Brandcom - Linking the future

YouTube is set to double the entry requirements for its Partner Program (YPP) starting February 1, 2027. This marks the platform's first major overhaul of the monetisation programme since 2018, the company announced this week. New applicants to YPP will need either 8,000 qualified public watch hours in the previous 365 days or 20 million qualified Shorts views in the previous 90 days, up from the current 4,000 hours or 10 million views. The 1,000-subscriber requirement remains unchanged. YouTube said existing YPP…

The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has warned bakery and confectionery operators against compromising food safety or misleading consumers, at a stakeholder engagement in Lagos this week after a food scientist disclosed that potassium bromate, a bread improver banned in Nigeria since 2003, was still turning up in bread loaves sold across the country. FCCPC's Executive Vice-Chairman, Tunji Bello, represented by South-West Zonal Coordinator Olubunmi Otti, told operators that rising…

Mastercard has appointed Yasemin Bedir as President of its Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (EEMEA) region. This will take effect from September 1, 2026. The appointment will be placing the nearly 20 year company veteran in charge of its operations across 81 countries. Commenting on the appointment, Sachin Mehra, Chief Business Officer at Mastercard, described Bedir as a leader who brings strong experience and a record of delivering results. “Yasemin is a leader who finds the best in her teams to help…

The Federal Government has inaugurated Honourable Justice Cecilia M. A. Olatoregun, Dr. Ken Onyeali-Ikpe, Musa Ahmed Attah (SAN), Merga Tyowanan Kachina Esq., Hajia Sa'a Ibrahim and other members into the newly constituted Advertising Offences Tribunal. This is in effort to strengthen regulation, promote professionalism and enhance integrity in Nigeria's advertising and marketing communications industry. The Honourable Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, stated this on Tuesday at the…

CNN International Commercial (CNNIC) and Dangote Industries Limited have renewed their long-standing media sponsorship, unveiling a new campaign built around Africa Inc., a half-hour show set to premiere on CNN International on Aug. 29. The renewal extends a relationship the two organisations have maintained for close to a decade. CNNIC first partnered with Dangote on its Marketplace Africa programming around 2016, then expanded the tie-up in 2018 to make Dangote the first African brand featured on CNN's Great…

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, will chair the 2026 National Spokespersons Awards and Economic Confidential Annual Lecture in Abuja on Aug. 13, an event organisers describe as the most expansive edition since the platform's inception. Image Merchants Promotion Limited (IMPR), which runs the awards alongside its Economic Confidential and PR Nigeria platforms, disclosed this at a press briefing in the capital. The ceremony, scheduled to hold at the NICON Luxury Hotel, will draw…

Nigeria's three listed brewing companies have spent more than N220 billion on advertising and distribution in the first half of 2026, as rising competition for shelf space and consumer attention pushed marketing budgets sharply higher. The figure comes from an industry analysis presented on a financial markets podcast by nairametrics. The heavy spending coincided with the three companies posting a combined N1.4 trillion in revenue for the half year, up 7 per cent from N1.3 trillion in the same period of 2025. …

Meta has released a new open-weight artificial intelligence model, with founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg using the launch to call on US policymakers to ease restrictions on open-source AI so American firms can better compete with Chinese developers. The new model, named Muse Glimmer, was unveiled on Monday, August 10, 2026. Unlike Meta's larger flagship systems, it is deliberately compact, built to handle agentic tasks and capable of running on an ordinary Mac or PC fitted with a single graphics card. The design…