, Currie says. So, it could be environmental pollution, but it could also be that social and economic conditions change in rural areas after fracking is introduced, and those are what are impacting pregnancy, says David Savitz, a professor of epidemiology in the Brown University School of Public Health. “I don’t think it adds a lot to the evidence that environmental exposures related to fracking are causing problems with pregnancy,” he says. “That’s really the ultimate interest.”

The oil and gas industry criticized the study, saying it paints an inaccurate picture that ignores factors like lifestyle habits and family history that are known to affect a baby’s health. “Given these deep methodological flaws, it's dangerously misleading and inflammatory to suggest that natural gas development has done anything but improve public health,” Erica Clayton Wright, spokeswoman for the Marcellus Shale Coalition, wrote in an email to The Verge.

Still, the researcher suggests that the new shale gas boom isn’t harmless. And the long-lasting health effects linked to fracking should raise some eyebrows. Every year, about 29,000 babies in the US are born within 0.6 miles of an active fracking site, and over 95,000 within 1.8 miles, according to the study. “This is one big human experiment,” Kwiatkowski says. “What’s going to happen in 20 years when these babies are growing up?”

Output: Babies born close to fracking sites are 25% more likely to weigh under a healthy amount, according to researchers analysing data from one million Pennsylvanian births between 2004 to 2013. The exact cause is still unknown, though environmental pollution may be to blame. Children living up to 1.8 miles from fracking sites are said to be in poorer health, with babies born within 0.6 miles the most affected. The results could affect the shale fracking boom. Additional research into fracking effects has already been published illustrating babies' likelihood of developing heart defects, the increased pollution of groundwater and lowered air quality.


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Publishers losing $1.27bn per year to video fraudsters: Google
 Publishers are losing up to $1.27bn a year due to fraudsters impersonating their inventory on ad exchanges, with such bad actors conducting up to 700m false ad requests per day, according to a study published today (December 12) by Google.

Publishers are losing up to $1.27bn a year in lost ad revenue due to the activity of 'domain spoofers'

The study found that publishers were losing up to $3.5m a day based on a valuation of $5 video CPMs, due to fraudsters ‘spoofing’ their web domains on ad exchanges, with the total loss to premium publishers equating to over $1.27bn a year.

Looking at the total available inventory across all exchanges for the 26 web domains, the study found video callouts were overstated by 57 times the available inventory; representing about 700m counterfeit callouts per day. The study also found that display inventory callouts were overstated by four times the available amount, representing billions of counterfeit callouts per day.

Google conducted the study with a host of premium publishers such as Business Insider, Turner and the Washington Post along with adtech outfits Amobee plus Quantcast, concluding that high value video CPMs now the preferred hunting ground for fraudsters.

Counterfeit impressions is created when a bad seller replaces the URL of a low quality site with a premium publisher URL, or a fraudster creates fake impressions and labels them with a high quality publisher’s URL.

The counterfeiters then send their fake inventory to auction at multiple exchanges and supply-side platforms (SSP), without the knowledge of the publishers they’re impersonating, to trick advertisers into thinking they are buying premium publisher inventory.

The IAB Tech Lab has begun combating such activity with the rollout of its ads.txt initiative, which means participating publishers publicly list the authorized resellers of their inventory which demand-side platforms (DSPs) can then use to discern between legitimate and bad actors.

The study concluded that marketers looking to execute efficient, brand safe programmatic campaigns should start demanding that their campaigns run only on authorized inventory, as defined by publishers’ ads.txt files, and encourages advertisers to work more directly with their preferred publisher brands.

Dennis Buchheim, senior vice president and general manager, IAB Tech Lab, said the results of the study confirm that ads.txt needs to be adopted as rapidly as possible to cut off the flow of counterfeit website inventory.

He added: "It is critical that the industry comes together to put a stop to criminal activity and secure the health of the supply chain."

Jana Meron, vice president of programmatic and data strategy at Business Insider, added: “If the industry is going to seriously take on counterfeit inventory, publishers need to immediately get behind ads.txt otherwise this problem will linger and continue to hurt both brands and publishers.”

Jason Baron, SVP of direct marketing and programmatic for Turner Ad Sales, added: “Ads.txt is a strong answer to the digital marketplace’s clarion call for greater transparency, ensuring marketers have verified access to high-quality video and display inventory. We’re hopeful on its wider adoption, as well as continued industry support of upstanding publishers and delivering greater results for advertisers.”

Publishers in the study reported using, 12 exchanges with 28 accounts to sell display, and two exchanges with six accounts to sell video on average, but the DSPs found their inventory available across 22 exchange and 129 accounts for display and 26 exchanges across over 1,000 accounts for video on average.

Output: Fraudsters are costing premium publishers $1.27bn each year, Google warned. Publishers faced daily losses of up to $3.5bn, based on a valuation of $5 video cost per thousand (CPM) impressions, from fraudsters spoofing their inventory on ad exchanges. A study by the tech giant found some fraudsters were found to carry out up to 700m false ad requests each day, it added. The report advised marketers looking to run brand-safe programmatic ads that they should demand their campaigns only run on authorised inventory, and work more directly with their preferred brands.


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Robots used to scare homeless people off streets
 A Dystopian Present

In a controversial move, the San Francisco SPCA, an animal advocacy and pet adoption group, is using an autonomous security robot outside of their facilities in an explicit attempt to keep homeless people off of the sidewalk.

The security robot, which the SF SPCA calls K9, is part of a fleet of security robots operated by Silicon Valley-based robotics company Knightscope. These bots are armed with cameras, lasers, thermal sensors, and GPS, and they are designed to serve as an extra set of eyes and ears for security guards and law enforcement.

Here it is in action pic.twitter.com/nSBQUmKwk1 — Sam Dodge (@samueldodge) December 9, 2017

Bill Santana Li, CEO of Knightscope, claims the sheer presence of the security robot can discourage crime. "If I put a marked law enforcement vehicle in front of your home or your office, criminal behavior changes," he told Business Insider.

Krista Maloney, media relations manager for the SF SPCA, told Business Insider that staff members weren't able to safely access the sidewalk outside of the facility because of existing homeless encampments. Since K9's launch a month ago, encampments have lessened, as have car break-ins.

Controversy Abounds

While K9 is having the impact the SF SPCA hoped for, the security robot, which resembles a Whovian Dalek, has come under fire from the local government and residents.

According to the San Francisco Business Times, the City of San Fransisco has ordered the group to keep the robot off of the public sidewalk, where it has been operating without a permit. If the SF SPCA doesn't comply, they'll have to pay a $1,000 per day fine.

Meanwhile, some citizens have described the introduction of the robot as lacking compassion.

Capitalism: instead of providing homes for homeless people, spend exorbitant sums of money creating robots that will prevent homeless people from making homes for themselveshttps://t.co/FowyreaUTV — Ben Norton (@BenjaminNorton) December 13, 2017

As San Fransisco has evolved into a major technology hub, homelessness and poverty rates have skyrocketed. Many who work within the city can't even afford to live near it, and more and more are being priced out onto the streets.

The SPCA is not the one to blame for this situation. While the organization has chosen a less-than-ideal way to address the problem of homelessness around their campus, the underlying issues that make basic shelter and resources inaccessible for so many are problems that fall on all of society to fix.

