Advertising Perspectives

This week’s Media Briefing looks at how the TikTok ban impacted publishers’ onsite traffic and social referrals, as well as what companies like CNN, The Daily Mail and The Washington Post are doing with their ... read more

Havas Media Network has kicked off the new year with an acquisition aimed at deepening its sports marketing expertise and diversifying its revenue base. The media arm of Havas struck a deal to acquire CA ... read more

President Donald Trump was sworn in for his second term earlier this month. During the inauguration ceremony, a coterie of Big Tech CEOs in prominent positions was prominently featured, and observers interpreted this as a ... read more

Publishing businesses like the Lad Bible Group aren’t supposed to be thriving. They depend on ad dollars and platform traffic in an era where brands are skittish about news and platforms barely acknowledge publishers.  And ... read more

In spite of the weekend’s momentary TikTok shutdown, sales on TikTok Shop didn’t miss a beat. The hours-long TikTok shutdown on Jan. 18 and 19 did not have a negative impact on the platform’s sales ... read more

Whether on a large scale or small — in this case, medium sized — consolidation continues apace in the media agency world, following tectonic changes at the end of last year. GroupM continued to centralize ... read more

On Inauguration Day, President Donald Trump signed a flurry of executive orders, including one aimed at the dismantling of government diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The move signals yet another step in the DE&I about-face ... read more

More advertisers are turning to Amazon’s ad tech as their mainstay for programmatic buying — not just for Amazon’s own media properties, but increasingly for ads across the wider web too. The reason, according to ... read more

This week’s Future of TV Briefing looks at why advertisers are keeping an eye on streaming services’ ad product developments and ad loads. ‘Have you tried to watch streaming?’ Streaming watch time hits new ... read more

For those still counting, there’s another retail media network to add to the list. Alongside real estate, airlines and banking, airport shops have joined the race. WHSmith, a retail chain that operates hundreds of stores ... read more

Gabriela Cendrzak, content writer, Zeropark, a Commerce Media Tech company In 2025, brands and retailers face a pivotal moment: the end of the generic ads and one-size-fits-all strategies era. Today’s consumers demand personalized, meaningful experiences ... read more

President Trump’s second term will be different from his first. It seems his relationships with the media, tech and marketing industries already show as much. Ahead of yesterday’s inauguration, those in the media and tech ... read more

Publishers had mixed feelings about how 2024 shook out for their companies and the media industry as a whole, and it looks like those feelings are going to continue on into 2025. In other words, ... read more

As virtual-world platforms such as Roblox and Fortnite attract the lion’s share of both users and advertising dollars, the Korean-owned app Zepeto has quietly staked its own claim to a corner of the metaverse. The ... read more

By now, spotting influencers in major ads and at events is all but mainstream — but what if artificial intelligence allowed influencers to tap into old-school product placement without actually having to shoot in person ... read more

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts • Spotify Over the last year, marketers have been shelling out dollars to show up in sports, the supposed last bastion of monocultural moments and opportunity to get ads in front ... read more

They say the only constant is change, and that couldn’t be more true of the 2025 national advertising marketplace, as the U.S. experiences a new administration that seems both familiar and uncertain, and as major ... read more

Last week saw not one but two high-profile AI legal battles under the spotlight, with updates in separate copyright cases against Meta and OpenAI. Court documents unsealed in an AI copyright case against Meta raised ... read more

There was a time, not too long ago, when CMOs started to sound a lot more political. They made statements about brand purpose. They pulled funding from fake news. They held advertiser boycotts — more ... read more

The sun rose on Jan. 20, and despite U.S. Congress’ ultimatum for ByeDance to sell TikTok or face a U.S. ban, TikTok is still alive and kicking. A last-minute lifeline from President-elect Donald Trump has ... read more

Jan. 20 has arrived, and Congress’ ultimatum for ByteDance to sell TikTok or face a U.S. ban has come and gone without resolution. Neither a sale or a ban came to fruition. Instead, TikTok lives ... read more

Las Vegas is kind of an ideal backdrop to survey marketing and media executives about the state of the ad market. Advertising is ultimately gambling after all. During this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Sin ... read more

Telcos and ad tech: the media world’s messiest on-again, off-again relationship. T-Mobile’s $600 million cash swoop for outdoor ad specialist Vistart is the latest reunion in this turbulent love story. Slated to close this spring ... read more

The impending U.S. TikTok ban could threaten some creators’ ability to grow their audiences across all platforms — not just the embattled Chinese-owned short-form video app. As the United States marches toward a TikTok ban on ... read more

