Substack

The streaming market is looking bleak; indie agencies are frustrated with DSP fees; and publishers and artists turn to paid newsletters for revenue.

Substack and behiiv are looking at programmatic; AI makes metadata more important than ever; and can Skydance compete with big tech?

One web page now needs as much memory to run as an entire operating system did 30 years ago; not even advertisers understand the industry’s acronyms; and prediction markets want to sponsor individual journalists.

Private equity finds ecommerce publishers aren’t worth what they used to be; Salesforce rethinks its faith in agentic AI; and CBS News accidentally encourages people to pirate its content.

Auctions aren’t just for programmatic ads anymore; fashion influencers are turning to Substack; and AI-generated recaps continue to get the facts wrong.

YouTube TV launches new skinny TV bundles; anti-ad Substack is testing ads; Google strikes new publisher licensing deals to feed its AI.

Omnicom is making more cuts; investors aren’t interesting in publishing; and OpenAI is still on the fence about ads.

Nike revamps its iconic slogan; CBS is on its way to becoming a conservative news outlet; and software company Atlassian is acquiring The Browser Company for $610 million.

Reddit is surging with advertiser demand; not everyone is Substack material; and Trump released his AI Action Plan.

Sing along, now: “Everything is an ad network!” Plus, Publicis is doing A-OK and Substack is changing its tune on advertising.

How Amazon uses the threat of knockoffs to win brand business; YouTube introduces new creator video metrics; and Substack is the latest platform to pivot to video.

Canadian tech investment firm Redbrick has acquired Paved, a programmatic newsletter platform for publishers that specializes in native ad formats.

P&G pumps the brakes on paid media and turns to product innovation to drive growth; with TikTok’s fate unclear, Snap and Reddit offer credits for new advertisers; and brands are following news audiences and journalists to Substack.

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Addressable Auspices Traditional TV advertisers are hesitant to try addressable products because they’re expensive and hard to scale. But programmatic TV ad buying is making addressable more accessible, said Sara Wallace, FreeWheel’s senior director of product management, speaking at an event on Wednesday […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Think FAST ​​Free ad-supported TV (FAST) is more than just traditional TV streamed over the internet. From a marketing perspective, FAST is a complement to both TV and streaming, says Scott Reich, SVP of programming at Paramount-owned Pluto TV, speaking at Paramount Advertising’s […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. The Cost Of Ad-Free(dom) Streaming is getting a lot more expensive. The average cost for major ad-free streaming services has risen nearly 25% over the past year, The Wall Street Journal reports. Case in point: Disney is hiking prices for its ad-free services […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. The Browser Bowsers A decades-long truce among browser operators – Apple Safari, Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome – is dissolving as Google and Microsoft militarize their platform borderlands. Last year, Google introduced a one-click button for Windows devices that set Chrome as the […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. The All-In Risk The natural state for digital media monetization isn’t 100% advertising or all subscriptions, but some balance of both. The Athletic couldn’t get by on subscriptions alone, and BuzzFeed News died on the ad-only vine. But media companies are now creating […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. What Could Possible Go Wrong? Elon Musk was a splashy late get for the POSSIBLE marketing conference in Miami next week.   He’s a major draw, but he comes with risks, as some brand leaders are concerned about Musk’s participation, Semafor reports.  In previous […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Why Social Is Unaffiliated TikTok is beginning to cut US creators in on sales – aka affiliate commissions – through its on-platform shopping service, Shops.  The product is being tested by pilot brand advertisers and creators, Insider reports. Posts with the affiliate tag […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Live Shopping ROI … Or RIP? Amazon, TikTok, Instagram and YouTube have all tried their darndest to make livestream shopping happen in the US. But Americans just aren’t into it, Wired reports, and Chinese influencers and companies aren’t having much success exporting their […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Tubi Or Not Tubi Fox-owned Tubi recently made its first ping on Nielsen’s radar with 1% of US TV viewership – just in time for Tubi’s first-ever advertiser conference ahead of upfront season on Thursday, where it showcased glitzy new data partnerships. And […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. The Mobility Ability The retail media boom has spawned a subcategory of first-party data owners in the travel and hospitality vertical, and they’ve got their own terminology. When Uber formalized its new advertising group last October, for example, GM Mark Grether referred to […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Maybe Web 4 Apple has asserted its dominion over Web 3 developers.  In its latest app review guidance, which went live this week, Apple introduced language to clarify that apps “may not use their own mechanisms to unlock content or functionality, such as […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Going Nowhere FAST Streaming TV services want people to pick a show already. Too often, viewers peruse a streaming app for a bit and never actually settle on a show, then try another app.  It’s an underappreciated linear advantage that something is always […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Unfulfilled One of TikTok’s advantages has been that, as a private company, it doesn’t report earnings to anxious shareholders. Having a Chinese tech backer with bottomless pockets doesn’t hurt. (Actually, sometimes it does. More on that later.)  But while Google, Meta, Snap and others […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Game-Changer The NFL has a history of media and marketing innovation. If we’re keeping score, it was the first sports league to reach every TV in America, the first to invest in studio-style production and the first to mic players on the field. […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Not Kidding Around  During the State of the Union address on Tuesday, President Biden called on lawmakers to get cracking on legislation that bans ads targeted at kids. “It’s time to ban targeted advertising to children, [and to] demand tech companies stop collecting personal […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. News It Or Lose It Influencer journalism is a dangerous trend, according to Jessica Lessin, editor-in-chief of The Information. “Long term,” Lessin writes, “the current obsession with treating journalists like influencers isn’t healthy for journalism.” For one, so-called “elite reporters” generally don’t abide by […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Privacy Trade War The EU struck down the US-EU Privacy Shield, the transatlantic data-sharing framework. More than 5,300 companies, most of them small or medium enterprises, rely on the Privacy Shield, and will now need additional contractual agreements directly with users to continue using […]