Wealth disparity and a lack of public support and health resources continue to be major contributing factors to homelessness. If we want a future where the sidewalks are free from patrolling, observing robots, these root problems need to be addressed.

Hopefully, the public outcry about the cold and dystopian nature of K9 will spark action about the growing homelessness issue in San Fransisco and other cities. While one sidewalk became temporarily less congested thanks to this high-tech robot, the homeless problem is extends far beyond the SF SPCA's campus.

Output: Animal welfare group, San Francisco SPCA, is using an autonomous security robot to scare off homeless people outside its facilities. The K9 robot is built by Knightscope and features cameras, thermal sensors, lasers and GPS. The SF SPCA said its staff were unable to safely use the pavement outside its facility due to homeless encampments, adding the robot had reduced the number of rough sleepers and car break-ins. But the move came under fire from local authorities and residents, with the City of San Francisco reportedly telling the group to keep K9 off the footpath or face a $1,000 fine.


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Richest 0.1% increase wealth by as much as poorest 50%
 The richest 0.1% of the world’s population have increased their combined wealth by as much as the poorest 50% – or 3.8 billion people – since 1980, according to a report detailing the widening gap between the very rich and poor.

The World Inequality Report, published on Thursday by French economist Thomas Piketty, warned that inequality had ballooned to “extreme levels” in some countries and said the problem would only get worse unless governments took coordinated action to increase taxes and prevent tax avoidance.

The report, which drew on the work of more than 100 researchers around the world, found that the richest 1% of the global population “captured” 27% of the world’s wealth growth between 1980 and 2016. And the richest of the rich increased their wealth by even more. The top 0.1% gained 13% of the world’s wealth, and the top 0.001% – about 76,000 people – collected 4% of all the new wealth created since 1980.

“The top 0.1% income group (about 7 million people) captured as much of the world’s growth since 1980 as the bottom half of the adult population,” the report said. “Conversely, income growth has been sluggish or even nil for the population between the global bottom 50% and top 1%.”

The economists said wealth inequality had become “extreme” in Russia and the US. The US’s richest 1% accounted for 39% of the nation’s wealth in 2014 [the latest year available], up from 22% in 1980. The researchers noted that “most of that increase in inequality was due to the rise of the top 0.1% wealth owners”.

The world’s richest person is Amazon’s founder and chief executive, Jeff Bezos, who has a $98.8bn (£73.9bn) fortune, according to the Bloomberg billionaires index. Bezos, the biggest shareholder in Amazon, has seen his wealth increase by $33bn over the past year alone. Collectively, the world’s five richest people – Bezos, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Amancio Ortega, the owner of Zara, and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg – hold $425bn of assets. That is equivalent to one-sixth of the UK’s GDP.

In the UK, the richest 1% control 22% of the country’s wealth, up from 15% in 1984. The very richest in the UK have seen a huge increase in their wealth. The top 0.1% – around 50,000 people – have seen their share of the nation’s wealth double from 4.5% in 1984 to 9% in 2013.

“The increase in the concentration of wealth in the last four decades is very much a phenomenon confined to the hands of the top 0.5% (the richest 250,000 Britons), and in particular the top 0.1% (the richest 50,000),” the report said.

The richest people in the UK are the Hinduja family, who control a conglomerate of businesses including cars and banks, and are worth $15.4bn.

The economists, led by Piketty who shot to global fame after the publication of his book Capital in the Twenty-First Century, said there was a “huge gap” in wealth between the richest people in the UK and everyone else in the country. They said the bottom 90% of people in the UK had an average wealth of £68,000, compared with £321,000 among the richest 10% and the top 0.5%, who were worth £3.7m on average.

While inequality was high in north America and Europe, the researchers warned that the problem was even more acute in Africa, Brazil and the Middle East, where they said “inequality has remained relatively stable at extremely high levels in recent decades”.

“The top 10% receives about 55% of total income in Brazil and sub-Saharan Africa, and in the Middle East, the top 10% income share is typically over 60%,” the report said. “These three regions never went through the postwar egalitarian regime and have always been at the world’s high-inequality frontier.”

The report warns that unless there is globally coordinated political action, the wealth gap will continue to grow. “The global top 1% income share could increase from nearly 20% today to more than 24% by 2050,” the report said. “In which case the global bottom 50% share could fall from 10% to less than 9%.”

However, the economists said increasing inequality was “not inevitable” if countries acted to bring in progressive income tax. “It not only reduces post-tax inequality, it shrinks pre-tax inequality by discouraging top earners from capturing higher shares of growth via aggressive bargaining for higher pay.”

The authors said taxation alone was not enough to tackle the problem as the wealthy were best placed to avoid and evade tax, as shown by the recent Paradise Papers investigation. The report said a tenth of the world’s wealth was held in tax havens.

Output: The world’s wealthiest 0.1%, or 7 million people, have seen their combined wealth rise by as much as the poorest 50% of the global population since 1980, according to the World Inequality Report by economist Thomas Piketty. The study, published on Thursday, said that inequality had now reached “extreme levels” in some countries, including Russia and the US, and would rise further unless governments increased taxes and limited tax avoidance. The problem was even more pronounced in Africa, Brazil and the Middle East. Income growth for those between the top 1% and bottom 50% has remained slow or non-existent.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Redrow Outdoor living touted for new Sussex development
 A collection of three and four bedroom homes are now available through leading housebuilder Redrow at its Penlands Green development in Haywards Heath.

The collection of homes in Haywards Heath are now available

Starting from £499,995, the homes are spacious, light and airy, with generous room sizes and contemporary finishes.

Help to Buy is also available on selected properties under £600,000 – meaning just a five per cent deposit is needed.

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Rachael Baillie, sales director for Redrow’s South East region, said: “Penlands Green is a brilliant location for family life, with everything Haywards Heath has to offer in terms of leisure and amenities in easy reach and in close proximity to excellent transportation links.

“With the Weald, the South Downs and the Ouse Valley on residents’ doorsteps, an outdoors lifestyle is easy to pursue.

“We are proud to be delivering not only the highest quality new homes, but also making a multi-million pound complementary contribution to the already established community in the thriving town of Haywards Heath.

“At Redrow we know that delivering bricks and mortar is just one aspect of helping to foster thriving communities.”

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Redrow is not only bringing new houses, but an array of community contributions to the town, equating to £2.7 million.

This includes a combined £1.5 million towards primary and secondary education and £326,000 towards leisure and community facilities.

Output: A new collection of three- and four-bedroom homes starting at £499,995 ($666,100) has gone on sale in Haywards Heath. Developer Redrow's Penlands Green development is positioned by Redrow as ideal for families and some selected homes are eligible for government financial assistance. "With the Weald, the South Downs and the Ouse Valley on residents' doorsteps, an outdoors lifestyle is easy to pursue," said sales director Rachael Baillie.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Regus Regus announces opening of first centre in Angola
 Regus looks to Angola as country seeks to diversify economy

Global workspace provider Regus has just announced the opening of its first centre in Angola

Regus will open its first centre in Angola. (Photo: Wikipedia)

The new centre to be built in Luanda means that Angola becomes the latest country worldwide to have a Regus workspace.

