Street Fight Daily: Facebook Launches Local Hotspots, Media Companies Shift to YouTube

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…

Facebook Launches Express WiFi App for Its Local Business-Operated Hotspots (TechCrunch)
This week TechCrunch was tipped off that Facebook had quietly launched an Express Wi-Fi Android app in the Google Play store that lets users buy data packs and find nearby hotspots as part of Facebook’s distributed Wi-Fi network.

AR Cloud: The Linchpin for Local AR (Street Fight)
Michael Boland: What about the non-Googles of the world? How will they create AR and visual search apps that can map environments reliably and return the correct info or graphics? The answer is the still-theoretical but critical AR Cloud.

Why Media Companies Are Shifting Their Attention to YouTube (Digiday)
When House of Highlights decided to expand beyond its popular Instagram account, the Bleacher Report-owned sports and culture publication didn’t even consider Facebook.

Street Culture: Invoca’s Lessons for Active, Engaged Growth (Street Fight)
Based a mile from the beach in Santa Barbara, Invoca aims to maintain a culture in which employees know their ideas are important. The company sponsors softball games and ocean-side volleyball and boasts its own band.

Why Publishers Are Eliminating Programmatic Silos (eMarketer)
The continuous growth of programmatic advertising is forcing some of its biggest holdouts to embrace these types of transactions, and publishers are folding them into their overall sales structure.

Behind the Breakneck Unraveling of Toys R Us (Bloomberg)
On Wednesday, Dave Brandon, chief executive officer of the iconic toy chain, delivered the news that his more than 30,000 U.S. workers had been dreading: We’re finished. After 70 years, Toys “R” Us would close shop — a casualty of Amazon-era retailing and debt-fueled, private-equity deal-making.

Amazon’s Internal Numbers on Prime Video Revealed (Reuters)
Amazon.com Inc’s top television shows drew more than 5 million people worldwide to its Prime shopping club by early 2017, according to company documents, revealing for the first time how the retailer’s bet on original video is paying off.

A Former Walmart Exec’s Lawsuit Claims Company Is Inflating E-Commerce Growth Reports (Recode)
Is Walmart cheating in its race to close the gap between Amazon and its own online business? A new lawsuit from a former Walmart business development executive claims it is.

LBMA Podcast: Placed, CityMapper, WeWork (Street Fight)
On this week’s LBMA podcast: BAG Networks, Placed, Citymapper, Robomart, REI, BMW acquires Parkmobile, Universal + Amazon Alexa, and WeWork buys Conductor.

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Joe Zappa is the Managing Editor of Street Fight. He has spearheaded the newsroom's editorial operations since 2018. Joe is an ad/martech veteran who has covered the space since 2015. You can contact him at [email protected]