- ‘An ordinary course of business’: Why agency holding groups could be the next arbitrage target for private equity investorsTimes of uncertainty tend to be times of opportunity for private equity investors, so it makes sense they’re looking at the ad industry Specifically, the agency holding groups. Publicis may have denied a report ... read more
- ‘Let’s survive a pandemic together’: Roommates are struggling with realties of sharing space 24/7Escaping urban areas was a common lifestyle choice for many city dwellers at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in mid-March. It was done in an attempt to outrun the virus, as well as to ... read more
- ‘Let’s survive a pandemic together’: Roommates are struggling with realities of sharing space 24/7Escaping urban areas was a common lifestyle choice for many city dwellers at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in mid-March. It was done in an attempt to outrun the virus, as well as to ... read more
- ‘Must be a better way’: Why Mother is getting into the media business with new independent agencyMother is getting into the media business. Over the last 18 months, the independent creative shop has been building a team to run an independent media agency, Media by Mother, to be a “modern media ... read more
- ‘We will be on even higher alert’: TV, streaming news outlets prepare for an unpredictable Inauguration DayIf CBS News Digital evp and gm Christy Tanner had her way, the inauguration of Joe Biden as U.S. president on Jan. 20 will be relatively uneventful. “We wish for a news-free inauguration, a totally ... read more
- Fashion brands are abandoning traditional org charts in favor of ‘fluid’ teams
- ‘People won’t question our ability’: Why performance marketing agencies want to create their own DTC brandsPerformance marketing agencies are exploring building direct-to-consumer brands in-house. Doing so will not only allow agencies more control over the growth of a brand, but serve as a test case to prove strategies they want ... read more
- Emulating commutes, appreciating the ‘little things’: C-suite execs share how they’ve adapted daily routinesAnd you thought your day was busy. In an interview with Marie Claire last month, country music icon Dolly Parton admitted to sleeping just five hours a night and getting up long before the sun ... read more
- ‘On a learning curve here’: E-commerce platforms still struggling with hateful listingsThe fallout from the violence that took place inside the U.S. Capitol building last week is spreading to e-commerce platforms. Between January 7-11, the merchandise platform Teespring banned 26 users from its site for selling ... read more
- ‘It’s go time’: Revolt to debut ad-supported streamer focused on Black culture, social justice in Q1Add Revolt to the list of TV network owners setting up standalone streaming properties. In the first quarter of 2021, Revolt plans to launch a free, ad-supported direct-to-consumer streaming app on connected TV platforms, including ... read more
- ‘Always on trauma machine’: Social media managers grapple with burnout, leaving the industryMarc Phillips was exhausted from being extremely online. The former social media manager worked for award-winning global brands. But by 2017, he had had enough. Political tensions were high, Twitter bots were multiplying and school ... read more
- Future of TV Briefing: The ad-supported streaming war officially kicks off in 2021Over the past year or so, Netflix has faced its greatest competition yet among subscription-based streamers in the forms of Disney+ and HBO Max. Now it is Hulu’s turn. As Netflix has done ... read more
- Hearst’s CDS Global makes an identity play with single sign-on solutionMost publishers are beginning 2021 with user identity problems. Hearst is going into the new year hoping it can help solve them while strengthening their own post-cookie hand in the process. Over the past year, ... read more
- ‘So much of culture is influenced by Black and Hispanic people’: How PepsiCo is addressing advertising’s problem with raceIt is one of the ad industry’s most uncomfortable truths that although Black people are enjoying greater representation, it remains white people who predominantly profit from their culture. As awareness of racial inequality grows worldwide, ... read more
- ‘Flying isn’t all that necessary’: Grounded business execs express relief at suspension of non-stop travel“At first I loved traveling all the time,” recalled Preeti Chotai, a London-based beauty trends and innovation expert who used to fly every few weeks to meet clients such as L’Oréal and Coty, and attend ... read more
- Marketing Briefing: The next weeks ‘will be tense’: Marketers brace for more social unrestWelcome to the Marketing Briefing, a weekly feature for Digiday+ members that goes deep into the world of brands, marketing and the executives shepherding them for their companies. The Marketing Briefing, which will be authored ... read more
