What you need to know in advertising today

ESPN

Sports are as much about fandom and conversation as they are about watching games, and for a long time ESPN's hit show "SportsCenter" owned that conversation.

Not only did it have a lockdown on all the key highlights on a given day, but it had hipster anchors like Dan Patrick, Keith Olbermann, and Stuart Scott tossing off catchphrases and building devoted followings of their own.

Now, for many young fans, the trash talk and highlight reels are found on social media, in shareable digital videos on Facebook and through witty posts on Instagram or Twitter. And instead of coming from ESPN, they're coming from newer rivals like Bleacher Report and Barstool Sports. This is especially true in the exploding world of social video.

To read more about the challenges heading ESPN's way as viewer behavior changes, click here.

In other news:

Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating Russian interference in the US election, obtained a warrant for Russian-linked ads that ran on Facebook during the campaign. Facebook handed over information about the ads, which were linked to a Russian troll farm, and how they were targeted at US users.

Facebook, Google and Twitter all allowed advertisers to target users with racist and anti-Semitic terms, according to numerous media reports. But all three firms have subsequently updated the categories on their ad platforms.

A Republican lawmaker, Dana Rohrabacher, tried to make a deal with the White House on behalf of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.Assange, currently in hiding in the UK, would theoretically offer detailed evidence that Russia had not meddled in the US election, in exchange for "something like" a pardon.

Google's Chrome will crack down on autoplay video ads, and will only play them if the user has shown interest in the clip, or if they don't play with sound.There'll also be the option to mute entire sites.

File sharing site The Pirate Bay is testing a bitcoin miner on its site as a new way to generate revenue instead of ads. Users spotted that a cryptocurrency miner appeared on The Pirate Bay's site, using their CPU resources to mine the digital currency Monero.

Workplace chat service Slack has been valued at $5.1 billion after closing a $250 million funding round led by SoftBank's Vision Fund. Slack said the money was for "operational flexibility" rather than any particular use, according to Bloomberg.

The Finnish maker of "Angry Birds", Rovio, has set a maximum valuation of $1.1 billion for its upcoming public offering. Rovio has had a tough few years financially, and that valuation is lower than expected.

Google.com was created 20 years ago. Here's what it looked like when it first launched.

Business Insider is seeking nominations for the most innovative marketing executives in the world. Submit your ideas via this anonymous survey.

Follow us at @BI_Corporate to be among the first to hear about news and updates from Business Insider.

Also, sign up for the Executive Summary , a new biweekly newsletter that brings the latest marketing news, trends, and company updates straight to your inbox.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Here are all the major changes coming to your iPhone September 19