JT Gets Social: Perhaps he was inspired by his role as tech hot shot/creep Sean Parker in the blockbuster hit Social Network. Justin Timberlake invested in MySpace and will lead the creative strategy for the site as part of its sale to Specific Media LLC. Will his star power be enough to turn the failing social network around? Maybe he should ask Ashton Kutcher for some tips, since he is apparently such a savvy investor and social media authority. Ashton and Justin aren’t the only celebs partnering with websites and tech companies. Model/ reality TV host/producer/singer/actress/psycho Tyra Banks and celebrity chef Rachael Ray each have partnerships with web publisher Demand Media to create content related to their respective areas of expertise (fashion and food). And we are all familiar with celebrity-endorsed brand and product tweets. Ugh. America, we need to calm down with all of this celeb worshipping, or before we know it, we will have celebrities as elected officials…Oh. WSJ
Twitter Follow Agencies?: So apparently there is such a thing as Twitter “follow agencies” that you can hire to get your Twitter follower number up. The agencies do this by creating dummy accounts. Newt Gingrich is very familiar with these agencies because, well, he uses them. That’s why his Twitter follower count is so high at 1,325,842; which, as Gingrich himself has been boasting, is “six times as many Twitter followers as all the other candidates combined.” Sorry, Newt, doesn’t count if you bought ‘em. Gawker
Tweet of the Day: Cool! A tweet from space! Astronaut Ron Garan tweeted a picture of his view of the moon from the International Space Station. AllThingsD
Video of the Day: Yesterday marked 30 years of MTV, and in honor of this milestone, Gawker put together a video montage of the best and worst moments from MTV history. Oh, how you’ve changed after all these years, MTV. Long gone are the days of music videos and VJ’s. At least we have Snooki? Follow the link for the video. Gawker
Tumblr of the Day: For all of you JoBro fans, here is Joe Jonas’ personal Tumblr! OMG! OMG! Don’t you feel so much closer to him now? The Fastlife
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Media Briefing: The case for and against monthly and annual subscriptions in the battle for retention
There are no one-size-fits-all solutions for improving retention in a subscriptions business. While annual subscribers might stick around longer for some, other publishers will have better luck with monthly plans.
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Digiday+ Research: The economy will hit the media and marketing industries this year, but differently
The economy will plague both the media and marketing industries in 2023, but the hit will be uneven between publishers and agencies.
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Podcast ad buyers have yet to see a slowdown
Ad buyers have yet to see clients cut their podcast budgets – though the time of podcasts as the shiny new medium may be coming to an end.
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SponsoredWhy Best Buy Ads sees retail media as integral to its customer-centric purpose
Sponsored by Best Buy Ads Retail media networks have become critical for marketers, with retailers investing in ways that enable advertisers to engage consumers across online and offline channels. Given the wealth of retailers’ first-party customer data and measurement capabilities, retail media networks have become a natural fit for augmenting performance marketing programs. Alongside the […]
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The programmatic open marketplace is faltering, but publishers see a bright spot in private programmatic deals
Publishers are coming to terms with their open programmatic marketplace RPMs being 20-55% lower than they were this time last year, but the hope is that programmatic guaranteed deals will make up the deficit.
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Atlas Obscura wants to be profitable before raising funds in a tricky media market
Atlas Obscura wants to turn a profit this year before it raises another funding round, at a time when publishers are facing lower valuations and pickier investors as deal activity slows.