- How The Washington Post’s Launcher covers gaming and esports inside a mainstream publicationSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Google Play | Spotify For years, gaming has been categorized as a niche form of entertainment. But that’s been changing over the better part of the past decade, including within the realm of gaming ... read more
- ‘Not a place for takeovers’: Pepsi amps up Triller marketing plansThere’s little arguing that Triller right now is not a mainstream app at 65 million monthly active years at its last count. And it clearly gets outsized attention —note that there were more than 1.6 ... read more
- Customer data can help brands boost loyalty and brand revenueBy Karen Wood, senior director, product marketing, Acquia Trust, reliability and making good on brand promises have always been the cornerstones of customer loyalty. Brands that offer a frictionless, flexible customer experience (CX), one that ... read more
- ‘The reality is we have to be professional’: Confessions of an ad exec on working amid the chaos at the CapitolDuring the insurrection at the U.S. Capital building last week, agency execs and marketers were pressing pause on paid advertising, especially on social. Doing so has become part of the playbook for marketers amid a ... read more
- ‘Never smart to let things fall off people’s calendars’: How publishers are selling during a virtual CESFor media companies, the Consumer Electronics Show has long been more about marathon sales meetings than consumer electronics. So with the three-day confab set to take place virtually this week, publishers’ sales teams have adapted ... read more
- ‘A challenging point for ID resolution’: Advertisers scramble to plan for the uncertain ‘cookieless future’It seems that resolving advertising’s identity crisis is like negotiating a maze and advertisers have no idea what waits for them at the end of the labyrinth. Sure, they have a vague idea of ... read more
- Media Buying Briefing: Four trends that will shape the agency business in 2021Welcome to the Media Buying Briefing, a new weekly feature for Digiday+ members that goes deep into the world of media buying and media agencies, including the news, developments and trends impacting everything from the ... read more
- ‘We’ve unfortunately had too much practice’: TV, streaming advertisers have grown accustomed to pulling ads when bad news breaksAfter a violent mob overtook the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, advertisers pulled their campaigns from linear TV and streaming services just as they did on social platforms like Facebook. But the pullbacks ... read more
- Welcome to the ground floor: street-level offices for a post-pandemic worldThis article is part of the Future of Work briefing, a weekly email with stories, interviews, trends and links about how work, workplaces and workforces are changing. Sign up here.Having outgrown its old headquarters, Chicago ad agency ... read more
- One year in, Protocol is starting to move on its global expansion plansProtocol, like most media companies in the spring of 2020, took a hit — and one that was especially acute just months past launching in February. It faced a coronavirus-induced layoffs of 13 employees —about ... read more
- Why brands should launch now before their competition doesBy Miranda Lo, senior marketing manager, global business brand team, Twitter How a brand launches can make or break campaigns. After the planning and testing phases are complete, brands must ask one important question: ... read more
- Marketers, agency execs expect deal making to continue at CES, despite the virtual venueAny other year, more than 100,000 people migrate to Las Vegas for the annual Consumer Electronics Show. But in 2021, another year of a global pandemic, mask mandates and lockdowns, CES will move to a ... read more
- As marketer interest rises, Black media brands are investing in growing community coverageIn 2020, a flurry of brands took to social media to share their support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Then, needing to walk the walk, some of those brands started spending more of their ... read more
- Despite hungry VCs, DTC brands are rethinking their fundraising approachThis is the latest installment of the DTC Briefing, a weekly Modern Retail column about the biggest challenges and trends facing the volatile direct-to-consumer startup world. Join Modern Retail+ to get access to the DTC briefing–as ... read more
- ‘A proxy for interests’: How Meredith is using data from political campaigns to inform non-political advertisingPolitical affiliations have the potential to tell marketers more about a consumer than almost any other demographic information at their disposal. And that is the strategy that Meredith’s media planning and buying division, MNI Targeted ... read more
- ‘It’s a very volatile situation’: Advertisers pause paid social advertising amid D.C. chaosAdvertisers are pressing pause on paid social advertising and reevaluating their overall ad spends amid the chaos in Washington, D.C. after a pro-President Trump mob broke into the Capitol building Wednesday. Media buyers say advertisers ... read more
