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Yesterday — 26 January 2025Digiday

How Jessica Chan, Perplexity’s one-person team tasked with building relationships with publishers, gets it done

26 January 2025 at 21:01

Jessica Chan is a one-woman team at Perplexity with quite the task at hand: convince publishers that Perplexity has something to offer them, at a time when media companies are increasingly seeking litigation against AI tech companies for copyright infringement.

It’s quite the feat for one person. But after speaking with her boss, former colleagues and publishing executives, it seems that Chan is poised to lure publishers in, given her experience and the hard and soft skills she’s developed during her career.

Perplexity launched its publisher program in July, and was “overwhelmed” after receiving over 100 messages from publishers interested in joining, Chan told Digiday in December.

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Marketing in limbo: the long shadow of TikTok’s turbulence

26 January 2025 at 21:01

For 14 hours on January 19, 2025, TikTok disappeared from the U.S., plunging markets into a state of collective panic. The app, once synchronized with teenage dance crazes and meme culture, had become a cultural juggernaut — and for many brands, a hard to replace lifeline.

“It was a shell shock to the system,” said Jennifer Kohl, chief media officer at VML, the ad agency that had clients suddenly grappling with a possibility they’d only entertained in hypotheticals: life without TikTok.

Six years of political theatrics had turned the app into a lightning rod branded a national security threat and dragged repeatedly to the brink of extinction in the U.S. But in a twist that might as well as come from TikTok’s own algorithm, President Donald Trump stepped in, reviving the app’s chances with a 75-day lifeline to resolve its future.

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ROAS vs. incrementality: Scrutiny around ad spend grows in booming retail media space

26 January 2025 at 21:01

For all the dollars advertisers have been shoveling into retail media networks, marketers are starting to scrutinize the industry’s latest shiny object a bit harder. The pitch of RMNs was their first-party data and the potential to truly track sales. Marketers, however, are still looking for the retailers to make good on that promise.

This year, expect more emphasis on measurement with advertisers prioritizing incrementality metrics as opposed to return on ad spend, or ROAS, which has traditionally been the gold standard to help marketers determine which campaigns and ads are working (and which aren’t).

“Retailers can report incremental sales with greater accuracy than any other media company,” Christine Foster, vp product strategy and media operations for Kroger Precision Marketing at 84.51°, said in an email response to Digiday. “We know exactly what the baseline organic sales should be in any category we sell.”

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Media Buying Briefing: Innovations in audio investment and activation may rejuvenate a moribund sector

26 January 2025 at 21:01

The world of audio hasn’t exactly been a hotbed of innovation and wild growth, despite the ubiquity of streaming audio and podcasting — two areas that have enjoyed a steady climb in ad revenue since the pandemic. Terrestrial radio represents the audio equivalent of linear TV in its slow backward roll in ad-revenue generation, despite surprisingly consistent audience numbers over the years.

Well, turn up the volume, because there are actually innovations happening in audio investment that are likely to help all manner of advertisers — but especially small local advertisers — bump up their spend in the sector. 

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Before yesterdayDigiday

WTF are AI agents?

23 January 2025 at 21:01

Chatter about AI agents is suddenly everywhere — from Silicon Valley to the ski slopes of Davos – but just how will they impact Madison Avenue?

Just yesterday, OpenAI previewed its new “Operator” AI agent tool to help users with web-based tasks like booking travel, making restaurant reservations and buying groceries. Early brand partners across e-commerce and travel include eBay, Etsy, Uber, Instacart, Reuters, AP, Priceline, Target and StubHub.

Despite so much use of the A-word, it’s still early for AI agent adoption, meaning marketers should ask what agents are for, how they’re made, what they do, what they might do — and what they can’t do — including potential reputational risks.  

