DIGIDAY+ MEMBER EXCLUSIVES
The upfront market is nearly done, as sports acts as both negotiation driver and obstacle
All that’s left for buyers to do is to finalize packages with any traditional media firms that don’t have some digital or streaming element.
OpenAI's ads program matures
Media
‘It’s a CEO conversation,’ Accenture and Whalar on their playbook for the creator economy
Brian Yasko, managing director at Accenture and Emma Harman, co-CEO of Whalar, on the massive creator economy acquisition and future plans.
WTF is LLM honeypotting?
Publishers and e-commerce brands under siege from AI crawlers are starting to fight back with an old security trick updated for the LLM era: “LLM honeypotting.”
Why a once-anonymous creator unmasked herself to build a bigger media brand
Kristi Cook used to YouTube anonymously. Once she revealed her face, her account became wildly popular.
Marketing
Five things the World Cup taught marketers about creators
The World Cup has wrapped, which means it’s time for the obligatory marketing takeaways piece.
Walmart reveals soccer fans’ World Cup shopping habits
New data is from Walmart is showing that consumer shopping habits shifted during the 2026 World Cup.
Future of Marketing Briefing: What World Cup breakout stars Haaland and Zlatan can teach marketers about sports stardom
This year’s soccer darlings confirm the emergence of a new kind of sporting celebrity in direct conversation with fandom and social media.
Future of TV
Future of TV Briefing: The M&A match game (summer 2026 edition)
This week’s Future of TV Briefing looks at the M&A deals that should be in the offing after an active first half of 2026.
Future of TV Briefing: The 5 biggest news stories of 2026 so far
This week’s Future of TV Briefing looks back at the most significant developments — or non-developments– in the TV, streaming and digital video industry during the first half of 2026.
Walmart buys ‘the Google Ads of streaming’ Vibe in a deal tipped at a $1 billion-plus valuation
The deal would bring Vibe’s 10,000 SME advertisers to the platform, equipping Walmart to better compete with Meta and Pinterest.
Media Buying
WTF: W3C’s Attribution API?
What marketers, publishers, and ad tech companies need to know about some of the latest proposals in browser-based ad measurement.
Stagwell is building its own AI media curation marketplace
The challenger holdco is developing an AI-powered pool of curated ad inventory for clients. Here’s how it’s supposed to work.
Ad Tech Briefing: Private equity’s ad tech playbook returns
Plus how the IAB is seeking to modernize how digital video inventory is defined, bought and measured.
Annual research reports
Podcasts
Research
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.
Playbook: Inside the next phase of retail media
Retail media has shifted from a niche tactic to a foundational advertising strategy. As the market landscape evolves, outcomes-focused channels are in the spotlight as more brands prioritize conversions. As retail media becomes a core part of the advertising mix, the next question is where it can drive the greatest impact. Because most sales still […]
With its expanded Quiet Hours program, Sephora joins other major retailers in offering designated hours with reduced noise and lights to better suit the needs of neurodiverse shoppers. Those initiatives speak to an environment in which retailers grapple with what it means to be truly inclusive and accessible as an increasing number of consumers identify as neurodiverse. But does lowering the music go far enough?
With its expanded Quiet Hours program, Sephora joins other major retailers in offering designated hours with reduced noise and lights to better suit the needs of neurodiverse shoppers. Those initiatives speak to an environment in which retailers grapple with what it means to be truly inclusive and accessible as an increasing number of consumers identify as neurodiverse. But does lowering the music go far enough?
Posting founder content is a key growth strategy for founder-led brands, but one that comes with a learning curve.
Posting founder content is a key growth strategy for founder-led brands, but one that comes with a learning curve.