Amazon

Sources confirmed the review has been launched via an RFP issued by the client. The firm spent more than $5 billion on advertising and promotional costs in 2016, according to the firm’s latest annual report. More than $1 billion of that is estimated to be earmarked for measured media expenditures worldwide, most of it targeted to U.S. consumers.

Amazon is paying publishers and social media “influencers” to post to Spark, the new commerce-oriented social network the company launched Tuesday.

Amazon’s relationship with magazine publishers goes back years, with it handling their print and digital magazine sales and serving as a retail partner that helps publishers turn their editorial content into commerce. This relationship began to deepen two years ago when the e-commerce giant began selling its voice-activated home assistant, Echo, and opened it up to publishers and other developers to create content for it.

Video flash briefings will provide trending storylines, weather on Amazon platforms for customers across Western Washington.

Salvation is the latest CBS summer drama series to head to Amazon Prime Video. The streaming service has licensed the serialized suspense thriller, which premieres on CBS on July 12. Prime Video will be the exclusive premium subscription home for the Alex Kurtzman-produced Salvation in the U.S. with unlimited streaming and downloading of all the series’ episodes available to members four days after their initial broadcast on CBS.

Amazon has been eating retail competitors’ lunch for a while. Now it’s after their breakfast, dinner and weekly groceries too with its planned $13.7 billion acquisition of Whole Foods. But the quest for dominance goes beyond food. The e-commerce giant, already the largest retail advertiser in the U.S., is cranking up its spending even more as it strives to harness all of consumerism and to lead in new categories such as grocery and fashion. And that’s saying something. Amazon’s U.S. ad spending increase alone last year, $602 million, nearly equaled Sears Holdings’ entire U.S. ad budget.

Amazon.com Inc is looking to charge advertisers $2.8 million for packages that include 30-second spots during the Thursday night National Football League games it will stream live to its Prime customers this coming season, two people familiar with the matter tell Reuters.

Corporate chatroom startup Slack Technologies has received recent inquiries about a potential takeover from technology companies including Amazon, people with knowledge of the situation said, a deal that would be the internet-commerce giant’s biggest ever. San Francisco-based Slack could be valued at at least $9 billion in a sale, the people said. An agreement isn’t assured and discussions may not go further, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private.

After three years, Amazon and Apple have finally come to an agreement to bring Amazon’s video app to the Apple TV streaming box, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced at the company’s developer conference on Monday. This means Amazon Prime Video subscribers will soon be able to stream TV shows and movies to their TV using an Apple TV device.

CTAM released its schedule for summer press tour Wednesday. That schedule, which for the first time includes streaming services alongside pay-cable channels such as HBO, Discovery, and TNT, did not include dates for Netflix or Amazon.

It has been a wild, rocky ride, but Netflix, which ended its 15th year as a public company on Monday, is pacing ahead of Amazon as a dream investment. Since ending its first day of trading in 2002 at an adjusted $1.20 per share, Netflix stock has gained 12,997% to close Monday at $157.16.

Dish subscribers with an Internet-connected Hopper or Wally DVR can now deliver voice commands to Amazon’s Echo to change channels, and perform other tasks such as pause, fast-forward and rewind.

Streaming services like Amazon Prime Video and Netflix are desperate for more content and are willing to pay for it. A new offshoot of Berkeley’s investigative journalism program is trying to take advantage of that.

Amazon would become a foundational customer of the wireless network Dish Network hopes to launch within the next few years. It’s not clear if the discussions also involve an investment by Amazon in Dish Network and/or its potential wireless business.

eMarketer estimates Amazon Echo has a 70.6% share f the voice-enabled digital assistant marketplace,followed by Google Home (23.8%) and everyone else (5.6%).

News from 23 Scripps local TV markets is just a voice command away with the Flash Briefing service.

Alphabet (the parent company of Google), Amazon and Facebook each dominates its corner of the industry: Google has an 88% market share in search advertising, Facebook (and its subsidiaries Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger) owns 77% of mobile social traffic and Amazon has a 74% share of the e-book market. In classic economic terms, all three are monopolies.

Hearst is rolling out a new audio content offering for Amazon’s voice-enabled assistant Alexa featuring inspirational quotes from Oprah Winfrey.

Amazon has bought the rights to the league’s streaming package, and will offer the games for free to its Amazon Prime subscribers around the world. Amazon is paying around $50 million for the 10 games it will show next fall. That’s a big increase from the $10 million Twitter paid for last year’s games.

The NFL is selling the rights to stream its Thursday Night Football games next season, and at least four big tech companies are interested. Facebook, Amazon, Twitter and Google’s YouTube have all submitted proposals to the NFL in the hope of streaming the games, according to two sources familiar with the process.

With little fanfare, Amazon Video Ads rolled out this week to advertisers working with the Amazon Media Group. The new out-stream video advertising product allows advertisers to run an autoplay feature in videos as shoppers browse on the Amazon platform across desktop, tablets and smartphones. The ads are muted by default. With a click, site visitors can choose to view the ads in full-screen mode and listen to them.

The company is testing a new Apple TV capable of streaming ultra-high-definition 4K. It may not be enough to take on Amazon and Roku.

The online retailer mulls a jump into traditional media, with a channel that would carry its original digital video productions, such as Transparent and Manchester by the Sea.

Amazon’s Manchester by the Sea landed an Oscar nomination for best picture Tuesday, making Amazon the first streaming service to earn the honor.

Here are three, starting with the fact that the field is dominated by four players: Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and YouTube, though Amazon is emerging as the real revenue-generating juggernaut among the lot. Sahil Patel notes that TV networks are also finding it worth their while to go directly to consumers now.

Capitol Broadcasting’s WRAL just got a little more connected, with its latest headlines read by WRAL’s anchors and reporters through Amazon’s voice service, Alexa.

January’s semi-annual Television Critics Association press tour will be without some of the industry’s biggest executives, as well as another streaming outlet. Amazon has opted to join Netflix and completely sit out the January TCA press tour. Additionally, NBC, ABC, Fox and CBS have all eliminated executive panels from their day-long sessions. Instead, insiders say, each of the Big Four networks want to focus on their midseason fare.