Media

From brand deals to equity deals: creators want a stake, not just a fee

The creator economy is moving into a new phase: creators getting into companies at the ground floor through sweat equity or angel investing.

Media Briefing: Publishers question whether personalization actually pays off

Publishers are personalizing newsletters to get more value from readers, but questions remain over whether it’s a meaningful differentiator.

Publishers’ scorecard on Google’s ad tech remedies: they’re progress, but far from a clean win

After years of waiting for the DOJ to finally curb Google’s ad tech power, publishers are finding the devil in these new remedies.

Marketing

Why Sephora released a beauty set exclusively on TikTok Shop

TikTok Shop’s combination of eyeball-sucking entertainment and frictionless shopping have made it a legitimate competitor to beauty giants like the LVMH-owned Sephora.

In Graphic Detail: LLMs keep citing YouTube in search results

The videos getting cited reveal how different AI search can be from traditional Google search.

Marketers have bought into microdramas — but a lack of ROI might make them irrelevant

Microdramas are attracting brand dollars and audiences. The harder question is whether the format can translate that attention into meas.

Future of TV

Future of TV Briefing: Inside The Wall Street Journal’s new shows strategy

This week’s Future of TV Briefing looks at how The Wall Street Journal is switching up its podcast operations to accommodate video and social.

Some creators want to negotiate deals like TV networks

Creators have been brought onto traditional upfronts within the last year, but it’s looking like they’re ready for their own show.

TV with dollar sign representing balancing multichannel tv advertising to create revenue.

Future of TV Briefing: Every major streaming subscription price increase since 2019

This week’s Future of TV Briefing features charts breaking down every monthly subscription price change since 2019 across ad-free and ad-supported tiers for nine major streaming services.

Media Buying

Talent firm 24 Seven consolidates the new business efforts of its three concentric agencies

SktechDeck, Markacy and Futureman are now being pitched by 24 Seven’s new business team as any combination of the three shops that a client might want to tap

Ad Tech Briefing: Google’s ad tech remedies arrive just as the platform battle moves to AI

Regulators are prising open Google’s programmatic machinery just as AI, commerce and ad tech players race to control more of the advertising stack.

Can adland realistically reduce its reliance on Google’s vertically integrated ad stack?

The court has ordered Google to open up its ad tech stack, but can interoperability alone can loosen its grip on the market.


Upfronts

Future of TV Briefing: The upfront is overtaking streaming’s programmatic marketplace

This week’s Future of TV Briefing looks at how major TV and streaming ad sellers are seeing upfront deals represent a larger share of their programmatic businesses.

Why Amazon and YouTube pitched operating systems, not just TV inventory at this year’s upfront

Negotiations over identity, infrastructure, AI-driven buying take place as much as programing.

The state of publisher audiences in the zero-click era

This State of the Industry report, sponsored by Arc XP, explores how publishers are adapting their audience acquisition, AI search and creator economy strategies as zero-click search becomes the norm. The rise of AI-powered search is changing the way audiences discover and engage with content, and that fundamental shift is requiring publishers to adapt their […]

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Technology
How Kroger, Giant Eagle and DoorDash are building their agentic AI assistants

Companies like Kroger, Giant Eagle and DoorDash outlined their philosophies on agentic AI tools at this year’s Groceryshop conference. Much of the discussion centered around how to train shoppers to naturally integrate agentic shopping into their busy routines.