Angola is undergoing economic transformation as worldwide low oil prices are speeding up the Angolan government’s efforts to diversify the economy. Despite continued challenges, a number of opportunities have also risen.

According to the African Development Bank, Angola's economy will have grown by 2.3 per cent by the end of 2017, and will grow by a further 3.2 per cent in 2018.

Regus’ new centre is expected to benefit companies of all sizes and industries as well as facilitate increased economic activity in the country.

“We are delighted that Angola has become part of the Regus global network,” says Rui Duque, the Regus country manager for Angola. “Flexible workspaces are rapidly gaining popularity around the world, and becoming an essential part of a modern country’s business infrastructure.

"We’ve been experiencing high interest from local and international businesses willing to establish a footprint in Angola, and also from companies that need to rationalise and downsize unused resources, namely office space. As a result, we are looking forward to opening additional centres not only in Luanda, but across the whole country to support Angola’s growing economy.”

The first Regus centre in Angola is a modern office space set over the whole of the sixth floor of the Cuanza Sul Tower, an attractive, brand-new building in Talatona, a business district and a prime location 20 minutes from the airport and 30 minutes from downtown Luanda.

The facillity also features virtual offices, which provide businesses with a prestigious address in the capital. Regus notes that its network also gives businesses access to a community of more than 1.5mn like-minded professionals worldwide.

Output: Office-sharing company Regus is to open its first centre in Angola, in southern Africa. The facility will take over the entire sixth floor of a new office building in the business district of the capital city, Luanda. As well as flexible workspaces, it will include the option of virtual offices, allowing companies to register with a prestigious office address. Angola's economy is predicted to grow by over 3% in 2018, and the government is keen to diversify its economy with new businesses.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Redrow Tax-cut lures first-time buyers to Yorkshire homes
 Post-budget boost for Yorkshire first time buyers

Yorkshire first time buyers have opportunities aplenty to benefit from a double helping of good news in the autumn budget if they choose a new home from Redrow.

With a good selection of Redrow homes below £300,000 – now exempt from stamp duty for first time home owners – there’s potential to save up to £5,000 in numerous locations.

The Government has also confirmed a £10 million cash injection for Help to Buy, which means 135,000 more people will be able to buy a new home between now and 2021, many of them in Yorkshire.

Under the Help to Buy scheme buyers take out an equity loan for up to 20% of the property price, leaving them needing a deposit as little as 5% and a 75% mortgage from a lender of choice. The Government backed loan is interest free for the first five years and repayments thereafter are competitively priced and index linked. The home owner can pay back the equity loan at any time, without penalty, or when they come to re-sell.

Patsy Aicken, Redrow sales director in Yorkshire, said: “We’re already seeing renewed interest in our properties from first time buyers, especially on those developments where we have properties below £300,000. They can potentially benefit from Help to Buy and the stamp duty exemption – and maybe use the stamp duty saving to boost their deposit. It’s a win-win situation.”

Someone who bought a £299,950 home pre-budget would have paid £4,998 in stamp duty; post-budget, if they’ve never owned a property before, they will pay no tax at all.

“Savings apply for anyone paying more than £125,000 for their first home. For example, someone paying £180,000 for a new home would save £1,100 in stamp duty, which is money they could put towards their deposit. When you’re buying your first home every penny counts,” Patsy added.

“Our on-site sales consultants are already up to speed with the changes and we have a network of mortgage specialists who can explain all the options to customers and help them decide the best route for their circumstances. Buying a first home can be daunting but when you choose a brand new home from Redrow there’s expert help available every step of the way.”

Redrow developments with properties currently under £300,000 include:

Harrogate: One and two-bedroom apartments starting from £162,950 at Devonshire Gardens, off Claro Road.

Highburton, near Huddersfield: Three and four-bedroom detached homes with current prices starting from £279,950 at Springfields, in Burton Acres Lane.

Morley: Three and four-bedroom detached homes from £289,950 at Weavers’ Chase, Albert Road.

Newton Kyme, near Boston Spa: One of the last remaining four-bedroom Wellington townhouses from Redrow’s Georgian inspired Regent Collection, available at £299,950 at St Andrew’s Place at Southbank.

Sherburn-in-Elmet: Four-bedroom detached houses from £274,950 at Saxon Gardens, off Low Street.

Steeton: Last remaining two-bedroom apartments from only £129,950 at Manor Fields, off Thornhill Road.

York: Five-bedroom Wellington Grand townhouses from £299,950 at Lancaster Mews, off Water lane.

First time buyers choosing homes between £300,000 and £500,000 will incur stamp duty at 5% on that portion of the purchase price over £300,000, although Redrow may be able to help with payments on selected properties.

To find out where Redrow is building visit redrow.co.uk/yorkshire.

Output: Developer Redrow said government changes to home-purchase taxes have led to renewed interest from first-time buyers in a number of their lower-price developments in Yorkshire towns including Harrogate, Morley and York. The autumn budget abolished stamp duty on homes under £300,000 for those who have not owned a property before, equating to a potential saving of £5,000 ($6,660).


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
App-based car rental insurance introduced by SURE
 Courtesy of SURE

SURE, a personal insurance distribution platform, has launched an app-based car rental insurance product for U.S. customers. The new car insurance option has connections to all car rental companies and costs $10 or less, and can be purchased in less than a minute, according to the company.

SURE’s services will cover up to serious physical damage to rentals, additional drivers, flat tires and property theft. The new option is being underwritten by global casualty insurance company, Chubb.

Output: Personal insurance platform SURE has introduced a car-rental offering through its app, allowing customers to purchase policies in a matter of minutes. The app connects directly to car rental providers, and offers coverage for less than $10. Global insurer Chubb will underwrite the new initiative.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Metromile introduces automated insurance claim system
 Courtesy of Metromile

Metromile, a car insurance startup, has added three new services to its portfolio to automate the insurance claims process involving rental cars.

Powered by AVA, the Direct Repair, Car Rental and Claim Payments Programs use an artificial intelligence (AI) claims system to allow qualifying customers to opt-in to automate the identification, management and payment of auto repair and car rental providers.

Eligible policyholders with rental coverage will have the ability to rent a car directly from the Metromile mobile app or online dashboard. For example, customers can rent a car directly from Enterprise Rent-A-Car through AVA and choose an Enterprise location to schedule their rental car. Payment will also be automatically processed through AVA up to $30 per day.

"We strive to provide the fastest and simplest claims experience for our customers, and we are successfully doing that by leveraging automation and artificial intelligence," said Dan Preston, CEO of Metromile. "The addition of Direct Repair Program, Rental Cars, and Claim Payments to AVA's capabilities allows us to further expedite the claims process by taking those repair, rental and reimbursement claims experiences mobile; ultimately getting our customers back on the road faster."

Output: Car insurance start-up Metromile has introduced features to its app that allow customers to digitally process claims while arranging repairs. In addition, policyholders can rent a car through the app, which will also process payment for the service. By allowing customers to arrange these services through one app, claims and reimbursement process will be expedited, according to the company.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Advisers fear regulation more than robo-advice
 Two-thirds of advisers are concerned about increased regulation, and rank it of greater concern than the rise of robo-advice, according to data from Canada Life Investments.

The company spoke to 328 advisers. 67 per cent of whom said regulatory concerns are “keeping them up at night.”

