Daily August 19

The U.S. midterm elections this November are expected to draw a historic amount of political advertising spend — most of it is projected to go to TV and video streaming services. So where does that leave digital news outlets?

Additional coverage:

• In a new experiential effort, PBR is looking to tap into what people think of when they think of the beer brand — that it’s “classic, traditional, Americana,” in the words of marketing vp Nick Reely.
• Shell has been testing a way to automate the creation of online ads. The company turned to creative optimization platform Ad-Lib to do it in a way that wouldn’t be labor-intensive.
• As social media advertising becomes increasingly expensive and harder to track, personalized gift company Sugarwish is rethinking its social strategy and reducing efforts there.
• As shown by the success of Elden Ring this year, challenging, narrative-based titles are still the ideal for many core gamers. Digiday reached out to 14 prominent executives and influencers in the gaming and esports industry to ask about their most dreaded video game boss — and why.
• Over the last two decades, Ocean Media has emerged as one of the largest data-driven firms helping transform popular brands like Mint Mobile and Rakuten into household names. Digiday caught up with CEO Jay Langan in this Q&A.