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Creators are split on whether to keep using TikTok’s editing app CapCut post-shutdown

23 January 2025 at 21:01

When TikTok went down over the weekend, so did its sister app CapCut — revealing how content creators across platforms have become reliant on ByteDance’s software to edit their videos. Following CapCut’s return, creators are divided on whether to continue using the app or explore alternatives before it potentially goes away for good.

Pro wrestling YouTuber and Twitch streamer MinniePortable believes CapCut is one of the best available video editing options for content creators, paying $9.99 per month to use the premium version of the app to edit videos for YouTube and Instagram. When it went down over the weekend, she experimented with alternatives, but found that none of them worked as well for her.

“I was looking for something similar, and people on Twitter were recommending several other ones. One was Filmora, which was a good piece of editing software,” said MinniePortable, who asked to keep her real name private. “But then, when I tried to export it, it said ‘export with watermark or pay the annual $50 a year to export it.’ I’m not doing the $50 a year with no watermark, so I just stopped trying to edit, and was hoping for CapCut to come back.”

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Digiday+ Research: Marketers expect bigger budgets in 2025, with an eye on investing more in influencers

23 January 2025 at 21:01

Interested in sharing your perspectives on the media and marketing industries? Join the Digiday research panel.

Marketers are coming off of what they felt like was a pretty successful year last year, which is a good feeling. An even better feeling? Heading into 2025 expecting bigger revenues and bigger marketing budgets — a lot of which marketers will put toward influencer marketing.

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Marketers cautiously resume TikTok spending after shutdown, while some continue enacting ban measures

23 January 2025 at 21:01

The cloud of TikTok’s uncertain future is still lingering.

Some marketers are forging ahead on TikTok creator campaigns after its brief shutdown this month, albeit warily, given the app’s unclear future. Others are maintaining their strategies as if a ban is still in effect and limiting their long-term campaigns as they consider the various twists and turns happening around the ByteDance-owned platform.

“We are still seeing deals come through as usual, but some brands are focusing on other platforms outside of TikTok at the moment because of the long-term uncertainty,” said Ali Grant, co-CEO of influencer agency The Digital Department. “Once TikTok was inoperable in the U.S., we received emails about moving campaigns to alternate platforms. But as we know, that was short-lived.”

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Why the Sundance Film Festival is becoming more important for marketers

23 January 2025 at 21:01

As the 41st annual Sundance Film Festival kicks off in Park City, Utah this weekend, more marketers and creators are joining the ranks of the film industry attendees. The festival, which will run from Jan. 23 to Feb. 2, has typically been a host to advertisers like Adobe, Acura and Shutterstock that set up houses on Main Street with experiential marketing and programming to appeal to attendees. 

While that’s still the case — the festival has myriad returning sponsors as well as new ones like Casamigos and Free People — more marketers are looking to the festival not only as a potential experiential marketing offering but as an event that can help shape their marketing efforts for the year. Anecdotally, marketing execs, ad agency senior leaders and talent agency execs noted that there has been more interest from marketers in attending the conference than in previous years. 

There are a few reasons. The Brand Storytelling conference, which takes place in Park City from Jan. 22 to 25, has brought more marketers to the area. It’s not just a matter of right time, right place. With more creators attending the festival, it’s a place for marketers to meet with potential creators and foster working relationships, noted execs. This interest in Sundance also comes as marketers have a renewed interest in brand marketing after years of focusing on performance over brand. One example of that: The investment in brand studios continues apace as marketers look to create the entertainment that people want rather than simply advertise around it. With that being the case, the festival likely helps marketers network with potential talent, look for funding opportunities for their brands to get in the mix with new creatives as well as seek inspiration. 

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The TikTok outage caused TikTok Shop sales to spike, not sink

22 January 2025 at 21:01

In spite of the weekend’s momentary TikTok shutdown, sales on TikTok Shop didn’t miss a beat.

The hours-long TikTok shutdown on Jan. 18 and 19 did not have a negative impact on the platform’s sales over the weekend. In fact, TikTok Shop sales spiked in the days immediately preceding the ban, as well as on the day that the ban was lifted.

