UK August 10

Over the past few weeks, revelations about Activision Blizzard’s toxic work culture have put the gaming and esports industry into crisis mode. Advertisers are taking note: so far, some of the company’s prominent advertisers including T-Mobile, Kellogg’s, State Farm and Coca-Cola have each expressed unease. Read more below.

• It took two weeks after news of the lawsuit broke for T-Mobile to pull out from its partnership with Activision Blizzard, with other sponsors falling away like dominoes soon after.
• As the pandemic eases its restrictions on travel, Atlas Obscura is creating a new hybrid business model that combines 2019’s tried-and-true strategy with 2020’s innovation. More in this week’s Digiday Podcast.
• No longer in a race against time, publishers are considerably less worried about life after third-party cookies, according to new Digiday+ Research.
• The Unified ID 2.0 identifier solution is quietly gathering more support among agencies, but it hasn’t picked up as much speed among publishers.
• If you ask marketers or agency execs to characterize the current job market for employers you’ll hear some version of how “brutal” it currently is. More in this week’s Digiday+ Marketing Briefing.
• Hybrid working models are proving a win-win for employees and employers, with both able to cast the job-seeking net wider.
• Overtime is finally able to work with college athletes and is creating a content studio specifically to make content for this cohort.