In contrast, 4 per cent of advisers thought robo-advice was a threat to their business, while 62 per cent think the impact on their business will be negligible.

The continued uncertainty around the process of the UK’s exit from the EU has led to 36 per cent of advisers

The third annual survey of IFAs from Canada Life revealed that when asked about Packaged Retail and Insurance-based Investment Products (PRIIPs) legislation and Key Information Documents, 44 per cent said they are aware of them but do not yet fully understand them, and 29 per cent claim to have not heard of them before.

A full 68 per cent said they think the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) should be reviewed and updated.

Richard Priestley, executive director at Canada Life, said: “Advisers are on the front line of change and so it is no surprise regulation is keeping them awake at night.

"The challenge remains for advisers to navigate this complex ever changing landscape when providing advice. We feel it is therefore crucial providers are on hand to support advisers with the technical guidance they need to ease them through this process and offer clarity and reassurance to their clients.”

David.Thorpe@ft.com

Output: Two-thirds of financial advisers surveyed by Canada Life Investments are more concerned with regulation than robo-advice, with only 4% describing the latter as a threat to their business, reported David Thorpe in the Financial Times.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

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World Bank offers $4.5bn to protect cities from climate change
 With a greater concentration of people and assets in urban areas, cities need to address an increasingly complex range of shocks and stresses to safeguard development gains and accelerate poverty reduction.

Managing disaster risk and the impacts of climate change have long been an important focus of urban resilience. But recent examples show how economic crises, health epidemics, and uncontrolled urbanization can also affect the ability of a city to sustain growth and provide services for its citizens – underscoring the need for a new approach to resilient urban development.

The World Bank’s growing investment in disaster risk management reflects this conceptual shift. The Bank’s work on urban resilience aims to help cities adapt to a greater variety of changing conditions and withstand shocks while maintaining essential functions.

Ongoing activities under in this area, which is supported by the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR), include:

City Resilience Program

For many major cities in the world, strengthening urban resilience is a multibillion dollar agenda that requires strong partnerships and new sources of capital. Cities are sometimes held back from pursuing the necessary investments because they lack the technical expertise and/or the access to capital to finance them.

Established in June 2017, the World Bank Group’s City Resilience Program (CRP) empowers cities to pursue investments that build greater resilience to climate and disaster risks, and to access the financing necessary to ensure those investments come to fruition.

The approach used by the CRP represents a fundamental shift in how cities can be supported to tackle their most pressing development challenges – from one focused on sectoral priorities to one focused on integrated and spatially informed priorities, which capture the interplay between the natural and built environment. To date, this program has engaged more than 90 cities around the world on developing investment programs that could be financed with a range of financial instruments.

CityStrength Diagnostic

A rapid diagnostic methodology to help cities improve their understanding of risk and the performance of urban systems, as well as to identify priority actions and investments that will enhance the city’s resilience.

The first diagnostics under the new methodology were conducted in Can Tho, Vietnam in June 2014 and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in July 2015. Additional diagnostics are planned, including Lahore, Pakistan in late 2015.The CityStrength Diagnostic has been implemented in 28 local governments. It was first piloted in two cities – Can Tho, Vietnam and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – which provided two very different contexts for assessing the benefits of the process. The CityStrength Diagnostic was then implemented at the metropolitan level in 16 municipalities that make up the Greater Accra Region in Ghana, as well as in nine regional capitals and a charter city in Ethiopia.

Financing Resilience

Innovative financing mechanisms to support investment in resilient infrastructure are being developed working with the private sector and other development partners.

A methodology to mainstream Low-Carbon & Resilient Capital Investment Planning in cities is being developed, and training is being provided for cities participating in City Creditworthiness Academies .

Medellin Collaboration on Urban Resilience

Nine institutions, including the World Bank, announced a global collaboration at the World Urban Forum in Medellin, Colombia, in April 2014 expressing their collective commitment to help cities improve resilience.

The collaboration aims to facilitate the flow of knowledge and financial resources necessary to help cities become more resilient to disruptions related to climate change, disasters caused by natural hazards, and other systemic shocks and stresses, including the socio-economic challenges associated with rapid urbanization.

Primary objectives include:

Fostering harmonization of the approaches and tools available to help cities assess their strengths, vulnerabilities, and exposure to a multitude of natural and manmade threats in order to build their resilience;

Catalyzing access to existing and innovative finance mechanisms, including risk-based instruments, to reduce exposure and vulnerability to shocks and increase cities’ adaptive capacity; and

Supporting capacity development of cities to achieve their goals by facilitating direct sharing of best practice and knowledge enhancement.

Last Updated: Oct 07,2019

Output: The World Bank has launched a $4.5bn City Resilience Programme to offer loans and technical support to urban centres seeking to protect themselves from the impact of climate change. The scheme aims to help 150 cities in the developing world to obtain private sector funding for infrastructure projects over the next three years. Cities are expected to house two-thirds of the global population by 2050, but many suffer from poor housing and inequality and also lack the funds to protect residents from the growing threat of floods, heatwaves and storms.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Denmark publishes new governance code
 Nearly two years ago, the Danish Ministry of Industry, Business and Financial Affairs announced that it had tasked the Committee on Corporate Governance (“Committee”) with a review of the recommendations of the Danish Corporate Governance Code (“Code”). A draft was published in July 2017 and, following a consultation period, the Committee has now published the final version of their revision of the Code.

The following are some of the key changes made to the Code:

Governance

The board of directors should consist of only non-executive directors and retiring CEO’s should not become chair or deputy chair immediately upon joining the board.

The board should establish a yearly internal performance evaluation process. Every third year the performance of the board should be evaluated by an independent external party.

Companies will no longer be required to set concrete gender diversity targets; however, they should develop and implement a diversity policy.

Remuneration

Companies should make changes to their remuneration policy at least every four years and must get shareholder approval for any material change.

Companies should disclose information on executive remuneration as part of a remuneration report.

The remuneration policy should include recovery provisions in case of miscalculation or misconduct.

Companies should set a cap on overall remuneration for executives.

Former Minister of Industry, Business and Financial Affairs Troels Lund Poulsen stated in 2016 that the goal of the code review is to encourage more active stewardship by Danish pension funds and institutional investors. He referenced the 2010 UK Corporate Governance Code as an example of a new code that encouraged more active stewardship.

While most Danish companies do not have any executive directors, the new amendments will have implications for the likes of A.P. Møller-Mærsk and Rockwool International, where executives do serve on the board.

We also believe the increased disclosure requirements surrounding executive remuneration is a positive change, in preparation for the introduction of the EU Shareholder Rights Directive. In particular, we appreciate the introduction of recovery provisions, which is an important safeguard against the receipt of unwarranted awards.

The revised code will apply from the financial year starting on January 1, 2018 and thereafter.

Paul and Jakob are analysts covering the Danish market. Jakob Nordmark also contributed to this report.