As Discord’s budding romance with brands and advertisers continues, the platform has hired its first-ever chief business officer to scale up its sales and partnership business. Jules Shumaker, Discord’s new CBO, comes to the company ... read more

With TikTok’s fate in the U.S. dangling between the Supreme Court and President-elect Donald Trump, competitors are moving in to try and claim its ad dollars. Snapchat, for example, isn’t holding back. In recent pitches ... read more

Over three decades of expansion, Amazon has displaced countless smaller businesses in the sectors it targeted, from bookshops to main street retailers.  In its latest retail initiative, however, the tech titan wants to be a ... read more

Chad Schulte, senior vice president of agency partnerships and strategy, Seedtag In this time of unprecedented access to information, it’s crucial objective journalism remains a cornerstone of an informed and functional society. However, as modern ... read more

In advertising circles, a quiet theory has been gaining traction: The Trade Desk, it’s said, isn’t exactly enamored with curation — a targeting strategy that could redirect valuable ad spend elsewhere. This week’s acquisition of ... read more

This week’s Media Briefing features an interview with Dotdash Meredith’s chief innovation officer, Jon Roberts. We discuss what the company has learned nearly nine months into its deal with OpenAI and what he wants to ... read more

Entire direct-to-consumer empires have been built on the back of paid social and search advertising. But empires have to think about the long term to last. With platforms such as Facebook and Instagram becoming more ... read more

This story originally published on sister site, WorkLife. WPP’s announcement requiring employees to return to the office four days a week has sent shockwaves through the advertising industry, spotlighting a deepening divide between corporate-owned and ... read more

Digiday’s events are getting a refresh under the leadership of Liz Pitonyak, who joined the company as general manager of events in December. She joined Digiday Media with 15 years of experience in event strategy ... read more

We want to hear your thoughts on the potential TikTok ban. Take our brief survey. For years, TikTok creators have been trying to migrate their audiences onto other platforms — but were relatively subtle about ... read more

Brian Tomasette, director of product, Amazon DSP The amount of change and number of challenges that marketers faced in 2024 was head-spinning. From uncertainty about third-party identifiers to the chaos of ever-changing privacy rules, brands, ... read more

Charlie Swift, general manager, Adstra Services The term performance marketing is hardly new, however, in the 2020s, the tactics and tools marketers use to achieve performance have evolved considerably, necessitating an update to how the ... read more

Mark Zohar, CEO, Viafoura For the digital media industry, 2024 was a year characterized by ongoing disruption and challenges, balanced by emerging opportunities for resilience and growth. For many digital publishers and media brands, much ... read more

The Trade Desk intends to acquire ad data firm Sincera, marking only its second acquisition since it launched in 2009 — a rare move for a company that usually builds, not buys.  Financial terms weren’t disclosed, ... read more

Related Insights The Programmatic Marketer How Megan Clarken plans to get Criteo out of the ad retargeting ‘box’ Read More Criteo yesterday announced an end to its months-long ... read more

We want to hear your thoughts on the potential TikTok ban. Take our brief survey. The likelihood of a future without TikTok is getting more real as the deadline to sell or be banned in ... read more

The copyright infringement trial between The New York Times and OpenAI kicked off in a federal court hearing on Tuesday. A judge listened to arguments from both parties in a motion to dismiss brought by ... read more

This story was originally published by sister site, Modern Retail. Last July, the period care brand Viv saw its monthly traffic spike by 400%, which “came out of nowhere,” according to Viv’s marketing and design ... read more

As of today, Jan. 15, Walmart has doubled down on its push into the metaverse by launching Zepeto’s first-ever e-commerce experience for physical goods. Zepeto is a digital avatar creation platform that allows its user ... read more

This week’s Future of TV Briefing reports on the meetings that Netflix held with ad buyers during last week’s Consumer Electronics Show, during which it discussed its advertising road map for the year. Nextflix ... read more

This year, the companies driving innovation in Europe focused on omnichannel strategies, including leaning on first-party data and AI-driven insights to improve targeting and audience engagement. The Digiday Awards Europe finalists also share a common ... read more

Interested in sharing your perspectives on the media and marketing industries? Join the Digiday research panel. It’s barely halfway through January, but publishers are already kicking off a busy year as they prepare for the ... read more

Influencer agencies have embraced generative AI applications over the last year, as they seek to cut the time taken to arrange creator involvement in brand campaigns. The client reaction to those solutions has been ... read more

By this time next week, we’ll likely know (though, anything could happen) whether TikTok has gone dark in the U.S. or if the app will continue to exist. So far, it’s not looking good. The ... read more

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts • Spotify Omnicom Group’s pending acquisition of Interpublic Group seems especially timely in the hindsight of last week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. A major talking point among the brand ... read more

