Special (Short-Form) Delivery
Everything is a retail meda network … and a social media platform?
DoorDash is trying to be both, according to TechCrunch. On Tuesday, the delivery app launched a creator program to compensate users who record and post qualifying short-form videos of their takeout orders.
In a way, the program incentivizes people to create what are essentially ads for local eateries. In theory, this could be a win-win for restaurants that don’t have the budget to produce their own advertising, but might benefit from being featured in DoorDash’s discovery feed.
But that’s assuming, of course, that anybody actually uses the creator tools and people watch these videos in the DoorDash app.
Uber Eats launched a similar TikTok-lite feature last year, but hasn’t released any statistics regarding its popularity or effectiveness for advertisers. If anything, some users reported feeling overwhelmed and distracted by the introduction of a social-ish video feed.
But, hey, if a creator program lets people make back a few bucks they can use to pay for their next private burrito taxi, that might not be the worst thing in the world. It’s certainly less dystopian than putting the burrito on layaway.
Democracy In Action
Another day, another Big Tech payout to President Trump over a fatuous lawsuit.
Google will pay $24.5 million to settle Trump’s suit against YouTube, which banned his account following the January 6, 2021 riot, The Wall Street Journal reports.
YouTube suspended Trump’s account amid widespread condemnation at the time, including from Republicans who blamed Trump for inciting supporters to storm the Capitol. YouTube reinstated Trump’s account in 2023.
Google’s capitulation follows similar settlements between Big Tech and the president over social media account bans, including a $25 million payment by Meta and $10 million from X.
Meanwhile, Paramount paid $16 million to settle a suit alleging that “60 Minutes” deceptively edited an interview with then-VP Kamala Harris during the 2024 presidential campaign.
And Big Tech firms have also paid other huge sums to Trump and his family.
Amazon shelled out $40 million to secure the rights to a documentary about Melania Trump, with the First Lady reportedly collecting $28 million.
Plus, Google, Meta, Microsoft and Amazon each donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund following his reelection. And certain tech CEOs personally committed $1 million apiece, including Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Apple’s Tim Cook, OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Uber’s Dara Khosrowshahi.
Left Holdco-ing The Bag
The problem for holdcos these days is that they’re not actually big enough.
WPP, for example, was once the biggest ad buyer in the world. Now, it’s been surpassed by Publicis. Omnicom and IPG, meanwhile, are merging in the name of scale. And Dentsu Group’s entire international business is reportedly up for sale as well.
The little guys are also merging. Retail media shops Acadia and Crush came together earlier this year and, this month, Ocean Media and Empower Media merged to become Empower Ocean Media Group, which now controls a combined $1.5 billion in billings.
And now two more agencies are coming together. It’s not really a merger, though. This week, Horizon Media formed a joint venture with Havas called Horizon Global that consolidates their $20 billion in combined billings, Marketing Dive reports.
Why?
Well, why not? How else are independent agencies going to compete for clients with all the technological change and consolidation happening in the agency sector?
But Wait! There’s More!
CTV platform Vibe.co raises $50 million in Series B funding. [release]
Opera launches its (paid) AI browser, Neon. [TechCrunch]
OpenAI earned $4.3 billion in sales in the first half of 2025, but burned $2.5 billion in the process. [The Information]
Inside The Onion’s creative advertising agency, which is not a bit. (Maybe.) [Fast Company]
And now, here’s a list of excuses lawyers have made for using generative AI – which famously fabricates sources and quotes – in their legal briefings. [404 Media]
You’re Hired!
Jim Prandato joins PayPal to lead global ad supply partnerships. [LinkedIn]
Nielsen adds Sacha Weinberg as SVP of brand identity and strategy. [release]
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