P&G Teamed Up With TikTok Star Charli D'Amelio

To connect with a Gen Z audience for a campaign centered around encouraging social distancing and raising money for those impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, CPG conglomerate Procter & Gamble reached out to the unofficial Queen of TikTok, 15-year-old Charli D’Amelio, to choreograph a dance that would be the focal point of the initiative, dubbed #DistanceDance.

As a publication that covers the ins and outs of the media business, we find ourselves at a unique vantage point, able to serve the very community we cover. We are a hub for the media world, and we can provide a conduit for you, our readers, to connect.

Today, we are introducing #MediaTogether, a place to gather, tell your stories and find solutions for the future. Tell us in 500 words who you are, what you do, what skills you have and your experience of working through these troubling times.

The goal is to connect those who are looking for work with those who can provide jobs. But the built-in networking can also pay big dividends for your future.

MediaMath, arguably the second-biggest pure-play demand-side platform, this week confirmed layoffs, furloughs and cost-saving measures totaling approximately 8% of a MediaMath’s earlier estimated 600-plus headcount. The company also confirmed that there is a temporary reduction in salary of 10% and the temporary cessation of its 401(k) company match program for MediaMath’s U.S. employees as the company prepares for an estimated double-digit drop in revenue. The geographical spread of the cutbacks remains unclear.

A number of breakthroughs in the past few years have given artificial intelligence newfound creative abilities, with implications ranging from an internet underbelly of deepfakes to a burgeoning AI-generated art scene. But because of the complexity of the neural networks involved and the sometimes-arduous coding and training process, such capabilities can also be hard for non-coders to master.

A web platform called Playform is one of a few tools to attempt to make AI’s artistic side more accessible to creatives. Much like similar programs, such as RunwayML, Nvidia’s AI Playground and Deep Dream Generator, Playform adds a slick interface to AI-powered visual editing functions, like stylizing images and transforming simple doodles into photorealistic pictures.

After more than six years, Freeform president Tom Ascheim is stepping down.

Tuesday evening, WarnerMedia said it had hired Ascheim as president of global kids, young adults and classics, overseeing Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Boomerang and Turner Classic Movies. That role had been vacant since Christina Miller exited last year.

Group Nine Media, whose digital media properties include PopSugar, The Dodo and NowThis, laid off dozens of employees, or 7% of its more than 700-person staff, across the company.

It’s the latest publisher to take drastic action as COVID-19 has drastically altered the media landscape. As the first quarter just wrapped, media companies including Bustle Digital Group, CQ Roll Call and G/O Media announced layoffs last week.

Executives had privately forecasted Group Nine Media to turn a profit this year. But the company, facing the effects of the coronavirus on the industry, took additional action after already announcing changes for employees two weeks ago.