Major League Baseball's winter meetings have been over for a week, but the organization saved one of its biggest swings for today--promoting Uzma Rawn Dowler to its new chief marketing officer. A 10-year MLB veteran, Rawn begins her new role in January and will report to Noah Garden, MLB's deputy commissioner of business and media....

The TV ad market space is continuing to change at a rapid pace. From lower costs driven by shifting supply and demand dynamics, a multi-currency marketplace, and cross-platform viewing, there were a lot of trends that dominated the TV ad market. Free ad-supported tiers continued to grow, while live sports programming soared. ADWEEK asked 13...

The New York Times' affiliate brand Wirecutter is partnering with Google Shopping to help procrastinating shoppers find last-minute holiday gifts. From Dec. 20 to Dec. 26, Google Shopping buttons will appear next to 150 curated Wirecutter products, according to Cliff Levy, the deputy publisher at The Athletic and Wirecutter. The buttons, overlaid with phrases like...

Over the past year, the media industry once again found itself reacting to new technologies, audience behaviors, and economic circumstances. From the growing influence of artificial intelligence to the algorithmic shifts of social media, the pace and scope of transformation has been dizzying. Meanwhile, financial hardships have led to widespread job losses and corporate restructuring,...

Netflix really wants you to know that Squid Game's second season is coming, and it's doing so by giving the green light to a massive marketing push. The Korean drama series is Netflix's most-watched show ever, and the sophomore season of is one of the year's most-anticipated shows. The series is already nominated for a...

The lifestyle media company Betches struck a strategic content partnership with the National Football League on Monday, the second such tie-up the NFL has penned in recent months as it looks to expand its core audience. Betches will gain access to key moments and tentpole events throughout the NFL calendar, including the Pro Bowl, Super...

The digital media company BuzzFeed successfully sold its food property, First We Feast, to a consortium of investors Thursday morning for $82.5 million, effectively solving the short-term financial crunch that it had been facing. But the spin-off still leaves BuzzFeed facing an uncertain future. The divestiture specifically casts a spotlight on HuffPost--the last acquired asset...

As much as the story has generated a lot of buzz, I find the news of Omnicom's acquisition of IPG to be unsurprising and part of the natural order. I am sad for the great agency legacies that will be mothballed. I am sad for the jobs that will be cut. I am sad that...

The recent announcement of Omnicom's acquisition of IPG got me thinking about my early days working for both holding companies. I started my career in media at BBDO, buying television. Back then, media and creative worked together under one roof, and holding companies were only beginning to consolidate their power. It was a simpler time...

In the broadening sports media landscape, Disney Advertising is discovering that audiences booing opposing teams on Monday Night Football and saying "Boo-urns" over on Disney+ are often the same. Tonight's Monday Night Football matchup between the Dallas Cowboys and Cincinnati Bengals is getting the Funday Football treatment ESPN first deployed during the 2023 NFL season,...

Artificial intelligence startup ProRata.ai wants to bring a more equitable compensation model to media companies with the launch of its AI-powered search engine, Gist.ai. The startup uses gen AI to accurately attribute search results and share revenue with content owners. This revenue is generated by subscriptions and ads that run Gist. People can sign up...

Omnicom Group has confirmed a takeover of rival holding company Interpublic Group (IPG). The mega-merger between the two New York-listed businesses will create the world's largest advertising group. John Wren, chair and chief executive (CEO) of Omnicom, said in a statement the deal would combine "highly complementary data and technology platforms" to drive growth for...

The News Media Alliance, a trade association representing over 2,200 publishers, sent the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission an open letter last week urging the organizations to investigate an algorithm update issued by Google earlier this year. This update, which amended Google's Site Reputation Abuse (SRA) policy, has upended the affiliate businesses of...

In only its second year hosting the NFL Black Friday game, Amazon has had no problem staying on offense and moving forward. Drawing 13.51 million viewers to see the Kansas City Chiefs eke out a 19-17 win over the Las Vegas Raiders--and increasing its audience 41% from the roughly 9 million who watched the New...

The digital media company Conde Nast laid off a number of its top executives, along with key events, social media, and editorial staff, in a targeted round of cuts Thursday evening, according to interviews with four current and former staff. A representative for the company confirmed the layoffs but declined to share their exact scope....

Throughout my career in media, I have observed many industries in which responsible marketers practice self-regulation or strictly adhere to government regulation. Why? Because marketers and the media understand well that, for better and for worse, what they do powerfully influences consumer behavior. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Walt Hickey authored a book last year with a...

The digital media company Vox Media is implementing layoffs and a substantial restructuring of its lifestyle properties, according to an internal memo obtained by ADWEEK. The changes will primarily affect the titles Thrillist, PS (formerly PopSugar), and Eater, as well as the media production and technology team, chief executive Jim Bankoff wrote to staff on...

Perplexity's Publisher Program, which distributes revenue to media outlets when their content appears next to ads on the AI search platform, has recruited its second batch of publisher partners. The San Francisco-based startup now works with over a dozen global media titles, including the Los Angeles Times, Blavity, The Independent, Prisa Media (the leading Spanish-language...

The digital media company BuzzFeed Inc., which owns BuzzFeed, HuffPost, and the properties Tasty and First We Feast, is facing a potential $124 million debt crisis related to funds it raised in June 2021 to finance its acquisition of Complex Media. According to the contract governing the deal, the creditors who lent BuzzFeed the money...

The independent food publisher Tastemade launched its first recipe app, Tastemade Cooking, in mid-November to deepen engagement among Tastemade+ subscribers and capitalize on the culinary fervor surrounding Thanksgiving. The app is technically the second in the Tastemade universe--the first, called Tastemade, is designed for streaming Tastemade video--and it aims to add value to a Tastemade+...