Output: A new Danish Governance code will apply from 1 January 2018. The code calls for boards to contain only non-executive directors, and for retiring CEOs to be prevented from becoming chair or deputy chair as soon as they become board members. Yearly, internal performance evaluations must be conducted, with independent external evaluation in every third year. Although companies will no longer be compelled to have specific gender diversity targets, they must develop diversity policies. Caps must be applied to executive remuneration, recovery provisions should be adopted, remuneration reports must be disclosed and remuneration policies should be updated every four years.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
UK retail loses 65,000 jobs on Brexit, wage squeeze, online sales
 Britain has lost 65,000 retail jobs since it voted to leave the European Union, a decline fueled by increased online competition and a Brexit-induced wage squeeze.

Employment data published Wednesday show the number of jobs in the sector dipped below 5 million in September. Weak consumer spending suggests more pain to come over the holiday season.

"It reflects the pressure on the [retail] sector," said Howard Archer, an economic adviser to EY. "Consumer spending has been softer for most of this year and retail sales have been lower."

Data compiled by IHS for Visa (V) show that spending in U.K. brick-and-mortar stores dropped 3.5% over the previous year in November. It was the seventh consecutive monthly decline, and one of the biggest drops since 2012.

Meanwhile, online spending was 2.4% higher in November.

Visa said it expects total consumer spending to decline this holiday season for the first time since 2012.

Experts say the trend is one consequence of Brexit. The value of the pound dropped sharply after the vote in June 2016, causing the price of imported goods to shoot up.

At the same time, wage increases haven't kept pace with inflation, which stood at 3.1% in November.

Many borrowers have also been squeezed by the Bank of England, which hiked interest rates in October.

Andrew Wishart, U.K. economist at Capital Economics, said retailers are still trying to hire workers, but weak pay growth has made the jobs less attractive.

Related: 17 years without a raise? Welcome to Brexit Britain

Overall, British unemployment is still at just 4.3%, its lowest level in decades. There have been big gains for jobs in construction and hospitality.

But weakness in the retail industry underscores worries that there may be harder times ahead.

Wednesday's data show the number of people in work dropped by 56,000 in the three months ended October.

"The fact there [are] fewer people in work is bad news ... it shows we are not making full use of our resources," said Yael Selfin, chief economist at KPMG in the U.K.

Output: The UK retail sector has lost 65,000 jobs since the Brexit referendum in June 2016, according to recent employment data. Food-price rises on the back of a Brexit-weakened pound, slow wage growth and increasing online sales have hit the industry hard, experts say. IHS data also revealed spending in "brick-and-mortar" shops in November was down 3.5% YoY, the seventh-consecutive monthly contraction.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Active funds find few takers despite performance uptick
 Passive investing won 2016. Not only did the vanilla style of investing broadly outperform its active counterparts last year, but it extended its domination as the strategy of choice, amassing billions of dollars in inflows while money flooded out of active funds.

This year, in contrast, the two are ending in something of a draw.

Passive funds were heavily favored over active, as investors continued to trend towards low-fee, broad-market products to take advantage of the ongoing global bull market, showing a particular preference for exchange-traded funds, which sit at the center of all these trends. However, the returns side of the equation was more nuanced, as active managers staged their best aggregate performance in years, helped by a long-awaited rise in stock dispersions.

According to data from Morningstar Direct, actively managed U.S. equity funds (including both ETFs and mutual funds) have seen $181 billion in outflows thus far this year. Passive stock funds have seen inflows of $199.6 billion over the same period. U.S. stock ETFs alone have seen year-to-date inflows of $308.6 billion (the smaller number for passive overall reflects an investor move from mutual funds into ETFs).

For all fund categories, passive products have seen $634.7 billion in inflows, compared with the $25.5 billion in net active inflows. Flows were positive for active funds due to the $171 billion that went into active taxable bond funds, a category of product where active is seen as offering more value. However, passive taxable bond funds had $193.7 billion in year-to-date inflows.

Related:Passive investments are hot, but remain a small slice of the stock market

In an actively managed fund, the components of a portfolio are chosen by an individual or team, whose aim is to outperform the broader market through individual security selection. This is in contrast to passive funds, which are designed to mimic the performance of an index like the S&P 500 SPX, +0.24% or the Russell 2000 RUT, +0.56% by holding the same components it does, and in the same proportion. Data have repeatedly shown that passive funds show better long-term performance than their active counterparts.

Over the shorter term, however, active funds can enjoy periods of broad outperformance, as occurred in 2017, despite the move out of even outperforming funds.

According to the latest “Active/Passive Barometer” from Morningstar, 10 of the 12 asset-class categories the firm tracks had more active managers outperform their underlying index this year compared with last year, while a majority outperformed in eight of the 12. The data is for the first half of the year; Morningstar said it would update for all of 2017 in the first quarter of 2018.

In a more recent read on one investment category, Goldman Sachs wrote that 49% of large-cap mutual fund managers were outperforming their benchmark, the highest number since 2009, and well above the 10-year average of 38%. In 2016, only 19% of managers outperformed.

The following tables from Morningstar show how active managers in the 12 different categories performed in the first half of 2017 compared with 2016. For some of these categories, the first half of 2017 represented the highest degree of outperformance in years.

This chart compares their performance in the first half of this year compared with other recent six-month periods.

The improved performance by active managers was partially credited to a drop in correlations, or the degree to which two different securities move in tandem. Over the past 10 years, correlations have been stubbornly high as the recovery from the financial crisis was seen as a rising tide that lifted all boats. This created a difficult environment for active managers to outperform in, as it was difficult to find undervalued names with stocks moving on macroeconomic trends rather than on their own fundamentals.

Per an analysis by DataTrek, average sector correlations were 81% between 2012 and October 2016. Last month, however, they came in at 37%, the lowest level since the crisis.

According to data from S&P Dow Jones Indices, correlation for the S&P 500 was at 0.06 in October. A reading of zero would indicate no correlation whatsoever, while a reading of 1.0 would represent perfect correlation between the index and its underlying securities.

Read more:Beneath a calm surface, the stock market is undergoing a major change

“We should see a big resurgence in active management in 2018,” said Adam Taback, deputy chief investment officer at Wells Fargo Private Bank. “We already started to see it in 2017, and we expect to see even more of it in 2018.”

Citing the fall in correlation, Taback said that “active management is in its best position of the last 10 years.”

Of course, to take advantage of that environment, investors would still need to be invested in the right active fund. Finding one that will outperform in the future can be difficult, and earlier this year, Jeffrey Ptak, global director of manager research for Morningstar, wrote that “active-fund selection belongs in what Warren Buffett has called the ‘too hard pile.’ ”

Read:It’s too hard to find a good active fund manager, so don’t bother trying, Morningstar says

Output: US active managers have posted their best performance for years in 2017, according to Morningstar, though this hasn't stopped an increasing number of investors turning to passive alternatives. A drop in correlations between asset classes accounted for an upturn in active performance. Despite outflows from active equity funds, flows into bond offerings meant active products took in a net $25.5bn in 2017 to-date, where passive funds have seen almost $635bn in inflows.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Snapchat advertises for international strategy manager in China
 U.S. tech companies and ad agencies are increasingly interested in the Chinese market, and Snapchat is no exception.

The camera company is looking for an international strategy manager based in Shenzhen, China, where Snapchat opened a research and development office last December, according to a job opening posted on LinkedIn on Dec. 8. This new role seems to go beyond the main purpose of Snapchat’s Shenzhen office, which is to further develop Snapchat’s Spectacles hardware.

