Publishers

The New York Times posted strong results stemming from digital subscriptions; Facebook licensing revenue; its new TV show, The Weekly; Wirecutter and its Crossword and Cooking apps. But advertising wasn’t a bright spot. Coming off a tough comparison quarter, advertising declined 10.7% year-over-year to $171.3 million. Advertising accounts for one-third of total revenue. Overall Q4 […]

Disney Plus is off to a strong start. In its inaugural quarter, the subscription video on demand (SVOD) service brought in 10 million subscribers on the first day and 26.5 million subscribers over Q4, Disney said during its Q4 earnings Tuesday. By contrast, twelve-year-old Hulu, which is majority owned by Disney, totals 30.4 million users. […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Accenture Ends Its Audits Beginning in August 2020, Accenture will no longer provide services around media auditing, benchmarking and agency pitches, Seb Joseph reports for Digiday. In ending its auditing services, Accenture will no longer face a conflict with its media buying services. Writes […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Roku’s Horse And Carriage Roku temporarily removed Fox network apps from its OTT platform on Friday, bringing a new twist to TV carriage deals in streaming media. Fox’s distribution contract expired on Jan. 31, and the broadcaster didn’t close a new contract with Roku […]

Sports media companies are betting on gambling. Yahoo Sports launched sports betting in November 2019 with MGM Resorts. SB Nation and DraftKings are collaborating on an editorial website for fantasy sports and betting analysis. In February 2019, Caesars Entertainment joined Turner Sports to open a Bleacher Report-branded content studio that operates within the casino’s Las […]

“The Sell Sider” is a column written for the sell side of the digital media community. Today’s column is written by Kerel Cooper, senior vice president of global marketing at LiveIntent. There’s a famous line between editorial and revenue at every legitimate publisher. Newsrooms aren’t influenced by the teams responsible for revenue, and nary do […]

A weekly comic strip from AdExchanger that highlights the digital advertising ecosystem…

Netflix’s future is bleak – and not just because of the onslaught of competition in 2020. The particular players and how they’re going to market are also problematic for the streaming giant. Netflix’s single revenue stream is about to enter a price war, noted Laura Martin, senior analyst at the investment bank Needham and Company, […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. The Cost Of Content AT&T is still bleeding pay-TV subscribers as it beefs up its investment in HBO Max, which is driving losses in the short term. Consolidated revenues for the quarter were $46.8 billion but would have been $48 billion without the HBO […]

Generation Z consumes media differently than millennials, but brands don’t always understand that. To help brands better relate to younger audiences, former Wavemaker exec Noah Mallin left a career in agencyland to join Gen Z-focused media company IMGN as its first chief brand strategist, the company said Monday. IMGN owns the social media handle of […]

Corporate siblings WarnerMedia and Xandr are full steam ahead on data-driven TV sales. Just look at this year’s upfront, where the AT&T subsidiaries will go to market together for the first time. The companies have been inching their way toward a joint offering over the past year and a half in an effort to sell […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Back In The Black Group Nine Media will turn a profit in 2020, CEO Ben Lerer shared Wednesday morning at a press breakfast. The crop of disciplined, profit-focused executives that came along with GroupNine Media’s acquisition of PopSugar at the end of last year […]

Seriously, folks, Netflix has no intention of monetizing with ads, ever. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings even referred to advertising as a form of exploitation on the company’s full year 2019 earnings call on Tuesday. “We want to be the safe respite where you can explore, you can get stimulated, have fun and enjoy – and […]

As the streaming wars intensify, NBCUniversal on Thursday sought to draw a clear distinction between the soon-to-be-launched Peacock and its streaming and digital competitors. Peacock will debut with 10 ad experiences that emphasize interactivity and performance, the company revealed during an investor day in New York City. It will run just five minutes of ads […]

“The Sell Sider” is a column written by the sell side of the digital media community. Today’s column is written by Paul Bannister, co-founder and executive vice president at CafeMedia. “You have no control. Who lives, who dies, who tells your story.” – Washington and Company, “Hamilton” The Google Chromium team announced on Tuesday the […]

