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Amazon positions live sports portfolio as leverage to pry open upfront dollars
Amazon touted its combination of commerce targeting data and NBA and NFL inventory as a solution to marketer wariness during upfront negotiations.
OpenAI's ads program matures
Media
Mega creators find that their personalities alone aren’t scalable as standalone businesses
Successful creators like Alex Cooper or MrBeast are creating media companies, to varying degrees of success and struggle.
Media Briefing: Publishers cautiously count AI licensing as notable revenue amid programmatic strain, in Q1 earnings
Amid declining referral traffic and programmatic ads, publishers are beginning to see meaningful revenue from AI licensing deals.
Retailers are rushing to build AI apps. It’s unclear if shoppers will use them
There are almost 900 apps on ChatGPT and 353 Claude connectors, according to AppDiscoverability.com, which tracks AI app data.
Marketing
Digiday+ Research: Marketers’ AI use rises, but tech skills stall
Marketers’ adoption of AI technology has risen significantly in recent years, but training employees on using these tools lags behind overall adoption.
Possible expands to Lisbon in 2027, keeping its focus on marketing, tech, culture and creativity
Digiday caught up with Carolina Cespedes of GoGo Squeez, Remy Stiles of agency Kepler and Oz Etzioni of Clinch, as well as Possible’s co-founder and owner.
How Ace Hardware built its employee AI assistant
Ace Hardware executives took a careful approach in designing and implementing its new AI assistant to work throughout the chain.
Future of TV
Future of TV Briefing: The upfront glossary, 2026 edition
This week’s Future of TV Briefing looks at the terms on the tips of ad buyers’ and sellers’ tongues when talking about the upfront market.
Future of TV Briefing: Ad tech’s pod bidding push moves CTV toward advancing the live sports ad model in 2026
This week’s Future of TV Briefing looks at how ad tech companies including Comcast’s FreeWheel, Index Exchange and The Trade Desk are preparing CTV’s programmatic supply chain for upgraded auction dynamics amid an influx of live sports ad inventory.
Pinterest debuts audience extension offering on CTV
Advertisers can now purchase Pinterest audiences on third-party properties via its TV Scientific offering.
Media Buying
The Trade Desk’s $689M revenue beat is blunted by the departure of CSO Jacobson to OpenAI
The DSP confirms the pending exit as PubMatic reports Q1 revenues of $62.6 million, capping off a bumper week of ad tech earnings.
‘Expand thoughtfully’: OpenAI offers ChatGPT ads to new markets including the U.K., Brazil and Japan
Over the coming weeks it will start testing ads in its ChatGPT AI-powered chatbot in the U.K., Brazil, Japan, South Korea and Mexico.
Omnicom quietly moves Flywheel into the media group
Omnicom confirmed the move, which is seen by one analyst as a move to fold outcomes into the media investment abilities of the holdco.
Annual research reports
Podcasts
Research
Upfronts
As upfront negotiations near, buyers chart path through complex sports market
The DOJ’s NFL probe highlights how sports rights complexity can be ‘good for pricing, but hard on strategy’ for brands and buyers.
Media Buying Briefing: What buyers got out of the NewFronts and expect to happen in the upfronts
As the Newfronts try to show off better tools, content and measurement, the broader upfront market is trying to stay the course in the face of economic uncertainty.
Human-led service is an AI differentiator for independent agencies
While AI speeds up media buying, it’s also exposing cracks in how agencies execute. As campaign complexity grows, agency leaders are getting pulled back into the weeds. But clients don’t see process breakdowns — they see unmet expectations. Instinct is generally to juggle more platforms, data and expectations as retail media and programmatic spend surge. […]
Glossy checked in on Sephora’s and Ulta’s bets on AI through integrations with ChatGPT and Google Gemini.
Glossy checked in on Sephora’s and Ulta’s bets on AI through integrations with ChatGPT and Google Gemini.
For brands, influencer weddings are becoming lucrative marketing opportunities and a chance to tap into some of social media’s most highly engaged content.
For brands, influencer weddings are becoming lucrative marketing opportunities and a chance to tap into some of social media’s most highly engaged content.