The role of the international strategy manager is to “become an evangelist for Snapchat ad products in the China media community, including through direct meetings with advertisers, marketing events and trainings, etc.,” according to the job description. People in mainland China are unable to access Snapchat, though.

A Snapchat spokesperson said this role doesn’t mean that Snapchat is shifting its focus on Spectacles development to growing its advertising in China. Instead, it is about working with companies and advertisers there, many of which use tech platforms to advertise outside of China.

“[This role] will be unrelated to our much larger hardware team and would be intended to benefit Chinese companies who sell products outside of China,” said the spokesperson. “This is something that many companies blocked in China still pursue.”

Snapchat’s move seems reminiscent of Facebook Audience Network, through which Facebook — which also is banned in mainland China — is able to let Chinese companies advertise to Chinese people as well as let Chinese advertisers reach markets outside of China. It wouldn’t be surprising if Snapchat is taking a page from Facebook’s playbook in China. After all, Snapchat has aggressively grown its programmatic advertising business in the U.S.. From July to September, Snapchat’s advertising revenue reached $204 million, 59 percent up from the same period a year prior, according to Imran Khan, chief strategy officer for Snap.

The company spokesperson said Snapchat’s model is different from Facebook’s in China, and that “it has nothing to do with an ad network.”

Output: Social media firm Snapchat is looking for an international strategy manager for its Shenzhen research and development office in China, which opened a year ago. While the Shenzhen office is mainly concerned with developing the Spectacles hardware product range, the international strategy manager will be expected to "become an evangelist for Snapchat ad products in the China media community, including through direct meetings with advertisers, marketing events and training". The new recruit will be expected to work with companies and advertisers that sell and advertise outside China. At present, mainland China residents cannot access Snapchat.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
GiveMeSport sees revenue after slashing underperforming ads
 Sports publisher GiveMeSport has spent the last year culling underperforming ads from its site.

The digital native sports publisher has cut all six ads from its homepage, four ads from each article page, and all ads from its vertical pages, which include football, boxing, cricket and tennis. Its NBA vertical still features ads from the league. Nick Thain, CEO of GiveMeSport parent Breaking Data, said the removed ads accounted for millions of monthly ad impressions and failed to meet the minimum viewability standards, which require 50 percent of the ad to be in view for a minimum of one second, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau.

The publisher has also replaced content-recommendation widgets with links to its own content. Publishers have struggled to wean themselves off of third-party content-recommendation widgets at the bottom of article pages, which boost revenues but hamper user experience. GiveMeSport believes it will boost the visibility of its own content and encourage people to return more regularly to the site by removing ad clutter and the widgets.

Since making this change, users now return seven times a month on average, up from four times a month, according to Thain, and it’s seeing up to a 13 percent increase in pageviews per visit. “We’re trying to show there’s a way to make higher yields with fewer impressions available,” he said. “It’s a slightly more medium- to long-term view, rather than the shorter-term view of maximizing revenue for this quarter.”

Six weeks ago, GiveMeSport also ditched full-page, high-impact ads, which the Coalition for Better Ads is trying to root out. These ads were making the publisher a “significant” amount of revenue, Thain said. Since these overlay formats don’t cover the standard display ads underneath them, display-ad viewability is now 85 percent, and the video pre-roll view-through rate is 70 percent. Shedding full-page, high-impact ads has also sped up page-load times, but the publisher wouldn’t share by how much.

Thain said culling ineffective ads, removing widgets and adopting header and server-side bidding has led GiveMeSport’s digital ad revenue growth to jump from 50 percent in March to 72 percent in September.

That’s critical, given the majority of GiveMeSport’s revenue comes from programmatic advertising, with the rest coming from direct deals and branded content. Since the publisher integrated Google’s Exchange Bidder in July, it has increased page yields by 30 percent, without incurring page latency. GiveMeSport has a pilot site that allows it to test changes to its ad tech stack on 10 percent of its live traffic. If something doesn’t work as planned, it can revert back to the original version in 15 minutes.

“We’re more like a tech company trying to solve the challenges of the publishing world than a newspaper publisher gone digital,” Thain said.

Output: Sports publisher GiveMeSport has seen revenue grow after it began culling underperforming ads. The publisher has removed all ads from its homepage and vertical pages and cut four ads from its article pages, while retaining those on its NBA site. "We’re trying to show there’s a way to make higher yields with fewer impressions available,” said CEO Nick Thain, who revealed that the mass cull led to an increase in digital ad revenue growth to 72% from 50% between March and September.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
GQ and Universal test new podcast formats for easier sharing
 Universal Music and Condé Nast men’s magazine British GQ are testing podcast formats that can be broken down into chunks for sharing and include images and graphics to accompany each chapter, rather than full 30-minute or hourlong shows. The idea is for people to be able to listen to bite-size chapters of audio if they don’t have time to listen to a full podcast, and share them with friends.

GQ’s first podcast, launched in October, offers sports commentary, a departure from its usual editorial fare. Called “Strike,” the weekly podcast is hosted by Elgar Johnson, GQ Style deputy editor and football aficionado. To encourage people to share the podcast more, GQ worked with podcast platform Entale, which helps edit and publish “Strike.” The podcast is divided into chapters named after each conversation topic, so users can skip to the parts they’re most interested in.

The aim is to widen GQ’s audience to include sports enthusiasts, particularly Premier League football fans, and tackle serious issues within sports, like how athletes deal with homophobia or address mental health issues. For example, Johnson said, one episode featured Jermaine Jenas, BT Sport pundit and former footballer, discussing homophobic chanting he experienced during his Premier League career. “Our aim is to reach a new audience for GQ, as well as open new doors into sport,” said Johnson. “We’re hoping to talk to people who have experienced or seen these topics of conversation firsthand.”

During each 30-minute episode, which are released each Wednesday, Johnson interviews a range of guests, including current and former footballers, sports journalists and celebrity fans, about topics like the biggest football matches in the Premier League that week or expectations for England in the 2018 World Cup.

Liverpool FC’s and Wales’ record scorer Ian Rush, East London rapper Yxng Bane and ESPN’s Arsenal correspondent Mattias Karén have all come on the podcast, which has had seven episodes to date.

Podcasts don’t tend to get shared much. GQ hopes that users’ ability to choose segments will make it more likely for them to share those sections on social platforms with friends, who will likewise be more open to listening to a conversation snippet of personal interest. GQ wouldn’t reveal specific download figures.

Universal Music is also using a chapter-based design to test appetite for a podcast hosted by British pop rock band The Vamps. The record label is trying to build engagement through the podcast, called “How Little We Know,” with the band’s fans during its current tour. Universal Music hasn’t committed to a specific number of podcasts, but it has published two to date, both just under an hour in length. As of writing, the podcast is No. 3 on iTunes U.K. top podcast chart this week.

When the podcasts are published as web and mobile apps on the publisher’s site, there is more scope for in-depth analytics. Entale’s platform integrates with Google Analytics, so publishers can track how long people are listening, where they skip, which chapters are most popular and shared most often, as well as how much listeners interact with accompanying images and graphics.

Neither Universal Music nor GQ’s podcasts feature ads, but GQ wants to add them in the future. Ad options include a standard 30-second spot that can be inserted in chapter breaks and a two- to three-minute chapter that advertisers can book to be read by the podcast host — a standard option across all podcasts. The twist is that the chapters can be swapped, so a brand could have different native ads for different geographic regions or update old podcasts with new ads, for example.