Any flicker of hope that the ad industry would renew its commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion in 2025 may be getting dimmer just days into the New Year. Recently, Amazon, Meta, Publicis Groupe and ... read more

Ted Flanagan, Habu Chief Customer Officer, LiveRamp As the commerce category evolves and expands to more verticals and use cases, the industry is seeing a proliferation of media networks. Thanks to retailers, there’s a blueprint ... read more

T-Mobile has held talks to purchase Vistar Media, as the U.S.’s third-largest telco seeks to strengthen its non-traditional revenue streams by further expanding its footprint in the advertising sector, sources told Digiday. Such discussions are ... read more

Shoppable TV ads powered by AI-powered visual search aren’t yet a household habit. However, one startup’s new partnerships with two major TV manufacturers are just one of the many ways AI was showcased in Las ... read more

Once the U.S. presidential election was decided on Nov. 5, 2024, with former president Donald Trump defeating vice president Kamala Harris — an election that was certified only a week ago without attempts to overthrow ... read more

Advertisers may still be standing by TikTok for now, but its execs are eyeing the door as the app’s U.S. future grows increasingly precarious.  Since the start of the year, two senior leaders from its ... read more

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This edition of Digiday’s daily CES Briefing looks at the need for brands to adopt SEO strategies for dealing with AI agents, an interview with Mastercard’s Raja Rajamannar about agency compensation models in the AI ... read more

Throughout 2024, several major brands announced they were creating their own brand studios that would soon roll out television shows and films. Marketers, it seems, have become more interested in creating entertainment rather than just ... read more

In the age of social media-driven, viral trends, brands often look to platforms like TikTok to strike gold with the algorithm and reach a massive audience. As social media fragmentation continues and the TikTok ban ... read more

Over the past two weeks, a growing cohort of digital creators has spoken out against the Honey browser extension for swapping creators’ affiliate marketing links with its own. Beyond their stolen affiliate revenue, however, creators ... read more

TikTok’s new ultimatum — shutdown in the U.S. or get a lifeline from the Supreme Court — is the latest plot twist in a whirlwind month that’s left markets in a tailspin. With the app’s ... read more

This edition of Digiday’s daily CES Briefing examines how brands and agencies are seeing a need to change payment structures to account for AI tools handling some agency work, what marketing and media execs may ... read more

Ads that target AI agents rather than humans might sound like something ripped from the pages of sci-fi, but it’s a concept that’s gaining traction among marketers thanks to recent musings by Perplexity CEO Aravind ... read more

No one doubts that 2025 is going to be a fasten-your-seatbelt kind of year. A new (but also not-so-new) president known to shake up norms, an expected deregulatory environment, but one that generally discourages ... read more

After another year of rapid AI development and experimentation, tech and marketing experts think 2025 could help move adoption beyond the testing phase. The factors in play come from multiple fronts. Tech companies are expanding ... read more

Wrapping up its search-related string of partner deals announced at CES this week, Digiday has learned that Omnicom Media Group has secured access to Roku’s viewer searches on the streaming platform in order to help ... read more

This week’s Media Briefing hones in on the business areas that publishing execs say they will prioritize this year – and what they are leaving behind in 2024. Media execs focused on growing engagement, ... read more

Netflix’s Christmas Day NFL coverage was a hit among viewers and advertisers. Its two holiday games each drew an average of 26.5 million U.S. viewers, according to the Nielsen Big Data + Panel, while ad ... read more

For most advertisers, programmatic advertising is a one-stop shop: log into a demand-side platform (DSP), place your bids and call it a day.  Mars Petcare, however, is doing things differently. When it comes to CTV, ... read more

This edition of the daily CES Briefing features an interview with Stagwell’s Mark Penn about the landscape for agencies and a recap of a session from OpenAP’s Audience Summit on the disconnect with streaming ad ... read more

The creator economy is gearing up for significant change over the next year — from the rise of AI and creator-founded businesses to the growth of long-term brand partnerships and embrace of long-form content. As ... read more

After spending much of 2024 recovering from a down period, esports industry executives are stepping on the gas in anticipation of a growth year in 2025. In 2023, advertisers and investors alike jumped ship from ... read more

Meta is borrowing a page from Elon Musk’s X on free speech and censorship, but advertisers aren’t hitting the panic button — yet.  For now, they’ve brushed off Meta’s decision to scrap its U.S. fact-checking program ... read more

TikTok may be facing a potential existential crisis here in the U.S., as a Jan. 19 deadline approaches which could possibly see it shut down or sold to another company. But that’s not stopping ... read more