- News publishers expect advertisers to return to news after Trump’s departureThe global economic outlook remains cloudy, the coronavirus has not yet been brought to heel, and there are plenty of reasons to be skeptical that president-elect Joe Biden will be able to bridge the gap ... read more
- Vevo looks to expand its TV screen footprint with new Comcast dealBest known for the music video channels it operates on YouTube, Vevo has been among the digital video publishers pushing to secure its place on people’s TV screens. In the latest example of that effort, ... read more
- For marketers, digital techniques are permanently changing casting and productionIn 2020, virtually every industry across the globe was forced to adjust to new realities and reimagine old ways of doing business. Nowhere was this truer than in branded film and video production. As in-person ... read more
- Digiday welcomes new reporters Kimeko McCoy and Erika Wheless to cover marketing and commerceDigiday Media is excited to announce two new additions to the Digiday editorial team. With the new year upon us, and as we look forward to deepening our coverage of the marketing and commerce spaces, ... read more
- ‘Marketers talk a good game’: Confessions of a senior agency exec on being paid fairlyNew year, same challenges. That’s the sobering 2021 outlook of one senior agency exec who expects many marketers to continue to avoid the thorny topic of remuneration. In the latest edition of our Confessions series, ... read more
- Here are the five major forces and trends that will shape the future of TV in 2021Last year reshaped the future of TV in myriad ways. It catalyzed the shift to streaming, foisted newfound flexibility into traditional TV advertising and threw traditional production and programming pipelines in flux. Many of ... read more
- Deep Dive: Programmatic ends a strong 2020 as CTV, OTT and data privacy loom large in early 2021A year ago it may have been hard to imagine the ways a pandemic could impact the world of programmatic marketing. As it has turned out, of course, the coronavirus crisis has had profound implications ... read more
- As ad tech surges, challenges remain — and not just from the coronavirus pandemicAd tech is having a moment, again. Far from being upended by the coronavirus pandemic, the much-maligned section of the ad industry is in rude health thanks in large part to a surge in online ... read more
- ‘Managers need to know someone is engaged’: Getting noticed virtually has gotten harderWhen it comes to getting noticed by the boss, virtual working can be a nightmare. The coronavirus crisis and the switch to remote working and meetings has made it more difficult for employees to stand ... read more
- How Future PLC’s audience-first strategy grew revenue in 2020While 2020 was a year of struggle and strife for many publishers, London-based Future PLC ended its 2020 fiscal year up 65% in total revenue from last year, bringing in a total ... read more
- Change the channel: How ViacomCBS is managing the transition from linear TV to streaming
- ‘Focus on flexibility will continue in 2021’: Heading into the New Year, advertisers remain cautiousIf you were hoping that come 2021 ad spending would be back to pre-pandemic levels, I’m sorry to tell you that it still isn’t the case. There was no magic snap back to normal on ... read more
- ICYMI: Digiday Media’s EndgamesMedia can be a morbid business sometimes. After two decades of disruption and destabilization wrought by tech platforms, changing advertiser expectations and consumer behavior, it’s fair to say that people in media and marketing have ... read more
- The definitive Digiday guide to what’s in and out for the future of workNo-one could have predicted just how fast businesses would have to change in 2020 in order to cope with the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. In retrospect, companies have described the crisis as a catalyst ... read more
- The end of the waiting game
- ‘Leaders who lacked empathy struggled in 2020’: Agency chiefs discuss leadership transformationThis article is part of the Future of Work briefing, a weekly email with stories, interviews, trends and links about how work, workplaces and workforces are changing. Sign up here. Agency bosses have had to not only ... read more
- ‘It used to be so easy’: How networking has been reshaped by the coronavirus
- The end of the Series A: While tech financing booms, DTC brands face a new reality
- Goodbye to blowouts: The U.S. market for hair tool and appliance brands declined in 2020
- In memoriam: A round-up of the media companies we lost in 2020
- Taking remuneration seriously: the time has come
- For Vice Media, bad-boy news culture is dead, long live news
- How Authentic Brands Group has positioned itself as the 2020 repo man
- ‘No is not an option’: Confessions of a sales executive
- How 2020 canceled the concept store
- What happened to beauty’s on-the-go wipes brands in 2020?
