Media Briefing: The 2024 media glossary 

Fear not, though! Here’s the latest guide to what people are actually saying when they talk about the ever-changing media industry.  

AI rev-shares

What it is: Not to be confused with a content licensing deal, artificial intelligence tech companies are now rolling out revenue-share programs with publishers. The rev-share gives publishers a cut of the revenue earned from ads placed on their content when accessed by the search engine.

Why it’s important: The ongoing struggle between generative AI companies and publishers is the argument around fair use of copyrighted content. But one of the ways that some AI-based search engines are looking to win favor with media companies is by promising them a cut of the earnings they get by using said content. Some publishers, like Time and The Texas Tribune, were quick to sign on, but other publishers feel this deal undervalues their content. Either way, the model is attracting interest simply because it disrupts the publisher-search engine dynamic that’s traditionally not given publishers a cut at all.

Further reading: 

• Perplexity’s new rev-share publisher program is live, but not all pubs are sold

Antitrust law

What it is: Regulation used to prevent or disrupt monopolies from forming 

Why it’s important: While not a new term, there have been quite a few antitrust lawsuits and allegations made in the media and advertising spaces, just in the month of August alone. The U.S. Department of Justice found Google guilty of violating antitrust rules in an effort to remain the predominant search engine. Then Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, issued a lawsuit against the trade organization, the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), asserting antitrust activity that was limiting ad revenue spent on X. And finally, Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders and Rep. Joaquin Castro have called for an antitrust investigation into the new sports streaming platform, Venu, which is being launched in a joint effort by Disney, Fox and Warner Bros.   

Further reading: 

• X files federal antitrust suit against GARM, WFA, CVS Health, Mars, Orsted, Unilever
• Elon Musk’s lawsuit shatters GARM, revealing industry’s fracture and fear
• What’s next for Google after federal judge’s monopolization ruling?
• Dept. of Justice being asked to investigate Disney, Fox, Warner Bros joint venture

Cookie reversal

What it is: The shorthand people are using to talk about Google’s decision to not fully remove third-party cookies from its Chrome browser after all. 

Why it’s important: After almost five years of saying third-party cookies would bite the dust from Chrome, Google announced in July it would not, in fact, deprecate all third-party cookies from its browser. Instead, users will be given the opportunity to opt in or opt out of allowing third-party cookie tracking, similar to Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT). Many publishers, though, believe that cookie deprecation is still an inevitability, however.  

Further reading: 

• After years of uncertainty, Google says it won’t be ‘deprecating third-party cookies’ in Chrome
• Why Google’s cookie deprecation reversal isn’t actually a reprieve for publishers

Cheap reach inventory

What it is: Chronically non-viewable ad inventory that can take the form of junky content recommendation widgets, the tiny pop-up video player, the ad on the 29th slide in a click-through article, or other below-the-fold advertisements that largely get ignored. 

Why it’s important: A lot of the unsavory or hidden parts of digital advertising have recently been dragged into the spotlight by ad tech vigilanties (or eager new vendors), showcasing that just because an advertiser is buying an ad on a well-known media site, it doesn’t mean that the ad itself is premium inventory. While not as bad of a classification as MFA sites, it’s not a good look for publishers that consider themselves as premium. 

Further reading: 

• Cheap reach inventory is the next target from the consultancy that spearheaded the MFA crackdown

Data collaboration

What it is: Also known as data collabs; A deal to connect a brand’s data with another brand, media company or retail media network to extend its impact for online advertising, without needing to use third-party cookies.

Why it’s important: Data collaborations are gaining momentum from brands (particularly those with not that much first-party data) and some publishers as a way to link up first-party data from audiences and customers to connect the dots of their online behaviors and ultimately bridge gaps in ad attribution, all without using third-party cookies. This often occurs in a data clean room, but some say the technology isn’t quite there yet to make this a seamless and easily adoptable targeting solution. 

Further reading: 

• WTF are data collaborations?
• Third-party cookies are hanging on, but Epsilon says brand marketers should still focus on first-party data

Domain spoofing 

What it is: A tactic used to trick an advertiser into paying for an ad on a site that they weren’t intending to advertise on by swapping out the URL in the DSP. 

Why it’s important: In all of the MFA hullabaloo, some premium publishers (like Forbes) were called out for operating an MFA subdomain that they pump full of ad inventory without disclosing it to the advertiser. Likely done as a way to earn more ad inventory without mucking up the main website with a bunch of ads.

Further reading:

• ‘More distrust in the marketplace’: Agency execs press pause on Forbes spend after domain spoofing report

ID bridging

What it is: Another alternative to third-party cookie-based tracking that stitches together a patchwork quilt of information about a user so advertisers can find them across sites, browsers and devices.

