The Washington Post

CPG brands are all in on AI; The Washington Post tries dynamic pricing; and Buzzfeed has officially lost its edge.

No brand safety? No problem. The Onion’s CMO Leila Brillson shares how the iconic satire site is expanding beyond pithy headlines into documentaries and also helping other brands find their snark – all while staying far, far away from generative AI.

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.

Mastercard launched an ad network; Meta plans to sell targeted ads based on engagement with its AI products; and the Washington Post is in trouble if Ad Chief Johanna Mayer-Jones departs.

Spotify faces obstacles in its ticket sales aspirations; Apple switches to view-through attribution; and The Washington Post and Meta remove ads that were critical of Elon Musk.

AI-generated slop content is growing exponentially online. Plus, publishers and new organizations are strategizing for a post-TikTok future. 
 

Publisher C-suite drama has been making headlines recently. Plus, there are now 27 different active lawsuits against various AI content generation companies.

IPG buying Node continues the trend of agencies trying new business models; IPG and Publicis support principal-based buying while WPP opposes it; and billionaire owners believe controlling their newsrooms will win back public trust.

While WaPo recently lost 250,000 subscribers due to concerns over its journalistic independence, NYT added 260,000 subscriptions in Q3 thanks largely to the popularity of its non-news offerings.

During certain periods this year, advertisers blocked more than 40% of The Washington Post’s inventory over brand safety concerns.

Publishers are in the business of selling their readers’ attention to advertisers. But in response to consumer preferences and regulatory pressure, publishers should reposition themselves as champions of data dignity.

Future believes its new monetization offering can succeed where other publishers have struggled with selling ad tech and consulting to third-parties.

In today’s newsletter: Google’s cookie deprecation delay hurts Chrome Privacy Sandbox supporters; mall chains go for broke with their DTC efforts; Warner Bros. Discovery launches a first-party data product.

In today’s newsletter: P&G boosts paid media budgets by 14%; why lower subscription prices aren’t enough to sustain the current rate of ad-supported streaming signups; and news publishers follow the NYT’s lead by using games to retain visitors.

In today’s newsletter: could an open-source website template fix programmatic advertising?; The Trade Desk’s new tool for targeting only the top 500 sites; and some of Apple and Microsoft’s services won’t fall under DMA regulation.

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Rage Against The ML Google and Meta are all-in on machine-learning-based ad products that assign creative and optimization controls to the platform. But tools like Google’s Performance Max and Meta’s Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns have been rushed onstage – and they’re not ready for […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Begun, The Clone War Has The robots are taking over, and publishers are fighting back. A growing list of media outlets are attempting to stop AI bots from copying their content, CNN reports. Last week, The New York Times, Reuters and CNN led […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. No Labels Amazon is dropping a large portion of its private-label products: 27 of its 30 clothing lines will soon be gone, The Wall Street Journal reports. On the one hand, who cares? It’s not like anybody notices the Amazon private labels. “Oh […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Do We Ever Not Kick The Can? After Google Chrome first committed to third-party cookie deprecation, big advertisers and Google partners frankly didn’t expect the initial deadlines to remain. Google Ads and Chrome weren’t ready, not to mention needing the UK data regulator’s […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Pour One Out For Pub Tech During the heady days of gonzo social traffic and zero-dollar interest rates, publishers were launching their own software businesses. But that cottage industry has practically disappeared without so much as a whimper. Vox Media, one of the […]

The Washington Post is experimenting with a variety of large language models–but setting boundaries and guidelines to keep them in check.

The Washington Post is looking to capitalize on a resurgence in advertiser interest in news content, and the AI trend, to create new opportunities for brand collaborations.

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Lost The Plot The “Barbie” movie doesn’t premiere until next week, but is practically guaranteed to be a major hit, considering the deluge of prerelease energy and coverage. The marketing success (and excess) of “Barbie” is also a reminder of how studios in […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Sharing Is Caring Snapchat is a mobile-first social net, though it’s still not native to the world of influencer marketing. (It took off because the posts disappeared.) Attracting legit social creators and influencers is critical to the health of the social net. But […]

WaPo partnered with ActionIQ to overhaul how it markets to subscribers throughout the various stages of their subscription life cycle.

DanAds is in growth mode, and its US expansion is in full swing. It also has its sights set on profitability by the end of the year. But the volatile market has DanAds rethinking its IPO.

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Currents Of Currency In January, a group of US broadcasters formed a joint industry committee, fronted by OpenAP, to work on new video currency standards. On Monday, the JIC published its first guidelines. The “first pass” on these guidelines establishes a baseline between […]

While cookies are still in play, publishers are using first-party data products to draw business from advertisers eager to test cookie alternatives, even as ad spending retracts due to persistent fears of an upcoming recession. Here’s a snapshot of how Vox Media, The New York Times, The Washington Post and Trusted Media Brands evolved their first-party data strategy in 2022 and their plans for the coming year.

The most commonly cited rationale for publisher staffing cuts has been marketers’ hesitance to spend on advertising amid persistent economic uncertainty. But publishers’ latest pivot to video and increased competition among digital channels is also likely to blame.