- How Walmart became an integral part of the DTC playbook
- The jig is up: The end of the identity workaround
- How 2020 killed the Instagram brand
- How China’s swift recovery boosted it to fashion capital status
- ‘Don’t care about those perks’: Employees are no longer staying at companies for a cool culture
- How Complex entered the race to earn revenue from audience insightsSuccessful media companies are ones that give readers what they want as well as anticipate their needs. That’s proven to be even more crucial this year as media companies tried to emphasize their own first-party ... read more
- ‘Help create experiences’: Anheuser-Busch vp of beyond beer on finding new ways to grow brandsHard seltzer broke big in the summer of 2019, but Anheuser-Busch is continuing to find new ways to keep the beverage top of mind. One strategy is to release new brands and flavors, which is ... read more
- Digiday Research: Nearly one third of agencies grew their headcounts in 2020A wave of consolidation led to more balanced — if still grim — changes in headcount at agencies this year. Despite every holding company reporting some staff reductions and predictions of a major bloodletting in ... read more
- ‘There’s a lot of posturing’: Confessions of a Black copywriter on agencies’ sluggish response to fix diversity, equity and inclusionThis past June, ad agencies released employee diversity data and made public commitments to improve diversity, equity and inclusion in advertising. Since then, agencies told Digiday they are still committed to change but this past ... read more
- Coronavirus-induced change and accelerations: Digiday’s top trends for 2021Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Google Play | Spotify In this week’s episode of the Digiday Podcast, our editorial team takes a look ahead at what 2021 may have in store for the publishing and marketing industries, from what ... read more
- Digiday Research: 53% of publishers offered new ad products this yearFor proof that necessity is the mother of invention, look no further than the sales teams’ offerings across media and marketing in 2020. Even in a year when planning cycles were shorter, brands were even ... read more
- Deep Dive: How the coronavirus crisis accelerated the already cresting CTV sea changeThis year the coronavirus crisis threw TV advertisers a curveball, but ultimately 2020 proved to be a transformational year for the industry. Indeed, she pandemic accelerated many of the systemic changes that were already in ... read more
- ‘A whole new frontier for us’: Marketplaces begin to crop up as publishers continue to hunt for new user revenueThe end of the year has brought a flurry of publishers launching marketplaces. Leaf Group’s Well + Good launched a shop filled with wellness items including Vitamin D skin cream and bath bombs; Narcity, ... read more
- ‘A second chance for publishers’: How Future PLC is using first-party data to sell against high-intent audiencesIt’s crunch time for media companies to ditch their dependencies on third-party cookies. Future PLC has spent the last nine months building its own proprietary tech stack to collect, streamline and scale the first-party ... read more
- Remote working spotlights neurodiversity challengesThis article is part of the Future of Work briefing, a weekly email with stories, interviews, trends and links about how work, workplaces and workforces are changing. Sign up here. Imagine making a phone or video call ... read more
- ‘Hard to find any impressions’: Media companies’ streaming inventory sold out early this fourth quarterThis holiday season, streaming inventory was the ad industry’s version of Microsoft’s and Sony’s newly released gaming consoles: a hot commodity difficult to keep in stock. “It’s hard to find any impressions in the fourth ... read more
- Why the AT&T-Fuse Media distribution dispute is sending an important signal about the pay-TV marketAt least a few times a year, a pay-TV provider and a TV network owner reach an impasse over how much money the provider should pay the network to carry the latter’s linear channels. ... read more
- How Vogue’s international approach to audience data helped it reach record readersThere are 26 international iterations of Condé Nast’s Vogue and what’s become evident at the end of 2020, as the coronavirus crisis continues its disruptions, is that the iconic fashion brand’s global audiences have key ... read more
- ‘More petty fights between tech titans’: Confessions of a media buyer on Apple vs. Facebook, Google lawsuitsFor media buyers, especially those focused on performance marketing, the majority of their budget is still spent on Facebook and Google. Both tech companies, though, face new scrutiny from lawmakers that could affect their ad ... read more
- ‘We have to get this off our books’: TV networks’ debts to advertisers are piling upTV networks are overdue on their bills to advertisers. Those debts have continued to pile up in the fourth quarter, further tightening the already constrained TV ad market and pushing networks to prioritize wiping their ... read more
- Digiday Research: Almost half of publishers experienced layoffs in 2020Thanks to things like a healthy Cyber 5, two quarters of positive momentum driven by resilient advertising budgets, many publishers see themselves ending 2020 on a high note. It’s a stark contrast from the first ... read more
- ‘No one fix’: Giant Spoon’s new diverse audience marketing vp Kenny Mac on working with brands to improve diversity and inclusionThis past summer, Black employees in advertising called on agencies and brands to release employee diversity numbers as well as commit to structural changes that would start to combat racism in advertising. Since then, agencies ... read more
- Five ways publishers can level-up personalization for engagement and revenueBy Jeff Kupietzky, CEO, PowerInbox For years, brand marketers have known that targeted personalization is key to driving customer engagement, which is why a growing number are investing in personalized messaging. Even something as simple ... read more