Entale is developing new partnership opportunities with a dynamic audio advertising platform within its parent company, Founders Factory.

Output: Universal Music and British GQ magazine are experimenting with breaking down podcasts into smaller chapters, to encourage greater sharing on social media. Universal has reached number 3 on the iTunes chart with a podcast aimed at fans of the band The Vamps, and believes the chapter-based structure will make it more likely these will be shared among friends. GQ has been targeting sports fans, with discussions covering subjects including the ways in which footballers handle homophobic chanting. Breaking down the podcasts also offers more opportunities to include sponsored content and advertisements.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
MedyMatch to integrate AI trauma tool into GE's CT imaging system
 This article was first published by The Times of Israel and is re-posted with permission.

MedyMatch Technology, an Israeli startup that has developed an artificial intelligence based software to help clinicians assess head trauma or stroke, has entered a partnership with GE Healthcare to integrate its products with the US giant’s imaging solutions.

This is the third industry partnership for MedyMatch, which has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) software that aims to be more accurate than the human eye and help physicians more quickly assess patients suspected of head trauma or stroke, ruling out the presence of a bleed in the brain. In March this year, the company said IBM Watson Health and the healthcare unit of Samsung Electronics would integrate its platforms into their medical imaging products.

SEE ALSO: Israel’s Zebra Medical Vision Teams Up With Google To Revolutionize Medical Scans

Working with GE, MedyMatch will integrate the intracranial hemorrhage detection platform into GE’s CT imaging solutions. The US multinational conglomerate is making a push to integrate artificial intelligence software into its products: the firm this week said that it will update some 500,000 of its medical devices around the world with technologies from NVIDIA and Intel.

The goal of the initial application is to help clinicians in their assessment of patients suspected of acute head trauma or stroke, where intracranial hemorrhage is suspected.

“Non-contrast CT remains the primary imaging modality for the initial evaluation of patients with suspected stroke for traumatic brain injury.” said Gene Saragnese, Chairman &CEO of MedyMatch in a statement. “MedyMatch is bringing to market a new category of medical solutions that leverages deep learning, machine vision, and the full richness of 3-D imaging and other relevant patient data.”

SEE ALSO: This Company Invented A Machine Algorithm That Diagnoses Breast Cancer Earlier

“MedyMatch is pushing the boundaries with the use of real-time data in the emergency room,” said Mike Barber, CEO of GE Healthcare MICT. “MedyMatch’s acute care clinical decision support products are aligned with the needs of the marketplace, supplying clinical decision support tools, with the goal of improving patient outcomes, and processed at the point of image creation.”

To read the full article, click here.

Output: MedyMatch Technology has teamed up with GE Healthcare to integrate its artificial intelligence (AI) trauma assessment tool with the US giant's CT imaging products. The Israeli start-up's AI software helps doctors quickly assess patients suspected of having head trauma or a stroke, where bleeding on the brain is suspected. The deal is part of GE's push to integrate AI software into its products, having recently announced it will update 500,000 of its global medical devices with technology from NVIDIA and Intel.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Washington Post to open branded content studio in London
 The Washington Post has taken more of a slow and steady approach to international expansion compared to some pure-play digital publishers, whose global growth ambitions seem to be tempered. For the next year, the publisher will focus on growing its branded-content capabilities internationally after hiring its first head of marketing for Europe and Asia, Aaron Robinson.

The Post has an international sales team of roughly six people in Europe and Asia mostly focused on selling programmatic and direct deal ads, while branded-content campaigns have been created in the U.S. for international clients. By the end of next year, the Post will have a branded-content studio in London and hopes to have roughly a dozen employees across Europe, according to the publisher. The Post’s global digital advertising revenue has grown 35 percent from last year, according to Paul Tsigrikes, vp of marketing at the Post. In the next year, he expects a 50 percent growth in revenue from digital advertising in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region.

“The EMEA territory is an engine of growth for us,” he said. “We’re investing for a reason. We’re ready to focus and grow. We have the audience; the name recognition will come. Other folks you’ll see scale back, but we’ll be scaling up.”

Health care brand Sanofi’s rebranding campaign is the Post’s largest European campaign in terms of cost to run in Europe to date. The campaign, which consists of mainly text articles and images about how healthcare is evolving, launched two weeks ago and is also running in the U.S., according to Tsigrikes.

Along with other metrics for branded-content campaigns like scroll depth, pageviews and time spent, the Post scores each branded-content campaign on a scale from 1 to 10 on how well it compares to all the publisher’s other branded-content campaigns and its editorial coverage on the same topic. The publisher has also increased the number of campaigns on which it runs pre- and post-campaign analysis, with its four-person in-house research team based in the States running 20 post-campaign research analysis studies in the last 12 months, up from roughly four the year before, said Tsigrikes.

Branded content is competitive, with the Post competing for budgets against local players that have more resources. The Post said it can differentiate partly through its technology, with its native ad distribution platform Own and a number of native ad formats. Another differentiator is its connection to Washington, D.C., which appeals to certain brands. Richard Stokes, head of content at Wavemaker Global, said the publisher can differentiate by demonstrating how it can create branded content for its 1 million digital subscribers. “With the huge amount of data and understanding on subscribers they could do groundbreaking branded content work with less frequency,” he said. “They would be better placed to understand attribution too.”

Across the industry, publishers are working on bigger-ticket deals with fewer clients. The Post has seen the average cost of branded-content deals increase by 50 percent in the last year. “We’ll chip away at the established players to get the three-monthlong campaigns the way we did in the U.S.,” said Tsigrikes. “We weren’t established with branded content there three years ago.”

The Post previously told Digiday that it generates over $100 million from digital advertising globally and claims it has 90 million monthly unique users in the U.S. and 30 million in Europe, which it doesn’t break out by region. In October, the Post had 3.6 million monthly uniques in the U.K., according to comScore. For comparison, comScore indicates The New York Times had 6 million monthly uniques and The Atlantic had 2.8 million monthly uniques in October.

The Post has invested in international expansion editorially, according to Tsigrikes. At the end of January, the publisher launched a dedicated daily newsletter for global audiences, WorldViews, which Tsigrikes said has grown to 250,000 subscribers. The Post will also launch its first London editorial conference, PostLive, in February. Of course, being privately owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos means the Post can invest strategically over a longer term without expecting a return on investment within the quarter.

“We’re learning from our content amplification and applying it to Europe,” said Tsigrikes. “Being 12 months behind competitors is not a problem. We’re learning from their mistakes: Don’t hire 15 people in London if you don’t have clients there.”

Output: The Washington Post will open a branded content studio in London by the end of 2018, aiming to have around 12 employees across Europe. The company's digital advertising revenue has increased 35% from 2016 and anticipates revenue from its digital advertising efforts in Europe, Africa and the Middle East will grow 50% next year. It recently hired its first head of marketing for Europe and Asia, Aaron Robinson, and has a team of around six people in the region selling programmatic and direct deal advertising.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
California targets smarter almond production with $4.8m fund
 Dive Brief:

The Almond Board of California (ABC) announced it is investing $4.8 million in 64 independent, third-party research projects experimenting with innovative farming techniques, according to Food Ingredients First. Three key areas of interest for almond farmers include water sustainability, protection of honey bees that pollinate the almond crop, and new uses for almond hulls, shells and woody materials.