On Jan. 19, the day the outage was lifted, total sales volume on TikTok Shop amounted to $32,064,590, according to data shared by the e-commerce data platform Charm.io — an over $500,000 jump from the total sales figure of $31,429,366 on Jan. 18, and a nearly $5 million week-over-week increase from the total sales of $27,536,680 on Jan. 12. The post-outage spike in sales was on track with a general increase in TikTok Shop activity that began in the lead-up to the potential ban.

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LADBible Group CEOs plan for growth: £200m, IP, M&A and more

22 January 2025 at 21:01

Publishing businesses like the LADBible Group aren’t supposed to be thriving. They depend on ad dollars and platform traffic in an era where brands are skittish about news and platforms barely acknowledge publishers. 

And yet, LADBible Group, known for its youth-focused content, is defying the odds. Its revenue has tripled in five years, soaring from £30 million in 2020 to £90 million today. Advertising has been the driving force, accounting for 98% of the group’s revenue. Meanwhile, its audience surged 19% in the first nine months of 2024, surpassing half a billion people (503 million).

Digiday sat down with LADBible Group CEO Solly Solomou to uncover what’s next for the publishing group, which owns titles such as LADBible, SPORTBible, Betches Media, in the year ahead.

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Assessing the most likely outcomes of Google’s pivotal ad tech antitrust trial

22 January 2025 at 21:01

President Donald Trump was sworn in for his second term earlier this month. During the inauguration ceremony, a coterie of Big Tech CEOs in prominent positions was prominently featured, and observers interpreted this as a bid to curry favor with the current occupant of the Oval Office. 

Among their number was Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, who, despite being the lowest profile of the assembled executives, is arguably in the deepest hot water given the host of battles it faces with the Justice Department and could do with a sympathetic ear in the executive branch of the U.S. government.

Examples include the business-critical search case, where it faces the forced sell-off of the Chrome browser, and in addition to this case, which Google lost but is in the process of appealing, is its ongoing ad tech antitrust trial, where a verdict from presiding Judge Leonie Brinkema has been anticipated for weeks. DOJ lawyers are pushing for a forced sell-off of its sell-side ad tech tools. Many expect the ruling to go against Google, prompting (yet another) appeals process, with the looming uncertainty splitting opinion on how best to position oneself for the resulting fallout.

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Havas acquires sports marketing agency in first deal following stock exchange debut

22 January 2025 at 21:01

Havas Media Network has kicked off the new year with an acquisition aimed at deepening its sports marketing expertise and diversifying its revenue base.

The media arm of Havas struck a deal to acquire CA Sports, a specialist sponsorship agency based in Spain, and add it to its entertainment-focused Havas Play unit. It’s the first acquisition by the French holding company since it was listed on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange in December, following a spinoff from the Vivendi media empire.

According to Jorge Irizar, CEO of Havas Media Network Spain and global COO of Havas Media Network, it’s the first of 10 acquisitions the media group is targeting over the course of this year, and part of a multi-year process to broaden its business model.

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Media Briefing: TikTok’s U.S. shutdown has little impact on publishers’ traffic and video strategies

22 January 2025 at 21:01

This week’s Media Briefing looks at how the TikTok ban impacted publishers’ onsite traffic and social referrals, as well as what companies like CNN, The Daily Mail and The Washington Post are doing with their short-form video efforts in light of the shutdown drama.

  • Data shows the TikTok ban in the U.S. didn’t have much of an effect on publishers’ site traffic, and publishers say they will focus efforts on their onsite short-form video strategies going forward.
  • Le Monde leaves X, AI companies to face more litigation from publishers, and more.

TikTok after-effects

TikTok’s shutdown over the weekend was short-lived, and so was its apparent impact on how people spent their time online. Publishers’ site traffic and social referral traffic did not deviate from the norm, and YouTube Shorts received a miniscule uptick in viewership, for example. 