- Top 2021 trends for app growth, with game publishers leading the wayRina Hahm, head of North America West, Facebook Audience Network It has been a year to remember in the gaming world and beyond. In 2020, stay-at-home orders fueled mobile gaming consumption, delivering new audience insights ... read more
- Cheat sheet: Facebook Instant Articles revenues rise for publishersIt seems that rumors of Facebook Instant Articles’ death have been greatly exaggerated. On Tuesday, Dec. 15, Facebook announced some growth stats and updates for its long-running mobile content format. The key details First ... read more
- How the future of TV was reshaped by 2020This year, 2020, won’t end when the calendar flips to Jan. 1. Its impact on the future of TV — that blurring of traditional TV, streaming and digital video — will continue into next year ... read more
- Why news publishers are eagerly bundling their subscriptions with brandsIt’s a new era of subscription bundling and it’s a lot more sophisticated than selling readers on a two-for-one deal. Publishers including Business Insider, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post are turning ... read more
- ‘An unhealthy level of guilt’: Culture of presentism is making it harder to justify taking sick days‘Tis the season for colds and flu, on top of the coronavirus’ latest surge. But with today’s enforced remote-working culture and heightened pressure of digital presenteeism, some agency executives no longer feel justified in taking ... read more
- Content commerce: How brands and publishers are diversifying revenue streamsData-driven marketing helps brands understand where consumers are within the shopper journey, enabling them to predict better what the customer might do next. And while this data allows brands to target advertising throughout the path ... read more
- Why programmatic DOOH is a winning strategy for 2021 ad planningAs the new year approaches, industries across the board could not be more thrilled to part with 2020, which will undoubtedly go down as one of the most challenging years of our time. In advertising ... read more
- Deep Dive: How to grow e-commerce capabilities on AmazonAmazon started 2020 in an already-dominant position within the U.S. e-commerce business and, more broadly, the retail trade. However, the COVID-19 pandemic sent the company into uncharted territory, as consumers flocked to e-commerce and brands ... read more
- The CMO as therapist: Marketing chiefs take on more intimate workplace role in pandemicThe marketing chiefs of some of the best-known companies — from Mastercard to Celebrity Cruises — have employed novel approaches to keeping the troops happy and secure in these trying times, everything from inviting the ... read more
- ‘Using all parts of our business as innovation’: Vox Media Publisher Melissa Bell on future content strategiesSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Google Play | Spotify It’s a new era for Vox. Known for its approachable tone in explaining the news, the site is a year into its merger with New York Magazine, and in ... read more
- Digiday Research: Publishers see double-digit revenue growth in 2021, agencies more bearishAfter one of the most trying, unpredictable years in memory, the media and marketing industries are looking forward to better days in 2021. But publishers are more bullish about their prospects than their agency counterparts, ... read more
- ‘Shift to digital’: Changes to the business marketers and agency execs expect to continue long after 2020Over the last nine months, marketers and agency execs have had to repeatedly rethink campaigns, retool media plans and manage cash flow to stay afloat amid the pandemic. While some of those changes to the ... read more
- How machine learning technology boosts contextual targeting for advertisersIn a time of dramatic changes, advertisers are course-correcting targeting efforts to adhere to the ever-evolving digital media landscape. One solution that addresses numerous areas of transformation — from consumer habits to privacy regulations and ... read more
- Advertising automation is an underserviced category of marketingBy Seraj Bharwani, Chief Strategy Officer, AcuityAds A live, one-question poll at the IAB Brand Disruption Summit in November, 2020, brought to light an issue that has been front and center for most marketers. Over ... read more
- Not a chicken-and-egg scenario: The role of content in a video unitThe post Not a chicken-and-egg scenario: The role of content in a video unit appeared first on Digiday. ... read more
- ‘The biggest conversation I’m having’: Media buyers say advertisers are actively pushing to diversify away from FacebookFor years, direct-to-consumer brands have been aware that they’re too reliant on Facebook, but reluctant to truly diversify their media mix as the platform has been critical in helping them hit their goals. That’s ... read more
- Touchless bathrooms, desk-booking tools, cleaning rotas: Agencies outline the future of the officeThis article is part of the Future of Work briefing, a weekly email with stories, interviews, trends and links about how work, workplaces and workforces are changing. Sign up here. It’s your worst nightmare. Imagine throwing a ... read more
- Even with a key advantage removed, Google’s AMP likely to stay in publishers’ mobile product plansMuch as some would like to, publishers just can’t quit AMP. Last month, Google Search shared a timeline for the end of an important chapter in many publishers’ move from desktop- to mobile-first. Starting in ... read more
- Why advertisers and innovators work better togetherby Mike Welch, head of Xandr What a year. We all expected radical change in the premium advertising industry — but none of us could have predicted this much, this fast. New technologies and emerging ... read more