As a potential U.S. TikTok ban grows near, creators are adjusting their approach to partnership contracts to avoid being left holding the bag if — or when — the platform goes down. Although the United ... read more

Yahoo has entered ad tech’s curation fray, focusing on supply-side intelligence tie-ups amid a host of partnership announcements as part of its Consumer Electronic Show activity.   It’s a positioning it hopes will differentiate it ... read more

This edition of the daily CES Briefing looks at how the agentic era of AI looms over CES and then recaps a session that highlights the underlying issue of everything becoming an ad network. The ... read more

This week’s Future of TV Briefing looks at some of the top trends and developments to keep an eye on in 2025. The year-in-preview Honey’s boo boo Netflix’s newest sports deal, Google’s tracking change, ... read more

Generative AI was a big part of marketing discussions throughout 2024, as brands and agencies became eager to invest in AI tools to do everything from creating internal workflow efficiencies to producing consumer-facing ads. These ... read more

If anything is clear for 2025, it’s that the cracks in an already fragmented social media landscape are only getting deeper. This year, marketers might be willing to slowly walk away. “The social media landscape ... read more

Reddit is rolling out several new tools for marketers that aim to demystify the platform and help advertisers engage more with users. A new free tool for marketers called Pro Trends aims to help marketers ... read more

Omnicom continued to focus on advances and changes in search during CES this week, announcing a partnership with Amazon Ads and Omnicom’s Flywheel unit that enables access to five years of search data — a ... read more

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts • Spotify Fast food and quick service restaurant brands had a rough go over the past few years as shoppers have tried to save a few bucks amidst rising grocery prices ... read more

Predicting what will and won’t be popular throughout the year is a fool’s errand. Whatever you think will be the big thing may not be. Something you never could’ve predicted will probably be the biggest ... read more

One subplot worth tracking as M&A ramps up this year: brand advertising — or, more accurately, its metamorphosis into a marketing-entertainment mashup. The days of this being mere theory are over. WPP teaming up with ... read more

For Philadelphia 76ers shooting guard Jared McCain, there’s more to life than basketball.  Specifically, there’s 4.4 million followers on TikTok and 1.5 million on Instagram watching as the 20-year-old ballplayer dances, makes skits and posts ... read more

When Donald Trump becomes president later this month, some news publishers will have updated tactics and strategies in place to cover his second term, ranging from a focus on softer news stories to more social ... read more

As it has done at most major media tentpole events the last few years, Omnicom and its media arm, Omnicom Media Group, will take advantage of the attention around the Consumer Electronics Show this week ... read more

Both a boon of opportunity but also the bane of most media folk that have to immediately snap out of holiday mode and head to Las Vegas, CES is again upon us. With each passing ... read more

Despite serving as the unofficial kickoff to the advertising and media industry’s calendar, this week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas doesn’t necessarily set the industry’s agenda for the year. But it does help to ... read more

Billy (not his real name) is the kind of senior marketer who usually has a hot take for every occasion. Brand safety? He’ll unravel the industrial complex behind it. Transparency? Buckle up; he’ll spill it ... read more

Every December, the industry churns out breathless predictions about what’s next in media and advertising. Spoiler alert: most of it won’t happen.  Unified CTV measurement? Influencers with integrity? Ad tech that’s not a black hole ... read more

Several new ad networks joined the bevy of existing (and growing) retail media networks last year with new terminology to match: financial media networks, travel media networks and, as of just last month, the (allegedly) ... read more

If Perplexity wants to make a mark on advertising, Andrew Beck will be one to watch. As head of business development, he’s been at the forefront of convincing advertisers (so far) to buy in — a ... read more

Have you ever planned a vacation using just TikTok to search your destination(s)? That’s more common these days than it used to be, thanks to the changing habits of consumers, who spend more time on ... read more

With training data similar across major large language models, finding ways to make them more creative and more differentiated is increasingly important. That reality has left customers asking for ways to make AI more creative ... read more

This year, chatter concerning mergers and acquisitions is all about whether 2025 will spark a deal frenzy across advertising and ad tech. Here’s the twist: the deal flow never really dried up in 2024. In ... read more

Tech giants and startups alike have spent the past year building new generative AI tools for users and advertisers. From AI images for programmatic ads to a growing number of AI-generated TV commercials, brands are ... read more

In June 2024, the mobile game developer HOMA published “Clean It,” a casual game inspired by the #CleanTok TikTok trend — and the game became a viral hit.  The game launch, the result of a collaboration ... read more

It’s unsurprising that more teenagers aspire to become influencers, given how many grew up watching TikTok stars like Charli D’Amelio and Ariana Greenblatt go from social media to the big screen. During this year’s U.S. ... read more