Why it’s important: ID bridging is another tool in marketers’ toolbelts that’s meant to be a replacement for third-party cookies, despite the fact that they might be hanging on longer than originally anticipated. While it itself is not a nefarious practice, ID bridging demands transparency and communication at every step of the way so no one is thrown off by the addition of user IDs that they weren’t expecting – which crosses over into fraud territory. 

Further reading: 

• WTF is the difference between ID bridging and ID spoofing?

ID spoofing

What it is: ID bridging’s evil twin; also referred to as ID stuffing, this occurs when a user ID is switched out for a different identifier in order to increase the value of the advertiser’s targeted user without telling the advertiser or buyer. 

Why it’s important: While the results may turn out the same or similar as ID bridging, ID spoofing is technically fraud, per the Media Rating Council’s definition of Sophisticated Invalid Traffic (SIVT), because it doesn’t disclose to the buyer that the user ID it intended to buy was swapped with a different ID. It would be like buying a blue shirt and receiving a red shirt. They’re both still shirts, but now it clashes with your orange pants. Although in some cases, it’s like buying a blue shirt and then never receiving your package because as it turns out, the shirt never existed at all.

Further reading: 

• WTF is ID spoofing
• Making sense of the allegations and defenses in the Colossus ad tech controversy

MFA

What it is: Made-for-arbitrage (née made-for-advertising); Publishers whose sites were created with the sole purpose of generating a lot of programmatic advertising revenue and not producing journalism or content of value. Often, they feature a very high ratio of ad inventory to actual content and are optimized to eek out every possible cent.

Why it’s important: MFA sites siphon as much as 21% of the ad dollars spent on programmatic advertising and while they have high viewability rates, the chance that those views are real, interested consumers is low. About a year ago, it was revealed how pervasive these sites are and they only seem to be growing in volume with the use of generative AI technology that can easily churn out more content to monetize with ads. 

Further reading: 

• WTF are made-for-advertising sites (MFAs)
• Confessions of an MFA publisher
• A brand safety watchdog wants to galvanize ad tech vendors to save publishers from MFA classification
• ‘MFA should stand for made-for-arbitrage’: An oral history of the murky made-for-advertising crusade

What we’ve heard

“The cookie thing keeps me up at night more than the AI thing. The AI thing used to keep me up more at night, but [now] … I have more optimism … The cookie thing – every cookie conversation begins and ends with, ‘Well, there’s so much uncertainty.'”

— Jon Steinberg, Future plc’s CEO on the latest episode of the Digiday Podcast

Numbers to know

225: The number of people The Star Tribune has kept staffed in its newsroom despite widespread industry layoffs elsewhere.

19: The number of bipartisan U.S. legislators who asked Meta how illicit drug ads had proliferated the platform.

$5.5 billion: The amount Edgar Bronfman has raised to make a bid for Paramount Global’s parent company, National Amusements Inc. (NAI).

What we’ve covered

AI Briefing: How tech companies are talking about AI on social media

• AI providers have spent the past year looking for ways to break through the noise, but oftentimes they’re using similar language across social media.
• More than 5,000 of Google’s posts mentioned Gemini across social accounts for Google, Google Pixel and Google Cloud. Meanwhile, Microsoft’s main account and a separate one for Microsoft Copilot mentioned Copilot about 300 times.

Read more about the analysis here.

Future’s Jon Steinberg shares his philosophy on AI content licensing deals

• Future plc’s CEO Jon Steinberg is focused on what will happen with cookies this year.
• He also shares why his company hasn’t inked a deal with OpenAI.

Hear more on the Digiday Podcast here.

Digiday+ Research: TikTok moves ahead of YouTube for brands’ video-focused social media marketing

• When it comes to the social media platforms focused specifically on video content — YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat in Digiday’s survey — TikTok ranked the highest for usage among brands and retailers as of this summer.
• This ranking marks a big change for YouTube over last year.

Read more about the Digiday+ Research here.

What we’re reading

OpenAI strikes search deal with Condé Nast

Condé Nast is the latest media company to strike a deal with OpenAI to scrape and display its content. The financial details of the multiyear partnership were not made available, according to Axios.

5 Lessons the Media Learned From the King of Daytime Talk Phil Donahue

How the industry followed in the footsteps of TV pioneer, Phil Donahue, who died on Sunday at the age of 88, as reported by Adweek.

US Adds Most Power Generation in 21 Years as AI Demand Surges

Artificial intelligence and data centers are driving energy usage. And the U.S. is attempting to meet the demand — in the first half of 2024, capacity increased the most since 2003, according to Bloomberg.