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Retail chain WHSmith brings first airport ad network into the specialty retail media race

21 January 2025 at 21:01

For those still counting, there’s another retail media network to add to the list. Alongside real estate, airlines and banking, airport shops have joined the race.

WHSmith, a retail chain that operates hundreds of stores in airports across the U.S., is set to launch a retail media side-business combining in-store out-of-home and digital out-of-home media inventory and audience data for use in off-site campaigns.

Stuart Michell, chief commercial officer at WHSmith North America, said the network’s appeal rested on the huge numbers of people who routinely trudge through American airports — some 2.3 million a day, according to a 2023 Transportation Security Administration (TSA) estimate.

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Future of TV Briefing: Streaming advertisers seek a balance between ad product innovations and ad load protections

21 January 2025 at 21:01

This week’s Future of TV Briefing looks at why advertisers are keeping an eye on streaming services’ ad product developments and ad loads.

  • ‘Have you tried to watch streaming?’
  • Streaming watch time hits new highs
  • Meta’s & YouTube’s TikTok creator charm offensives, Bluesky’s & X’s video updates and more

‘Have you tried to watch streaming?’

As covered last week, Netflix didn’t exactly break new ground in its meetings with ad buyers during the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this month. But it did strike a nerve. 

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Amazon’s DSP ambition: Becoming the primary DSP for advertisers

21 January 2025 at 21:01

More advertisers are turning to Amazon’s ad tech as their mainstay for programmatic buying — not just for Amazon’s own media properties, but increasingly for ads across the wider web too.

The reason, according to vp of Amazon Ads Kelly MacLean, is simple: “They’re now using Amazon DSP as their primary DSP.”

While there’s no hard data to back up this claim, it aligns with a growing body of anecdotal evidence over the past year. Once seen as an instrument for pushing product listings, Amazon’s DSP has evolved into a versatile ad buying platform, vying for market share against heavyweights like Google’s DV360 and The Trade Desk.

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As Trump returns to the White House, media buyers clamp down on brand safety

21 January 2025 at 21:01

On Inauguration Day, President Donald Trump signed a flurry of executive orders, including one aimed at the dismantling of government diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The move signals yet another step in the DE&I about-face and speaks to the shifting cultural landscape that marketers and advertisers are reckoning with now.

In response, media buyers said they’re on high alert, prioritizing brand safety and clamping down on media buying practices to more frequently review ad placements. In what’s expected to be a volatile news cycle, media buyers said they’re more regularly reviewing inclusion lists, websites and domains deemed brand safe and acceptable for serving ads.

“The prevailing mood and direction, at least in my experience, has just been to stay really tight around the election we just had,” said one agency executive who asked to remain anonymous. “It’s just been really rigorous, making sure nothing un-brand suitable comes through.”

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GroupM’s leadership reorg gets an assist from a McKinsey exec

21 January 2025 at 21:01

Whether on a large scale or small — in this case, medium sized — consolidation continues apace in the media agency world, following tectonic changes at the end of last year.

GroupM continued to centralize its operations at a global corporate level, with global CEOs of the brands taking on company-wide roles — at least those who haven’t already left the company. 

Although one internal executive insists it’s not the beginning of the end of the individual brand names within GroupM — Mindshare, Wavemaker and EssenceMediacom — the moves indicate a simplification that more easily enables client-centric mini-shops to get crafted where needed, sometimes across agency brands. GroupM declined to comment on the record.

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How personalization and privacy are shaping how brands and retailers connect with consumers

By: Zeropark
21 January 2025 at 09:50

Gabriela Cendrzak, content writer, Zeropark, a Commerce Media Tech company

In 2025, brands and retailers face a pivotal moment: the end of the generic ads and one-size-fits-all strategies era. Today’s consumers demand personalized, meaningful experiences that meet their needs and respect privacy.

The brands thriving in this landscape will be those balancing creativity, technology and strategy to craft resonating campaigns. 

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