In the past 40 years, ABC has invested close to $70 million in research on how to improve the way almonds are grown, processed and consumed in order to make an "an economically, environmentally and socially responsible crop for California."

According to ABC's recently released sustainability publication, Growing Good, the industry has already made progress in terms of environmental initiatives. Half of almond processors use solar energy at their facilities, 78% of almond orchards use efficient micro-irrigation, and 94% of almond farms notify beekeepers about pesticides that may need to be used.

Dive Insight:

The humble, heart-healthy almond has gained something of a bad reputation in California. The Golden State's drought may have come to an end — Governor Jerry Brown declared that the emergency period was over in April — but the water-leeching seed was at the forefront of the environmental controversy, and has yet to escape scrutiny.

One almond requires a gallon of water to grow properly, making it the second-most thirsty crop in California, behind alfalfa sprouts. If there were one main sustainability obstacle facing the popular nut, it would be water use.

Despite it’s year-round dependence on water, the almond business has boomed. California is the only state to grow America’s most consumed-nut commercially, thanks to its ideal cool winters and warm spring temperatures. Now, thanks to increased demand, 44% more land there is being used to farm almonds compared to a decade ago. But increased production means even more water use, which has impacted other California industries. Because water is diverted for almond farms, the Klamath River has experienced low-water levels — threatening thousands of endangered king salmon.

The $4.8 billion industry also has affected other crops. Farmers hoping to cash in on the almond craze are pulling up lower-profit plants, like tomatoes and melons, to switch to almond trees.

If ABC’s research is able to reduce the amount of water needed to grow almonds, the price per nut at the supermarket may drop, and more farmers could shift toward producing it. That said, there is no guarantee farmers will pass the savings on to consumers when there is still growing demand for their harvest, though sustainability claims could lure more shoppers to the expensive nut.

The two other areas ABC is pouring its research dollars into — the protection of honey bees that pollinate the almond crop and upcycling almond waste — could also prove to be enticing value-adds. Environmental stewardship and zero-waste production are top of mind for many conscious consumers, and these initiatives could help bring a sustainability halo to the almond industry.

Output: Almond-growers in California are funding research to find innovative new farming methods. The Almond Board of California is investing $4.8m in up to 64 different research projects targeting three main areas of interest: protection of honey bees, new uses for almond shells, and water sustainability. The production of almonds requires a lot of water, and the expansion of the industry is putting a strain on water resources in the state. Increasing water efficiency could help to reduce costs in the $4.8bn industry.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
L'Oréal moves to private marketplaces to avoid wasted impressions
 Reducing the money wasted on unprofitable media will be at the heart of L’Oréal’s advertising plans in 2018.

There is still “a lot of waste” in the media the advertiser buys, admitted Stéphane Bérubé, L’Oréal’s CMO for Western Europe. But unlike Procter & Gamble, Unilever and other big advertisers, L’Oréal has no intention of slashing its spend online to weed out ineffective ads. Instead, the cosmetics giant will spend more online next year, as it has over the last 12 months. It’s where the company’s ads appear that will impact ad waste, not how much it spends, explained Bérubé, who is warming to the idea that greater relevance comes at a premium. “I prefer to pay more sometimes to get the quality audiences rather than a cheap CPM,” he said.

To avoid cheap impressions, L’Oréal’s budgets are moving from open exchanges into private marketplaces, Bérubé said. In some markets, the advertiser is going directly to publishers to curate its own private marketplaces, a shift reliant on first-party data from areas such as L’Oréal’s limited e-commerce sales alongside data from publishers. Consequently, third-party data is becoming less important to the company’s campaigns, Bérubé said.

L’Oréal’s pullback from CPMs dates back to 2014, when it decided to buy display ads that are 70 percent in view on publisher sites. It would be too costly and restrictive on reach if those ads were 100 percent in view, the advertiser previously said. For video ads, the advertiser has been buying those that run through to completion, rather than paying for all impressions.

Buying viewable impressions was the main way the advertiser tried to curb wastage three years ago, whereas now it’s part of a wider shift to more addressable media buys, said Bérubé. In other words, L’Oréal is catching on to the value of people-based advertising, turning its first-party data into more effective campaigns. “We’re reviewing all our audience profiles,” Bérubé said. “We need to collect as much data as possible to be relevant to consumers.”

Understanding that wealth of data is easier said than done. In addition to examining return on investment and attribution modeling, L’Oréal’s marketers are also trying to understand some of the more opaque costs of its advertising such as cost per acquisition, consumer lifetime value and the value of cookies. L’Oréal is also hiring data experts to help make sense of the company’s customer data and question existing media practices. In some cases, data privacy experts are vetting technology and service providers. L’Oréal must bring more experts — not just in data — in-house, said Bérubé, not to replace agencies but to challenge them to be less “complacent” and to nurture their own specializations.

The topic of in-house talent versus agency expertise sparked frank comments from Bérubé at the Ad:tech London conference last month. L’Oréal isn’t trying to “kill the agency” by shaping its own media strategy, Bérubé assured delegates at the event. As dedicated to nurturing its own media expertise as L’Oréal is, Bérubé concedes it will never be able to plan and buy media at the scale an agency could. “Even if I have my have own [trading] desk internally, we’re never going to buy 100 million impressions,” he said. “The reason we’re doing this [in-housing talent] is to understand [our media investments]. If I have no clue about media, then how can I challenge my agency to do a good job?”

Bérubé believes another potential benefit of L’Oréal’s agencies leading media strategy is better remuneration. He said the advertiser plans to overhaul the way it remunerates agencies in many markets, moving away from models that view media as a commodity. “We need to go from treating it [media] as a commodity to be much more of a quality buy because agencies were just being incentivized to buy cheap media, whether that was on TV or online,” Bérubé said.

L’Oréal’s crackdown on wastage helps explain its focus on the so-called long tail of advertising. In the last quarter, the advertiser not only increased its online spend in the U.S. versus the same period a year ago (as the chart above shows), but also the number of publisher sites its ads appeared on. According to a study by ad-tracking firm MediaRadar, L’Oréal, like P&G over a similar period, has become more confident in a supply chain that has forced some advertisers to reluctantly reduce their spend. The data doesn’t reveal how many of those ads are on cheap sites versus premium ones, however, meaning L’Oréal could still be prioritizing reach over content and context.

Bérubé claimed otherwise: “We have better visibility now on who is and who isn’t a real person [online]. I can tell you that we’re comfortable continuing to invest [in digital].”

Image courtesy of L’Oréal.

Output: In an attempt to avoid wasteful ad spend online, L'Oréal will be focusing heavily on private marketplaces rather than open exchanges in 2018. Explaining L'Oréal's shift in thinking, Western Europe CMO Stéphane Bérubé said: “I prefer to pay more sometimes to get the quality audiences rather than a cheap CPM.” L'Oréal will also go directly to publishers to oversee its own private marketplaces and avoid low-quality impressions. The company will also hire more in-house experts to improve understanding of the data it holds and to put its own media practices under the spotlight.