With Chrome bidding farewell to third-party cookies, publishers predict a steep rise in use – and value – of their first-party data. Media companies with their own audiences and direct-to-consumer relationships expect power to accrue to them. And many publishers already have a head start. With Apple’s Safari browser blocking cookies for about 30% of […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. There’s An App For That Mobile apps earned $190 billion in ad revenue in 2019 and are forecast to surpass $240 billion this year, according to App Annie’s annual report. App stores made $120 billion from in-app and app download payments, with 72% coming […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Swipe Left On Privacy Dating apps OKCupid, Grindr and Tinder all shared personal information, including location and dating preferences, with marketing and advertising companies, according to the Oslo-based nonprofit the Norwegian Consumer Council. Grindr sent location data, as well as tracking codes linked to […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Brand Safe Or Bust  TikTok may offer a curated feed of content that will appease advertisers as brand safety becomes a bigger concern on the platform. The feed of vetted TikTok creators will enable the app to charge advertisers higher rates for guaranteed brand […]

“The Sell Sider” is a column written by the sell side of the digital media community. Today’s column is written by Sara Badler, senior vice president of programmatic revenue and strategy at Dotdash. With the California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA) at our doorstep and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Apple’s Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Bloomberg’s Big Play Presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg is set to unload a 60-second ad spot critical of President Donald Trump in the upcoming Super Bowl. The New York Times estimates that the former NYC mayor shelled out $10 million for the privilege, also noting […]

NBCUniversal wants its content to appear wherever viewers want it: places like YouTube, Roku, NBC apps, Snapchat, mobile phones and work computers, in addition to linear streams in their living room. But scheduling ads that will light up across all of these platforms is a highly fragmented, manual process. So NBCUniversal hired former Kargo President […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Buzzing  After racking up more than $50 million in losses last year, BuzzFeed is working its way toward profitability. The digital media company laid off 250 staffers and is benefiting from new revenue streams. Sponsored content, once BuzzFeed’s crown jewel, now makes up just […]

“The Sell Sider” is a column written by the sell side of the digital media community. Today’s column is by Paul Bannister, co-founder and executive vice president at CafeMedia. As we close the chapter on the last decade, congrats to the publishers that are still standing. Now it’s time to take a step in: A fundamentally different approach is needed to […]

Change seems constant in the media business. A chain of digital media consolidations in 2019 has created new scaled players: Group Nine Media and PopSugar; Refinery29 and Vice Media; and Vox Media and New York Media. Besides a greatly transformed competitive landscape, 2020 will see publishers wrestling with new challenges. Privacy and regulation, for instance, […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. It’s Vox’s Forte Are you an advertiser in need of publisher first-party data? Then Vox has a holiday gift for you! The company, which made a big-scale play in 2019 when it merged with New York Media, has launched an advertising platform called Forte […]

The advertising industry today is largely the product of tremendous M&A activity. AdExchanger looked at the acquisitions that made the biggest impact in the past decade. Impact can mean many things. Some of these startups flourished under their new owners, showing worth far more than their deal price. Others, purchased during their downfall, reflect the […]

The 2010s was a decade of tectonic shifts for the TV industry. Linear TV networks can no longer avoid the digital revolution. As eyeballs shift to streaming platforms and buyers demand more automation and better measurement, new players, like Hulu and Roku, have risen as prime media sellers, while broadcasters evolve their businesses to capture […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. This Is Fine France’s competition regulator fined Google $167 million (150 million euros) for unfairly suspending advertisers for placing allegedly deceptive ads. It’s a drop in the bucket for Google, but the regulatory drumbeat is a bigger issue than the fines. Unlike previous fines, […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Culture Clash TikTok may be the hottest new social media app of 2019, but it’s not winning any “client of the year” awards. Agencies that have worked with TikTok as a client complain of unrealistic briefs and timelines, high turnover and abrupt project cancellations […]