Public Spat
Ruh-roh.
The programmatic power couple Publicis and The Trade Desk are on the rocks, according to Adweek.
Per a leaked memo Publicis sent to some clients, an independent auditor – FirmDecisions, owned by Ebiquity – says TTD applied its DSP fee and charged for opt-in products in unauthorized ways. But that’s not how TTD sees it.
The Trade Desk says it didn’t fail the audit. It purposely didn’t disclose the info requested by FirmDecisions because to do so “would violate customer and partner confidentiality agreements.” A spokesperson says the DSP “proposed a range of options to Publicis.”
Publicis isn’t having it. The holdco’s spokesperson told Adweek that “none of the options proposed by The Trade Desk resolved the issues raised by the audit. As a result of the audit findings we will no longer be recommending The Trade Desk as a solution for our clients.”
According to TTD’s 10-K, 10% of its total on-platform spend came from two unnamed holding companies as of the end of 2025. One is certainly Publicis, and the other is likely Omnicom-IPG.
Losing Publicis would sting. It’s been a stalwart backer of TTD among the holdcos, since Omnicom defaults to Amazon’s ad tech and WPP reps Team Google.
Unlimited (For A Limited Time Only)
There’s no such thing as a free lunch – or an unlimited one.
As Business Insider reports, Nick Turley, a VP at OpenAI and head of ChatGPT, has hinted that OpenAI will likely retool its pricing models soon and may even end its unlimited access feature. This is a current perk of its ChatGPT Pro plan, which, at $200 a month, costs roughly the same as five standard Netflix subscriptions.
But, unlike your average streaming service, ChatGPT never intended for subscriptions to be its primary business model; it only offered them to manage demand, according to Turley.
On a recent episode of the “Bg2 Pod” podcast, Turley compared unlimited AI usage to “having an unlimited electricity plan” – unreasonable, in other words.
Meanwhile, the WSJ reports that OpenAI’s leadership is in talks to refocus the company’s efforts around its business and enterprise users, who also get unlimited messages.
Of course, nobody likes having features taken away from them. Just look at how power users reacted to losing GPT-4o. So OpenAI may have to sweeten the deal to keep its subscribers satisfied.
And an ad-free tier isn’t such a bad idea. It’s working out for Netflix.
A Walk In The Park
Long a symbol of American counterculture, Washington Square Park in New York City is now, bizarrely, a hub of social media distribution and influencerhood.
The area has become a hotspot for those man-on-the-street-style interviews that turn out to be peddling or creating marketing content for a particular brand, as Gothamist reports.
Recall an incident from earlier this month when rightwing influencer Jake Lang marched a roasted pig to Gracie Mansion, where the mayor of New York City resides – current Mayor Zohran Mamdani is Muslim, thus the “joke” with the pig – and would-be terrorists threw an improvised explosive (which did not explode) at Lang’s crowd of protesters.
That whole scene kicked off at Washington Square Park. And the videos that went viral of cops pelted with snowballs after last month’s blizzard? Two people were arrested afterward for allegedly assaulting an officer – one of whom is a pro YouTuber.
These days, it’s hard to tell who’s there to enjoy the park and who’s just there to farm for content.
But Wait! There’s More!
Meta is already making changes to Moltbook, its new acquisition. [Business Insider]
Prediction market Kalshi – which has media and marketing partnerships with CNN, CNBC and the NHL, among others – has been criminally charged by the state of Arizona with operating an illegal gambling business. [Reuters]
Encyclopedia Britannica and Merriam-Webster are suing OpenAI. [TechCrunch]
Advertisers will soon be able to buy Reddit ads through retail media platform Pacvue. [Adweek]
AI job loss research ignores the effect that artificial intelligence is already having on the internet. [404 Media]
OpenAI is shifting its focus to business clients and enterprise products as more consumers flock away from ChatGPT to rival Anthropic’s Claude. [The Information]
BuzzFeed unveils its bid to stave off bankruptcy. It’s called Branch Office, a spinoff business for creating AI-powered apps that promote creativity and community building. [TechCrunch]
You’re Hired!
AI healthcare marketing platform Doceree hires Paresh Rajpurohit as VP of corporate development. [release]
Lands’ End names Sarah Sylvester as its first CMO in nearly a decade. [Ad Age]
Arian Omid joins CTV platform Vibe.co as CFO. [LinkedIn]
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